CanadianWasteland Archives: August 2023

8/27/2023

Ipecac - Discography (1994-1995)

Ipecac was a hardcore band from Richmond, Virginia who were active for a few brief years in the 90s. Their discography is disappointingly small, with only a 7", a split 7" with Opposition and a demo tape ever being released. They did also appear on three compilations in their active years. Despite only releasing a limited number of physical media, the band did upload a discography to Bandcamp which includes a few extra demo tracks and basement recordings.

Ipecac had a noisy, abrasive sound with a mix of spoken and screamed vocals and instrumentals on the more experimental side. They opted for unconventional song structures and rhythms and used long instrumental parts in some songs. They remind me of Hose.Got.Cable at times in their almost math influenced instrumentals, but Ipecac is a touch heavier and has the more chaotic "emo" sound of bands like Loomis Slovak. They manage to sound incredibly intense and aggressive while also playing songs at a fairly slow tempo for most hardcore.

As found on Ipecac's Bandcamp page, in a review Richmond Music Journal once described the band as sounding like "a thrash punk band tuning up". Then go further to say that actually no, they sound worse, they sound like "much meets an automobile accident". If that doesn't sum up the band pretty well I'm not sure what does.

Much like many other promising bands from this time, Ipecac was short-lived and listening to their music only leaves you wishing they had recorded more. They had a really interesting sound where a lot of different influences can be heard mixed into one crazy intense finished product.

The cover of Ipecac's "Tomato" 7" features the images of Ellen Raskin and Alvin Tresset who both wrote an illustrated children's books. When the band posted their discography on Bandcamp, they also shared an "activity" book that included colouring pages, crosswords and mazes which I think is a great touch.

Greatest Hits (Discography)

Demo 1994 (Not on label)

Ipecac / Opposition split 7" 1995 (Figure Four)

Tomato 7" unknown release (Fountainhead Records)

Amnesia compilation 12" 1995 (Ebullition)

Activity Book

Swing Kids was an emotional hardcore / post-hardcore band who were active in the mid 90s and were heavily influential to the scene at the time. Their members were also in Bread & Circuits, Unbroken, The Locust and Struggle. Their discography consists of two 7"s, a split 10" with Spanakorzo, a 9 song "discography" on CD/12" in 1997 and then a complete Anthology as a 12" in 2020. They also appeared on a number of compilations including *Inchworm's Food not Bombs 12" from 1994.

Swing Kids had an incredibly heavy-hitting sound that combined hardcore, punk and some art-rock elements. They are grouped together with the emotional hardcore of the 90s because of their distinct sound and spoken/screamed vocals, however I wouldn't necessarily call them "emo". They take all the best parts of hardcore punk and make them their own by using their unique vocal style, melodic guitar riffs, chaotic rhythms and interesting samples like the jazz song in the intro to "Disease". They also cover Joy Division's "Warsaw" and it remains one of my favourite covers.

Swing Kids was influenced by "art hardcore" bands like Antioch Arrow but added more of a heavy, punk influence to the mix. Swing Kids is one of those bands that is hard to compare to anything else because they really were carving their own path through the scene in the 90s. It makes sense that they are grouped together with 90s "emo" hardcore because they were doing something different but as I said above they don't quite fit that description. Regardless of how to describe their sound, they are are worth checking out if you haven't yet.