Summary
Fugazi was the new project of
Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye and Rites Of Spring's Guy Picciotto.
They abstracted hardcore punk-rock into a theatrical form of music,
whose ethical and political commitment was as deep as the aesthetic one.
MacKaye, moral ascetic and dissolute artist possessed by an otherwordly force,
was the driving engine, a sort of Jim Morrison for the hardcore generation,
propelled by a dissonant and thundering accompaniment.
The first two EPs, Fugazi (1988) and Margin Walker (1989),
which made up the album 13 Songs (1990), unleashed
monster psychological tension to fight a devouring existential fever.
The terrorist attack carried out against society by Repeater (1990)
was more cathartic than destructive, and even presented a zen-like aspect.
The two leaders and their phenomenal rhythm section devised
countless tricks to keep the tension as spasmodic as possible.
Now that he had acquired a new musical language, MacKaye indulged in
bending it like a chunk of clay to materialize his inner ghosts.
Steady Diet Of Nothing (1991), arguably their sonic masterpiece,
replaced frenzy with cinematics: songs were always in motion, typically in an
obsessive crescendo, fractured and deformed by numerous discontinuities.
In On The Kill Taker (1993) made the package more accessible by
bringing out the melody (that was hidden behind the pandemonium) and
polishing the guitar-vocals counterpoint.
Finally, Red Medicine (1995) was the transfiguration of Fugazi:
as they mastered the new art of storytelling that they had invented,
they proceeded to turn it into a classical language.
The sophisticated puzzle of timbres and arrangements, the manic dynamics of
pauses and rhythms, the acrobatic repertoire of shy litanies and strident rants
changed forever the context of hardcore music.
Full bio
(Translation from the Italian by Nicole Zimmerman)
Over the course of their career, Fugazi were one of the most important groups of the punk-rock story, aside from being the pride and joy of the music scene in Washington, DC at the time. For a decade, the group remained a bulwark of honesty and devotion, as well as intelligence and inspiration, for the rest of the bands on the rock scene. Their ethical and political contributions were on par with their artistic contributions. Fugazi transformed hard-core rock into an means of expression that was as adaptable as it was powerful - not that different from what Jim Morrison was doing with psychedelic rock. Their theatrical sound has no equal within the annals of the genre, which was created as a reaction to the theatrics of rock. Ian MacKaye had a strict moral code but an unrestrained artistic sensibility; he was also one of the more polished intellectuals of punk-rock. The group was itself, in fact, the objective of the underground career of MacKaye, that originated from his experience with the group Minor Threat, which lasted only a short time but left an indelible mark on the hard-core scene in Washington. In 1993 the group disbanded. MacKaye gathered together what was left of the group Faith (another storied group from the area), and formed the group Embrace. The songs recorded in 1985 finally appeared in the album Embrace (Dischord, 1987), and they unveiled a performer that was increasingly rousing and continually striving in his existential “preaching”. As if possessed by supernatural spirits (like Jim Morrison), MacKaye pulled from all his resources, like an actor consumed in an engaging Shakespearian solo. MacKaye recorded another single under the alias Egg Hunt before being joined by Guy Picciotto, the former band leader of Rites Of Spring, and forming Fugazi (a Vietnam-era slang expression for “fucked-up situation”), a quartet complete with 2 singers, drummer Brendan Canty (also from Rites Of Spring) and bassist Joe Lally.
The EP Fugazi (Dischord, 1988) was a hard-core milestone. The adolescent uneasiness of Minor Threat became an existential fever that burned and corroded. MacKaye’s performance was set in an apocalyptic scenario where emotions became exasperated in a beastly manner and enormous tensions cut into the psyche. Equally, the primitive and naïve hard-core of Minor Threat passed and became a complex and diversified rock, the rhythms broken in the breathless lament of an agony without end. The sarcastic shouting of MacKaye and the “war cry” made up the singular call-and-response in the general pandemonium of Waiting Room after which the rhythm section created a tense climate with a pounding staccato from the bass and the hiccupping syncopation of the keyboard (which remained one of the group's masterpieces). One can sense the influence of Clash but the sound is infinitely more violent and fragmented. Bulldog Frog merges the emotionalism of "emo-core" with the walls of sound of the MC5, repeating a verse with a psychotic tone as one would a magic spell and then exploded with a deafening emphasis. The most serene moment on the album was Bad Mouth, conducted with an almost reggae pace on a melody and a riff from power-pop. Also different was Burning, one of the most sinister and mysterious tracks on which the lyrics are sung in a vibrant manner with a surreal accompaniment from a bass that continuously repeated the same sinister sound and a keyboard that made rhythms with chopsticks, while the guitar only sounded occasionally with a casual distortion. Founded on dualism by the 2 vocalists, the sound of the quartet is weakened at times by the guitar and, paradoxically, this is what gives the sound a charge and a dynamic that was without
precedent. The guitar dominated with it's dissonances, it's repetitions and "raga" Give Me The Care, a rock track influenced by the Sonic Youth, and Suggestions, a quiet blues that renovates Led Zeppelin and Cream with punk-rock and reggae sounds.
The next EP, Margin Walker (Dischord, 1989), was more timid: a resurgence of hard-core in the title-track and in Lockdown, which became weakened in And The Same, an experiment along the lines of Sonic Youth and Gang Of Four. The essence of Fugazi's music was profoundly urban: the neurotic litanies and dissonant guitar contrasted with the agility and fluidity of the rhythm section, and in a sense prudently represented the alienation, the anger, and violence of the individual with the apparent order of society. In some sense the dramatic apex of the disc is Promises, a spiritual for mechanically screamed zombie noises by the pressing method of the bass in an apocalyptic atmosphere.
These 2 EPs were united on the album 13 Songs (Dischord, 1990).
The third and preparatory EP, Three Songs (1990), contains another of the group's classics: Song Number One, on which the maturing of MacKaye on guitar was evident - the 2 vocalists counter each other gloriously, MacKaye rough and hoarse, Picciotto savage and resounding, while the guitar sets itself afire and rants in riffs increasingly epic, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix. The instrumental Joe Number One was an eerie dance, like that of the Fleshtones, in line with their apocalyptic vision of an individual continuously crushed by society. And Break-In was the most important instrumental score - fast, fierce, dragging, a concentrate of staccato at breakneck speed and
epidermal riffs. "You are not what you own", "Never mind what's been selling, it's what you're buying" and so on: these were the slogans of Repeater (Dischord, 1990), the group's first true album (the CD edition also contained the tracks from Three Songs), and one of the most revolutionary discs of rock music. Not only that the album railed against society but did it with an almost Zen-like attitude. Not only that the album invented an explosive and catastrophic sound that did not exist before but also that it became the soundtrack for the revolutionary and purging mood, and therefore gave it another dimension beyond the existential - the metaphysical music genre. The Fugazi affirmed that they were the equivalent of Bob Dylan for the generation of the 90's (while, for example, Nirvana stopped at the existential dimension). Technically the album was the archetype of all of post-punk, the benchmark that inspired all hard-core of the 90's. The Fugazi used indulging pauses, glacial accord, ringing of guitar, furious howling, and above all continual changing of scene to
accentuate the drama of the atmosphere. The more “regular” tracks are Merchandise, which fluctuates between heavy-metal and reggae, and the tribal instrumental Brendan Number One. The most captivating track was perhaps Turnover, which after an initial excitement finished in a breathless boogie. The leaders found that the group's strength was however in the tracks that, musically speaking, imparted a greater sense of catastrophic terror and solitude of the individual: in Sieve-Fisted Find, with agitation worthy of the first Pere Ubu, in Styrofoam, completely shouted as if in mortal agony, and in Blueprint, a mixture of the Velvet Underground, Stooges, and AC/DC. The earthy syncopation of Greed, the angry heavy-metal rumble of Two-Beats Off, all formed the grammar of the language of dramatic tension. Even though the confusion was excessive here and there, the vehemence still reigned supreme and redeemed even the baseless drunk (for example, in the title-track). The album sold more than 100,000 copies and almost turned the group into a record company. The fans saw in MacKaye's integrity one of the few moral examples during the 90's ("You are not what you own", he said in Merchandise). In this disc Fugazi found a legendary equilibrium between fierce passion and almost mathematical intelligence, between instinct and rationale, between poetry and engineering.
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Nell'arco della loro carriera
i Fugazi sono una delle formazioni piu` importanti dell'intera storia
del punk-rock, oltre che il faro della scena di Washington.
Per un decennio sono stati un baluardo di onesta` e devozione (oltre che
intelligenza e ispirazione) per tutta la scena rock.
Il loro contributo etico e politico e` pari a quello artistico.
Hanno trasformato l'hardcore in un veicolo espressivo tanto malleabile
quanto potente e hanno in tal modo compiuto un'operazione non troppo diversa da
quella che Jim Morrison opero` sul rock psichedelico.
La teatralita` del loro sound
non ha eguali negli annali del genere che era nato per reagire alla teatralita`
del rock. Asceta morale e artista dissoluto,
Ian MacKaye e` una delle intelligenze piu` lucide del punkrock tutto.
I Fugazi sono di fatto il traguardo della lunga carriera underground di
MacKaye, che proveniva dall'esperienza dei
Minor Threat, un gruppo durato
una stagione brevissima ma che lascio` un segno
indelebile sulla scena hardcore di Washington.
Nel 1983 il gruppo si sciolse. Ian MacKaye raccolse i resti dei
Faith, un altro dei gruppi storici della zona e diede vita agli Embrace. I brani
registrati nel 1985, e apparsi postumi su Embrace (Dischord, 1987),
mostrano un performer sempre piu` trascinante e sempre piu` proteso nelle sue
prediche esistenziali. Posseduto da spiriti soprannaturali come Jim Morrison,
MacKaye da` fondo a tutte le sue risorse, come un attore consumato di teatro
impegnato in un assolo shakespeariano.
MacKaye registro` ancora un singolo sotto lo pseudonimo di Egg Hunt, poi si uni`
a Guy Picciotto, ex leader dei Rites Of Spring, e formo` i Fugazi (espressione
slang per "fucked-up situation"), un quartetto con due cantanti completato da
Brendan Canty (altro ex Rites Of Spring) alla batteria e Joe Lally al basso.
L'EP Fugazi (Dischord, 1988) e` un'opera miliare dell'hardcore.
L'inquietudine adolescenziale dei Minor Threat e` diventata
una febbre esistenziale che brucia e corrode. La pantomina di MacKaye e` ora
ambientata in uno scenario apocalittico, dove le emozioni sono esasperate in
maniera bestiale e tensioni mostruose lacerano la psiche.
Di pari passo l'hardcore primitivo e naif dei Minor Threat e` diventato un rock
complesso e variegato, le filastrocche tutte d'un fiato si sono spezzate nel
lamento affannato di un'agonia senza fine.
Lo shout sarcastico di MacKaye e il coro guerrigliero compongono un singolare
call-and-response nel pandemonio generale di
Waiting Room dopo che la sezione
ritmica ha creato un clima di tensione con lo staccato martellante del basso e
le sincopi a singhiozzo della batteria (rimarra` uno dei loro capolavori).
Si intuisce una qualche influenza dei
Clash, ma il sound e` infinitamente piu` violento e frammentato.
Bulldog Front sposa l'emotivita` dell'"emo-core" con i muri del suono degli
MC5, ripetendo un verso con tono psicotico come se fosse una formula magica e
poi esplodendo con un'enfasi assordante.
Il momento piu` sereno dell'album e` Bad Mouth, condotta a un passo quasi
reggae su una melodia e un riff da powerpop.
Ancora diversa e` Burning, uno dei brani piu` sinistri e misteriosi, in cui
il testo viene cantato in maniera vibrante con l'accompagnamento surreale di un
basso che ripete sempre la stessa sinistra figura e un batterista che tiene
il
ritmo con le bacchette, mentre la chitarra si limita ad emettere di quando in
quando qualche distorsione casuale.
Essendo fondato sul dualismo dei due cantanti, il sound del quartetto e` debole
talvolta
di chitarra, e, paradossalmente, cio` infonde al sound una carica e una dinamica
senza precedenti. E` la chitarra invece a dominare con le sue dissonanze, le
sue ripetizioni e i suoi "raga" Give Me The Care, un brano rock influenzato
dai Sonic Youth, e Suggestions, un blues in sordina che aggiorna Led Zeppelin
e Cream al punkrock e al reggae.
Il successivo EP, Margin Walker (Dischord, 1989), e` appena piu`
timido: un rigurgito di hardcore nella title-track e in Lockdown
viene attenuato da And The Same, un esperimento fra
Sonic Youth e Gang Of Four.
L'essenza dei Fugazi e` comunque quella di una musica
profondamente urbana: le litanie nevrotiche e il chitarrismo dissonante
contrastano con l'agilita` e la fluidita` della sezione ritmica, e in tal modo
ben rappresentano l'alienazione, la rabbia e la violenza dell'individuo
nell'apparente ordine della societa`. In tal senso l'apice drammatico del disco
e` Promises, uno spiritual per zombie urlato meccanicamente sull'incalzare
metodico del basso in un'atmosfera apocalittica.
I due EP verranno riuniti sull'album 13 Songs (Dischord, 1990).
Il terzo EP preparatorio, Three Songs (1990),
contiene un altro dei loro
classici, Song Number One, in cui e` evidente la maturazione di MacKaye come
chitarrista: i due cantanti si contrappuntano gloriosamente, MacKaye gutturale
e sgolato, Picciotto selvaggio e reboante, mentre la chitarra s'infiamma e
delira in riff sempre piu` epici fino a ricordare Jimi Hendrix.
Lo strumentale Joe Number One e` una danse macabre alla Fleshtones in linea
con la loro visione apocalittica di un individuo sempre piu` schiacciato dalla
societa`. E Break-In e` un modello di partitura strumentale veloce, feroce,
trascinante, un concentrato di staccato a rotta di collo e di riff epidermici.
"You are not what you own", "Never mind what's been selling, it's what you're
buying" e cosi` via: questi furono gli slogan di
Repeater (Dischord, 1990), il primo album vero e proprio
(la cui edizione su CD comprende Three Songs),
uno dei dischi piu` rivoluzionari della musica rock.
Non solo l'album si scagliava contro la societa`, ma lo faceva con un
atteggiamento quasi zen. Non solo l'album invento` un sound dirompente
e catastrofico che non esisteva prima, ma ne fece la colonna sonora di
quell'umore rivoluzionario e catartico, e diede pertanto una dimensione
non solo esistenziale ma anche metafisica a un genere musicale.
I Fugazi si affermarono, insomma, come l'equivalente di Bob Dylan per la
generazione degli anni '90 (mentre, per esempio, i Nirvana si erano fermati
alla dimensione esistenziale).
Tecnicamente, l'album e` il capostipite dell'intero
post-punk, il riferimento a cui si ispirera` tutto l'hardcore degli anni '90.
I Fugazi accentuano ulteriormente la drammaticita` delle atmosfere,
indulgendo in pause, accordi glaciali, scampanellii di chitarra, urla
furibonde, e soprattutto continui cambiamenti di scena.
I brani formalmente piu` regolari sono Merchandise, che oscilla fra heavymetal
e reggae, e lo strumentale tribale Brendan Number One.
Il piu` accattivante e` forse
Turnover che, dopo un inizio concitato, si lancia in un boogie a perdifiato.
Dove i leader trovano la misura giusta e` pero` nei brani che meglio rendono
musicalmente il senso catastrofico di spavento e solitudine dell'individuo: in
Sieve-Fisted Find, con una concitazione degna dei primi Pere Ubu,
in Styrofoam, tutta urlata come in uno spasimo mortale,
e in Blueprint, fra Velvet Underground, Stooges e AC/DC.
Le sincopazioni telluriche di Greed,
il cupo rimbombo heavymetal di Two-Beats Off
formano la grammatica di un linguaggio della tensione drammatica.
Se qua e la` la confusione e` eccessiva, la veemenza regna ancora sovrana
e redime anche i baccanali piu` gratuiti (per esempio nella title-track).
L'album vende piu` di centomila copie e diventa un caso discografico.
I fans vedono nell'integerrimo ethos di MacKaye uno dei pochi riferimenti
morali degli anni '90 ("You are not what you own", dice in Merchandise).
In questo disco i Fugazi trovano un leggendario equilibrio fra passione feroce
e intelligenza quasi matematica, fra istinto e razionalita`, fra poesia e
ingegneria.
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Steady Diet Of Nothing confirms Fugazi's inexhaustible repertoire of musical
drama, enriched here with new expressive forms that concentrate in depth on
the possibilities of American hardcore. The Sonic Youth-esque "Reclamation"
and the maelstrom of wild distortion and tribal pulsation on the title track
hover in hallucinatory climates, at once defying hardcore convention and
staying rooted in the techniques of rock. Sounds go adrift into an ocean of
brutality, much in the vein of Big Black.
Co-frontman Ian MacKaye experiments with a new rock language, in which songs
are always in motion (typically in an obsessive crescendo, fractured and
deformed by numerous discontinuities). "Nice New Outfit" is the most melodic
song on the album, but nonetheless awash in a frenzied and tribal sound.
"KYEO," a more driving track, is marked by his hysterical quiver.
They are all attempts to build music even more diagonal, less linear and more
and more therapeutically shocking. Sonic Youth's influence is particularly
conclusive here, in the way Fugazi mixes rock and dissonance.
Fugazi return to more traditional hardcore elsewhere, but still with a dark,
paranoid expressiveness. "Exit Only" alternates from jumpy syncopations in
the style of the Pere Ubu to violent boogies, while "Runaway Return" exploits the
band's arsenal of howls, breaks, progressions and repetitions, and
"Latin Roots" is devastated by thundering phrases of all the instruments.
To emerge in these storms of wagnerian intensity, the voices of our two
"actors" must scream out of their mind, abdicating to any aesthetic ambition.
Not less appealing is the ghostly "Long Division", accompanied only by bass
and guitar.
Fugazi's lucid understanding of the dynamics of hardcore music leads them
to new heights of physical, moral and spiritual expression with what is
arguably their sonic masterpiece.
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L'anno dopo Steady Diet Of Nothing (1991) conferma il repertorio
inesauribile di trucchi drammatici, che si arricchisce anzi di disco in disco
di nuove forme espressive, continuando a lavorare in profondita` sulle qualita`
psicanalitiche del rock.
La tempesta di chitarrismi Sonic Youth di Reclamation e il maelstrom di
distorsioni brade e di battiti tribali della title-track si librano in climi
di tensione ancor piu` allucinata, facendo un uso tanto estremo quanto
anti-convenzionale delle tecniche musicali del rock.
Il sound va alla deriva nell'oceano di brutalita` dei Big Black.
Anche nei brani formalmente piu` semplici MacKaye sperimenta
un nuovo linguaggio rock, in cui la canzone e` sempre
in movimento (tipicamente in un crescendo ossessivo, ma "fratturato",
deformato da innumerevoli discontinuita`): la piu` melodica del lotto,
Nice New Outfit, e` immersa in sonorita` esagitate e tribali;
la piu` trascinante, KYEO, e` percorsa da fremiti isterici.
Sono tutti tentativi di costruire qualcosa di ancora piu` "diagonale", di
sempre meno lineare e sempre piu` terapeuticamente shockante.
E i Sonic Youth, in particolare il loro modo di mescolare rock and roll e
dissonanze, costituiscono certamente un'influenza determinante.
Rinnovano i fasti del teatro hardcore dei due cantanti/attori, ma con una
tonalita` ancor piu` oscura, paranoica, espressionista, Exit Only, che alterna
un incedere sincopato in stile Pere Ubu a violente scariche boogie,
Runaway Return, che sfrutta tutto l'arsenale di urla, pause, progressioni e
ripetizioni, e Latin Roots, devastata da frasi tuonanti di tutti gli
strumenti. Per farsi largo in queste tempeste di una magniloquenza wagneriana
le voci dei due "attori" devono sgolarsi come nell'hardcore, rinunciando del
tutto a qualsiasi ambizione estetica. Suggestiva e` anche la spettrale
Long Division, che e` accompagnata soltanto da basso e batteria.
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(Translation from the Italian by Nicole Zimmerman)
The rage of Fugazi seemed inexhaustible. In On The Kill Taker (Dischord, 1993) concedes nothing: it was another determined attack. The songs even renounced the experimental architecture of the two previous albums and concentrated only on the energy. This album made excitement a mode of expression. The level of violence was more elevated in compensation for the hyper-neurotic atmosphere of the preceding discs that were more subdued. The album was the most accessible of Fugazi's career (as in the melodic and syncopated Public Witness Program), an album in which the energy was not limited to a few explosions but channeled into noble songs of freedom (as on Facet Squared , a fearless attack with a pow-wow style rhythm).
Conscious of the limits of this form of expression, the group was probably in search of a new sound, as demonstrated by the intermittent signs at the start of Facet Squared (and the tribalism that followed), the endless distortion that made up framework of 23 Beats Off, and the instrumental Sweet And Low, that drowned their volatile sound in abandonment, with a (relatively) relaxed, almost jazz-like sound.
Fugazi was in danger of parroting fIREHOSE, as understood in singable compositions that were aggressive, dramatic, and at the same time innovative like Smallpox Champion and Cassavetes. Their best tracks remained near to the style of Big Black, such as Rend It or Walken's Syndrome, where the group lost control of their emotionality and MacKaye screamed as a wolf howls at the moon, but without surrendering the harmonic quest to "classicism", of this rock style without confines.
Fugazi created a group of eclectic EPs, from the grim expressionism of Repeater, to the Wagnerian (as in Richard Wagner) power of Steady Diet Of Nothing. Meanwhile, the composure of In On The Kill Taker signaled their point of arrival; each album more valuable than the last.
A world of new sounds populated Red Medicine (Dischord, 1995), a more sophisticated work. The listener can hear a bit of John Zorn and Black Flag, Minutemen and acid-rock, and even Can and Beethoven. The group mixed sophisticated inflections and arrangements, played around with pause and rhythm, and slow and twisted sing-song. Fugazi seemed to have learned more from the pop experiments of Unrest and Tsunami than from their own legendary past. An irresistible hiccupping pulse and a violent strumming like that of Sonic Youth propelled their single Do You Like Me; but the track was deceptive, in that the rest of the disc was immersed in dissonant harmonies that were disordered, dispersive, and depressing, like the crime dramas of the 90's. This was rather like Mark Stewart of the Mafia period and David Thomas but more distraught and with a sparse and unkempt accompaniment.
The tired dirge Fell Destroyed, the psychotic rhyme Birthday Pony, and the rambling recitation Latest Disgrace, did not repeat the same pattern with the instrumental scores that, in the past, limited the background scene to an outline and the subject to a black and white sketch. Long Distance Runner summarized all the symptoms of their "disease": the desolate feeling from the singer, the drummer more affectively beating the drum, and above all the pauses filled with the mournful rumbling of the bass.
*This hard-core quartet reached maximum sophistication with the instrumental Version: a subdued Native American tribalism where the drummer played a sleepy drumbeat and the saxophones wailed like sirens. On their calibrated synthesis Target: the guitar played what sounded like the theme of an equestrian circus, it had an intense boogie alla Lou Reed, an uproar like Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones), and a horrid version of the stereotypical hard-rock riff.
They started fresh in By You (along the lines of When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin), which helped them the most in building the atmosphere (of terror, paranoia, and psychosis) for the story by Picciotto. This album was an exemplary testament of how the inharmonious shout of hard-core kept slipping towards the syncopated diction of rap, like the unbridled rhythm of a machine gun reincarnated as the hypnotic pounding of a drumbeat.
The down side was that Fugazi did not forget their stratospheric progressions that made them a force to reckon with and made them famous: the epic anger of Back To Base, with the typical furious rhythms and acidic notes from the guitar, and the hoarse rap by way of wild guitar flourish in Bed For The Scraping, which was affixed almost as a warning. This album did not seem as if it came from the same group. Fugazi reinvented themselves, as did the Doors, in L.A. Woman: drawing on tradition but with a grumpy and desolate mood that completely transfigured them.
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La bile dei Fugazi sembra inesauribile.
In On The Kill Taker (Dischord, 1993) non concede nulla: e` un altro
attacco a testa bassa. Le canzoni rinunciano persino alle architetture
sperimentali dei due album precedenti e si concentrano soltanto sull'energia.
Questo album fa della concitazione un modello espressivo.
Se il livello di violenza e` persino piu` elevato, in compenso si attenuano
le atmosfere iper-nevrotiche del disco precedente.
Finisce anzi per essere il disco piu` accessibile della carriera dei Fugazi
(vedi la melodica e sincopata Public Witness Program), l'opera in cui
l'energia non e` stata compressa in una serie di esplosioni terroristiche ma
incanalata in nobili canti di liberta` (su tutti Facet Squared, con il suo
spaventoso attacco a passo di pow-wow).
Conscio dei limiti della propria forma espressiva,
il gruppo e` probabilmente alla ricerca di nuove sonorita`, come dimostrano
il segnale intermittente che apre Facet Squared (e il tribalismo che ne
consegue), l'interminabile distorsione che costituisce l'ossatura di
23 Beats Off, e lo strumentale Sweet And Low, che annega il loro sound
convulso in strutture dimesse, (relativamente) rilassate, quasi jazz.
Il pericolo e` quello di rifare il verso ai fIREHOSE, come capita in
composizioni cantabili, aggressive, drammatiche e al tempo stesso innovative
come Smallpox Champion e Cassavetes.
Il meglio rimane dunque nei paraggi dei Big Black, come Rend It o
Walken's Syndrome, quando
il gruppo perde il controllo della propria emotivita` e MacKaye urla
al suo destino come un lupo alla luna, peraltro senza rinunciare alle
conquiste armoniche, al "classicismo", di questo rock senza confini.
Rispetto ai Fugazi scapigliati degli EP, al truce espressionismo di Repeater,
alla potenza wagneriana di Steady Diet Of Nothing, la compostezza di
In On The Kill Taker segnala un punto d'arrivo; ma la classifica dei valori
segue l'ordine cronologico.
Un universo intero di suoni nuovi popola
Red Medicine (Dischord, 1995), lavoro ancor piu` raffinato.
Ci sono John Zorn e Black Flag,
Minutemen e acid-rock, persino Can e
Beethoven.
Il gruppo scodella
impasti sofisticati di timbri e di arrangiamenti, giochi di pause e di ritmi,
lente e contorte cantilene. I Fugazi sembrano aver imparato piu` dagli
esperimenti sul pop di Unrest e
Tsunami
che dal proprio leggendario passato.
Una irresistibile cadenza a singhiozzo e un violente schitarrate alla
Sonic Youth
propellono il singolo, Do You Like Me; ma il brano e` fuorviante, in
quanto il resto del disco e` immerso in armonie dissonanti, disordinate e
dispersive, e in un clima lugubre, da film noir degli anni '90, fra il
Mark Stewart
del periodo Maffia e il
David Thomas
piu` stralunato, con accompagnamento sparuto e trasandato.
La nenia stanca di Fell Destroyed, la filastrocca psicotica di Birthday
Pony, la recitazione sconnessa di Latest Disgrace non fanno che ripetere lo
stesso schema, con la partitura strumentale che si limita ad abbozzare lo sfondo
del quadro e il soggetto schizzato in bianco e nero.
Long Distance Runner riassume tutti i sintomi della malattia: il piglio
desolato del canto, la batteria sempre piu` leziosamente dub, e soprattutto le
pause atroci riempite dal borbottio funebre del basso.
Il massimo della raffinatezza questo quartetto da camera hardcore lo tocca nello
strumentale Version: un tribalismo pellerossa in lontananza, la batteria che
intona il suo sonnambulo dub e sassofoni che strillano a mo` di sirene.
Altrettanto calibrata la sintesi di Target: chitarra che accenna un motivetto
da circo equestre, carica boogie alla Lou Reed, baraonda alla Brown Sugar
(Rolling Stones), e una brutta copia di un riff stereotipato di hard-rock.
Anche le bordate a cascata e il passo da bulldozer di By You (sulla falsariga
di When The Levee Breaks dei Led Zeppelin) servono piu` che altro a costruire
un'atmosfera (di terrore, paranoia, psicosi) per il racconto di Picciotto.
Questo disco e` testamento esemplare di come lo shout amelodico dell'hardcore
stia scivolando verso la dizione sincopata del rap, di come la sfrenata
mitraglia ritmica si stia reincarnando nel battito ipnotico del dub.
Il lato cattivo della gang non ha comunque dimenticato le progressioni
stratosferiche che la resero celebre e temuta: la rabbia epica di
Back To Base, con le tipiche scontrosita` ritmiche e le stecche acidissime
delle chitarre, e il rap sgolatissimo su un arpeggio folle della chitarra di
Bed For The Scraping sono apposti quasi a monito.
Questo album non sembra neppure parente dei primi dischi.
I Fugazi sono riusciti a re-inventarsi un po' come c'erano riusciti di Doors di L.A. Woman: attingendo alla tradizione ma con un umore scontroso e desolato che la trasfigura completamente.
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Overproduced and layered with sonic tricks,
End Hits (Dischord, 1998) wants to reaffirm Fugazi's modernity but
ends up sounding like an unusually (for them) unsophisticated work, as if
the leaders had assembled it during lunch breaks at work.
Certainly, nobody can accuse Fugazi of indulging in routine: even the
powerful Break and the instrumental Arpeggiator hardly
recall the band's old style (Caustic Acrostic and Place Position
get closer). Experiments rule, but not the well integrated kind of experiment
that turned Red Medicine into a bridge between past and future:
these "end hits" rather build a huge gap.
Closed Captioned and Recap Modotti are dotted with
electronica, funk and dub.
Floating Boy, Pink Frosty, No Surprise revolve in a
universe of dislocated harmony that would steal the show on a
post-rock epic.
Picciotto also fronted the Cranium on
A New Music for a New Kitchen (Slowdime, 1998).
Ostensibly, Instrument (Dischord, 1999) is merely the soundtrack to
a rock documentary on Fugazi, but these mostly instrumental pieces confirm
the transition to a somewhat calmer and apolitical aesthetic.
For whatever reason, Picciotto and McKaye became convinced that Fugazi is a
top-notch guitar band. Like the previous album,
The Argument (Discord, 2001) is mainly a display
of guitar counterpoint, Which is not necessarily bad,
but it certainly isn't the reason Fugazi existed.
However, the personal/political dramas (Strangelight,
Life and Limb, Argument)
benefit from the slower, less intense approach in that their epos is now
closer to the everyman than to the everypunk.
The low-life vignette of
Cashout is to hardcore what the Kinks were to Merseybeat (with a touch
of cello, courtesy of Amy Domingues)
Actually, the harder edge of Nightshop, Full Disclosure and
Ex-spectator sounds trite.
The single Furniture, released at the same time as the album, is a
poppy affair that further confuses the trail.
Ataxia
is collaboration between
Fugazi's bassist Joe Lally,
percussionist Josh Klinghoffer and guitarist
John Frusciante.
The Evens (Dischord, 2005) is a collaboration between
Ian McKaye and drummer Amy Farina,
an album of lo-fi rage (vocals, guitar and drums) but often fuming tracks,
particularly You Won't Feel A Thing, All These Governors.
The project was continued on Get Evens (2006), that was, again,
more of a political than musical artifact.
Fugazi's bassist Joe Lally launched a solo career with
There To Here (2006) and
Nothing is Underrated (2007).
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Gualtiero Sbandi)
Superprodotto e stratificato con trucchi sonici,End Hits (Dischord,1998)
vuole riaffermare la modernita' dei Fugazi ma finisce col sembrare un insolito
(per loro) album semplicistico,come se i componenti l'avessero assemblato
durante le pause-pranzo di lavoro.Di sicuro pero' nessuno puo' accusare
i Fugazi di compiacersi della routine:anche se la potente "Break" e la
strumentale "Arpeggiator" richiamano lontanamente il vecchio stile della
band (E "Caustic Acrostic" e "Place Position" vi sono ancor piu' vicine).Gli
esperimenti dominano,ma non il ben integrato tipo di sperimentazione che
ha trasformato Red Medicine in un ponte tra passato e futuro:queste
"end hits" piuttosto scavano una grossa lacuna."Closed Captioned" e "Recap
Modotti" sono puntellate di elettronica,funk e dub."Floating Boy","Pink
Frosty","No Surprise" girano in un universo di armonie sconnesse che ruberebbero
la scena in un post-rock epico.
Instrument (Dischord,1999) e` dichiaratamente niente piu` che la
colonna sonora di un documentario rock sui Fugazi, ma queste tracce per lo piu'
strumentali confermano la transizione verso un qualche cosa di piu' tranquillo
e un'estetica apolitica.
(Translation by/ Tradotto da Walter Romano)
Per qualche ragione, Picciotto e McKaye si convinsero che i Fugazi fossero una "top-notch guitar band". Come l’album precedente, The Argument (2001) è perlopiù un’esibizione di contrappunto chitarristico, che non è necessariamente un male, ma non è la ragione dell’esistenza della band. Comunque, i drammi politico/personali (Strangelight, Life and Limb, Argument) traggono beneficio dall’approccio più lento, meno intenso in cui il loro epos è ora più vicino ad ogni uomo, non più (solo) ad ogni punk. Cashout sta all’hardcore come i Kinks stavano al Merseybeat (con un tocco di cello, grazie Amy Domingues). Oggi anche il punto più duro di Nightshop, Full Disclosure e Ex-spectator appare banale.
Il singolo Furniture, realizzato nello stesso periodo dell’album, confonde ulteriormente le tracce.
Ataxia è una collaborazione tra il bassista dei Fugazi Joe Lally, il percussionista Josh Klinghoffer e il chitarrista John Frusciante.
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