― Geordie Racer, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Michael Bourke, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Simone, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
_margin walker_ and _steady diet of nothing_ are damn fine records. distinctive sound with those crisp trebly guitars going from slashing chords to efficient but original noise, raging vocals, and icily precise rhythm section. diverse and emotional too. _steady diet_ manages to be remote, alienated, raw, and anthemic. i'm pretty sure i commented on _margin walker_ in the ep's thread. probably still my favourite fugazi. punk's energy with an undercurrent of doubt.
the other two i have are _red medicine_ and _end hits_. i'm not quite so unequivocal about these. "do you like me?," the 2nd song on _rm_, "by you," and "long distance runner" are all top-notch tracks. in fact, the noise that opens the record is almost worth the price of the record. "do you like me?" is one fugazi song with great lyrics: "your eyes like crashing jets/fixed in stained glass but not religious/you should pay rent in my mind" screamed over those blazing guitars is a great rock moment. too much of the rest of the album tends to get bogged down and noodly, which problem afflicts _end hits_ as a whole. they still have something to say but there's too much dressing to cut through. "foreman's dog" is a great track on _eh_ though.
overall, i don't listen enough to rate them as a total classic overall (as i'd do with joy division, say) but they have a unique sound that no one else does, a substantial body of diverse work, and a solid live show.
― sundar subramanian, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Perhaps all the more amusing in context was the identity of the first band on the bill. The Offspring.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― ernest, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Josh, Tuesday, 10 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Michael Bourke, Wednesday, 11 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
My favorite Fugazi story is when Ian stopped a show to address some guy who kept screaming for them to play Minor Threat songs.
― bnw, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 17 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― geeta, Sunday, 17 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Fugazi's band sound and the way all the pieces interlock is what makes it work, more so than "songwriting" per say. How the voices, two guitars, and bass interact with the metronomic drums is to me the best thing. This being said, there is somewhat a similarity to much of their music.
My favorite album is "Steady Diet of Nothing", mostly because the pace is slowed up a bit more and the songs get more abstract. The first two and "In On the Kill Taker" are all filled with groovy punk. "End Hits", "Red Medicine" and "Instrument" are more spotty, but there are some cool parts on each.
The latest album "The Arguement" is probably the most varied thing they have done and is becoming a favorite of mine.
As for the politics of the lyrics and D.I.Y. attitude, it may add to the mythology, but the music is good enough on it's own for me.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 22 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 22 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Bella R., Sunday, 8 December 2002 19:16 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Callum (Callum), Sunday, 8 December 2002 20:23 (twenty-two years ago) link
They're amazing live as well--the segues from song to song are incredible. When I saw them in April of this year they went right into "Blueprint" from "Sweet And Low." It was great.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 8 December 2002 21:02 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 9 December 2002 01:31 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 9 December 2002 02:14 (twenty-two years ago) link
Also, if you haven't paid attention since '95, definitely check out the Argument. Sonically unlike all previous albums (sitars! female background vocals!), though the lyrics are still an issue.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 9 December 2002 02:23 (twenty-two years ago) link
That first line should be "Fugazi should have been a better band than they were."
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 9 December 2002 02:37 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 9 December 2002 02:51 (twenty-two years ago) link
its not as hard as i was expectingis this hardcore?
its also a lot slower in a lot of places than i expected,for some reason i thought it would all be really fast
there is some funky (meant as an adjective,not sure whether its good or bad as yet)drumming on one of the tracks,which i wasn't expecting at all
i like it more than i was expecting,i think last time i tried to listen to it i just turned it off after a few songs
― robin (robin), Thursday, 8 May 2003 19:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
no, it's "post-rock".
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 8 May 2003 19:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― robin (robin), Thursday, 8 May 2003 19:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― robin (robin), Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 8 May 2003 22:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 8 May 2003 22:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 May 2003 22:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
― robin (robin), Thursday, 8 May 2003 23:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 May 2003 23:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
Fugazi EP (first half of 13 Songs)The ArgumentRepeaterRed MedicineIn On the Kill Taker
---
Margin Walker EP (second half of 13 songs)Steady Diet of NothingInstrument soundtrackEnd Hits3 Songs EPFurniture + 2 EP
― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 9 May 2003 12:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Friday, 9 May 2003 12:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
(hops to xgau.com to check that that is indeed his line)
― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Friday, 9 May 2003 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 9 May 2003 14:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Friday, 9 May 2003 14:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
Sickest Cover Ever, though. (for Margin Walker)
End Hits is too good to be true. In On the Killtaker comes on a close 2nd. All the others: 3rd place. No losers here.
― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Friday, 9 May 2003 15:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
And they are so post-rock.
― mei (mei), Friday, 9 May 2003 15:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― ss, Friday, 9 May 2003 15:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― request to go to LA, Saturday, 20 May 2006 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― jonathon, Saturday, 20 May 2006 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Saturday, 20 May 2006 18:25 (eighteen years ago) link
I heard they were on "indefinite hiatus". Ian MacKaye is playing in the Evens these days with Amy Farina and doesn't Joe Lally run Tolotta records or did I make that up?
― Edward White (E White), Saturday, 20 May 2006 18:43 (eighteen years ago) link
Fugazi is one of my favorite bands and one of the best live bands I've seen.
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Sunday, 21 May 2006 00:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 21 May 2006 01:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― mts (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 21 May 2006 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Sunday, 21 May 2006 04:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Heath Raymond, Sunday, 21 May 2006 04:50 (eighteen years ago) link
So I noticed a copy of Repeater in HMV the other day that had a sticker marked "2004 remaster" on it - have the destroyed it or made it better? I've no problem with the levels they'd reached by The Argument, but what's the point? it does sound VERY slight and spacious compared to their others (bar 13 Songs) unless you crank it, but when you crank it, it sounds awesome. Anyone heard it?
― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 18 February 2008 20:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Definitely classic, though my favorites from them remain in their early canon. One of the coolest things I've ever done is I attend one of their shows--I think it was 1992--on acid. My friends (who hadn't partaken) were like, Ian would NOT approve.
I still remember and probably always will remember "Merchandise" from that show, that and the music they played over the PA before the show, musta been some Dischord band or the other, made me shiver it was so heavy, never found out who they were.
A friend of mine speaks highly of their later work, but for the most part I'm just not familiar.
Oh, and I tend not to like the songs where Guy sings. I bet that's not just me.
― SecondBassman, Monday, 18 February 2008 20:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Repeater was always the worst-sounding album to my ears so I'd be curious to hear a remaster.
― Hurting 2, Monday, 18 February 2008 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis's Eye of I, my most played album of current days, ends with this track feat. The Mezzthetics, who are Lally and Canty and guitarist Anthony Pirog---goes pretty well with the other tracks---then the guitar comes in:https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/track/fear-not-feat-the-messthetics-2
No Mezz albs posted on Bandcamp since 2019, but a couple of those, and some upcoming shows:
Brendan Canty and Joe Lally were the rhythm section of the band Fugazi from its inception in 1987 to its period of hiatus in 2002. This is the first band they’ve had together since then. Anthony Pirog is a jazz and experimental guitarist based in Washington, D.C. One half of the duo Janel & Anthony, he has emerged as a primary figure in the city’s out-music community.
― dow, Tuesday, 16 January 2024 23:37 (ten months ago) link
That's the first one, self-titled:
The trio’s debut includes nine songs recorded at Canty’s practice space throughout 2017, live and mostly without overdubs. It’s a snapshot of a band dedicated to the live ideal, where structure gives birth to improvisation.
― dow, Tuesday, 16 January 2024 23:41 (ten months ago) link
Pirog’s guitar sound with Messthetics is sometimes too prog rock jazz fusion for me. I saw him recently with a different dc area band of his that rarely plays live these days - the EL Reys. They do surf and 50s rock and have a blaring sax and a farfisa organ .
Have also seen Pirog do “Sleepwalk” with roots bands.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 18 January 2024 13:56 (ten months ago) link
I saw them play here once, and my impression was that it sounded like Fugazi's rhythm section with a guitarist I didn't like.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 January 2024 13:59 (ten months ago) link
Never saw them live but yeah that was my impression of them too.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 18 January 2024 14:33 (ten months ago) link
Haven't listened to the Mezzthetics albums yet, but Pirog doesn't progfuse that xxxpost James Brandon Lewis track, "Fear Not." It starts with his fluid accompaniment to Lewis's statement of the theme on tenor sax, then drone ov bass & drums drone quickly kicks in, and he steps back into it, sometimes providing punctuation and/or tiny ornaments, best detectable on headphones, as Lewis restates the theme, slightly twisting it, 'til Pirog chops a few chords and twangbar comments---then back into the hunkered-down caveman groove, while brave target Lewis sails overhead: so it's like Neil Young and Crazy Horse backing jazzman, and not a progfuse jazzman.Thread-relevant only if you've been wondering what Canty and Lally have been up to lately.
― dow, Friday, 19 January 2024 02:46 (ten months ago) link
Although any good track is relevant to any thread on ILM.
― dow, Friday, 19 January 2024 02:51 (ten months ago) link
Saw JBL & The Messthetics at Le Poisson Rouge the other night. Closest I'll ever get to seeing Fugazi. A great rhythm section, super tight with JBL and Pirog. I've not always been into Pirog's playing, but he was fantastic live - he reins it in little on the album, but was blazing here.
― Composition 40b (Stew), Friday, 19 January 2024 17:33 (ten months ago) link
That’s good. Although the short IG video clip of Jbl & messthetics there in an IG story I saw , his “blazing “ was too busy and math rock meets jazzy prog rock for me.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 19 January 2024 22:41 (ten months ago) link
Honestly, when I saw the show is was kind of like when I saw a Trey Anastasio solo band show. I liked the band, more than I expected (because I don't like Phish), but every time I started kinda enjoying myself he would come back in and my engagement would just fade. Messthetics wasn't quite like that, but Canty/Lally are such a great team, and while he wasn't bad, he still detracted/distracted from them. Or maybe I was just primed to hear Guy and Ian's playing. Probably, lol.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 January 2024 22:53 (ten months ago) link
Well we will see if Pirog can restrain his excesses on that upcoming JBL & Messthetics album on Impulse.
Ian isn’t in any active group now, and I don’t think Guy is either.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 22:12 (ten months ago) link
When I saw the MC50 thing Wayne Kramer's MC5 tribute/reunion thing it had Canty on drums & Billy Gould of FNM on bass and while I didn't always love the show I did come away thinking I would watch any band with Canty playing drums.
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 22:22 (ten months ago) link
Is Coriky no longer a thing? Guy seems more into producing lately.
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 22:58 (ten months ago) link
fwiw Ian is 62 years old and Guy isn't that far behind. So I wouldn't really expect either to still be in active bands if they have absolutely anything else going on in their lives that does not require them to go on tour.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 25 January 2024 01:29 (ten months ago) link
The impression I get from Mackaye's interviews and podcast appearances is that he's kept busy these days curating and preserving not only Dischord's legacy and archive but some of the wider punk/hardcore culture, collecting fanzines/letters/photos and ephemera.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 25 January 2024 01:49 (ten months ago) link
nice, good for him
― dead precedents (sleeve), Thursday, 25 January 2024 01:50 (ten months ago) link
the short IG video clip of Jbl & messthetics there in an IG story I saw , his “blazing “ was too busy and math rock meets jazzy prog rock for me.
― dow, Thursday, 25 January 2024 02:41 (ten months ago) link
Although, in the DC axis context, if he wanted to take these Fugazi guys in a Don Callero and/or early Battles direction, that would be okay too, I would hope (I like all three of those bands, however you tag them).
― dow, Thursday, 25 January 2024 02:45 (ten months ago) link
listen with juice, not prejudice.
― dow, Thursday, 25 January 2024 02:46 (ten months ago) link
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2Lx9F_t_rk/?igsh=dzc1d3R6a3R2dWEx
Eww
― papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 25 January 2024 05:01 (ten months ago) link
guy played instruments on the new jim white solo album so he's still playing
― a (waterface), Thursday, 25 January 2024 15:57 (ten months ago) link
pirog with short hair still flummoxes me
― B. Amato (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 25 January 2024 16:05 (ten months ago) link
Yes to this. I found some old Minor Threat photos my brother took (plus some negatives of other bands he took pics of back then - DC band Doulbe O, Cramps , others) at our late parents home cleaning up , and my brother and I visited the Dischord house and warehouse and Ian as he is going to digitize them and such. He says he still plays guitar everyday but has put Coriky on hold. He has so much stuff archived -- both physical items, diaries from tours, tapes in multiple formats of practices and gigs.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 25 January 2024 18:45 (ten months ago) link
that insta clip sounded like something that SST would've put out in 1989 (i didn't hate it)
― blazin' squab (NickB), Thursday, 25 January 2024 20:32 (ten months ago) link
lololol I can't deny that
it's not really for me
― dead precedents (sleeve), Thursday, 25 January 2024 20:42 (ten months ago) link
I feel like Ian would have good tips for the digital music collection thread.But maybe it would be vice versa?
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 25 January 2024 20:57 (ten months ago) link
"What if Alan Holdsworth joined Saccharine Trust?"
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 25 January 2024 20:59 (ten months ago) link
Folk-artist and performer Lonnie Holley will be backed by Lee Bains, Joe Lally, and Brendan Canty at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage tonight from 6 to 7 pm Eastern US time. The show is free but ticketed. It will also be streamed on the Millennium Stage Youtube & Facebook page
https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2024/february/lonnie-holley/
― curmudgeon, Friday, 16 February 2024 15:37 (nine months ago) link
Alabaman guitarist and backing vocalist Lee Bains is kinda prominent there behind Holley, but Lally and Canty are of course there and sound strong.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 18 February 2024 23:39 (nine months ago) link
Canty has been filling in Hammered Hulls on bass , and has a gig coming up with Johnny Temple ( Girls against Boys, new wet kojak)
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 23:26 (nine months ago) link
what a fucking band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Gy7TAkQW8
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 21 February 2024 23:28 (nine months ago) link
Yep. Old guy me was at that Washington Monument show . Well, I was around Ian’s age then .
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 February 2024 05:24 (nine months ago) link
It's been eight years since they were mentioned and the link's dead so a re-up for the immense Torso Butter by Happy Go Licky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVaoEbFBTBc
― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Friday, 10 May 2024 18:51 (seven months ago) link
Thanks. You can hear what Guy and Brendan later brought to Fugazi. I was a big fan of Eddie Janney in this group and Rites of Spring.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 10 May 2024 19:59 (seven months ago) link
I’m sure it’s nothing, but the official Locrian band twitter account posted, then quickly deleted, a tweet that essentially said, “I was watching this old video of Ire opening for Fugazi and remembered there’s a new Fugazi album coming. Stoked.”
Disappeared when I went back to screencap it.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 28 August 2024 04:01 (three months ago) link
https://i.ibb.co/j8fz6jy/IMG-5431.jpg
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 28 August 2024 04:11 (three months ago) link
what, no way
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 28 August 2024 04:16 (three months ago) link
Nope
Also, this other Fugazi thread has been used lately too.
Fugazi: C or D?
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 August 2024 04:17 (three months ago) link
Now this Fugazi doc is getting more screenings
https://cinemadfilm.com/project/we-are-fugazi/
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 August 2024 04:19 (three months ago) link
no fucking way
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 28 August 2024 18:14 (three months ago) link
reunion/new album i mean
like I said, I'm sure it's nothing and I wouldn't have bothered posting it if it had come from most other places.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 28 August 2024 18:17 (three months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRVnR3wEWY
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 22 November 2024 14:41 (two weeks ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R94Otr-jZ1w
― curmudgeon, Friday, 22 November 2024 15:33 (two weeks ago) link
Now that Messthetics have finished 2024 US and Europe tours I see that Joe Lally is posting on his Instagram and Facebook that he is giving bass lessons through the holidays. I know he was doing them by zoom I think during the pandemic. So that may be still how he is doing them now or is an option.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 22 November 2024 15:36 (two weeks ago) link
Cool!
Liked that Canty mini doc. (Someone should make a second documentary just about his bell.) Neat to learn (at least I think it's news to me) how much he contributed bass and guitar ideas, too. The Bill Berry stealth method.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 November 2024 15:44 (two weeks ago) link
He wrote Arpeggiator!
― drew in baltimore, Friday, 22 November 2024 19:40 (two weeks ago) link
That Canty mini-doc is good and yes to another one on his bell
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 23 November 2024 04:11 (two weeks ago) link
Canty doc is great - i've never spent time investing into the reasoning of their hiatus but life outside the band doesn't really surprise me.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Saturday, 23 November 2024 06:56 (two weeks ago) link
Kurt Sayenga who did a late 80s early 90s zine in DC called Greed has been putting interviews from then on his substack. He also just posted a Joe Lally interview from back then tht he never put in Greed. It looks like only some of the interview is available on the link for free (you may have to get a subscription to read it all)
https://substack.com/@greedzine/note/p-150000215?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2ck8a
― curmudgeon, Monday, 25 November 2024 04:37 (two weeks ago) link