Fucked Up

Fucked Up

Couple Tracks (Matador)

Over the last decade, this Toronto sextet has dragged punk rock into dangerous new territory, and Couple Tracks picks up some of the vinyl shattered along the way. Essentially a companion piece to 2008's Epics in Minutes, the 25-song collection splits the band's difficult-to-find singles ("Dangerous Fumes," "Toronto FC") and rarities (the demo "Carried Out to the Sea") across two discs. The first opens with Fucked Up's 2002 debut 7-inch, "No Pasaran," a rough, anti-fascist bruiser, and only gets better from there: the relentless Krautrock attack of "Black Hats," holiday delight "David Christmas," storming, six-minute "Triumph of Life," and Jonah Falco's stripped-down, original version of "No Epiphany," which was the densest cut on Fucked Up's Polaris Prize-winning third album, 2008's The Chemistry of Common Life. Act II is a bit more puzzling with a terse dance version of "David Comes to Life," while the twee-pop covers of Another Sunny Day ("Anorak City"), Dolly Mixture ("Dream Come True"), and the Shop Assistants ("I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You") get tarred and feathered by Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham's dirgeful bellow. It's a bold, scattershot declaration that leaves vinyl junkies ready to track down Fucked Up's coinciding (but not included) 7-inch single, "Couple Tracks." (Sat., 1:15am, Red 7 Patio.)