Day 7 of the #mayvinylchallenge is, appropriately, a celebration of the 7″ – that glorious short format that nevertheless I don’t collect much of. Most of what I have comes from the Dischord label, which for decades has been the home of some of the best independent heavy music ever crated, from the blistering hardcore of Minor Threat to the post hardcore experimentation of Fugazi to the rebellious spirit of the Evens, the Warmers, and most recently Coriky. I picked those examples for a reason – they all feature Dischord founder and punk hero Ian MacKaye. For today’s entry I wanted to focus on a lesser known release from him and the label: the brief but infinitely punchy Egg Hunt and their 2 Songs 7″.

The all-too brief post Minor Threat collaboration between MacKaye and Jeff Nelson yielded only the two songs: the meditative bass-driven chant of “Me and You” and the post-punk excellence of “We All Fall Down.” It’s said that the two songs here act as the bridge between what MacKaye was attempting in Embrace (reviewed here) and what he would eventually expand on in Fugazi. I don’t really think about that when I listen to 2 Songs. I think about that bass, how MacKaye locks in with Nelsons drums and the pushes you forward…not with the fury of their past bands, but with a rock and roll insistence that feels immediate and passionate without the juvenile rage.

I guess in a way it also sounds like what it was: a recording session in London over Easter (hence the band’s name) that yielded delicious fruit that could only happen at that time, at that place. I’m glad we have it, and I’m glad to go back to those songs time and time again, even when I have the larger impact of the previous and future bands to take in all the more fully.