This Friday’s FACT mix takes the form of an investigation into the seven inch single, by Canadian punks Fucked Up.

Fucked Up, who themselves have released countless 7”s, many of which are now collector’s items, formed at the turn of the last decade. A series of band member changes and singles for labels like Deranged and Burning Sensation led to the release of the first album, Epics in Minutes (a 2004 collection of past singles) which forced those outside the Toronto hardcore scene to take notice.

Two albums later (2006’s Hidden World and 2008’s Chemistry of Common Life), Fucked Up are modern punk icons, as adored by their grassroots fans as they are The NME. They’ve been very naughty on MTV twice (in a bathroom, no less!), have had plenty of gigs stopped, at least one high profile court case, and vocalist Damian Abraham was last year invited to become a regular guest on Fox News.

Fucked Up’s Jonah Falco compiled this FACT mix, and it’s purely recorded off 7” singles.

In Jonah’s own words, “The seven inch single has a special status as a gathering place for songs. Saying something is ‘singular’ is probably a bit too literal, but there are certain focuses you can only apply on a 45 that will never work on a long player. So the single is the place to do that ‘something else’ before you really have to get down to it. Here are some ‘places’ the single occupies:

Intro
The place for bands who you should take in small doses in case of indigestion.
The place where bands from North America learn about cool bands from other countries
The place place for covers
The place for a gateway to another era
The place for precious little B Sides
The place for a taste of things to come
THE place to unleash your secret project band on the world
The place for a good song
The place for your one-man band
The place to break your ‘new sound’
The secret hiding place of inspiration
The place to be before you were famous
The place for an alternate version
The place you might not ever own
The place for a shoulda been hit
The place for a joke
The place for an unavoidable classic
Outro.”

There you go. Full tracklist follows the download link.

(Available to download for three weeks)

Tracklist:
Bedboys – Pace non vuol dire solo niente Guerra
City X – Coverboy
48 Chairs – Psycle Sluts
Zeros – Wild Weekend
Vee Dee – Her Eyes
Slaughter (Canada) – Nocturnal Hell
Fearless Iranians From Hell – Land of the Free
Girlschool – Emergency
Pete Fender – Promises
Blitz – New Age
Moondogs – Ya Do Don’t Ya
Englands Glory – City of Fun
Wire – Outdoor Miner (SINGLE version)
Fix – Vengeance
Skids – Saints are Coming
Napalm Death – You Suffer
Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen