Fugazi by Fugazi - RYM/Sonemic (2024)

vandaleyes Mar 20 2007

Digging through the records at my favorite Iowa City record store, I came across Fugazi's EP. Damn, was it ever a good find. In fact, it's gotta one of the best EPs out there. It gathers some of the best tracks that would later be compiled on 13 Songs, including "Suggestion" and the anthemic "Waiting Room" with its indomitable bassline. If anyone wanted a quick introduction to Fugazi, this would be a great place to start. Short, hard-hitting, and empowering... played with a burning passion, the way punk should be.

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geldofpunk Feb 25 2024

While it wasn't known so much at the time, this EP was a shotgun blast in the hardcore scene and almost single handedly created a brand new genre called post-hardcore. While there are lots of other bands who can be credited as helping to shape and mold the genre in its formative years, nobody can doubt the seismic impact Fugazi had in it. This band was the result of a fusion between the leaders of two other incredibly important bands called Rites of Spring and Embrace; two bands that were also very influential in creating the emo genre. While Fugazi would go on to greater heights, this debut shouldn't be overlooked. Not only for the quality of the music but also for the huge influence it has had ever since it was released.

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_Dr_Fu_ Nov 28 2023 ▼

Nearly sprained my neck

Fugazi are Fugazi

The cult of fugazi began with this one. The songs go especially hard and had a uniquely 2000s aesthetic despite the fact fugazi where an 80s band. The world would eventually catch up. You can hear interpol and arctic monkeys in this one, and the white stripes visual aesthetic is there.

The songs do fine, they are all visceral and epic. Bad Mouth is catchy as well, enough to make the industry thirst at the mouth. But we all know what we are here for.

Waiting Room is the big hit, one of the most legendary songs of all time. Contains a brilliant syncopation, unfathomable stanima. The choral refrain is brilliant and would surely impress Beethoven. It also serves as their manifesto of discipline and strength for a generation of disgruntled men, the beginnings of the manosphere ideology.

They would only ever match this mosh-pit anthem with repeater.

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Vinyl 12" (2021)

NeutralOverlookHotel Nov 18 2023

Seven tracks that painstakingly dissect hardcore up to that point in time and rewrite its history books in the process. I think I see this more as a crucial relic in the phxc canon rather than a diehard personal favorite, but I do love it regardless.

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dumbidiot_v2 May 11 2023

The first EP from Fugazi was a milestone in post-hardcore punk rock. The adolescent songwriting of Minor Threat meets the unbridled emotional frustration of Rites of Spring in what was the finest fusion of hardcore punk and emocore for its day. Ian MacKaye’s performance was set in dystopian and nihilistic settings where he roamed free to express his existential boredom. His sarcastic but rebellious chants comprise the bulk of the vocals on the record, the other part diffused into wild call-and-response chants. The general pandemonium of “Waiting Room” condenses the melodic hardcore sound of Minor Threat’s finest EPs into 3 minutes of peak punk rock. The rhythm section creates a tense climate that jolts in nervous syncopations along with the steady grooves of the guitars. “Bulldog Front” continues the violent assault while merging with the emocore sound of Rites of Spring with Guy Picciotto’s neurotic screaming.

“Bad Mouth” is a reprisal of “Waiting Room” in a different key, which is admittedly disappointing, while “Burning” is more mysterious and sinister, focused on sparse and repetitious guitar strumming over steady percussion until everything explodes in an incendiary catastrophe. “Suggestion” transfigures a quiet blues riff into a series of harrowing implosions that cascade on top of one another with spectacular force and pyrotechnics. Even the raga of “Give Me the Cure” barely resembles the punk rock that came before it. Perhaps the most exalted moment of the EP comes with “Glue Man” with the alarm ringing gestures of the guitars and the overdubbing and echoing vocals.

Fugazi had already mastered the art of pacing and progression in punk music. On seven wildly creative tracks, their penchant for emotionally driven and angular post-hardcore comes to the forefront. More than that, the duality of Picciotto and MacKaye’s vocals are seamlessly orchestrated to multiply the dynamics of the entire group. The sound of Fugazi would forever be defined by the unflinching charge of the vocalists and the dynamics and harmonics of the discordant instrumentals. Very likely the greatest EP of the 1980s.

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estranger0 Mar 26 2023 ▼

Fugazi (EP) | Fugazi

A fun and playful EP from the great Fugazi. Loved the energy on this one, contains there objectively best track Waiting Room and other bangers like Glue Man and Bulldog Front, but every track has at least something notable about it. Great EP!

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merton Mar 06 2023

Hey Magagonal: whenever I post, I always post hardcore.

And now I am posting hardcore about this album. It's good! The rhythm section is playing these very cool jazz-funk jitters, the guitars are perfectly melodic-yet-discordant, and the vocals...

Okay, I am sorry, I hate both of these guys' voices. They are just so loud and lacking in charisma! Plus I just feel like Ian MacKaye would be a really unpleasant guy to hang out with. Sorry :(

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DtheAus37 Jan 04 2023 ▼

#42: Fugazi (Fugazi, 1988)

Fugazi's pretty good, right? That's some fun post-hardcore, killer guitar work and a fast-paced, practically action-packed sound.. who doesn't like Fugazi? If you know anyone who doesn't, maybe get them to give their self-titled debut EP a try!

The project opens up with "Waiting Room"- one of the band's most popular tracks, and for good reason. The cut is a thumping track that bounces through its runtime, bringing with it a solid beat behind it that keeps energy alive and powerful. It's swift, it's fun and it rages hard, leaving plenty of headbanging in its wake. Whilst the rest of the tracks don't exactly hit the highs that Waiting Room" sets up, they certainly do match it in terms of its energy and certainly come close to the level of the opening cut. Some tracks that are of particular note include the bombastic "Bad Mouth, the curious "Burning" and the quick-paced "Suggestion".

So yeah, "Fugazi"! It's some really fun hardcore stuff, and a fantastic debut for the band. It's always a little tragic when a band starts on its best foot- thankfully the rest of the band's discography manages to stay consistent throughout their run. Definitely a band to return to in the future.

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Best Bits: Waiting Room, Bad Mouth, Burning, Suggestion
Worst Bits: Glue Man

Rating: 8.2

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