End Of A Year — with Caroline Corrigan

Maybe I'm too into this band, I don't know. End Of A Year (or Self Defense Family as they are now known) has metastasized beyond being just a semi-typical hardcore fivepiece, spreading into this weird conglomeration of different artists (you can read more about it here). God that sounds pretentious on my part. But in just the last year or two the band has broken new ground for hardcore; I see them sort of like Fugazi for this decade. Anyway, this is four tracks from their new "You Are Beneath Me" LP (a cool album, although venturing farther from blastbeats/breakdowns hardcore than ever, but that's not really an issue. This does sound pretty different from their demo though. Also every track beyond the intro is someone's name, wiki them if you're ever bored.) with Caroline Corrigan, an Albany musician and artist, on vocal duties. So it's the same tunes with melody in the vocals; lyrics are the same too (this is the band that wrote, "people do people things;" truer words were never spoken). Definitely worth checking out if you're into music.

End Of A Year Self Defense Family — with Caroline Corrigan

Track Listing:

1. Marissa Wendolovske
2. Eric Hall (Acoustic)
3. Jeni Leigh
4. Philip Jose Farmer

Band bio: "We wanted to play music we liked so we got together and did it. No one else really liked it and we were pretty comfortable being the band who tours the country but no one really likes. Revelation called one day and it was pretty weird but i like the Kiss It Goodbye record a lot so we decided to go with it. Then that didn't go the way we planned and we started to put out a bunch of 7 inches. Deathwish Inc saw that, and got in touch, it was weird but i really like the Blinding Light album so we decided to go with it. End Bio."

http://selfdefensemusic.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_a_Year
http://www.myspace.com/endofayear

End Of A Year — Warm Demo

One of the best post-hardcore bands out there, although I guess that's a pretty ephemeral term. End Of A Year take some influence from Rev Summer bands (note the Embrace song as a band name), and turn it into their own beast. They're pretty big, you should definitely check them out if you've never heard them, cause I certainly don't have the words to describe them.

Anyway, this was a demo from a few months after they got started, but everything that makes them great was already going on even then. A lot of these songs were actually rerecorded on the Disappear Here LP a short time later, so there are some easy comparisons to be made. Basically, these recordings are a little less professional (as in, it sounds like they're having fun), the bass is higher in the mix, and it just generally has a warmer sound (as I guess the title would suggest). If you're a fan, you definitely want to get your sweaty little hands on this, and if you're not yet you might as well start here, cause it only gets better.

End Of A Year — Warm Demo (2004)

Track Listing (might actually be out of order):

1. If You're Not Into It, You're Dead
2. The Birthplace Of Plastic
3. Caldor
4. Hey
5. It Was A Total Nightmare
6. Good To Meet You
7. 60 Degrees 10 Seconds After It Rains
8. Odometer
9. Kentucky Is A Revolution

Band bio: "We wanted to play music we liked so we got together and did it. No one else really liked it and we were pretty comfortable being the band who tours the country but no one really likes. Revelation called one day and it was pretty weird but i like the Kiss It Goodbye record a lot so we decided to go with it. Then that didn't go the way we planned and we started to put out a bunch of 7 inches. Deathwish Inc saw that, and got in touch, it was weird but i really like the Blinding Light album so we decided to go with it. End Bio."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_a_Year

http://www.myspace.com/endofayear