Red Medicine

Group leader Ian MacKaye has said that Fugazi didn’t really learn to utilize the studio environment until 1995’s Red Medicine, which he counted as his favorite of all the band’s releases. The album was a crossroads for the venerable and extremely diligent D.C.-based post-punk band, as it was positioned between the group's ferocious early years and the more introverted, polished albums Fugazi would make as its members got older. Red Medicine is the point at which the band became more interested in playing in the service of sound. Though it contains a few red-hot rock songs (“Bed for the Scraping,” “Back to Base”), the album is better defined by the textural and atmospheric explorations of “By You,” “Latest Disgrace," and “Birthday Pony.” Jamaican dub music is the album’s shadowy influence, a reference point that becomes overt on the deliciously strange “Version.” Even as the band's self-governance became less defined, Fugazi’s guitar chemistry remained intense: “Combination Lock,” “Fell, Destroyed,” “Target," and “Long Distance Runner” find Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto locked in heated telepathic synergy.