I’m doing a Fugazi album chronological listen just cause I haven’t for ages. I assume what I’m listening to here is Chad Clark’s (aka @beautypill) master. It really still sounds so fantastic this album.

I think if the production and general mix of this record wasn’t exactly as it is, I might not have got into the band so easily as I did.

There are plenty of concessions to production; a big meaty kick, the occasional ringing plate reverb on the snares, and tons of warm…

…(but not thunderous) low end (thanks Chad), as well as various dropped-in vocal ad libs and doubles, but when I first began to listen to them around 2001-ish, it felt ‘live’ enough to me to provide a contrast with a lot of the contemporary guitar music that sloshed around me…

…which I felt had strayed so far from feeling like music *played by people* that I scarcely saw the point in listening to much of it.

It still feels like that to me now. It’s a ‘proper studio album’ in every way, but it absolutely *oozes* personality.

In fact, I think I can trace my still firmly held principle of Personality and Conviction being the two greatest assets a vocalist can possess back to this album. Both vocalists (well, there are three in a way) in the band have that quality whereby the performance is delivered…

…absolutely *perfecty*, but without mapping onto a conventional 12-tone tuning system. Echoes of the hollering style of someone like Nick Cave, but far, far more relatable. When you consider that, at the time, youngsters like me were being served up music from bands like…

…Green Day, Blink 182, NOFX and evening gnarly *looking* bands like Rancid (all v good) who’d had their vocal performances stretched over a 12-tone cypher, with all the peaks and troughs personal to the vocalist nipped and tucked away, Fugazi were really…

…exactly the band I needed to hear, and I’m so delighted that I did.

Anyhoo, if you’re new to Fugazi, I think it’s probably best that, like me, you begin here. I don’t think it’s their pinnacle (I actually think, perhaps with the odd exception, they got consistently better at communicating their musical message) but it’s a really fantastic LP.

It’s also worth having a read along with the lyrics if you have the inclination. Ian MacKaye is one of the great American lyricists and, if you’ve fallen into the trap of buying that he’s shoving his ideas down your throat, the lyrics will quickly disabuse you of that idea.

“Everybody's talking about their hometown scenes And hurting people's feelings in their magazines You
Want to know what it all means?
It's nothing”

Right, Steady Diet, here we go.

I’m pretty tipsy for this one, so apologies for anything concerning typos and so on.

This has a reputation as being ‘the dry Fugazi album’ even amongst members of the the band, but I’ve always felt a real impact of the songs on the record.

Recalmaitiaon. A bassline, and a real thumping drumbeat, and all these tingling harmonics on one of the guitars. This was something I never knew was possible, and it felt revolutionary to me.

Then followed to this rapidly picked melody. I can only compare it to a kind of mandolin playing approach, but I associate it Intimately with Fugazi.

Nice New Outfit. God, considering that that is the ‘boring’ record, it has a strong hit-rate. This tune is a big deal for me. That thing of not playing many chords on the guitar.
Alan carries that wholesale into @DownIGo, where virtually no chords are played.

Stacks! This is a classic Fugazi tune. The tempo, and the beautiful MacKaye-ish terms ‘America is just a word, but I use it’ and ‘language keeps me locked and repeated’ are just fantastic. I think they played this a lot live.

Holy shit, this is such a great album. I think the things the band didn’t like about it are the things I live about it. It’s so *accurate*. You feel like you’re sat in the room.

Latin Roots. Both a classic Guy vocal and a classic beautiful chorus. Lots of disparate elements in the verse, then a beautiful, coherent chorus. That’s good song, that.

That key change at the end! Why does anyone ever listen to any other band?

Steady Diet. This is a bit of an incongruous jam on this one, but it’s killing. Those bends! It’s all about the bends! Guy!

Long Division feels like another classic. This album really frames Brendan’s playing so perfectly. Yes, it’s dry, but you can hear all the playing. They really don’t put a foot wrong. Listening back, it’s a real favourite of mine.

“OUT OF THE ASHTRAY!
INTO THE ASHTRAY!”

The thing of having a first iteration with partial elements of the chorus, which is followed by all the lyrics might be unique to ‘Runaway Return’ as far as I know. It’s HUGELY effective, especially followed by the very quiet instrumental section. Really beautiful.

Polish feels like a bit of a nothing, but it isn’t. This whole album really hammers what this band is about and, as a listener, who knew they’d probably never catch a gig, I really appreciated all this. All the dynamics, and the harmonic take, they were all firmly in place.

‘Dear Justice Letter’. I think this is where I properly fell in love with Guy Picciotto. He’s still my byword for quality. In many musical ways.

“There goes the kiss-off”

It’s a wee bit quiet this record, but I know that’s part of the band’s issue with it. They tried to make something too accurate and in-messed-with.

I aprrwciate that though. There’s so much Fugazi in the playing that the production is secondary.

One thing I really love with Fugazi is their intimate love and commitment to the dominant 7th interval. It’s a completely defining factor in how they sound, but they use it very subtly.

Right then, In On the Kill Taker.

It’s a very Fugazi-ish opening. Mysterious feedback sounds fading in, then exploding into a thumping groove in Facet Squared. Ian is absolutely *roaring* in this song. Like, it’s a real opining statement. He sounds like a giant.

Then straight into a song with Guy singing in track two. He sounds wiry and restless. He has a kind of high-sharpness, caffeinated quality to the way he does things musically, to me.

They might be at their peak of being difficult to understand diction wise on this record. It is, nevertheless, a corker. There have been many moments where this has been my favourite of their records.

Before you know it, we’re into Returning the Screw. Minimalist, quiet, Ian practically whispering in the opening verse. A lot of that production stuff I mentioned about Repeater above really comes to fruition in this record. You couldn’t make an album this dynamic and record it…

…like a metal album or a pop punk album. And being dynamic is so central to everything going on.

The leap between this album and the last is giant. They feel properly, legitimately unique by this stage. I know preparing to make the album was a bit of an ordeal, and they demoed pretty much the entire thing with Steve Albini (you can probably find the demos online) before…

…returning to Don Zientara at Inner Ear in DC. In any case, they seriously sound like they know what they’re doing here. Guy’s guitar playing is now really central to how things sound too.

I mean, those weird, revving sounds he’s making on Smallpox Champion. I never even realised that *was* a guitar when I first heard this album. He has this fluid, atonal approach to textural and extended techniques that’s magic. It sounds like his singing.

Acapella Guy in the opening of Rend It as well. They’ve liked a large negative space from the beginning, but having the first half verse *entirely* unaccompanied is a part of the fearless tone of this record. It’s immense.

Hit rate wise, it really does have a legit claim to being their most accomplished record I think. It doesn’t let up. It’s so intense, dynamic, groovy. And those vocal dynamics. Everything from a whisper to a scream.

The segue between Rend It and 23 Beats Off too. Pure accomplishment.

Spoken verse from Ian. It’s all new stuff, and it just comes thick and fast.

I’ve never heard a band do a mesmeric groove like the one at the beginning of this song who weren’t pretty openly copying the band.

It’s a fascinating song too. It’s basically a straight builder, but once it’s done with an idea, it doesn’t return to it; it goes Idea 1, Idea 2, and then this instrumental flamming drum solo type of thing, wreathed in guitar feedback. It’s the kind of thing they’re famous for…

…live, but it really legitimately works in a studio environment here. A kind of minutes long noise improvisation as the coda to a song. This must have been the point that a lot of people decided they’d strayed too far from ‘Punk Rock’, but when I first heard this…

…it really felt like them distinguishing themselves. There’s a logic to arriving at squealing feedback improvisation that you can really find the groundwork for on the previous two albums.

Then straight from that cacophony into Sweet and Low, a Joe Lally groove that doesn’t just have a clever name. Totally instrumental, and pretty much a two-idea-tune. It’s stuck in my head over the years every bit as much as the songs.

It’s a low bar, but it seems neglectful to not point out how brilliant they are at playing as an ensemble. Every member is thinking about the sound of the finished product in how they play and sing.

I’m aways amazed that isn’t more common, and I think the fact it maybe isn’t has resulted in a lot of super boring drummers and bassists in certain areas (to the point that there are plenty of guitar bands where the drummer may as well not turn up to recordings these days.)

Like, nobody’s going to be triggering the snares here. No fucking WAY. It’s a million miles from any of that.

You’d Make A Great Cop. What a title! This must be a lot of people’s favourite Fugazi song. Such an amazing shout-along.

Twitter has informed me that I’m tweeting too much. Soz.

Seriously.

It means we missed out on my fascinating thoughts on the monkey noises (which I think are probably guitars) at the beginning of Walken’s Syndrome.

Last couple of tracks. Instrument is fascinating. It’s *really* slow, the chord sequence is played on the bass, it has that very Fugazi dominant 7th thing in the second guitar part, and the words are delivered in this kind of doom-laden tone. It’s like metal, but REALLY not.

Really though, typical of the kind of new ground that’s broken by this album. It’s phenomenal. I really wish i could’ve heard it on the day it came out (though I was 9 and probably wouldn’t have liked it.)

Last Chance For a Slow Dance. This is probably my favourite of their songs. There’s all this fascinating harmonic stuff going on in this tune. The fact the verse doesn’t begin on the tonic chord, and has this kind of circular, slippery vibe that skips around resolving.

Then the chorus has these jagged, shimmering, metallic guitars that come out of nowhere. The second chord of the chorus is something i’m not clever enough to work out without the aid of a piano. We’re a long way from Minor Threat at this stage, boys.

Had to pause and go and work it out.

D | Db/D

Simple but bananas.

Then the whole album gently comes to rest on this simple, slow unison melody. It really is beautiful, and I’ve never heard anyone make these sounds before.

Thanks to those who’ve indulged this thread and managed not to unfollow or mute me. This music is a huge part of my psyche, and writing about it, and finding other people to whom it’s important feels good.

Here we go. Some fantastic cacophonous noise to open with, jump-cutting into super-tight indie riffing.

As someone who grew up kind of peripherally experiencing british indie rock in the mid 90s, this album always felt like the closest Fugazi got to all that, but not in a way I find easy to put my finger on.

Might be a bit of a tempo thing. Or just a kind of ephemeral sound thing that makes it feel 90s. There’s some tambourine here and there, which adds to it.

What’s for sure is that it’s FULL of really memorable tunes and hooks. Every guitar idea on Bed for the Scraping is so strong, and they come so thick and fast.

There’s a kind of chorussy magic that happens when both guitars play the same idea in unison that feels quite specific to them. Both Guy and Ian play in a very personal, bendy way (the both play guitar in a way that sounds like how they sing, which I think is always the mark…

…of a very naturalistic, honest musician. A lot of people never get there or, I think, realise what a prize achieving that kind of ability is) that I have a feeling is the special sauce for that particular sound. It’s really massive.

Latest Disgrace. This is almost new ground for them. A very stompy pace coupled with quite a talky, narrative vocal delivery. It’s like a little opera. But then it drops into a kind of quasai metal thing in the middle section. There’s a lot of heavy stuff on this album.

That reminds me of a funny thing I heard Ian say once about Guy starting to play guitar in the band. I’m paraphrasing:
‘We were a punk band before, but when Guy started playing guitar, we were a metal band. If you have two guitars you’re a metal band.’

Birthday Pony. There was a fantastic chat with @beautypill about this track on the Fugazi A to Z podcast. I’ll link to it later. Lots of discussion about the lyrics and how open to interpretation they are.

Forensic Scene. This is another really important song to me. It has such an indelible quality, and the way it moves between sections, and builds dynamically is an absolute masterclass in song construction. It also features Guy singing actual *notes*, and is a real exercise in…

…the controlled release of energy you can achieve from a really thoughtful, virtuoso performance. It also has more of that fast-picked guitar-as-mandolin sound i mentioned above, which I adore.

On Combination Lock, you really get a window onto the drum sound on this album. Spoilers: it’s fucking great. Beautiful, warm and roomy. Absolute goals.

It’s a curious little instrumental this. Joe doing his rock solid dubby bass thing (which I haven’t discussed nearly enough. He is unique and brilliant, from the very first record) and these ideas presented one after another over the top.

Fell, Destroyed. Absolutely in the pocket example of how great this band are at playing quietly. Literally, guitars turned down *on the instruments* (which this band are SO good at using as an effect) and Brendan grooving on the rims. Fantastic, creative and quite unique.

Actually, the one other band I’ve heard do *exactly* this kind of thing in a really inspired way are Slint. Very reminiscent.

Weird, woody, atonal stuff on the chorus here too. It’s 100% a chorus you could only make without an A&R person in the room, which I guess is a giant part of the point.

By You. The intro to this is burnished on my consciousness as a watermark for perfection. I’ve aimed and and missed loads of times. Then straight into a kind of dubby, stoner groove and, very importantly JOE singing lead. Is that a first, re studio albums? I think so.

He doesn’t sing all that many songs in the catalogue, but boy, they’re important. He adds a whole other dynamic. That whole dark, stoned (probably not actually stoned, TBH) vibe. Really beautiful and subtle. Huge dynamic energy between sections on this too.

Probably the most masterful example at this point of feedback-as-an-instrument I think. They‘d got SO good at it by this stage. Really takes things into the realm of ‘sonic happening’.

Well, there we are

An awful lot of ambient studio noise at the beginning and end of songs on this record too. I was really struck by that when I first heard it.

Version. And how about that! Studio production! From a band (wrongly) known for their technological austerity. Lots of beautiful tape delay on the drums here. Also, I think Guy, playing the clarinet badly-but-brilliantly.

Not badly at all actually, but just in an intentionally naive way. Proper punk via the principles of Ornette Coleman.

Also, something happens when you play long tones on wind instruments through tape delay. A kind of audio stacking. It’s great.

Straight into Target which is tight and funky.

Contains the lyric: “…and I realise I hate the sound of guitars. A thousand grudging young millionaires.” which is one of my favourite lyrics.

Remember this came out in the mid 90s.

“If you want to seize a sound, you don’t need a reservation” sums up a lot about what the band were up against being on the ‘wrong’ (actually right) side of loud music going mainstream. A losing battle that I think they quietly, over a period of decades, won.

I always read the whole last quarter of this record as a pretty uncomplicated broadside against the excesses of the music industry in the 90s, but I think that’s partly Target setting me up and then me seeing that in the Roschach patterns of the songs that follow.

(NB, I’ve made no analysis of lyrics here or even read them, which you must with Fugazi if you want to go down that road. I’m talking about instinctive reactions, which are also important and valid in this music.)

This is their most ‘groovy’ record to this point. The bass lines are way more front and centre on almost every tune. The rhythm section really command the general tone of the album.

Closing track. Long Distance Runner. I think this one’s unique in the catalogue. It’s slow, heavy, dynamic, and has some sampled speech on it (?)

‘Verse 1’ comes in a minute and a half into the song. It’s not really a verse though, it’s not that kind of song.