McLusky was one of the most important bands from the first decade of this century. They were from Cardiff, Wales, and it’s a bit of a bafflement to me that they haven’t been more influential. One of my biggest regrets is that McLusky broke up (in 2005) before I could see them live—they only toured the U.S. one time, in 2004, and I happened to miss them when they passed through NYC.

Andrew “Falco” Falkous was the memorable lead singer of McLusky—he was, and is, a true genius at finding innovative ways to be scabrous, angry, and generally obnoxious. If Hillary Clinton hadn’t already invented the term “basket of deplorables,” I’d expect the phrase to appear in one of Falco’s songs.

All of Falco’s bands qualify as post-hardcore but McLusky came very close to capturing the original spirit of Black Flag even as they implicitly acknowledged that the context of the early 1980s just wasn’t available to them anymore. They put out three excellent albums and a scorching post-breakup singles compilation, but if you have to buy just one thing it’d probably be the middle album, McLusky Do Dallas. A few years ago Pitchfork ranked MDD as the 94th best album from the 2000-2009 period, but I’d rank it much higher.

Buzzfeed’s Matthew Perpetua, a longtime fan, has cited Falkous’ “unmistakable voice” and “a dark, vicious sense of humor,” which is putting it mildly. Falkous traffics above all in scorn, and he is very good at it. Simply put, McLusky’s “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues” and “Alan Is a Cowboy Killer” are two of the very best songs of the post-2000 period. And it’s not like Falkous’ post-McLusky output has been short on quality or interest in any way. I’ve seen Future of the Left (Falkous’ first post-McLusky project) a good 5 or 6 times (had to catch up after missing out on McLusky) and every one was a joyous and galvanizing hard rock experience.

A lot of Falkous’ material is in the general Fugazi range of music, although perhaps a bit more varied, and of course, MacKaye’s rigid dogmas are the last thing Falkous is interested in. Falkous is never afraid to switch up the tempo or genre, as in the slow-as-molasses “Fuck This Band” from McLusky or the initially syrupy “Lapsed Catholics” by Future of the Left, a song that turns on Falkous’ humorous mis-identification of a Tim Robbins movie.

Falkous has a way with a phrase, and that asset manifests most visibly in his song titles, of which a more or less random sampling follows.

“Your Favourite Band Wants You Dead”
“Things To Say To Friendly Policemen”
“Sorry Dad, I Was Late For The Riots”
“There Ain’t No Fool in Ferguson”
“You Need Satan More Than He Needs You”
“Direct Debit with Ray Winstone’s Disembodied Head”
“Rock vs. Single Parents”
“Love Song for a Mexican”
“Date Celebrities or Die”
“Failed Olympic Bid”

 
As you can see, Falkous has a way of getting your attention. Really, Falkous missed his calling as a pamphleteer in the Revolutionary War or the Spanish Civil War or something like that.

Late yesterday Falkous, whose Twitter handle @shit_rock sums up just about everything you need to know about the man, posted this:
 

Fuck it. Album is ready to go, I'm releasing it - https://t.co/yuOoJRgxXB I'll fuck on with a fanfare tomorrow. Please do enjoy. x

— future of the left (@shit_rock) September 12, 2016

 
Later on he made fun of himself for unveiling it the way he did, with the message “Confucius say ‘Only a tit releases his new record at 11.23 pm GMT.’”

Falkous’ name for his “one man” material is Christian Fitness, and the new album (the third under that name) is This Taco Is Not Correct. All of Falkous’ albums, whether released as McLusky or Future of the Left or Christian Fitness, feature just scads of pulverizingly effective guitar work and a spiky brand of intelligence. Falkous continuously gives off the impression of “a nice guy” (per Noisey) who is just uncontrollably pissed off by about eleventy hundred different things at any given moment, and his albums are his primary way of releasing his invective at any number of worthy targets.

Any week with new Falco material is a week to celebrate, so go listen! And do buy it on Bandcamp!