F***ed Up

Add Date: June 7 

Artist: F***ed Up 

Album: David Comes to Life 

Label: Matador 

Genre: Rock, post-hardcore, punk 

Comments: From the onesheet: "Right from the start, this Toronto band has been pushing musical and conceptual boundaries. Forming ostensibly as a punk band, they swiftly took on hardcore and twisted it into their own version, with a psychedelic edge, unexpected instrumentation like flute and keyboards, and songs stretched to perverse lengths... All the time, there was a sense of narrative, and even in their loudest moments there was a deep intelligence to their music. The narrative itself has come to full fruition on their new album, the 78-minute David Comes to Life rock opera, an album set to a play...

"Though no less monumental, it is far more melodic than [F***ed Up's] breakthrough The Chemistry of Common Life. There are more female vocals, which work in perfect contrast to [frontman Damian] Abraham's highly effective wounded bull growl. The band sound tighter and with more space for the flourishes and imaginative songwriting that entwine their love of fey British indie pop with heavy riffing, and some genuinely twisted turns. Perhaps most grippingly, the triple-guitar interplay between Mike Haliechuk, Josh Zucker and Ben Cook has risen to symphonic levels."

David Comes to Life is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious records of 2011, both in style and scope, and I'd expect to see it on many end-of-year best-of lists. Is F***ed Up's music suitable for your taste? That's for you to decide, but you need to listen to this LP. Check out tracks 8, 2, 4, 5 and 13, and please call them "F'ed Up" on air.