The New Year - Newness Ends - Touch and Go

Review by: Chris Boehk

I knew what I was getting into when I bought the New Year's debut album, Newness Ends, and I wasn't disappointed, nor was I surprised. You've got the 2 main songwriters from Bedhead, Bubba and Matt Kadane, on guitars and vocals, along with Chris Brokaw from Codeine and Come on the drums, and Mike Donofrio from Saturnine playing bass, and all of this being recorded by Steve Albini. So, what you've really got is a winning combination and/or a predictable formula. The New Year delivers exactly what you've come to expect from all of these people.

I can't talk about this record without talking about Bedhead, because this record sounds like a Behead record. It even looks like a Bedhead record! Except for the slight difference in colors, the packaging, layout, etc. for Newness Ends looks almost exactly like the packaging for Bedhead's 1998 album, Transaction de Novo. Here's what the Southern website said: "In 1998, after seven years, three critically-acclaimed full-length albums, two EPs, and various singles, Bedhead split. The Kadane brothers, never intending to quit playing music, recruited three old friends to play the songs that would have eventually made the fourth Bedhead record had they remained together." That pretty much sums it up.

However, I think I like the New Year better than Bedhead. It's more upbeat and catchier. The songs aren't all that different from Bedhead songs, but there's something there that's different from Bedhead. Something refreshing. You can kind of sing along with the New Year, which couldn't really be done with Bedhead. I'd put on Bedhead to sleep to and I'd put on the New Year to drive to, if that helps. The Southern website adds: Newness Ends should please Bedhead fans as well as those who may have appreciated the Kadane brothers but were turned off by the slow pacing. The New Year's songs are more immediate and varied than its predecessor's." Again, that about sums it up.

Newness Ends is a fantastic record, of course, and if you've ever been a fan of any of the bands the players have been in, you will like the New Year.

Read where Touch and Go got their name from here.