Fucked Up photo courtesy of Matador Records
I knew Fucked Up was special the moment I saw that in the third hour of their marathon 12 hour show they held in NYC years ago, Moby (yes, this Moby) joined them on stage to tear through Blitzkrieg Bop. I wish I had paid closer attention to this band from that moment onwards, but it was the Fall of 2008, I had fallen out of love with hardcore and Bon Iver's spare sadness fit the mood of moving back into your parents house. I would have never guessed that these barely tattooed Torontonians would be the ones to help me fall in love with hardcore again.
Fucked Up accomplishes this not by riding a wave of nostalgia for a musical equivalent of a raw nerve. Instead, the six piece act explores post-hardcore punks boundaries to create the most thoughtful narrative-driven albums this side of prog-rock. Their 2011 release, David Comes to Life, has meta-textual layers and twists in store for the listener should they choose to embark on a journey through all 18 of it's tracks. But even if you only commit to trying out a few songs, the exuberant brilliance found in the tracks "Queen of Hearts" and "The Other Shoe" will undoubtedly keep you listening for the next 18 tracks. This album landed near the top of every music publication's top 10 for 2011 list for a reason.
They're currently on tour for their newest release, the surprisingly brief (in comparison to everything else) Glass Boys. With anthemic guitars setting the atmosphere and the masterful rhythm from the drums, tracks like "Paper the House" (which you can listen to after the jump) and "Sun Glass" might leave some listeners saying this isn't real hardcore, but even the greatest punk purist or phobic person would agree that Fucked Up did not fuck up rock.
Fucked Up are playing the Casbah tonight with Tijuana Panthers, Ghetto Blaster, and Subtropics. Tickets are still available here and at the doors, which open at 9pm.
ET
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