• Pre-Order : French Toast "In A Cave" CD

Dischord Records

Pre-Order by 15th Feb 2023

Anyone who's spent time with the 20 Years of Dischord box set knows that variety is not a priority at 3819 Beecher Street. Since Dischord moved away from caffeinated teenage hardcore in the mid-80s, the label has become a one-stop shop for crashing angular guitars, churning post-funk rhythm sections, inscrutable and sometimes political lyrics, and furiously clenched vocals. Some of the label's bands have been stunningly great (Fugazi, Lungfish), and some have been pretty meh (Faraquet, El Guapo), but few have been above resorting to guitar clang. Dischord's D.C.-only policy is only part of the story; the District has produced a ton of independent music (the Dismemberment Plan, Dead Meadow, go-go), which the label has opted not to fuck with. Instead, it centers itself around a loose circle of friends who constantly seem to be forming and breaking up bands. If you've been in one Dischord band, chances are pretty good you've been in two or three or seven.

Jerry Busher and James Canty, the two multi-instrumentalists who make up French Toast, have been kicking around this scene for years. Busher is The Other Guy From Fugazi, the second drummer at that band's live shows, and Canty was a member of Nation of Ulysses and the Make Up. French Toast are sort of Dischord's Spoon, stripping the label's sound down to its essentials. The guitars are flat and muted, the vocals spare and disaffected, and the theatrical, climactic scream-along choruses are absent. The band's economy and sparseness may have something to do with the fact that it only has two members, but there's no sense of looseness or abandon to its tracks; every element of every song is carefully put into place.