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Preview: F***ed Up

Posted by dirty from Cardiff - Published on 29/06/2010 at 12:37
1 comments » - Tagged as Music

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F***ed Up are playing on July 15th at Barfly, a band formed by teenagers in the Canadian city of Toronto around nine years ago are influenced by first and second wave punk bands, but after the release of their first EP it was clearly manifested that although a punk band, they were not in any way generic, formulaic or primitive in any manner.

A brilliant dashing of harmonics, strong. . . I can't do this. This band have the best harmonics on earth, one of the most simultaneously threatening, fantastic and charismatic front men who's up there along Nick Cave and the band who are going to single handedly revolutionise hardcore, both in its punk meaning and in its metal meaning. 

Winners of the Polaris Music Prize after their album The Chemistry Of Common Life that was selected by Spillers as one of their top ten records of 2008 and the same record label as folker Cat Power, an album that blazes through itself as beautifully as it is riveting, immersing and melodically uplifting. 

Fusing so-catchy-it-ought-to-be-illegal vocals and lyrics that will be adorned on the bathroom walls of rock clubs, t-shirts and will stick in your head for days on end such as the ones featured on Son The Father; the best song I've ever heard open an album where dual vocals question and answer "It's hard enough being born in the first place, but who would ever want to be born again?". . It's rich, it's so rich, it's so beautiful. 

The piccolo solo at the beginning sends shivers down my neck; you'll see what I mean. It was also used to introduce Freddy to series three of Skins when he's skating down the road. 

Years of EPs and albums, releases behind them but their album The Chemistry Of Common Life is probably one of the best albums to emerge out of the 00s. An epic use of imagery and symbolism is woven into each song and at times their music is instrumental, but their live shows have made them well known world wide both for the intensity of their live shows and the chaotic menace that comes along with it: once they played and the crowd utterly dismantled and destroyed a venue (a men's restroom, funnily enough), obliterating it.

People have called their shows 'a theatric whirlwind of violence' but there's a dark and intelligent depth to their music like Black Flag and NOFX. Is it punk, or is it metal hardcore? Is it thrash? How many bands open their album with a flute solo? The album demands to be put on repeat. It's a contradiction of all sorts. Energy runs throughout their songs like the first alternative album you ever bought, the first punk album, the first indie album you ever heard and felt excited, like a child on Christmas Day seeing their presents beneath the tree for the first time. Listening to F***ed Up is that feeling encapsulated; they're not just another good for nothing dumb as excrement punk band; they're shockingly good, incessant, demanding and mind-blowing. 

If their album is this good, I can't wait to see the gig. You need to see this. You need to see these before they get absolutely huge. Tickets should be around £10, available direct from Barfly and from Spillers (if they’ve re-opened in Morgan Arcade in time), doors open at half seven, close at half eleven.

Support acts: Japanese Voyeurs and Facel Vega

Thursday, 15th July 2010 @ 19:30 pm - 23:30 pm, Barfly

Age Restrictions: 16+

Cost: £9

1 CommentPost a comment

CeefaxOfLife

CeefaxOfLife

Commented 71 months ago - 29th June 2010 - 12:43pm

You can download their cover of Katrina & The Waves' Walking On Sunshine (WTF!) here - http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/06/doveman_complet.html

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