Reception
The band's entry in the Trouser Press record guide, written by Ian McCaleb, Ira Robbins and Mike Fournier, calls the EP an "impressive debut" which "blends a classic DC-core sensibility with a mature, objective outlook and crisply produced mid-tempo songs that are dynamic, aggressive and accessible." They write that MacKaye and Picciotto "trade raw emotionalism for an introspective, almost poetic vision, using abstractions in strongly structured compositions like “Bulldog Front” and “Give Me the Cure,” a contemplation on death." [9] Andy Kellman of AllMusic calls the EP "excellent". [10]
CMJ New Music Report reviewed the EP positively, remarking that, despite the band's impressive pedigree, Fugazi "doesn't trample or get mired in their past, and is one of the best recent releases of the sort. [...] What's most important here is the way the lyrics and music match up, pointing to a necessary maturation in the rarest and most positive sense. The lyrics manage to get sincere viewpoints across without being hokey or preachy, while the music is pared down, and yet more ominous and troubling for it (see "Suggestion")." [11]
Byron Coley, writing in Forced Exposure , gave Fugazi a positive review, calling it "easily the best Dischord release since Out of Step. [...] Stylistically, this is a hodgepodge, but it's largely a great hodgepodge -- momentary flashes of Lee Perry, the Misfits, Cream, and the Germs all passed afore my ears while it played." [12]
Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post listed Fugazi as one of his top releases of 1988, describing the group as "D.C.'s most galvanizing band, edgy and explosive punk-funk whose purpose is just as white-hot as its sound." [13] In a different review also published in The Washington Post, Jenkins wrote that:
[Fugazi] is one of the strongest post-post-punk [sic] ensembles in the known world, not just the neighborhood. The combination of Brendan Canty and Joe Lally's taut rhythm section and Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto's impassioned vocal interplay is as uncompromising as the subjects the latter duo attack: rape, AIDS, drugs, self-delusion. Angry but clear-eyed, songs like "Suggestion" and "Bad Mouth" are among the most incendiary devices detonated since early-'80s bands like Gang of Four and the Au Pairs surrendered. The only possible complaint about thls debut EP is that seven songs are not enough to explore the possibilities of this astonishing band. [14]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
[1] 
