I hate falling back on the term "collective" cuz it carries so much pretense (as well as descriptive laziness) along with it (see Godspeed You Black Emperor, Broken Social Scene, Menudo), so I'd rather refer to recently reunited DC punks The Beauty Pill as a band that just never quite settled on its members. I can tell you the band is the songwriting project of former Smart Went Crazy leader Chad Clark (though i can't tell you they are/were), I can tell you they create punk music using pots and pans and chords you haven't heard recently, I can tell you they put on one of the best live shows I saw last year (they didn't make my best of list because it was a far too short half hour CMJ set at the knitting factory), and I can tell you, behind Q and not U and Fugazi (and, I suppose Shudder to Think, but I only like their Epic albums, anyway) they're my favorite things on the Dischord Label. Here's to hoping they release another full length. If only all punk packed this much swagger along with its bile.
"The Western Prayer" is from the band's 2004 album The Unsustainable Lifestyle.
"You are right to be afraid" is from the 2003 EP of the same name.
You can buy all the band's work from their Dischord site, and hear another song or two on their myspace page.
Me and Cerys down by the etc.