Washington D.C. main-stays Fugazi, somehow, and this is almost criminal, managed to slip coolly under the radar of rock / Indy lovers everywhere for almost the entirety of their career. Nobody but legendary front-man Ian Mackaye could have pulled it off.

It was Mackaye’s infamous dogged dedication to D.I.Y. home-grown music that did it; over a number of albums he produced on his own label, Dischord—including early greats 13 Songs, Red Medicine, In On The Kill Taker and Repeater—that both made him a worldwide hero to a select hardcore and also a hate-figure for a million non-straight edge rockers who believed adamantly that Mackaye was raging not only against the machine they all feared, that of capitalism, but against those close to him: fellow musicians of rock and roll.

Instrument, is the definitive Fugazi documentary film (as well as classic all instrumental album). Chronicling the bands journey over the years, and filmed in a hazy mix of low and high tech video, it featured intimate footage of the band both performing first shows, and interviews with members of the band, most notably with Mackaye himself.

But Instrument is so much more than just a documentary. To classify it as such is verging on insulting: as well as a document pertaining to the inner workings of a band so contemptuous of big ticket sales and huge stadium gigs, it enters and embraces the private world inhabited by Fugazi’s hardcore fans. And not just any fans. These are people from all walks of life, obsessed with Fugazi not only because of their music but their morals: this dynamic, rarely found in music, is Fugazi’s backbone—simply put, these people, in all their conflicting dress-codes and classes, fell in love for the same reason. It is this miraculous convergence of people that divides Fugazi from a generation of music so apparently similar, but so obviously different.

As a sidebar I just checked out the enigin scam updates. I really don’t believe a word of it to be honest, but check out the blogs and decide for yourselves!