Fucked Up — Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009

Before Fucked Up broke out with 2008's Polaris Music Prize-winning The Chemistry Of Common Life, they were more known for releasing singles than they were albums. Indeed, other than The Chemistry Of Common Life, they've only released one other proper studio album in 2006's Hidden World.

Couple Tracks, as its title obviously suggests, collects some of Fucked Up's singles and seven- and- 12-inch tracks from 2002 to 2009. Many are now difficult to find. Couple Tracks is divided into two discs — one dubbed "the hard stuff," and another titled "the fun stuff."

Although the second disc does contain more experimental material (such as the Daytrotter Sessions' psychedelic versions of "Magic Kingdom" and "David Comes To Life") Couple Tracks in general shows a harder, more traditional hardcore-influenced (think '80s D.C. hardcore) Fucked Up than on The Chemistry Of Common Life. There are no flute solos or operatic guest vocalists anywhere here, folks.

Yet there are two things that remain constant throughout Couple Tracks: The band's relentless enthusiasm for their craft and vocalist Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham's dynamic personality. As early as 2002, you can already see how obsessed Pink Eyes was with existentialism and religious questions. This was something that heavily marked The Chemistry Of Common Life.

While most of Couple Tracks' tunes unfortunately sound exactly the same (that's part of the problem with hardcore and why The Chemistry Of Common Life was such a stand-out), the compilation serves as a good background for those new to the band, showing them what they've got in their bleeding, underpants-clad, Polaris-mooning arsenal.

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