in media res

In light of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, I got to thinking about hardcore punk 7” records, specifically something I read recently about a 7” put out by a Canadian hardcore band called Fucked Up. Fucked Up have something of a tradition of releasing their music sporadically in 7” singles of two songs, and just before Christmas they announced their latest release, David Christmas, which was limited to 1000 copies (ordinarily quite a high print-run for a hardcore band, although Fucked Up are currently receiving quite widespread and borderline mainstream attention), ordered online and shipped in specially designed Fucked Up gift wrap (the commodity double-whammy).

(more…)