Song of the Day: Off The Record - Death Of Me

As has been the case of late, I am doing a great deal of write ups on little known songs/releases and this one is no exception to that rule. This is one of the better Off The Record songs from their mostly unheard final EP in 2004 titled “Nothing New”. Nothing New was released in 2004 on a west coast punk label called New School Records. The label released albums by 7-10 Split, Off The Record, Twenty2, Not Long After, No Trigger, among many others. Oh yeah, Makeshift3 had a release on the label too, have you heard of them? Anyway, the song Death Of Me was metallic in nature, heavy, and super melodic at the same time. With the release of this EP, Off The Record had found a sound of their own. It’s tough to peg them but if you were to find bands that shared a similar aesthetic for that time period I guess you could say Thrice, Death By Stereo, Glasseater, AFI, Over It, Dogwood, Ignite, and Pennywise. Really great stuff and super underappreciated. I even put the song “Losers Never Win” on that mostly unheard Indie Vision Music compilation, “Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 1” in 2004. The production for this ep was through the roof. Heavy bass, thundering drums, and smooth, heavy guitars. This didn’t have that garage punk feel that their prior two releases had. You can listen to the track below. Just be warned, if you search Off The Record on Spotify, prepare to meet an onslaught of bands all sharing that name. There were only 3 released projects that I know about, “Remember When” (Tooth & Nail), “Mulligan” (New School Records), and “Nothing New” (New School Records).

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