Ten years ago when emo was young, this late San Francisco four were the West Coast's answer to the peaking D.C. Dischord roster of
Fugazi and other such bands. This second reissue of their lone 1990 self-titled LP, originally on the Rough Trade subsidiary Sixth International (with seven bonus tracks from four 7" releases), is a good example of where it all began.
Jim Allison and Mike Kirsch's vocals are brutally shouted, tunefully, with great angst and an antagonistic sense of wrong. The band is as resolute, fast, and edgy as its lyrics (clue: a picture of
Woody Guthrie with his "This machine kills fascists" guitar graces the inner sleeve), and is at its best when its
Adolescents-derived So-Cal soaring leads step up. It all has that stamp of authenticity to it, of people inspired by a new movement to say and play something bestial and important. It has the urgency that a substantial chunk of underground post-punk/post-hardcore music had during the second half of the '80s. Now it doesn't seem so unique, but that's what happens when you and others make a mold that is later overcopied. This original version of emo was a lot more hardcore, a lot more out there and intense than the sometimes more polite version of today's more easily replicated kind. This required a total physical and emotional charge. (P.O. Box 460402; San Francisco, CA 94146-0402)