The Thousands

As musical genres go, the aesthetic guidelines for hardcore are about as tight as a nun’s cooter. Not much deviation or cross-breeding here…

So what a weird delight it is, hearing a lone waifish flute meandering before the raucous hardcore assault of Toronto’s F*cked Up begins. This is a band with roots in the fast/loud/Cookie-Monster-vocals blueprint of hardcore, roots that don’t keep them from crossing over into epic-guitar-work, shoe-gaze-effects, even… bongos? Then there’s the quasi-operatic female vocals? Jesus!**Hardcore enthusiasts would probably dub this ‘light’, and call me a pussy for liking it. They’d be right. But what’s great about THE CHEMISTRY OF COMMON LIFE – with all its invigorating energy, upbeat melodies, and spacey mellow bits – is that it invites all us indie rock brats along for the ride. And you know what? It’s a blast.