Sunday, March 29, 2009

END OF A YEAR

So End of a Year is a band from Cohoes, NY, a suburb of Albany, which is also close to where I live. I saw this band a few times back in 2005, which I'd define as "early" EOAY, and they've since gone on to release records on Revelation and Deathwish. I haven't seen them since, but they've morphed into one of my favorite bands. Anyway, I found these two really early releases, so I thought I'd share them:


END OF A YEAR- WARM (DEMO)

Early demos are sort of a music form in themselves. They usually represent some dudes just learning how to play together, and they usually contain songs written before the band really knows how to write songs. This demo is much more straightforward than anything the band has done since, so the whole Revolution Summer influence everybody mentions with EOAY is really prominent here. Still, it contains a few really raw, sweet moments, most notably "Hey," a great song which was recorded for Disappear Here but honestly sounds better on here.

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END OF A YEAR- DISAPPEAR HERE

They rerecorded four or five of the best Warm jams for this and added about as many originals. The songwriting definitely had reached a more advanced stage, and the album as a whole has a little ambition to it. The recording is still raw as hell, which I really like, and it's debatable which is better, this or Sincerely, which is a compliment to either LP.

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Sincerely is available for purchase or download in an earlier post.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

THE SAWTOOTH GRIN- CUDDLEMONSTER; MARA'AKATE- EP; MAJORITY RULE- 2000 DEMO


THE SAWTOOTH GRIN- CUDDLEMONSTER

I first heard the Sawtooth Grin, a band from my area, more or less, two or three years ago and thought they were the most ridiculous shit ever. Honestly, they're still the most ridiculous shit ever-- you can take that as a positive or a negative. These dudes played very fast, technical grind, and by "grind," I don't mean Slap-A-Ham-type shit, or even Destroyer Destroyer-type shit. The guitar is very clean, almost jazzy, throughout, the drumming is "bonkers," and the vocals come courtesy of the most talented, if grating, screaming dude I have ever heard. I'm not even sure how much I like this anymore, but it will definitely make you think.

d/l
Out of print, to my knowledge.


MARA'AKATE- EP

If I were to really dumb down a comparison here, I'd say this sounds like Daughters' Hell Songs. It's similarly intense, has these very calculated and cool guitar parts, has a singer that does not straight-up scream, and still seems pretty chaotic. Throw that in with some more rocking and screamo-influenced parts and you pretty much have this EP. Sorry if I haven't really sold it, but I like this a lot more than I liked Hell Songs. Also, these files are very low-quality, so you may just have to buy this one! Hah!

buy
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MAJORITY RULE- 2000 DEMO

Before I get on to describing the demo, lemme gush for a sec-- Majority Rule have had a huge impact on the way I listen to music. I try to be as diverse as possible in my listening habits, and these endeavors have really given hardcore a much less prominent place in my mind. In general I associate it with being sixteen and going to awful, awful shows and not really having great friends. Don't get me wrong, there's some fantastic hardcore out there, but nothing fast and heavy blows my fucking mind quite like Maj Rule's Interviews with David Frost. Emergency Numbers, the second full-length, also would get a 10/10 on anyone else's scale, and the split with pg.99 is in the running for my favorite releases ever, both sides. This band had fifteen or so songs that were flat-out perfect, which is more than 98% of bands across the board can say. Majority Rule absolutely ripped.

Okay, this demo contains four songs, three of which made it onto Interviews. The quality is pretty good for a demo, and though some parts are changed between this demo and the full-length, if you've heard Interviews, you've basically gotten the full experience. So why is this worth posting? 1.) You get to spend more hard drive space on Majority Rule, and 2.) You get to hear "No Breathe," which definitely could've matched up to the songs that made the cut. Here, I want you to have it.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

BLACK SHIPS- LOW


BLACK SHIPS- LOW

My huge boner for this band continues. Released before Omens, Low contains four songs that are slightly faster and less perfected, but definitely by the same band that birthed the monster that is Omens. Opener "These Nights in These Places" has one of the best riffs I've heard from them, and I can actually make out the lyrics in spots. Yup, they're a bummer.

buy
d/l