Looking for some current hardcore kicks? If so, then Muuy Biien’s This is What Your Mind Imagines might be right up your alley. In a nice twist, this five-piece sidesteps the creative blunders that once made hardcore such a dirty word. They smartly aim for reckless abandon rather than an atmosphere of the generic, and they’ve also got some other non-HC tricks up their sleeves.
Anyone looking back a quarter-century or so with the intention of gathering a measurement of opinion from that period regarding the state of the then-current hardcore punk scene will surely find the style evaluated, at least by anyone with their head screwed on half right, as being a near-complete wasteland of regurgitated formula.
While it’s unadvisable to ever step onto the proverbial soapbox to pronounce the death of a floundering musical genre, in the late-‘80s the situation with hardcore punk had gotten so freaking lousy that any foreseeable improvement in fortunes seemed to be, at best, a fanciful thing to consider. If not dead, it was certainly in a deep coma, and very few naysayers seemed all that interested in waking it from its critical condition.
For starters, nearly all of the trailblazing bands in the movement had ceased to exist, and those that actually were still active, either through recordings or by simply electing to endlessly parade their wares via the punk rock touring circuit, had become unfortunate shadows of their former incarnations. And frankly, some of those groups weren’t all that interesting in the first place
In addition, the overall standards of quality for the younger bands, outfits that were sprouting up like hairs in a sweaty pubescent armpit, frankly weren’t much better, and many of those groups channeled their energies into the era’s high profile Straight Edge scene. For those unfamiliar, Straight Edge was (is?) a strain of hardcore that essentially borrowed (some would say hijacked) the sentiments expressed in the Minor Threat songs “Straight Edge” and “Out of Step” and turned them into a lifestyle, one that was testosterone-drenched and loaded with shaven heads and dog-piles of mosh-mayhem.
Now it’s true that many distanced observers occasionally found themselves in harmony with one or two of these proudly clean-living groups (many chose Gorilla Biscuits, but at the time I kinda dug Chain of Strength, though I haven’t heard them in years.) For the most part however, folks (mostly young’uns, natch) either stage-dived gleefully into the mass of blossoming masculinity that was Straight Edge or they rejected it entirely, frequently dismissing it as a troublingly conformist manifestation of a milieu that was supposed to be about individualism in the face of societal pressures, especially of the reactionary sort.
Plus, in the second half of the ‘80s many innovators (and more than a few also-rans) of the HC gestalt became tired of the same ol’ martial beat and chose to branch out into other genres. Yes, a bunch leapt headfirst into speed-metal or hard-rock irrelevancy, but others choose to extend or hybridize the mojo of hardcore punk into fresh (and often hyphenated) styles, and for legions of ex-punkers, this is where the biggest hunk of late-‘80s action was located.
And it had such a heavy impact on some listeners that they ended up issuing extravagant dismissals of the very impulse that helped spawn these fresh developments. This was simply overreaction; even if a large chunk of late-‘80s noise wasn’t necessarily stylistically indebted to hardcore, the style was very often crucial in an evolutionary sense.
Besides, the truly outstanding examples of HC ferocity, mostly issued from ’80-’83, had lost none of their luster by the decade’s penultimate year. But for a large segment of the u-ground rock community, hardcore punk was just totally played-out, the whole genre beneath contempt. That Maximum RocknRoll continued to churn out monthly issues that served as many kids gateway into the era’s punk culture drove whole packs of the anti-HC crowd into realms of pure apoplexy.
Back in 1988, a person presenting these folks with a hypothesis over Hardcore’s destiny as a regenerative strain of youth music would’ve been met with sneers and jest; they might’ve even been asked to leave the party. Actually, just about any well-adjusted sort would’ve likely thought the presenter of the notion had a few screws loose. But twenty-five years later, that’s exactly what’s happened, as the first LP by Athens GA’s Muuy Biien illustrates very well.
To begin, there is the matter of design. Specifically, the sleeve of This is What Your Mind Imagines bears an interesting similarity to the Raymond Pettibon artwork that adorns the cover of Nervous Breakdown, Black Flag’s still amazing debut 7-inch from 1978. It’s a very mild similarity however, seemingly nowhere close to the neighborhood of overt homage, but the connection is indeed there, or at least it is for this reporter.
Muuy Biien initially emerged as the decidedly non-hardcore solo project of young Athens resident Joshua Evans. On the final day of October 2011 he released a 7-song digital EP on Bandcamp titled “Dark/Dork.” That collection, a mix of off-kilter song-creation and lo-fi soundscapes, is not without its moments (“She Bursts (Like a Landscape)” is a tidy little street-rock update and “Gamma” is an engaging piece of rustic drift), but at this point it’s mainly interesting for being what This is What Your Mind Imagines, with three important exceptions, is not.
On New Year’s Day of 2012, Muuy Biien, now a full-fledged band, offered up the “Knife Fights” EP on Bandcamp, though the five songs also received a 7-inch pressing on Charlottesville, VA’s Wondertrick Records. The four brief cuts on “Knife Fights”’ first side have been compared at least once to the classic ’78 7-inch EP “Out of Vogue” by The Middle Class (for many, the very first hardcore record), and while I’m not all that bowled over by the resemblance, the connection does make a lot of sense.
To elaborate, on “Knife Fights” Muuy Biien engage with the sound of hardcore in its relative infancy, when it was more melodic and less caught up with the strictures of severe formalism (i.e. that polka beat, those heavily telegraphed mosh parts, and a multitude of singers shouting slogans. If the raging blast of “Father” (and to a lesser extent “Trash”) is indicative of what most of This is What Your Mind Imagines’ brief (21 minute) running time holds, then the majority of the record’s remainder isn’t quite so worked-up, and much of it can be assessed as “arty.”
For instance, “Sister” is a spiky slab of post punk, the last twenty seconds of opener “Degrade” (nearly half the song’s duration) is a audio clip from Sidney Lumet’s slow-burn of ‘70s cynicism Network, and the B-side “Rotter” contains a nearly four minute long audio loop that’s a totally different animal from what preceded it on the record. In lesser hands this disparity might’ve become schizophrenic, but in this case the art and the anger are kept in a loose focus.
Over a year elapsed between the release of “Knife Fights” and their new LP, and Evans, bassist Xander Wilt, drummer Jacob Deel, and guitarists Tobiah Black and Robbie Rapp have boosted-up the hardcore heft considerably and without falling victim to those aforementioned formal restrictions. They even manage to avoid one of the most tricky, the bugbear of extreme velocity.
What’s apparent from the get-go with This is What Your Mind Imagines is dedication through practice and live playing, with Muuy Biien reportedly a bruiser in the performance setting. Bands this sharp don’t get that way by accident, and one of the consistent elements of hardcore was the allegiance to a work ethic. That tenacity became tethered to a decrease in quality as HC’s original wave subsided, but Muuy Biien, like many of the bands that have returned to this once debased genre in the last three decades, have tapped into the style’s vitality with intriguing results.
On paper, opening with a track titled simply “Intro” wasn’t promising, but Muuy Biien deliver an effective piece of hulking hard rock-derived bombast that contrasts very well with the speedy gnarl of “Another Degradation.” And Evans seems legitimately incensed, but he also retains a bit of that street-rock swagger from way back on “Dark/Dork,” an aspect that brings an appealing touch to his vocals as the LP unwinds.
“Uncle Tony” continues in this vein, the song galloping along at a torrid pace and ending in just a shade over a minute without feeling a bit anticlimactic. But “Something Rotten” shifts gears into a meatier and more extended tangle of riffs that kinda recalls the later post-hardcore of McLusky. And then comes “Emesis I,” the first of three decidedly non-HC entries, this one a roughly two-minute excursion that’s darkly ambient without going overboard with the atmospheric attitude.
Some might consider it a derailment of the record’s momentum, but while not mind-blowing it does communicate a higher than the average level of ambition and serves as a nice momentary respite from the hardcore vigor. From there “Fallin’ Out” is reminiscent of what happened back in the ‘80s when post-core bands dealt with the template of Iggy and the Stooges; it’s sleazy and dense and holds some impressive wah guitar motion.
The reprise of “Sister” from “Knife Fights” is interesting. It’s punchier and less post punk in this version, more in keeping with the LP’s overall MO, and yet it also remains distinctive from the more breakneck moments contained therein. The ambiance returns with “Emesis II”, though this time it’s less dark and more abstract. Then the HC-pump comes back in a big way with the combo punch of “Vulgarities” and “Forward Motion,” the second song conjuring loose associations to both Group Sex-era Circle Jerks and the Black Flag of Damaged.
“Emesis III” ends the album with the lengthiest of the three soundscapes. Again, these digressions are far from jaw-dropping, but without them This is What Your Mind Imagines would basically be a very good document of something best experienced in the flesh.
But by continuing to explore motifs that began when Muuy Biien was a solo-project, the group has produced a very good record-as-record, one that takes obvious inspiration from hardcore while not only avoiding the constraints of the genre but also offering promising stylistic detours. And that work ethic hasn’t subsided. They’ve apparently already finished another record slated for release later this year.
I don’t have any issues with the admirable oldsters that are currently touring the country as FLAG, but I can’t honestly say their endeavor fills me with excitement. However, Muuy Biien does. This is What Your Mind Imagines, another strong (if somewhat unrepresentative) release for the Happy Happy Birthday To Me label, makes clear that hardcore’s essence will always be best extended by the same type of folks that initiated it; the young.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
