Double Negative - Hardcore Confusion Vol. 1 7"

Hello all. I'm sorry I'm posting this so late, but there were certain unavoidable circumstances (namely playing Zelda) that kept me from writing. It happens. Also, this isn't technically part of my Dusty Ass Discounts series, as it was not purchased in the Used Bin, but at the webstore of Double Negative's wonderful record label Sorry State Records (link here), which everyone should go to and buy from. Seriously, they're great.

I've always been a fan of hardcore punk-rock. The Ramones have been my favorite band since I was 8, and around age 12 I started to get into the harder stuff: Black Flag, Minor Threat, Jerry's Kids, The Descendents, Husker Du, the list goes on and on forever and ever. Around September, I was still a huge HC fan, but the diehard devotion to it that I had when I was 12 wasn't there. However, I went to a concert that September. And that concert was by the band Fucked Up. It's not very often that one concert can radically change your views on music, and you recognize that fact on the drive home. But this was one of those events, and that passion I had for hardcore as a kid came back at full force.

I started listening to all my old records again: MDC, DRI, Verbal Abuse, Crucifix etc. But more than just listening to those records, I searched to find a way to recreate how intense and amazing the Fucked Up show was. For a long time now, I've been of the opinion that true hardcore like it used to be doesn't exist anymore. I thought that Fucked Up was just an oasis, like a time machine, back to the 80s in DC, and NY, and LA. But the more I look, the more great, authentic, and intense HC bands in the very city I live in! Thevies, Logic Problem, Cross Laws, Lung Matter, and Crossed Out were all good bands, in Raleigh, who made awesome records. And, while these are all bands worth listening to, none are better than Raleigh, NC's own DOUBLE NEGATIVE ( aka "-/-").

Double Negative is an interesting band in that it's made entirely up of middle aged men who were in punk bands in the 80s. And it definitely shows; this is some authentic, loud, noisy hardcore. In fact, the drummer, artist Brian Walsby (who write/draws/publishes a multivolume graphic novel history of Raleigh punk called Manchild), has played for Corrosion of Conformity, Patty Duke Syndrome, as well as Ryan Adams first band. Needless to say, their age isn't a factor in how good their music is.

And it is good. Real good. What one might expect from a band made up of HC kids from the 80s would be a straight-up 80s ripoff band, just 3 chords and an oom-pah beat. But while it still has a TON of energy and aggression, it's a really evolved form of punk. It makes use of a lot of dissonance and noise, bark vocals, and very math-esque rhythms. And it makes a kind of punk that reminds me a lot of the best Canadian punk band (in my opinion), Nomeansno. All the rhythmic razzle-dazzle, while sacrificing none of the aggression. Which is just how I like it: weird, noisy, and mean. It's experimental hardcore at it's best, and it's in my city even!

Double Negative: Writhe by sorrystaterecords