The New Year is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band that formed in 1999. The band was started by former

Bedhead BedHead is a comedy web series created by Jon Dalgaard, Claire Phillips, Tom Keele, Reece A. Jones & Benjamin Mathews. Filmed in Sydney, Australia, the series allows the audience to hear the thoughts of two old friends, Paul and Sarah, who end up ...

members

Matt and Bubba Kadane Matt and Bubba Kadane is an American musical duo that consists of two brothers, Matt Kadane and Bubba Kadane. They have founded three indie rock bands, serving as producers, songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists in all of them. The first, Bedhea ...

. They released their first album in 2001, '' Newness Ends'', which like their following albums was recorded with

Steve Albini Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...

. '' The End Is Near'' (2004) and '' The New Year'' (2008) followed, with both being received positively by music critics at

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

and

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. In February 2017, the band announced their first album in nine years, ''

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

'', which was released on April 28, 2017.

History

Background

The band was formed in 1999, a year after the demise of the band

by former Bedhead members

. The New Year was originally intended to be a two-person project made up of only the Kadane brothers. Four musicians, all longtime friends of the Kadanes, were slowly recruited for live performances and the lineup solidified. Like Bedhead in its later years, The New Year started with no real base of operations. Early on Matt and Bubba Kadane were located respectively in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. The band soon added bassist Mike Donofrio (of the band Saturnine, located in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

), drummer

Chris Brokaw Chris Brokaw (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come and Codeine. Life and career While studying at Oberlin College, Brokaw met many people who became figures on the American indie rock scen ...

(in Boston, formerly of the bands

Codeine Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine mainly used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea. It is also commonly used as a recreational drug. It is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy, ''Papaver somniferum''. It is typically use ...

and

Come Come may refer to: *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 **Come ...

), and guitarist Peter Schmidt (located in Dallas, formerly of the bands Three on a Hill, Funland, Legendary Crystal Chandelier, and part-time member of Bedhead).

Recording and touring

;'' Newness Ends'' (2001) In 2000, The New Year recorded their first album, '' Newness Ends'', in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, with

. Albini had previously recorded the final Bedhead album ''Transaction De Novo''. ''Newness Ends'' was released in February 2001 on

Touch & Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Tou ...

. Because the lineup wasn't complete at the time of its recording, not everyone credited on the album (namely Schmidt) actually played on it. The album garnered critical praise and comparison to the Kadanes' previous work. The Kadanes said in interviews at the time that they felt the only real difference between Bedhead and The New Year was the name, and that if Bedhead had not disbanded that their next album would have sounded very similar to ''Newness Ends''. For a time in 2003 their friend Josh McKay (of the

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

band

Macha Macha () was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (''Eamhain Mhacha'') and Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''), which are named after her.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A His ...

) joined on keyboards, guitar, and random percussion. the members separated again with most working on other projects. The Kadanes recorded a score for the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Hell House Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by evangelical Protestant churches or parachurch organizations, designed to act as moral instruction. They depict acts which the organizers deem sinful and their consequences, including the torme ...

,'' the soundtrack of which wasn't released until 2004, though the film first appeared in 2001. Brokaw released solo recordings, played on recordings by

Evan Dando Evan Griffith Dando (born March 4, 1967) is an American musician and frontman of the Lemonheads. He has also embarked on a solo career and collaborated on songs with various artists. In December 2015 Dando was inducted into the Boston Music Awards ...

and

Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

and collaborated on a project with playwright Rinde Eckert. Peter Schmidt played with the Legendary Crystal Chandelier, whose second and final album, ''Beyond Indifference'', was released at about the same time as ''Newness Ends''. ;'' The End Is Near'' (2004) In 2003 the members regrouped as The New Year to record the material that would become their album '' The End Is Near''. The album, released by Touch & Go Records in May 2004, was again recorded by Steve Albini. Positively received in publications such as the ''Dusted Magazine,''''The End Is Near'' Review
by ''Dusted Magazine'' (2004) the band filmed a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

(a first for the Kadanes) for the song "Disease" to accompany the album. The album yielded the band's most popular single, "The End's Not Near," which quickly garnered over a hundred thousand views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. ;'' The New Year'' (2008) A third album by The New Year, '' The New Year'', was released on September 9, 2008. The material is described by Touch and Go Records in a press release stating, "Lyrically, these ten songs address the interlocked themes of lost time, frustrated desire, and the need for others." Like with their other albums, the songs have three guitars. ''The New Year,'' however, was new in that almost half the songs are built around the piano. The album was well-received, earning 4.5/5 stars from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

The New Year at Allmusic/ref> and 7.5 from

. A generally positive review by Pitchfork praised the album's more cheerful melodies and hopeful lyrics, while noting the melancholy sound of the band's previous releases was intact on many of the songs. Will Johnson from the band Centro-matic accompanied the band on the US leg of its autumn 2008 tour. ;Overseas and ''

'' (2017) In June 2012 drummer Chris Brokaw posted on his website that "The New Year has begun work on a new LP in Chicago, again with Mr. Steve Albini at the controls." In early 2012 Bubba and Matt Kadane formed Overseas with

David Bazan David Bazan (; born January 22, 1976) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona who now resides in Seattle, Washington. Bazan is the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer o ...

Pedro The Lion Pedro the Lion is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, United States. David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. In 2006 Pedro the Lion wa ...

and Will Johnson of Centro-matic. Their debut album was officially announced on April 4, 2013 and was released on June 11, 2013. The band announced in early 2017 that their fourth album, titled ''

'', would be released through the Undertow Music Collective. ''Snow'' is the first album by the group to not be issued through Touch and Go Records, and the first album by them since their 9-year absence. Two videos have been released so far for the songs "Myths" and "The Last Fall."

Members

;Current *

Matt Kadane Matt and Bubba Kadane is an American musical duo that consists of two brothers, Matt Kadane and Bubba Kadane. They have founded three indie rock bands, serving as producers, songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists in all of them. The first, Bedhea ...

- vocals, guitar * Bubba Kadane - vocals, guitar *Mike Donofrio - bass *

- drums ;Rotating/past *Peter Schmidt - guitar *Josh McKay - keyboards, guitar, percussion

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Covers

The New Year songs have been covered by the following artists: *2006: "The End's Not Near" covered by

Band of Horses Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also includ ...

(

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

)

References

External links

The New Year's official siteTouch & Go Records
;Member sites
Bubba Kadane's official siteChris brokaw's official sitePeter Schmidt's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Year American indie rock groups Musical groups established in 1999 Touch and Go Records artists Sadcore and slowcore groups 1999 establishments in the United States