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Two years in the making, this 12" EP represents some prime lazy-ass apathy coupled with the kind of wry, bitter nihilism that could be only be fueled by the landmines of fuckery that is the current Bay Area. The band would have you believe they are pulling influences from such sources as NZ greats The Gordons, Australia's The Moles, and Boston's Mission of Burma, but probably, through their own inability, more likely sound like none of the above, pleasing only themselves in the process. But solipsism goes great with the current political climate, at least according to post-punk's yelp page, so maybe these are tomorrow's stars, after all.
Our take: Debut record from this Bay Area, California band. I probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to this record, but something about the label’s description stuck out… maybe it’s the fact that the band took two years to put together a 6-track EP, or maybe it’s the waist-deep sarcasm in said description, but something told me to check this record out and I’m glad that I did. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that the members of End Time are a little older as their music betrays a wealth of influences… I hear the motorik propulsion of Neu!, the catchy, angular guitar lines of early Joy Division, the slightly shambolic feel of Pavement’s early records, and the way that the songs build up, calm down, and build up again even recalls Drive Like Jehu or Fugazi. That probably sounds like a big mishmash, but it comes together really well here. I also love that the recording is extremely warm and somewhat raw and analog-sounding, like it could have been painstakingly recorded on a cassette 4-track. There’s no denying that End Time have a real 90s vibe—they remind me a lot of what was called “emo” before that word came to signify emotional pop-punk—but if you regularly listen to Dischord releases past #25 or so I imagine you’ll like End Time quite a bit.