The Ends
Sorry … XOXOXO (Pelado)Punks don’t especially care for being gobbed on anymore, but Austin’s Ends have done just that recently, with a series of petroleum loogies like “I’m Sorry,” “Jump Ship,” and “Teenage Detox.” Fleshing out assorted A- and B-sides with another half-dozen spitballs, Sorry … X0X0X0 is a love letter to the glorious imperfections of punk rawk smear: blurry chord changes, blurry vox, blurry rhythm. The pie in yer eye, however, is crystal clear. Crys-tal. Three songs into their 37-minute set, the local fivepiece is pogoing on all cylinders, “Jump Ship” still the mutiny it was at 45 rpm. “Wrong” hammers home with a ferocious Pistol-whipping, while pirate-radio wannabe “Never Too Much” reserves a future spot on Rhino’s Anarchy in Austin: The Red River Years. “Teenage Detox,” meanwhile, continues hurting like dry heaves, and the uncontrollable urge of “Make Me Dull” is pure shock treatment (gimme gimme). Twelve foaming-at-the-mouth furies to make your head hurt the next morning, plus a bracing dose of Elvis Costello’s “Radio Radio” as the unbilled 13th track. Make that a blurry dose of E, much missed on last year’s locally loved Almost You: The Songs of Elvis, and make it lucky 13. The Ends are the right kind of bad news.
This article appears in July 11 • 2003.
