Arpeggiator

I saw this clip recently on social media and was transfixed- three and half minutes of life affirming punk rock from August 1993, the mighty Washington DC band Fugazi. They were performing at The Concert For Justice on the thirtieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's March On Washington in the summer of 1963, an event attended by a racially mixed crowd of quarter of a million that showed the strength of feeling about civil rights and the desire for change. The march added to the pressure on President John F. Kennedy to enact civil rights legislation to improve the lives of the USA's African- American people. Three decades later Fugazi were part of a celebration of this, marking it in their own way with a style of music pretty much unheard of in 1963. 

Fugazi were a post- hardcore band, twin guitars, bass and drums, led by Ian MacKaye (who recently celebrated his 66th birthday, which probably why the clip was shared). Fugazi had a seething contempt for the music industry, were righteously independent and DIY and, as this clip shows, a fucking amazing live band... if you can't get some joy from watching this song, the band slamming their way through Brendan #1, then maybe there's no hope. The thumping drums, the tight rumbling bass and the interplay between MacKaye and Guy Piciotto's guitars, everyone utterly locked in and giving it their all in broad daylight and ending together on a perfectly precision timed stop- it's all thrilling. 

They followed that with Turnover, more and more of the crowd getting drawn in, the front rows bouncing up and down.

And then this one, Facet Squared, where they are in full flow. There's a girl in a purple vest top on the opposite side of the stage to the camera lost in her own world, dancing to Fugazi's fearsome racket. 

There are further songs and further clips from the gig on YouTube, well worth watching even if you don't think you're a fan of US hardcore. In 1998 I saw Fugazi at Manchester University, touring to promote their album End Hits. They were sensational and were playing Arpeggiator as we arrived, slightly late. Arpeggiator sounds like Neu! playing punk rock- life affirming, electrifying rock 'n' roll. 

I'm So Tired

Events are moving very fast at the moment- the government is reactive, constantly running to catch up with the virus. The announcement about schools yesterday means we'll all be at home from after school tomorrow. I don't feel any elation about this, there's no real joy in having time out of work under these circumstances. I feel some relief- it's been difficult coping at school this week as staffing numbers have fallen and those of us in school have been more and more stretched. Staff and children feeling anxious with an impact on the behaviour of some. Not an easy situation to manage.

Record Shop Day 2020 has been put back from April to June, another casualty of the Coronavirus. One of the announcements I was interested in from the initial lists was this single from Jennylee, Warpaint's bassist- a cover of Fugazi's 1999 song, a piano ballad from a band who played hardcore US punk. 'I'm so tired the sheep are counting me' Ian MacKaye sings before checking out with a bleak final line. Jennylee doubles the length of the song, picking out the melody on the bass and the two voices, hers and another, entwine around each other.



Back in January Warpaint sneaked a new song out on the soundtrack to a film called The Turning. The Brakes seems to be evidence that Warpaint are still a going concern and harks back to the sound of their early records, sparse and brittle but with that liquid, rolling groove and slightly stoned vocals they do so well.

The Brakes

Jennylee sang on a song on Trentemoller's album last year, a very mid- 80s synth pop homage, Depeche Mode and New Order via Copenhagen and L.A. in the 21st century. I hadn't heard this until I heard the RSD cover (or the soundtrack song) so I got three new Warpaint related songs in one go. Which is nice, as that man on The Fast Show used to say.