About
Often recognized more for their anti-corporate stance and rigid ethics than their vital music, it's easy to forget Fugazi are a band and not a socioeconomic public action committee or a guerilla marketing firm. Though some would argue their newfound introspective temperament signifies a major departure, the beautiful, orchestrated constructs of their more recent material may simply represent a blossoming of the seeds planted by their legendary, dissonant 13 Songs. Ian MacKaye's Hardcore bellow and Gibson SG marched alongside Guy Piccioto's (formerly of Rites of Spring) demonic rasp and flailing Rickenbacker, serving notice to Punk's intelligentsia under the watchful eye of a razor-sharp, self-editing rhythm section. Six subsequent albums have shown Fugazi's continually evolving ear for sonic craftsmanship; writing and producing works that owe an equal amount to the Beatles and Radiohead as they do Gang of Four and AC/DC. Having reached a certain state of maturation, Fugazi have, to their credit, perhaps given themselves over to musical craft rather than live famously in direct contradiction to a self-made identity.
