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“Dischord
Records was created in 1980 to document the music coming out of the Washington,
D.C. punk community. The label has put out the work of over 40 bands, and has
distributed hundreds of other releases connected to the D.C. area. We will
continue our work as long as this community continues to create music that
speaks to us. Thanks.”
This
is the introduction to the Dischord website and this is a good introduction to
this compilation as well. It should have been released two years ago but “the
process of choosing the songs, writing the text, and collecting photos and other
materials for this project turned out to be far more work than we anticipated”
explain Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson in their introductory lines.
This
compilation consists of a handsome three cd box set in which the first two cds
contain a song by each Dischord band in chronological order; the third cd is
composed of unreleased tracks and 6 live video clips; finally there is a
134-page book introducing you to all the bands and to the label (there are a lot
of photos and you can notice Ian Mac Kaye and Jeff Nelson’ change through the
years as well as the evolution of their desk, which is a bit funny). Dischord
has always been a classy label which have ethics (low prices for example) and
this compilation represents the state of mind of its dwellers (since I learnt,
among other things, that when they started the label, they moved to a house they
called ‘Dischord House”).
At
first, I was a bit disappointed by the music because I’m a big fan of Dischord
but I have to admit that I’m much more into 90’s Dischord bands than into
its 80’s precursors. In the first place, Dischord was created for Washington
DC’s hardcore scene of the early 80’s and the bands slowly evolved towards
what is known as emocore (which nowadays is unfortunately used anyhow); Fugazi
being one of the forerunners of the style. As a consequence, the first cd is
devoted to the “early” bands and the second one to the 90’s releases but a
90’s Dischord fan already have most of these songs. On the third cd entitled
“rare and unreleased”, there are mainly songs from the 80’s bands (only 4
songs from the 90’s). I was a bit disappointed at first but then this
compilation gives a trace of this particular scene thanks to the music but also
to the photos and the text that show a particular attitude and sometimes witness
a particular atmosphere (e.g. the crosses on the hands). Dischord has just been
the home of DC bands through the years (except for 2 or 3 groups out of more
than 50) and you may notice that a large circle of friends form almost all the
bands.
With
retrospect, the problem is that all these bands of the early 80’s all sounded
alike but we’ve got to keep in mind that this scene was then something new. It
came just after the punk explosion. This scene is interesting because its
elements managed to renew their music a lot through the years and always for the
best unlike other similar scenes (San Francisco for instance: when you listen to
the first Bad Religion albums, they sound as great as Dischord bands but the
problem is that they’ve almost always done the same songs throughout their
albums and their label, namely Epitaph, has not been the home of highly
innovative bands like Dischord – I mean Pennywise, Nofx, Ten Foot Pole for
instance are definitely good groups but it’s difficult to compare their aura
in terms of influence and especially in terms of renewal to Fugazi’s or The
Make-Up’s).
DISC
1: The first Dischord band was The Teen Idles, in which there was Ian MacKaye
and Jeff Nelson who were to form the most influential band of the 80’s with
Brian Baker (now in Bad Religion !) and Nathan Strejcek: MINOR THREAT. The live
version of Minor Threat’s song “Straight Edge” is really interesting
because it represents the attitude of most of the individuals composing DC
scene. The song “coined the phrase that is now used to describe a drug and
alcohol-free lifestyle” (and nowadays a lot of people claiming to be
‘staight-edge’ are just veggies but are into drugs and alcohol !! Shame !!).
The Untouchables (Ian MacKaye’s brother’s band) used to play an original
song called “Nic Fit”, which will be quite famous 10 years later when Sonic
Youth invited Fugazi’s singer in Dirty to cover the track. A lot of
other songs are interesting because they are good and we’ve forgotten the band
long ago (Faith’s “Subject of change”, Gray Matter’s “Oscar’s
Eyes”), or because there was someone who is now famous in the band (State of
Alert in which there was Henry Rollins, early Scream in which Dave Grohl had not
taken over the drums yet, Deadline’s “Stolen Youth” in which there was
already Fugazi’s drummer, Brendan Canty).
In
the mid-80’s happened a first important development in Dischord bands’ music
with the arrival of younger bands. One of these groups in which there was Guy
Picciotto and Brendan Canty was called RITES OF SPRING. Undeniably, considering
“drink deep”, this group was a first step towards Fugazi’s music. Other
bands are really interesting: Ian MacKaye’s EMBRACE (“money”) which was
another step towards Fugazi (especially because of the vocals), DAG NASTY’s
punk-rock at their beginning with Brian Baker; SOULSIDE which is rather unknown
despite the name of its members who were to form GIRLS VS BOYS – their first
album entitled Hot Bodi-gram was released in 1989 and the song on the
compilation called ‘punch the geek’ surprisingly does not evoke Girls vs
Boys particular style but Fugazi’s songs on their brilliant Red Medicine
from 1995. ONE LAST WISH and HAPPY GO LICKY – other bands with Picciotto and
Canty – refines the original hardcore which begins to turn into emocore and
consequently into Fugazi. FIRE PARTY is an all-girl band which seem to
anticipate the grunge-girl bands (Hole, L7, Babes in Toyland, etc.). Shudder To
Think offers a lively indie that differs a lot from the other bands (it will be
one of the only group to leave Dischord for a major). THREE is halfway between
Gang of Four’s particular punk and 90’s emocore/indie style. Their album Dark
days Coming released in 1989 is definitely the one (along with Soulside’s)
that I’ll try to get in the next few months…
DISC
2: This cd is meant to document Dischord’s releases in the 90’s. Which band
would you expect to open this cd: FUGAZI of course. “Blueprint”, one of the
best song on Repeater, their second album which was released in march
1990, appropriately represents Fugazi’s first period (which lasts till Steady
Diet in my opinion). FUGAZI is the emblematic band on Dischord for several
reasons. It is Ian MacKaye’s group but all the members have been involved in
many other Dischord bands. It is the most influential group of the label but
also one of the most influential underground US bands of the 90’s since they
almost invented a style (who immediately comes to mind when referring to the
term ‘emocore’ ??). Fugazi has always renewed its music and explored new
paths. Fugazi delivers incredibly vigorous, head-bopping gigs full of energy and
emotion.
This
compilation makes two other influential groups resurface: LUNGFISH and JAWBOX.
Lungfish’s indie-emo has the shortcoming to be really repetitive while
Jawbox’s releases on Dischord are closer to say Fugazi’s Repeater, Steady
diet and even In On the Kill taker. In my opinion emocore bands come
from the recipe written by these bands: staccato guitar riffs with a fierce
sound, powerful bass lines, a lot of fills in the energetic drums, vocals
inbetween singing and speaking sometimes screamo…
HOLY
ROLLERS brought to emo three-part vocal harmonies, which was to become a melodic
hardcore /skate core cliché. This might be why some emo fans disapprove of this
musical device (and end up disliking the second Karate album for instance).
CIRCUS LUPUS plays the same kind of music but I’ve never really liked their
songs.
SEVERIN
(with Alec now in The Capitol City Dusters) and THE HIGH-BACK CHAIRS are
definitely way more indie compared to the other bands. Severin’s song includes
bagpipes, which sound bizarre in a typically US power-pop song. “Summer” by
The High-Back Chairs sounds a bit like Rem, maybe speedier and makes me feel
like listening to their 1992 album entitled Curiosity and Relief.
AUTOCLAVE, an all-girl band with Mary Timony (Helium), seems to be a good quiet
indie group worth to listen to (but that’s the first time I listen to one of
their song). When Autoclave split up, 2 of these girls formed SLANT 6, a rrriot
girl group a la Babes in Toyland & Bikini Kill.
THE
NATION OF ULYSSES, whose drummer was James Canty (brother to Fugazi’s Brendan
Canty) who was to become a few years later THE MAKE-UP’s guitarist, is a
particular band on Dischord - as will be THE MAKE-UP - because they are the only
“rock’n’roll/garage” bands. Both had a deserved fervent fan base but
unfortunately did not enjoy a success which a lot of rock bands enjoy at the
moment. Those who like The Strokes, the White Stripes and this bunch of
newcomers in fashion should get Nation of Ulysses and The MAKE-UP cds because
their relentless tours entailed people to create epigones. When you become
familiar with Make-Up and their “gospel yeah-yeah” style mixing handcrafted
stage uniforms and garage music (“…a marriage of the call & response and
exhortation associated with gospel, with the focus on image and attitude that
was present in yeh-yeh, a musical style popular in France in the mid-60’s”),
you realize that most of these new bands are just shallow followers.
Math
rock also developed through Dischord bands with BRANCH MANAGER whose song
“Mr.Weekend” really makes me want to discover their self-titled album from
1995. They really sound impressive and their music is not as brutal as Don
Caballero; it has a great indie aspect, and in addition it does not seem to be
inclined towards demonstrative jazz-rock. They probably paved the way for one of
my favourite Dischord bands: SMART WENT CRAZY. The band’s approach to emo was
quite different from other Dischord bands. Their math-rock is really melodic and
intense, the vocals are full of harmonies, the rhythmic section has an
inclination towards jazz but knows to rock as well, some guitar lines are
clearly noisy-pop while others are strictly emo. After Smart Went Crazy called
it quits, Devin Ocampo and Jeff Boswell formed FARAQUET, which is my favourite
Dischord band (besides Fugazi). Their 2000 album The View From This Tower
is my favourite math-rock album. It is highly melodic and takes back Smart Went
crazy style to go deeper into its rhythmic search and ingenious chord
progressions.
Of
course, FUGAZI had an influence on 90’s Dischord bands. Let’s mention Hoover
(whose song here has a great jazz dimension), Trusty,
The Crownhate Ruin (whose sound is noisier than Fugazi’s, in fact the
song here is strangely similar to Unwound’s New Plastic Ideas). Lately,
Dischord welcomed new groups: BLUETIP & Q AND NOT U. Bluetip’s
“castanet” is the best song from their second album Join us. Q an not
U’s melodic and energetic track comes from their debut lp No Kill No Beep
Beep released in 2000, which was the last record released before the 20th
Dischord anniversary. That’s why it is the last song on this cd. Bluetip split
up in 2001 and Q and Not U have just done a new album.
DISC
3: As I’ve already said, this one is not really interesting if you only like
90’s Dischord bands and if you’re not interested by the label’s musical
history. Indeed, most of these rare and unreleased tracks are by the early
bands. I have already mentioned the presence of MINOR THREAT’s live version of
“straight edge” earlier on. Their song “asshole dub” is much less
interesting. It reveals the Bad Brains reggae and dub influence, which
fortunately did not affect very much Dischord’s music after all. Most of the
songs being quite similar to those on the first cd in terms of music and sound,
there is a political dimension conveying anger and frustration which is very
interesting (Youth Brigade’s “I object”, Void’s “Black, Jewish and
poor” and “Authority”), and social commentaries that may remind you of
those Refused and International Noise Conspiracy new-situationist (Scream’s
“Search for Employment”, Deadline’s “No revolution” in which the
singer utters “no-socio economic redistribution” !! That was in 1981 and it
is still true…). In fact, almost all the 17 first tracks are early 80’s DC
hardcore (the video-clips too).
The
first song to register a significant musical change on this cd is Dag Nasty’s
“All Ages Show”, which does not represent the evolution of the label since
it is just good punk-rock. Then comes “The Word” by Fugazi recorded in 1988,
an interesting unreleased song (from their first recording) but it is not
particularly better than the songs on their first album. Their other one is a
good live version of “Burning” in 1988. Finally, I don’t consider
unreleased songs by Shudder to Think, Circus Lupus and Slant 6 particularly
interesting.
Even
though the third cd is rather disappointing, this 3cd box set is a beautiful
item and it greatly documents Washington DC’s scene which started from
‘straight-edge hardcore’ to mainly go towards the invention of emocore in
the early 90’s (or at least lavishly contributed to its creation) with Fugazi,
Jawbox or Hoover, and still perpetuates this style (Bluetip, Q and not U), and
enabled the blossoming of very interesting garage bands (Nation of Ulysses,
Make-Up) and math-rock bands (Smart Went Crazy, Faraquet).
-SEB WOOd
/nov 1st 2002/