Newer bands that I really start to dig remind me simultaneously of so many different bands. It’s almost like looking through fifty slides in the projector at once. The Ends are that type of band, except the final effect is something clear, fun, and realized, not a muddied mess or dick-to-back-of-throat worship of undeniably great bands that came before. It’s also strange that bands I really like seem to go through small metamorphoses in my ears. On the twentieth spin, I’ll start hearing something completely different than what I heard on the first. The proof is in the infection. I keep reaching for this 7”. At times, it reminds me of a supercharged Stitches with a smokier vocalist. Other times, when they cover Eater’s “Room for One,” they play it so forcefully that it comes across like they ripped the song’s clothing completely off. Other influences that seep in sound like they’d be at odds with one another, but aren’t: The tunefulness of the Saints, the inspired recklessness of Scared of Chaka, and ’77 UK punk by way of early Texas hardcore. It’s much better than good. Trust me on this one.
–todd (Super Secret)