When compelling hardcore act Ceremony left Bridge Nine for mega-indie Matador, many people wondered if that move signaled further changes in the band’s sound. (Upon their signing to the label, I pondered right here on this blog if hardcore wasn’t on destined to be the indie trend of 2012.) After all, 2010′s critically-acclaimed Rohnert Park didn’t adhere to any rigid genre templates and introduced the Californians to a whole new listenership. Last year, Matador labelmates Fucked Up–the imprint’s other hardcore act–put out a record that was nothing short of a rock opera, so clearly Ceremony had an opportunity to take their sound someplace very different.

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A year ago, this site published my review of Rohnert Park, the then-new album from San Francisco based hardcore act Ceremony. I cited the similarities of that record with those of comparatively more popular acts Fucked Up and Pissed Jeans, two groups that record for “indie” labels that are distinct from those owned by the hardcore subculture. It appears I was not alone in that observation, as Matador Records has announced Ceremony has signed with them, effectively leaving hardcore imprint Bridge Nine. Artists leave smaller labels for bigger ones all the time, but this instance potentially signals a nascent trend in indie music: “popular” hardcore.

Unlike pop punk, so peppy and easy-to-digest, the kind of hardcore I’m referring to here is often scowling and anti-social, taking cues from both the subgenre’s unglamorous seventies/eighties originators as well as that same period’s “no wave” artisans. King Of Jeans, Pissed Jeans’ exceptional 2009 album for Sub Pop–yes, that Sub Pop–, was a dark and furious romp showered with #whitepeopleproblems galore (Pitchfork ranking: 8.3). Ceremony’s Matador labelmates Fucked Up just unveiled a rock opera (8.6, with “best new music” status) that has been received by discerning listeners as positively as their breakthrough The Chemistry Of Common Life (8.8, “best new music”). Even oldtimers are getting a second chance, as Black Flag/Circle Jerks alum Keith Morris is experiencing with OFF!, an invigorating quartet that dropped the SST-referencing The First Four EPs compilation (, “best new music”) on snarlingly irreverent and hipster-centric Vice Records. The latest act that Pitchfork is fawning over? Scandinavian punk teens Iceage (8.4, best new music). Taking all that in account, Matador’s snapping up Ceremony makes logical business sense.

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Though Fucked Up, Made Out of Babies vocalist Julie Christmas and the annual free tech-metal comp Mecha Organa are completely unrelated in just about every way, they all concern heavy music and they’ve all got new tunes. So:

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While all of you are pleasuring yourself to the sounds of the new album from Mastodon (a.k.a this generation’s Yes), I’m being the contrarian and spending some quality time with fresh tunes from Fucked Up. Indeed, the Canadian post-hardcore artistes are making the most out of this month, with two vinyl releases now available. The first is the 7″ single for No Epiphany, a stellar track off of The Chemistry of Common Life, one of my favorite albums of 2008. The B-side is a remix by noise popsters No Age, a band whose appeal I still can’t grasp. The more exciting release is the Year Of The Rat 12″, the latest installment in Fucked Up’s series based on Chinese astrology, released on the What’s Your Rupture label. The main event is the eleven minute title track, a raucous slab of punk fury elongated in a surprisingly natural way. On the flip is the killer “First Born”, a song that easily could have come from the same sessions as last year’s aforementioned album. If you can tear yourself away from Crack This Guy for 20 minutes, I’d recommend giving Fucked Up a try.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is not paying his hard-earned money for a proggy concept album about a paralyzed boy whose soul ascends into space, encounters Russian Orthodox mystics and subsequently enters the body of Rasputin. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Though we’ve only received information in dribs and drabs regarding the Jesus Lizard reunion, I’m so damn giddy about it. So far, a mere three May dates have been confirmed, two of these being an already announced All Tomorrow’s Parties UK weekender “The Fans Strike Back” and the third being the Primavera Sound festival, the latter of these featuring a stellar lineup including such Scraping Genius… faves as Fucked Up, Lightning Bolt, and Shellac. Contrary to earlier reports of a truncated reunion, the quintessential noise rock band has now it made clear that it will “be playing all over the US and Europe and (we hope) Australia”, which means I likely wont have to hitchhike my way to Chicago to see David Yow literally rock out with his cock out one more time.

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Anaheim purports to be The Happiest Place On Earth, but the only cool thing I saw there this weekend was a drug-addled young prostitute staggering and swaying in a Carl’s Jr. drive thru like a plastic bag majestically caught in the wind. I swear to God, officer, I never touched her. With that in mind, here’s your noise news.

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