Crucial Track for August 25, 2025

"Untitled 1/2" by The Appleseed Cast

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Describe a concert that changed your perspective on music or life. Pick a song from that artist or band.

It was the summer of '98 I think (maybe '99). The End of the Ring Wars had just come out and The Appleseed Cast were playing at a small festival of mostly christian bands in OKC (I don't think TAC ever identified as such though). I talked the youth minister at our church at the time into going and a small group went.

I was mesmerized by The Appleseed Cast. It was everything right about the merging of emo/post-hardcore/post-rock. I was even more deeply moved by the final song. The bassist put down their bass and grabbed a saxophone and I was done. I played several years of saxophone in junior high/high school, did a some ska stuff a couple of times with a pop-punk band my brother was in but never heard it in this sort of context. I was blown away. They are a go-to band to this day.

Today's song is Untitled 1/2 from The End of the Ring Wars which I think is the only studio recording they did with a sax.