Reasons to be Emo #200 / Hoover - The Lurid Traversal of Route 7

200th post/reason -

Previous Reasons to be Emo*:

#150 / Hot Water Music - Moonpies for Misfits

#140 / Swing Kids - Discography

#100 / Jawbreaker - Dear You

#50 / Shotmaker/Maximillian Colby - Split

#1 ? / Han Shan - s/t 7"

* if you think about shit like that, that is. Excellent analysis of that question here on the Prisonship. The half-dozen featured examples here aren't meant to be canonical, and definitely are not intended to be definitive; instead, they are choices of what that genre means to me, an ongoing selection of diverse highpoints.

'Distant'

The core of the genealogy, The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 was Hoover's only full-length recording. Originally recorded in 1993, in the first year of the Clinton administration, released on Dischord Records in 1994, and remastered in 2004/5. The last three songs on the CD version, 'Return', 'Private' and 'Dries' were from a separate vinyl release from the LP of Lurid Traversal, and together make up thirteen tracks on the album.

'Distant' opens up with atmospheric noise, harsh and mechanical, and a little bit of percussion, then rhythm, and then the heavy guitars kick in. It's taut, it's tense - barely controlled rage and stop-start dynamics over low, slinking basslines. "3000 mile view/ through a telescope" with the last word screamed out with an unexpected, yet not incongruent, intensity. 'Pretender' operates on the same kind of taut rhythms, locked into a driving groove with propelling guitar and vocals. The song moves forward and upwards with every riff, until disintegrating momentarily at the end.

'Electrolux' builds the sound up again slowly, with deliberate beats and ominous, humming guitar. Clearer guitar balances the equation, lulling the dubb-y, intense atmposhere of the song along. 'Electrolux' erupts, first in guitars, in shouts and screams, and then in vibrant trumpet, a soaring cacophony of sound that swells and collapses back into the rhythm below, which has grown in intensity. Minimalism conflicts with outward expression, emotion with weighty, deliberate pace.

'Electrolux'

Every song on Lurid Traversal drips with intensity and emotion, balancing explosive hardcore and post-hardcore with near-empty, Slinty post-rock, shifting between states with every verse (though, of course, there are no verses to the lyrics). Thus a song like 'Shut' winds it way between quiet and loud in a very Fugazi-ish way, focusing its emotional punch on the crescendo of guitars, yet also expressing itself in the transitional spaces between sounds. The tone created is extremely dark but with carefully crafted, melodic moments of beauty - like the cricket-filled instrumental passage of 'Route 7' - entwined with deep and sonorous rhythms. It's accessible at the same time - the opening to 'Regulator Watts' trips lightly and gently underneath whispered, distant vocals.

Again, the emphasis on rhythm propels the album on through each song, carrying the momentum of post-hardcore heaviness onwards each time, ripping it up and building it up again. 'Father' combines the stop-start dynamic with a near-continuous, insistent beat, rapidly advancing towards its chaotic explosion, and disintegrating like 'Pretender' into annihilating noise. Similar but more immediate and direct than 'Electrolux', 'Cable' shouts out its rhythms with brassy, brash anxiety, and climbs into the heights with distorted reggae and blues riffs.

'Letter'

The dynamics and contrasts of typical 'emo' guitar bands, like the tender yet destructive passions of Indian Summer, course through The Lurid Traversal, but are combined with the equally typical complexities of Dischord post-hardcore groups, resulting in epic and intense creations of late-model punk rock. The first part is evident on the arpeggiated, whispered intro to 'Letter' and its linear progress to ear-crushing, violent catharsis; the second in the equally quiet, almost abstract opening to 'Cuts Like Drugs' and, then, its expressionistic guitar jabs combined with enveloping sound and tense rhythm. In fact, the catharsis of the latter eventually emerges as the most intense of the Hoover sound.

'Cuts Like Drugs' (Live on WFMU - thanks to Matt for splitting it up)

"Some people say this sounds like Fugazi,and they miss the point. It sounds like classic DC twin-guitar midtempo style, as do Fugazi and a hundred other bands. The important part was the way the evil slithering basslines made it seem so dark and serious, and the way the singer worked up from whispering to a tortured animal howl at the end. 'Cuts Like Drugs' has it all."

Andy Radin (fourfa.com)

"The epic "Cuts Like Drugs" plays out like the bastard child of Lungfish and Fugazi, a slow plodding drone with the guitars feedback chiming in and out wrapping itself in and around the package fully developing the experience. But it is the song "Cable" that in my eyes stand out on its own. A hymn of dissatisfaction, the brooding demons that swim through all our minds. When they cry out, "I was programed to kill you." it's almost heartbreaking in how at its most earnest these words speak out in the most succinct fashion of modern day society."

sweetbabyjaysus (Burning Down the Dreams of Forever)

"Hoover were one of the greatest DC bands to come from the Dischord label. Their full length, The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 was and is one of my favorite records. Fred Erskines bass (later of Crownhate Ruin and June of 44) is a driving force and the twin monotone guitars of Dunham and McRedmond cut and scathe and slither while Christopher Farrall keeps everything in time. Or out of time, in a very Hooverish way."

blend77 (Zen and the Art of Face Punching)

"hoover is probably the most influential dischord band never to feature ian mackaye. They arrived in them halcyon early 90s days when DC was starting to register the profound effects of dubby, downbeat-y rhythms and of touch and go records heavies like slint, the jesus lizard, rapeman et. al. Their the lurid transversal of route 7 is for me a high point in american hard/punk/core/rock…

despite so many of our friends getting engaged one way or another with corporate rocking for best and worst, dischord - and hoover - always spoke to a kind of freedom (to rock, to angst-i-fy, to experiment) that only the outlands of indie rock could abide, at least back then."

lexdexter (The Prisonship)

I'll leave you to appreciate 'Return', 'Private' and 'Dries' yourselves:

The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 on Dischord Records (CD/digital)

Download link (from Burning Down the Dreams of Forever)

Slowdime (reunion) EP and Side Car Freddie/Cable 7"

Joseph McRedmond Interview + TCR Unreleased Demos w/ Alex Dunham

'An Open Bottle'

First of all, here's a set of unreleased demo tracks from the Crownhate Ruin with Alex Dunham that were temporarily lost from the internet - Joe McRedmond still has them on tape - but which have resurfaced recently. This is what the man himself said about them on his Facebook page, apparently:

"Some unreleased not very good, poorly recorded The Crownhate Ruin songs with Alex joining us, and David Titus Batista on drums. I’ll be surprised if you enjoy it."

True, they're not great sound quality, but they're still a fascinating - and enjoyable - listen if you want to hear the sound of the Crownhate Ruin paired with some of the extra guitar/vocal pyrotechnics of Regulator Watts. Essentially an album's worth of new songs - tracklisting at the bottom of the post - plus a great version of 'Blood Relative' from Until the Eagle Grins:

Download (thanks to Nick at dischord dot org)

_______________________________________________

Secondly, here's an interview I did in the last couple of days with Joe McRedmond - the guitarist for Hoover and the Crownhate Ruin, as well as many other Hoover-related projects (see below).

If you want to hear what he's doing now - and I definitely recommend this - check out Saggiatore.

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Joseph P. McRedmond, I am a half Irish half Sicilian male born and I am considered tall.

Of the various bands you played with after Crownhate, i.e. The Boom, The Sorts, Sea Tiger, etc., which albums/singles did you record on?

I remember recording on a couple of songs with Sea Tiger, The Sorts last record "Six Plus", touring with the Boom, recording on the Him record "New Features", playing bass on two Michael Nace LP's, recording demos with The Perfect Souvenir with Vin, and many practice tapes and live recordings of Rancho Notorious, and unheard demos playing bass with Gun, and a couple of singles with Admiral before all of this. [Edit - and my short lived project with James Brady from Trusty called "The Velvet Kid"; there is 1 limited edition single out there somewhere. I think Tanzania.]

Of those groups, were there any experiences that were especially memorable, or groups that you enjoyed playing with the most?

I remember them being all memorable at the time it was happening.

Within Hoover - e.g. 'Electrolux', and 'Relectrolux/Electrodub' - and in later groups like the Sorts, and in Regulator Watts as well, there's a lot of dub influence: I know that's common with a lot of Dischord and related bands, but was there anything or anyone specific it came from in Hoover? Or was everybody into it equally?

Everybody turned each other on to different musics, we would all bring mix tapes and would request things when necessary...and Jamaican music is the best music, as you can see in its influence on the world...there'd be no hip hop without Jamaica...it's deep late night party music with your friends usually with a message.

Until the Eagle Grins is usually the first record people get into after The Lurid Traversal. When you started up The Crownhate Ruin with Fred Erskine, what was the musical idea behind it? Where did you want to go from Hoover?

To keep playing and touring and recording and find a good drummer. and that's just what we did. And then we would jam forever and take our time putting music together and mostly just play as much as possible. We did a lot of quick out of town trips those two years.

What was the origin of the name Crownhate Ruin?

On the way home from rehearsal one night we passed a Crown Gas Station and Fred said "What do you think of the name The Crown Ruins? and I said what about the Crownhate Ruin? and then it was the name.

Kerosene 454 are listed in the thanks for Until the Eagle Grins, and I heard that you jammed with the Wall brothers for a while. Apart from the label (Slowdime Records), what was the connection with that band?

I originally met Alex in the summer of 1989 in Pittsburgh when Admiral played a show with Wind of Change which also featured Jim and John Wall. When Alex moved to DC he moved in with me, and I was already playing with Fred and Chris after Chris and my band with Geoff Farina of Karate, (our band was called Victor Deluxe) broke up after two shows as Geoff decided to move back to Boston. Alex started playing with us of course. On our first tour we played some shows with Kerosene, and then they moved from LA to DC. Hung out together at parties and more and more people move out here. In the middle of The Crownhate Ruin times, Fred and I moved into a house directly behind Kerosene's house, so we put two ladders up and climbed the chain link fence. After Crownhate and Kerosene broke up we had a little band called Vita Bruno with Jim, John, Vin, and myself. Rehearsed for a year and never got anywhere. Then Fred asked me to join The Boom, with a little prodding by myself, to go on a tour of Europe. John Wall was in the band at the time. We would practice in the Kerosene house. While we were gone, Vin replaced us with Mike Markarian who I lived with and Brandon Butler. They played as Vita Bruno til Brandon replace everybody and started an earlier version of Canyon.

The unreleased Crownhate demos with Alex Dunham are pretty much all new songs, apart from 'Blood Relative'. How likely was a second Crownhate Ruin album?

It was very likely, but we just couldn't play together anymore... Fred was busier with June of 44, Alex with Regulator and Vin with school. So David and I continued playing together off and on.

What do you think about the term 'emo' (or its sister codeword, '90s post-hardcore')?

I don't think about shit like that.

Anything in current punk or hardcore, or post-hardcore that you still listen to or enjoy?

The Eternals. The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, the more funky stuff.

Favourite record (new or old, I guess) of 2008?

Kutiman's "Kutiman" or the Jackson Conti record.

Favourite record in the Hoover family tree (that you didn't play on?)

The Him record "Universe Peoples" or "Many in High Places Are Not Well" or The 2nd Boom record "Any Day of The Night", or The Sorts "Contemporary Music" or most of the Sea Tiger LP.

Favourite record in the Hoover family tree (that you did play on?)

The 3rd Boom LP that never got released, but I have on soulseek.

Thanks

No sweat.

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Demo tracklisting:

10. An Open Bottle

11. The Two Fuckers

12. Trapped Like A Mime

13. As Your Hatred Grows

14. Baby Blue and Black

15. Blood Relative

16. Dismantling Hell

17. Success

(6- An alternate version of 'Open Bottle', from this four-song, 8-track recorded first demo by the band, from 1995 - thanks to Matt)

New Beginnings: Part Two - Hoover, 'Side Car Freddie'/'Cable'

Today - November 21 - is No Music Day - which basically encourages people not to listen, make or otherwise involve themselves with music for one day of the year. I say, screw that. Not because I can't go without music, but because I can reserve the personal right to rationally and intelligently choose to listen to it ('it' being good music, of course) as and when I want.

You can read Bill Drummond's explanation for the idea here, which is essentially a rant of disillusionment with modern music. No Music Ireland gives as the first suggested reason "to reconnect with an art form through abstinence". How typical for a Catholic country - Joyce would be rocking slightly in his grave. So here's some music to rebelliously indulge in:

'Side Car Freddie'

'Cable'

Download

This is Hoover's first 7", released in 1992 as Dischord 79.5/Hoover Limited 01. Their second, 'Return', was released shortly afterwards (FLEX says '92; T-DT-B says '93) as Dischord 86.5/Hoover Limited 02, and its three songs ('Return'/'Private'/'Dries') are included in the CD version of Lurid Traversal (1993, Dischord 89). Their split with Lincoln, released on Art Monk Construction, was released in 1993.

This 7" is quality stuff as well as an insight into the early sound of the band. 'Side Car Freddie' starts off with a soft - indeed, barely audible - sort of 'twinkle-emo' a bit like Indian Summer or Current (and as this is obviously a vinyl rip, you've got that little bit of crackle in there too) but when the rhythm section kicks in, you know that it's Hoover. There's an instant groove to it, and then the way 'side car freddie' is sung, just holding on at the end.

There are both typical and atypical elements to the song, at least from the perspective of their later work. The pounding drums and climbing riff accompanying the second chorus of 'it's under pressure' don't sound particularly usual, but they work into the structure or dynamic of a Hoover song.

The b-side is an - also partially atypical - version of 'Cable'. Rhythmically, it's (mostly) the same, but it lacks Erskine's trumpet as applied on the Lurid Traversal track. It gives it a sort of stripped-back, minimalist feel by comparison, emphasising the rather direct, though artfully complex beat to the song. Even without the assistance of the trumpet, there's still that violent, anarchic but completely well-placed moment of catharsis at the end of every crescendo.

'Cable' was the first Hoover song I ever heard - as I suppose might be true of quite a few people around after the fact, since it's featured on the 20 Years of Dischord compilation. It is an excellent track, and probably one of Hoover's most emphatic songs, but I never thought of it - mainly on account of the trumpet's prominence - as being particularly representative of the rest of the album. Hence, this version is quite interesting.

When looking for the cover for 'Side Car Freddie' - I'd be grateful if anyone could provide a larger version - I found an excellent blog by someone else who likes to write about Hoover (and Obama). Here's what he says about 'Side Car Freddie':

"AT the peak of their craft, Hoover created a hardcore punk sound that was engaging and very challenging. Most interestingly, their music conveyed a feeling of dire menace, but somewhat indirectly, so that the feeling was hard to place. The effect was cool, like a Jim Thompson novel set to a distorted punk score. Hoover’s first 7″ release, “Sidecar Freddie / Cable,” displayed this to great effect (particularly on the A-side), showing how quickly they outgrew the superficial Fugazi influence heard in their earliest songs."

(Hoover, Early and Late - Endlessly Rocking)

There's also another great post on Current. Both posts combine some good YouTube footage of live shows by the bands with some very thoughtful discussion of their music as a whole.

The 'new beginnings' part of this post, as well as being a bit of carried-over enthusiasm, is I guess fairly obviously a reference to this being me essentially getting to the 'start' of the Hoover Genealogy Project, in terms of recorded output (the Endlessly Rocking post above also includes the video of Hoover's first show, if you haven't seen it already). Looking back at the first post on the reunion EP, I see that it has been just under a year since I started. It's still unfinished, which I guess should be another reason for 'new beginnings' - June of 44* (a band who, unfortunately, have never come naturally to me) and Regulator Watts as well as some of the further reaches of the family tree, and maybe even some kindred spirits as well (perhaps obliquely - I want to follow Blend77 again and do a post on The Mercury Program). For now though, let's stick to the roots.

* While browsing through Ape Mummy's blogroll, I found a blog called captain's dead with a live show from June of 44 recorded in Louisville in 1995. You can stream and download the individual songs.

And in a furtherance of the 'new beginnings' theme, Matt from Time Isn't On My Side has taken it upon himself to start a June of 44 Genealogy Project, kicking off with the minimal, folksy post-rock of Rex's self-titled album from 1995. Look forward to more explorations of the 'Louisville Sound' on there.

** Regulator Watts is sort of the opposite problem to June of 44 - so much of their essentially guitar-driven sound is immediately accessible to me, searingly complex, atonal, and discordant though it is, but as a whole I find their work - either The Aesthetic of No-Drag or The Mercury CD - difficult to follow. I think perhaps I'll deal with both releases simultaneously, and see if my face melts off in the process.

Live on WFMU: Hoover, Lincoln and Crownhate Ruin

These recordings are from Pat Duncan's show on the US alternative radio station, WFMU, originally recorded in the years 1993 and 1994 and re-broadcast in this decade. You can see the playlists for all of his shows available for streaming here. This Hoover set is nearly an hour long, and includes songs from both The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 and (what would then become) the Slowdime EP, i.e. then unreleased songs, as well as the atmospheric vocal recordings just like in Lurid Traversal.

Lincoln isn't part of the Hoover family tree - as in they share no members - but their split with Hoover was one of the latter band's earliest releases, while Lincoln themselves only released two other 7"s, of two and four songs each. 'Benchwarmer' is from the Hoover split, and the last song 'Sugarloaf' is from their first 7", on Watermark Records. Despite the lesser number of tracks, this set shows a band with a similar style of music, showing that Hoover weren't completely alone in what they were doing (and, um, in what Fugazi weren't) although no-one was quite as good at it as they were.

Finally, the Crownhate Ruin set is the reason I waited this long before posting these, as I wanted to get around to listening to it properly (and, as it turns out, fairly easily record it) before presenting them together. All these tracks are from the first two sequential Crownhate Ruin 7"s ('A Primer' and 'Elementary') as well as the split with Karate, plus some extra tracks; nothing specifically from Until the Eagle Grins. Compared to Hoover this makes them rather prolific, for whatever reason, turning out a progression of different tracks culminating in the full-length.

Hoover, recorded live in the WFMU studio 4/13/94. Engineered by Charles Maggio.

(Pat Duncan - June 24, 2004)

1. TNT For The Man

2. Pretender

3. Electrolux

4. Shut

5. New Five Drive

6. Breather Resist

7. Weeds

8. Cut Like Drugs

9. Return

Lincoln, recorded live at WFMU on 6/24/93.

(Pat Duncan - November 17, 2005)

1. Benchwarmer

2. Repair & Reward

3. Lil' Slugger

4. A.C. Wade

5. Sugarloaf

The Crownhate Ruin, recorded live at WFMU 11/26/94. Engineered by Charles Maggio.

(Pat Duncan - June 23, 2005)

1. Open Bottle

2. A Visit From Mars

3. Lesson In Thread

4. My Country Getaway

5. No Claims Enemy

6. Baby Blue & Black

7. Present To President

8. Last Place In Triage

Hoover & Lincoln (one download, two files)

Hoover show (split into separate mp3s thanks to Matt): part 1 ; part 2

The Crownhate Ruin (one file)

(separate mp3s)

Go to the playlist links to stream the shows in their entirety, or just download the recordings above (the latter done by myself, thanks to whoever did the former originally. It's dead easy, really.)

The Wire: 'The Fall' (closing theme)

"Read between the lines"

- tagline for Season 5

Don't worry, no spoilers. I've only just seen the first two episodes, anyway. Listen to the track at the end of the post...

Hoover's been on my mind a bit lately, and it occurred to me that I left the band out of the previous post justifying The Wire's inclusion on this blog. Naturally, there's no direct or actual link (that I know of, anyway) but bear with me while I draw the connection. Starting with the image above, which is the long-running clip from The Wire's title sequence of police lights flashing in trickles of blood, with the colours changed to make it look somewhat reminiscent of the cover for Hoover's Lurid Traversal of Route 7.

To my mind, The Wire is the televisual equivalent of the dark, stupendous quality we have come to associate with the Hoover works. The Wire, too, has cult appeal which - however - has escaped the genre (crime) and achieved major media establishment acclaim. Neither of which, perhaps, has made it any more attractive to the average person, but at least it's getting recognition - and not only recognition, but interrogation - albeit of the critically positive kind.

It's probably grandiose to compare the Guardian, the Irish Times, Slate's belated love-fest over the final series of the TV show to my own scratchings on the topic of Hoover-related bands, but what the hell, I'll do it anyway. Over on Zen and the Art of Face Punching, I received a very nice compliment from another reader in the comments on the various attempts at description, eulogy and analysis that have made up the last 10 posts in that series. In jest I replied that I'd love to do a whole thesis on Hoover, from the perspective of post-hardcore as a movement in post-modern, post-materialist society (history and political science being my 'field' of study, so to speak). Nonsense, of course, but it ties in with the deep sense of meaning and art which I get from Hoover et al, and, The Wire.

At the end of every episode of The Wire, the screen goes black - it always feels far too soon - and the closing theme comes on. It's entitled 'The Fall' - post-lapsarian to our post-hardcore - and was composed by Blake Leyh, the show's music supervisor. Elsewhere, The Wire is packed full of interesting music, as befits its status as the most complex and realist show on television. There's the changing version's of Tom Wait's 'Way Down In The Hole', as mentioned before, that open the show; in cars and in houses, there is presumably carefully chosen music that reflects the characters - soul, r'n'b, hip-hop, country. It even works its way into the dialogue and action: like in the previous season, where assassins Chris and Snoop identify New York competitors in the drug dealing business by testing them on their knowledge of Baltimore club music; or where Bunny Colvin takes the corner kids out for a meal and has the Ella Fitzgerald in his car switched off in favour of rap music. Of course, that's just two examples.

But when it comes to making an artistic statement, it's that tune in the 'cold closing' of the show, in those half-unexpected moments of silence and emptiness, which hits the hardest. Nothing, and then the faint rattle of percussion, gradually growing louder and then joined, softly, with strings which are simultaneously stirring and mournful. It's flexible, rhythmic, and above all a little dubby: it always reminds me a little of 'Electrolux' or 'Regulator Watts', though of course to listen to those songs straight away destroys the illusion. In actual fact, in terms of space and cymbal-tapping awesomeness, it's quite like 'Cuts Like Drugs'. And the real, jazzy, soul- but also angst-filled version wouldn't be too out of place on Movin' Out by the Boom - a connection I made previously with 'Way Down In The Hole', which is however the stronger, brasher track of the episode opener/closer pair - while 'The Fall' is more meditative, slithering, ominous and thus, a little bit more Hoover-like:

The Hoover Mixtape

Hoover Genealogy Project

HGP001

Download

There might not be too much terribly new in this mix, but then again chances are you might not have got round to hearing one or two of the bands yet at all. (Depends on who 'you' are, I guess - an avid D.C. groover or a stumble-upon punk sympathiser?). This is obviously not the comprehensive list - it leaves out June of 44, for a start, simply because I haven't listened to them enough - and, thus, it's best to think of it an introductory selection, one which naturally follows my own understanding and growing appreciation of the genealogy.

The mixtape is partly arranged chronologically, which is why it starts with Hoover, and then The Crownhate Ruin: however, this is mostly as a base for a looser, more sonically-based arrangement. As always, more explanations with each song.

Side A:

1. Hoover - Weeds

2. The Crownhate Ruin - Pioneers

3. The Crownhate Ruin - Piss Alley

4. Radio Flyer - Swollen Buffet

5. Regulator Watts - New Low Moline

6. Abilene - Twisting the Trinity

Side B:

7. Radio Flyer - R is for Rocket

8. Regulator Watts - The Ballad of St. Tinnitus

9. Abilene - October

10. The Sorts - Bowie Knife

11. The Boom - Texas Telephone

1. Hoover - Weeds

(from the s/t EP)

To begin the mixtape I thought it better to use a song from the reunion EP rather than the album, because the genealogy is all about projecting out from the canonical Hoover, rather than sticking with the pinnacle of that single album. 'Weeds' starts off as a typical Lurid Traversal- Hoover track, but after a couple of minutes it switches to something a lot more like the later Alex Dunham bands. ('Your backyard is overgrown' repeated over slowly unfolding guitar drone/whine) A great link to the other sounds, but still definitely Hoover in that slithering, ominuous sense.

2. The Crownhate Ruin - Pioneers

(from the Elementary 7")

The Crownhate Ruin is the one post-Hoover band most people know, probably because a) they were also on Dischord Records, proper (i.e. not Slowdime) and b) they were fully half of Hoover, with guitarist Joseph McRedmond and bassist/guitarist Fred Erskine. Essentially, The Crownhate Ruin represent the other half of the Hoover sound not represented in Radio Flyer, Regulator Watts and so on.

This track, 'Pioneers, takes the heavy, rhythmic part of Lurid Traversal and stretches it out and I guess explores it even more deeply. Definitely my favourite track from Elementary because of its infectious, repetitive slow guitar riff accented by quiet, building passages. Although it's kind of a straightforward post-hardcore by numbers song, it actually reminds me of Current/Indian Summer style emo, all crashing dynamics and mad, distorted crunchiness... plus tender whispering, of course.

3. The Crownhate Ruin - Piss Alley

(from Until the Eagle Grins)

Here, on the standout track from their full-length (this song is the one used on the Twenty Years of Dischord compilation), TCR swopped overbearing crunch for lulling, beguiling melody. Another long, building song with repetitive guitar lines, although it quickly begins to chop and change (my friend, on hearing this record, said something along the lines of "the tempo changes! the tempo changes!"). Add in the chiming, metallic counterpoints and the disturbed, impassioned singing and you've got an equal to anything from the 'emo album' of Hoover.

4. Radio Flyer - Swollen Buffet

(from In Their Strange White Armour)

I chose this song as a transition back from the weighty, epic sound of The Crownhate Ruin for the misleading intro, which echoes slightly the closing rhythm of 'Piss Alley' before the expanding screeches of guitar rip it apart and it explodes into a mostly high-tempo rocker. If you've read the review of In Their Strange White Armour you'll know that Radio Flyer rides the line between raucous speed and slow tension with a peculiar agility; mostly, this song, the last on the album, is about the first. A real D.C. style song, which slips back into slow rhythm only for brief respite, spending the rest of the time rolling forward to a pummelling groove. As Yancey Strickler says, "'Swollen Buffet' exhibits the disgust its title implies with a Potomac-rippling shout-along chorus".

5. Regulator Watts - New Low Moline

(from the New Low Moline 7" single)

Continuing on from the attack of 'Swollen Buffet' is another shouter from another Alex Dunham band, Regulator Watts. This, the title track but apparently the b-side from the New Low Moline single, rips through its unbalanced post-hardcore rhythms in just over two minutes, which makes it one of the very shortest songs of the lot and, consequently, the most 'punk'. It's also a distillation of the aggression and explosiveness of the original Hoover sound, in the same way that 'Piss Alley' is an expansion and recodification of the original tension and spaciousness. But, yeah, it's mostly about the aggression, and intensity; look to Regulator Watts for the height of that part of the genealogy, and to see how this song marks the arc of that side of the post-Hoover sound.

6. Abilene - Twisting the Trinity

(from Two Guns, Twin Arrows)

'Twisting the Trinity', the opener of Abilene's second album which brought back together Fred Erskine and Alex Dunham on trumpet and guitar, repackages that sonic aggression and intensity and I think nicely rounds off the curve of this side of the mixtape. The winding, slightly exotic or Oriental melodies of Erskine's trumpet meld with the surprisingly heavy guitars to produce a viscerally powerful and energetic sound. ('Twisting the Trinity' is actually quite a head-wrecking - but wonderfully enjoyable - song, as I discovered when I put this on, ages ago, to liven me up from a head-cold. Bad idea). Abilene isn't a jazz band, as I've had it pointed out to me, but they do bring the Hoover aesthetic into interesting new territory. Likewise, Christian Scott's Anthem, which I put on my 2007 Best Of, takes bebop jazz in a new direction, and ends up seeming quite like this. Visceral, but beautiful.

7. Radio Flyer - R is for Rocket

(from In Their Strange White Armour)

Having closed the first side with the upwardly-twisting loudness of (second incarnation) Abilene, we'll start off the second with the downwardly-tuned quietness of Radio Flyer. This song builds and washes over you, suffused with melody and quiet, chiming guitars. Of course, there's the scuzzed-out distortion and the almost murmured vocals; vocals which are augmented by strangely measured, tempered and vocal pieces of feedback. You can see the difference between this and 'Swollen Buffet', but also recognize that they come from the same work. A good way to understand that the post-Hoover sound, like Hoover itself, is often about a balance between two extremes, which both combine the same intensity.

8. Regulator Watts - The Ballad of St. Tinnitus

(from The Aesthetics of No-Drag)

Regulator Watts follows the sound of Radio Flyer pretty closely, but at the same time their songs have a different air about them: harsher, more technological. 'The Ballad of St. Tinnitus' continues the arc of slow, moody songs while also riding on a massive wave of volume, an almost unceasing wall of sound. Tinnitus is, of course, the ear condition caused usually by prolonged exposure to loud noises and which manifests itself in a constant ringing sound in the ears, not too dissimilar from the high-pitched drone of this song. Another reshaping of the Hoover 'aesthetic', it eases in with a mostly calm drum beat, before unfolding into waves of noise which never move any faster than they absolutely have to. A few short bursts of speed aside, Regulator Watts here plays on the kind of sonic lethargy that lent Lurid Traversal so much of its emotive intensity; likewise, the impact of 'The Ballad of St. Tinnitus' is a slow, but heavy, one.

9. Abilene - October

(from the s/t album)

All the songs of Abilene's first album take a slow pace, and have a spookily minimalist sound to them. Compared to the sonic heights and excesses of Two Guns, Twin Arrows, this sounds infinitely more relazed yet still infused with tension. Repetitive phrases, scratchy guitar sounds and a low, humming bass combine to create a song which travels a far distance without ever seeming to pick up speed or momentum, just weight. As the first early anti-climaxes pass, the build up begins in earnest with swooping lines of distortion, almost Slinty in a 'Glenn'/'Rhoda' sense. More or less, all of the six songs on the album work like this, but 'October' does it particularly well.

'October' takes the humming guitarwork of this early Abilene sound and twists it around the same series of notes infectiously, a bit like Radio Flyer's '(312)', except here the volume gets dramatically and apocalyptically louder with every repetition. Over this in turn is the characteristic shouted vocals, not particularly distinct (sounds like he's shouting 'Semper Fi' over and over again, but I don't think that's right) but clearly impassioned.

I have an odd memory of listening to this lying on my bunk in the hostel in Snowdonia last summer; I was being antisocial but at the same time was utterly captivated by the intensity of the song. Abilene is, at first, a more delicate album to listen to and understand than Two Guns, Twin Arrows, but the reward is a majesty of power and simplicity.

10. The Sorts - Bowie Knife

(from More There)

Another slow, gentle song, but completely disposing of the heavy guitar distortion in favour of a clearer, looser 'jazz' sound. The only Hoover connection here is the drummmer, Christopher Farral, but the influence is notable. 'Bowie Knife', as with other Sorts songs, is as much about the voice and rhythm of the drums as it is about the guitar, which acts almost like an interjection into this hypnotic jazzy conversation. The quiet, slightly mournful lyrics (sung by Josh Larue) begin like this:

"I am the inventor of the Bowie knife

keep it by my side

I am the winder of the pocket watch

keep it on a chain"

I actually prefer the first Sorts album, Common Time, to More There, mostly becuase of its simplicity and lack of adornment; similar to the values of the first Abilene album. Nevertheless, The Sorts have plenty of the ability to write quiet, engaging kind-of-jazz songs, which wash over you like a soothing tonic after the intensity of the Dunham/Erskine angles of the post-Hoover sound.

11. The Boom - Texas Telephone

(from Movin' Out)

This is the second-to-last track on the Boom album (which is bookended by two incidental pieces 'Movin' In' and 'Movin Out'), and is in some ways the most Hoover-ish of them all. With Fred Erskine on vocals, guitar and, of course, trumpet, the Boom is a little bit like Two Guns, Twin Arrows Abilene but a whole lot jazzier. (It also has Josh Larue on trombone and keys, for those digging the Sorts before it). For some reason, parts of the Boom frequently remind me of The Wire theme, 'Way Down In the Hole' - originally a Tom Waits song, but performed by many different artists, including the man himself, over the four/five seasons. It's got that kind of groovy atmospherics which suit the show's message so well: likewise, Hoover's DC epic sound is "A paean to the suburban disenchantment that looms over the nation's capital like flies on shit", to use sbj's words. The Boom take that DC fury and fuse it with the expressiveness of jazz; partly in a more traditional and straightforward manner than that of Abilene, but also in a broader style, with some of the hard edges of bop and soft curves of ska.

While thanks go to proven hollow for providing the mp3s of this album a while ago, I also serendipitously found the LP second hand in my local independent record store in Dublin (more on which later). So I can give you the printed (not full) lyrics to this Southern-baked tale of woe:

"Couldn't help but hope that telephone post

was carrying lies. a sick surprise

that night.

baby blue. where you gonna go?"

Hoover/Lincoln - Two-Headed Coin 7"

Early Hoover recording: one track each, Hoover 'Two Down' and Lincoln 'Benchwarmer'. Slight, but highly recommended record. I might come back to this and write it up a little more, but I'm on my way to an exam now so I'll leave to the words of others....

Again from fourfa:

Hoover/Lincoln split 7" (Art Monk Construction #1). "If you ever had to be stranded on a desert island with four emo records, this has to be one. Perfectly captures everything that was happening in emo in 1993. Gut-clenching pain and sublime beauty at the same time. Amazing."

From Flex discography (fuzzlogic.com):

"Hoover have one of their noisier moments here; still good & powerful. Lincoln are more in the old DC vein, great noisy & still melodic HC. Good pick for DC fans."

And finally, from Art Monk himself:

"It wasn't until over three years after having released this two-song seven inch was I told that I learned that it is so widely held to be the hallmark of the emo genre as it is known today. The fact thay any would pigeon-hole this creation is of greater tragedy than the most searing chord it strikes. Both Lincoln and Dischord recording artists Hoover took the angst and heartfelt restlessness of hardcore and intricately wove it into a fabric channeled by syncopated rhythms and vocals that yearned without plea for pity. The message is sent mid-tempo, yet written by scarred hand in tumultuous melody. No sleep for the self-declared wicked, a record that after almost five years still speaks with ferociousness to the firery woebegotten..."

Two-Headed Coin split 7"

Hoover - s/t, (reunion) EP

In response, or rather in addition, to:

Burning Down the Dreams of Forever - Hoover, The Lurid Traversal of Route 7

Hoover are one of the great emo bands, as well as one of the great 90s Dischord groups, and a great post-hardcore group, and the originator for a whole bunch of other great bands (Crownhate Ruin, Abilene, Radio Flyer, Regulator Watts, the Sorts [sorta!] and whatever else you can they list on bandtoband). So yeah, they're pretty damn important. As sbj said, "Whether you know it or not, this is the soundtrack you've been looking for". You'll probably have seen the term 'DC-style' thrown around a lot; and musically, as well as lyrically and artistically, this band is it - "...something of a milestone. A paean to the suburban disenchantment that looms over the nation's capital like flies on shit."

I use this guy a lot, but his description of this band in particular is one of my favourites:

"Wow. Some people say this sounds like Fugazi,and they miss the point. It sounds like classic DC twin-guitar midtempo style, as do Fugazi and a hundred other bands. The important part was the way the evil slithering basslines made it seem so dark and serious, and the way the singer worked up from whispering to a tortured animal howl at the end. 'Cuts Like Drugs' has it all." (Andy Radin, fourfa.com)

Lurid Traversal is, of course, doubtlessly the Hoover record. It gives you plenty of listening (13 tracks and just over an hour on the CD remaster, which appends the 'Return'/'Private'/'Dries' 7") and is pretty much a 'great' of 90s hardcore. But, if you still want more, they returned four years later to release a five-song EP on Slowdime Records, an offshoot label of the whole DC/Dischord scene. Here's a contemporary review of the record from Suburban Voice, to be found on the Operation Phoenix Records' zine archive:

"Hoover (Slowdime, EP)

Most emo bands today want to sound like Hoover and with good reason; they were a great band. They took that Fugazi/Dischord post-hardcore sound a step further into Eastern melodies and reggae. So Hoover re-formed last year to record four songs they had written but not recorded and one new version of a song from their lp, "The Lurid Traversal of Rt. 7". It's a spotty release: "Breather" sounds like mellow grunge and their new version of "Electrolux" has a great reggae/dub sound and cool horns, but goes on for far too long. For Hoover fans, this provides a chance to hear what they might be doing today; for those just getting into emo and/or Hoover, it's advisable to pick up the album or the seven inch first. (PO Box 414, Arlington, Va 22210) (Rachel)"

(Issue #42)

I think she's kind of harsh in parts although - and with a personal propensity to eulogise albums incessantly - that is in hindsight, Hoover having recycled its popularity many times over since with new emo kids (like me!). Nevertheless, 'Breather' - which others, like Andy Radin, call one of Hoover's best songs - "mellow grunge". What does DC mid-tempo post-hardcore normally sound like, and what's wrong with mellow grunge? Personally 'Breather Resist' doesn't entirely overwhelm me like some Hoover songs do, but I think it really points towards the later, more developed sound of Regulator Watts - another Alex Dunham vehicle with that same alternating lulling, melodic and white-hot angry guitar sound.

And the remix of 'Electrolux' - 'Relectrolux/Electrodub' to give it its full title - is lengthy, but mereticiously so. I mean, come on, it's a dub version - it's meant to go on for a long, long time - and Electrolux was never meant to be short in the first place (and had horns originally, I think). Interestingly, Regulator Watts did the same thing - spaceing out and creeping out further an already spacey and creepy song - with 'False Idols' first, on The Aesthetics of No-Drag, and then 'Version Idols' on the Mercury CD. It's just my opinion, but I think 'Relectrolux/Electrodub' is a great idea - and I don't even smoke. (There's also, on the Twenty Years of Dischord box set, a dub version of Government Issue's Asshole, performed my Ian MacKaye's Minor Threat. So yeah. Curious and curiouser...) Furthermore, it also provides a handy classification for the Hoover family tree: whether they are more Relectrolux / Electrodub than Electrolux, or vice versa.

The other three songs, 'TNT', 'New Five Drive', and 'Weeds' are very good, too. They all sound like they would fit in well in either Hoover's original album or in Regulator Watts/Radio Flyer (the, ahem, Electrolux end of the Hoover genealogical spectrum). 'Weeds' especially, with its screamed chorus of "Your backyard's overgrown" does the band justice. But see for yourself (not sure where you can get your hands on an actual CD copy, other than obscure distros. If anyone knows I'll put the link in, for ethics' sake):

Hoover - Slowdime EP