The Welsh rock ’n’ roll power trio known as “mclusky” (all lower case, if you please) “formed” in 1996, in Cardiff, though they wouldn’t become, in the transformative sense, until 1999. In their initial existence, mclusky put out three albums—My Pain and Sadness Is More Sad and Painful Than Yours (on Fuzzbox in 2000), Mclusky Do Dallas, and The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire (the latter two released on Too Pure, in 2002, 2004, respectively)—of music that could be described, with enough accuracy to avoid deletion on Wikipedia , as “post-hardcore,” “indie rock,” or “noise rock.” These designations are fine. Mclusky indeed existed after hardcore was invented, and they did make music that could be considered “hardcore” if it were played faster and dragged its knuckles an iota lower. If one is inclined to see genre through the lens of market viability, then mclusky were indeed signed to an independent record company. As for “noise rock”: mclusky were noisy. And they did rock.

If none of these labels feel sufficient to encompass the band’s amalgamation of stupid/smart heft, girlgroup shimmy-shake, alt-Beantown loud ’n’ quiet dynamism, and the kind of potty-mouthed profundity most commonly found in the ripples made by a poet of the confessional school hitting the water, then that’s not mclusky’s problem. It’s not anyone’s problem. We’re all only as independent as the world allows. It’s always post-hardcore somewhere. Keeping it simple, one can call mclusky “a Cardiff band.” With all the pride, discontentment, and pride-in-beingdiscontented that comes with.