End on End

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End on End album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 17   Total Length: 52:13

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Mark Jenkins

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
This capital-R Romantic quartet was the first "emo" band.
Label: Dischord Records

This capital-R Romantic quartet was the first "emo" band, and naturally the first to reject that tag (originally "emocore"). Its only album, supplemented on CD by a posthumous EP, attempted to capture the emotional turbulence of its legendary gigs — and comes close enough. While the music is still raucous and raw-throated enough to qualify as hardcore, the looping guitars, delicate if half-buried melodies and intimate lyrics announce a new paradigm. The music's rush and roar attempts to express more than is possible, and almost succeeds. Such intensity could hardly be sustained, and a quick breakup was almost inevitable.

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Kick-ass!

ElVomito

Lotsa good riffs!Sounds wrong to call this emo.It's just some good ol' punk!

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Good Stuff

jasleuk

This album is good snowboarding music.

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emo when it wasn't an insult

J'Adorno

Guy and Brendan from Fugazi. The most heart-breaking & -wrenching punk record made. End on end is probably the best record to come out of DC in the 1980s (with Soulside's second album coming in close second or third). Not to say that it is w/o fault or is perfect (the drums sound like cardboard boxes), but it is an affecting and ultimately rewarding album. The LP and 7" basically laid out the blue-print for emotional post-punk rock, soon after known as "emo," before it went through a early 90s California revival (Indian Summer had tattoos of this album) to whatever is going on now (eyeliner and triple-rectifiers?). I'd even venture a variation of the Velvet Underground myth: everyone who bought this record started a band (or label or zine) at some point. If you just want a taste, start with "spring," "for want of" and "hidden wheel" and remember that this came out 20 years ago.

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Released on CD by Dischord in 1991, this digital version of End on End covers the complete recorded output of the legendary Rites of Spring: their self-titled LP, the All Through a Life EP, and one extra song. One of the first bands to be labeled emocore, Rites of Spring would seem to transcend all labels as their music cuts right through to the heart of universal human experience. Emotional? Yes — check out the bitter memorial relived on “For Want Of,” the pulse pounding moment-grab that is “Drink Deep,” or the devoted searches for honesty and meaning explored on “End on End,” “Theme,” and really just about every track on the disc. Hardcore? Yes — emerging from the D.C. scene, the music is pure focused energy, not a single note wasted. The band at times is fast and furious, at other times lush and evocative though always with a sense of drive and melody. Rites of Spring hint at some of the territory vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto and drummer Brendan Canty would later survey with Fugazi, but this band is much more than just a stepping stone. End on End, quite simply, is a testament to the rich possibilities of sincerity in music. – Matt Kantor

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