05.26.2011 04:36 PM

Fucked Up: David Comes To Life

SFH goes back into the studio tonight, recording our latest masterpiece, WDYHM (Why Do You Hate Me).  To get tuned up for that, I spun some Fucked Up – and then, coincidentally enough, started to read the new Spin.  Wherein the Toronto hardcore band’s ‘David Comes To Life’ LP – which is slated to be released early next month – garners nine stars out of ten.  I have been reading Spin since the start, and I can’t recall ever seeing that before.

Listen to some of what they say:

“The band’s maximalistic approach means that even the most ostensibly straightforward task — writing a collection of songs about love — becomes a huge undertaking, as evidenced by David Comes to Life, Fucked Up’s third studio album and first kinda-sorta musical. An 18-song bildungsroman that runs nearly 80 minutes, David is alarmingly caustic, disarmingly graceful, and loaded with all sorts of unnecessary lyrical twists and fake-outs. It’s one 
of the most overly complicated hard-rock records 
of the past ten years. It’s also one of the best…

That such moments orbit a nebulously structured narrative doesn’t really matter — 
a leaner, more logical band wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting; and besides, David‘s epochal enough as it as. For years, numerous hacks — yours truly included — have been tossing around the phrase “post-hardcore” with little care, diluting an already amorphous term by throwing it at any group with speedy time signatures and a few effects pedals. Fucked Up, though, have finally provided a proper definition, with a sound that pushes hardcore out of the VFW halls and basement shows and into the arena. 
Can’t wait to see how their name looks 
on the marquee.”

I can’t wait to hear it.  In the meantime, here’s their first official video, of ‘Crooked Head.’  Epic.

6 Comments

  1. eattv says:

    Thanks for the post. The guitars remind me a lot of Husker Du circa Zen Arcade.

  2. Philip says:

    I like it alot! Reminds me of the beautiful train wreck that was the Replacements live show, mixed with some Screaming Trees. I’ll definitely pick their album up. Thanks for the heads up.

  3. Really good.

    Thanks.

  4. Jon Powers says:

    So, Spin magazine is still trying to be super cool. 9 stars out of 10. Yawn. The truth is, Fucked Up kinda sucks. Their previous album The Chemistry of Common Life = most over-hyped, over-rated album of all time. (No Epiphany was good, I’ll grant you that.) They are the total punk cliche, right down to the unmarketable name. People – just because a band is Canadian, doesn’t mean you have to like it. Moby is a huge Fucked Up fan, which should tell you all you need to know about them. But hey, that’s just my opinion. My apologies to all the FU fans I’ve just offended.

    • chrisnail says:

      It’s obvious you don’t get them at all, hey, you don’t have to. However, if you could call them a punk cliche, it’s also obvious that you know little about them (or punk), so maybe you shouldn’t speak as is if you do…just sayin’ Sure, with a name like Fucked Up they won’t be able to gain a Bieber level of success but I’m pretty sure they’re okay with that. Otherwise, they have been able to do a very impressive job of marketing (how could Chem Com be “most over-hyped, over-rated album of all time” otherwise?) thus far. Moby’s also a fan of Mission of Burma, ‘nuf said. Hey, J Mascis is a huge fan too, should that also tell us all we need to know about Fucked Up?

      *attn moderator: please delete duplicate posting*

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