200 POUND UNDERGROUND

THE KIDS ARE STILL ANGRY? WHO WUDDA THUNK IT???
Every once in awhile, some young buckaroo will try to play me some new fangled Hardcore band they think I’ll like. ‘Dude, they sound just like (fill in the blank), you’ll love it!’ The situation usually ends up with me playing the recurring role of the jaded old fart. ‘Jesus Christ! This shit is so retro they might as well be playing stand up basses and wearing pompadours!‘ I drunkenly foam into the poor kids’ face who was nice enough to play the record for me. After that, I normally go on about how forced the anger is and how their guitar sound is too thin before passing out on their couch in an inebriated clump. The sad thing is, I wanna like the stuff. I wanna believe ‘the kids’ will actually have ’their say’ one day. I’d hate to think all my finger pointing and jumping on other young boys’ heads was all in vain, y’know. And so enters Toronto Canada’s Fucked Up. I heard their name thrown around here and there among the hip Hardcore kids I’ve been known to give candy to time and time again, but never really investigated them until one of them played me one of their many seven inchers. I was immediately floored. ‘This is some legitimately pissed off shit!’ I thought. I was already too late in the game to collect all the singles they released, but luckily they’ve all (more or less) been collected on the CD format by the Deranged label with the title of ‘Epics In Minutes’. One earful is testament to the fact that Hardcore is the Blues for the alienated Suburban youth. It might be the same three chords and the same lyrics about cops and confused anger, but it’s what’s behind it that makes it what it is. The band usually keeps everything at a mid-tempo, which reminds me of the more Oi! Inspired tracks by Negative Approach. One thing is for sure, if their track ‘Police’ doesn’t make you wanna punch some random pretty person in the face and/or explode (whichever comes first) you should have your Hardcore hall pass taken away, post haste. The end of the disc contains their demo and some tracks recorded live. Both batches of jams sound so dense and distorted, you’ll think it’s some new noise joint on the Hospital label or something. Strangely, next up for the band is a seven inch on Vice (?!?) and then a full length on Jade Tree (?!?) But don’t let that deter you. This is thee angry for both the young and the old.



Check out Fucked Up’s bloggo -- http://www.lookingforgold.blogspot.com/


Other than that, I’ve had a very weird obsession with the first side of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango In The Night’ as of late. Anyone who can explain this event (‘cause god knows I can’t), please do so…