FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Fugazi - Repeater
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I am not sure whether…
I have included Fugazi in any of my features before. They are a band I am aware of but have never spent a lot of time with. Because I have been listening to Repeater, I wanted to recommend it for this Vinyl Corner. The first full-length album from the Washington D.C. band, it was released in April 1990 (in May 1990, it was released on C.D., bundled with the 3 Songs E.P. as Repeater + 3 Songs). The album marked a shift for the band. By 1989, Fugazi were writing more as a unit (before, the tracks were written by lead/guitarist Ian MacKaye); they came back from touring and started to refine and work on songs for Repeater. Going from a band who were jamming tracks and performing live, they were in the studio from July-September 1989 working on their debut. You can get a vinyl copy of Repeater here (if there are stock shortages, it is worth checking it out on Discogs). I am going to bring in a couple of reviews for Repeater soon. Before that, this is what Rough Trade say about a classic debut:
“With its righteous disdain for capitalism and the almighty dollar, Repeater sounds like an angrier American update of Gang of Four's Solid Gold, which had been made ten years earlier. Lines/slogans like "When I need something/I reach out and grab it," "You are not what you own," "I was caught with my hand in the till," and "Everything is greed" bear this out. Though not lacking any sense of conviction, Repeater honestly gets a little stifling. It's not too difficult to see why the band was allegedly lacking a sense of humor at this stage. They could have been yelling about filing their taxes; the yelling begins to fade into a din after a while.
The title makes sense, if only by mistake. But -- and that's a big but -- Repeater nearly matches the Fugazi and Margin Walker EPs with its musical invention and skill, spewing out another group of completely invigorating songs, which makes the subject matter and finger-pointing a little easier to swallow. Few rhythm sections of the time had the great interplay of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty. Likewise, the guitar playing and interaction of Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto almost always get overlooked, thanks to all the other subjects brought up when the band is talked about. A guitar magazine even rated Repeater as one of the best guitar records of the '90s, and rightfully so. Anemic revs spiked by pig squeals (or is it a screeching train?) highlight the title track, one of the band's finest moments. (Don't miss MacKaye's vicious double-tracked vocals, either.) As always, MacKaye and Picciotto's noise-terrorism-as-guitar-joust avoids flashiness, used as much as rhythm as punctuation device. Sharp, angular, jagged, and precise. Other gnarling highlights include the preachy "Styrofoam," the late-breaking "Sieve-Fisted Find," and the somewhat ironic "Merchandise," which skewers Mr. Business Owner by asking, "What could a businessman ever want more/Than to have us sucking in his store?".
If you are not overly-aware of Fugazi or you think the music is not really your thing, Repeater is a good introduction. It is an album that most people can get something from. Whilst some prefer their second album, Steady Diet of Nothing, or 2001’s The Argument, I really like their incredible debut. Fugazi are a band who have hardly put a foot wrong in their career!
The first review I want to source is from Consequence. They looked at the album on its thirtieth anniversary last year. Despite the fact the album sort of bypassed the charts, it has sold massive amounts:
“Yes, Repeater is officially Fugazi’s debut LP, but they already had a tough act to follow. The band’s aforementioned EPs were combined into 13 Songs on CD and released in late 1989 — in many ways forming an unofficial debut album. The cumulative tracklist of 13 Songs boasted such powerful tunes as “Waiting Room”, “Bad Mouth”, “Suggestion”, “Margin Walker”, “And the Same”, and more.
However, there was no outside forces breathing down Fugazi’s neck as they hit the studio to begin work on Repeater. The band released music through MacKaye’s own Dischord Records label, and were able to do what they wanted when they wanted. (Just a few years later, Fugazi would reject a multimillion dollar offer from Ahmet Ertegun to join Atlantic Records’ roster, instead remaining on Dischord throughout their career.)
On April 19th, 1990, Fugazi released Repeater, a post-hardcore tour de force from the get-go. The guitar riff on opening track “Turnover” is as anthemic as anything Fugazi ever laid to tape — a powerhouse song highlighted by Picciotto’s urgent wails. There’s no pause as “Turnover” moves right into the title track, with MacKaye handling lead vocals on top of dissonant guitar progressions that surely influenced a young Rage Against the Machine, who would release their debut two years later.
Further into the album, “Blueprint” serves as the centerpiece of Repeater. Musically, it’s driven by Canty’s thunderous drumming and a heavy guitar riff, but it’s the Picciotti-sung chorus (“Never mind what’s been selling / It’s what you’re buying”) that remains one of Fugazi’s most notable lyrics. The line serves as an anti-corporate call to arms, echoing Fugazi’s independent and DIY ethos.
Lally shines on the next track, “Sieve-Fisted Find”, providing a rolling bass line that powers the song under Piccioto’s punk vocals. Moving ahead, “Greed” brings in some gang hardcore vocals, and “Reprovisional” is another scorcher with its ringing guitars.
The album closes out with the experimental “Shut the Door”, foreshadowing some quieter melodic sounds that Fugazi would explore on later albums, while also bringing the heavy. MacKaye’s screams are powerful both in volume and in content, yelling, “She’s not breathing/ She’s not moving/ She’s not coming back, back, back”, as the famously straight-edge singer eerily documents the loss of a young woman by drug overdose.
The CD version of Repeater added Fugazi’s previously released 3 Songs EP to the tracklist for a total of 14 songs. Despite never appearing on the Billboard 200 chart, it is believed that Repeater has gone on to sell between 1 and 2 million copies worldwide”.
I am going to finish with a review from AllMusic. To me, Repeater is one of the standout albums from the early-1990s. For many, it introduced this incredible Post-Hardcore band who would go on to release a phenomenal body of work. This is what AllMusic note in their review:
“With its righteous disdain for capitalism and the almighty dollar, Repeater sounds like an angrier American update of Gang of Four's Solid Gold, which had been made ten years earlier. Lines/slogans like "When I need something/I reach out and grab it," "You are not what you own," "I was caught with my hand in the till," and "Everything is greed" bear this out. Though not lacking any sense of conviction, Repeater honestly gets a little stifling. It's not too difficult to see why the band was allegedly lacking a sense of humor at this stage. They could have been yelling about filing their taxes; the yelling begins to fade into a din after a while. The title makes sense, if only by mistake. But -- and that's a big but -- Repeater nearly matches the Fugazi and Margin Walker EPs with its musical invention and skill, spewing out another group of completely invigorating songs, which makes the subject matter and finger-pointing a little easier to swallow. Few rhythm sections of the time had the great interplay of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty. Likewise, the guitar playing and interaction of Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto almost always get overlooked, thanks to all the other subjects brought up when the band is talked about. A guitar magazine even rated Repeater as one of the best guitar records of the '90s, and rightfully so. Anemic revs spiked by pig squeals (or is it a screeching train?) highlight the title track, one of the band's finest moments. (Don't miss MacKaye's vicious double-tracked vocals, either.) As always, MacKaye and Picciotto's noise-terrorism-as-guitar-joust avoids flashiness, used as much as rhythm as punctuation device. Sharp, angular, jagged, and precise. Other gnarling highlights include the preachy "Styrofoam," the late-breaking "Sieve-Fisted Find," and the somewhat ironic "Merchandise," which skewers Mr. Business Owner by asking, "What could a businessman ever want more/Than to have us sucking in his store?" Plenty of fans had to suck in someone's store to get this record, after all. [The CD version of Repeater added the 3 Songs 7" as a bonus, titled as Repeater + 3 Songs.]”.
Go and check out Fugazi’s Repeater on vinyl if you can! It is a phenomenal album that I have been spending more time with lately. I have always known about it, yet I had not sat down and given it a good listen. It is, without any doubt, one hell…
OF an album!