Update

This blog is still very much alive but I don't have the time to post bands lately. I'll try to put on some more stuff in the following weeks.

The Walls You've Built

The Walls You've Built was a band from Houston, Texas that existed somewhen around the years 2003-2005 I guess. The band featured ex-members of Burned Out Bright and released one EP. On top of that, they recorded a few demos (listen here) while they working on a second record which never happened though. And they delivered a song to the Emo Apocalypse 12" compilation, which is where I discovered them.

This band is very similar to Burned Out Bright, taking on the emo style, crying a lot, bashing the heck out of their instruments, throwing in sad parts and twinkly melodies... it's all there. It does start off in a bit of a screamo fashion, with lots of boys hollering and the guitars chugging away, but it swiftly morphs into something else.

Live in Houston, TX  - 2004

Definition Of A Friendship (2004)
01. Hearts And Bricks
02. Reflections
03. Separation For A New Beginning
04. Song 4

Welcome The Plague Year

Welcome The Plague Year formed in 2003. Founding members were Chris Smith (Neil Perry), Larry Everett (Joshua Fit For Battle), James Walton, Kevin Hardy (Joshua Fit For Battle), Kerry-Jo Pries (Makara), and Jon Marianari (Neil Perry, You And I). The band was very active in 2004 and 2005, and has not released any material since then. Maybe they broke up? I don't know.

The band played a similar style of screamo like Joshua Fit For Battle and Neil Perry, but still sounds different and unique. Melodic, fast-paced instruments go with crushing vocals. What I really like are the kind of ambient interludes and the build-ups in songs. There is a cool description on last.fm: "Hundreds of complaints, broken drumsticks, and power failures later, they emerged from the cloud of dirt and smoke up a creaky staircase ready to put their creations on tape."

Demo from 2003

Ampere/Welcome The Plague Year (2005)
01. Ampere - Away From The Bright Lights
02. Ampere - Your Still Life
03. Welcome The Plague Year - You Are My Economical Rival, And I Hate You

Funeral Diner/Welcome The Plague Year (2004)
01. Funeral Diner - Yeah, You Remember That...
02. Welcome The Plague Year - We Had Hoped For So Much More...

Welcome The Plague Year (2004)
01. Behold A Pale Horse
02. Humming To A Dead Song
03. Going Peacfully
04. Craft Messenger
05. Doomsday Parade
06. Interlude
07. Graveyard Planet
08. Into Twilight
09. Of The Bridges
10. Improv. 1. Take 1.

Quiet. Still. Dead (2004)
01. Quiet. Still. Dead.

Demo (2003)
01. Into Twilight
02. Craft Messenger
03. Quiet. Still. Dead.

VA - ABC No Rio

"What I love most about live recordings is that sometimes they capture the energy that doesn't come through on a record. This CD has live tracks from 8 amazing bands, including Boysetsfire, Kill the Man Who Questions, Twelve Hour Turn, Devola, Saetia, Countdown to Putsch, I Hate Myself, God Awful, and You And I.

Despite the fact that these are live recordings, many of them sound better than the bands' records. The Saetia song, 'Becoming the Truth' is actually the only studio track on this piece. It was the band's first song and this is the only place it has been released.

Besides, it's so cheap and for a great cause. ABC No Rio has been the only mainstay venue in NYC's diy scene. It has consistently held shows for over ten years." - Level Plane

ABC No Rio (1999)
01. Boysetsfire - Resection
02. Boysetsfire - Pure
03. Countdown To Putsch - The Argument With Camus
04. Countdown To Putsch - (Un)naturalization
05. Devola - Collapsed
06. Devola - Prozac Equation
07. Devola - Excerpt Of A Letter From The Office Of Vital Statistics
08. God Awful - Vicariously
09. God Awful - Failure
10. I Hate Myself - Darren's Roof
11. I Hate Myself - Drama In The Emergency Room
12. Kill The Man Who Questions - Sugar Industry
13. Kill The Man Who Questions - Good Cop Bad Cop
14. Saetia - Becoming The Truth
15. Twelve Hour Turn - Wide Awake
16. Twelve Hour Turn - He'd Rather Not Watch
17. You And I - Seascape
18. You And I - Something To Remember *cuts off after 9 seconds...

You And I

You And I was a band from New Jersey. They were active in the late 90's. In 2011 they played two reunion shows. Anyway, the band released a 7", two 12" and a CD on labels such as Level Plane and Spiritfall Records. Members were involved in well-known bands such as Hot Cross, Welcome The Plague Year, The Assistant, Neil Perry and a few more.

While they maintained the heavy, chaotic elements typical of the genre, their music has traveled well in terms of influence due to its more tuneful and musical qualities. While other bands in the genre often simply played fast, You and I had a very solidly inventive rhythm section and two guitarists were who were able to add interesting textures and interplay to the music, incorporating riffs that recalled Midwest emo, tech metal, and almost every other punk sub-genre; often while holding down vocal parts at the same time. While You and I were by no means the only emo band to integrate clean vocals and layered harmonies, they did it in the context of what were often atypical song structures.

There is a discography release floating around on the internet which has mislabelled songs. The youtube video I posted is mislabelled for example... annoying. However, below you will find every release with correctly labelled songs.

Someday I'll Say Goodbye & Absence from the Saturdays Cab Ride Home LP

The Curtain Falls (1999)
01. Tell Me About Your Childhood
02. Brock Landers And The Mustang Cake
03. Playing Off The Story
04. 143 (JCM)
05. I Think I Know Where Elvis Lives
06. Pulse
07. Threading A Needle
08. Two Down, One To Go

Within The Frame (1998)
01. Forever Lasts A Moment
02. Achilles
03. All Imperfect Things
04. A Day Passes Through
05. No Guilt On New Year's Morning

Saturdays Cab Ride Home (1998)
01. Someday I'll Say Goodbye
02. Absence
03. Memory Loss
04. We All Bleed
05. When We Were One
06. Revision
07. Nights Like These
08. Smile
09. Saturdays Cab Ride Home

You And I (1997)
01. Something To Remember
02. Heart's Divide
03. Silent Morning Whisper
04. Seascape

Off Minor

When Saetia broke up in 1999, two new bands were brought to life one year later: Hot Cross (Billy Werner, Greg Drudy) and Off Minor (Jamie Behar, Steven Roche). Former member of Off Minor was also bassist Matt Smith (played the last Saetia show), who then went to play in Hot Cross and was replaced by Steven Roche's brother Kevin that had played in Life Detecting Coffins. The band has released three LP's, a split LP, and various split 7". Labels they released material on are Level Plane, EarthWaterSky, Golden Brown, PurePainSugar and Yellow Ghost.

Perhaps what makes Off Minor so special is how much noise they are able to get out of 3 instruments, whether it be in the form of chaos or beauty. Combining both in the same way Saetia did, Off Minor represents the true emo scene, a difficult blend of elegance and brutality that when meshed together forms something truly amazing. I personally love the twinkly and jazzy melodies.

The band has not officially broken up yet, but the last record they put out was almost 4 years ago.

Live in Ghent 1/7

Some Blood (2008)
01. Neologist
02. Some Blood
03. Everything Explicit
04. To An Ex
05. No Conversationalist I
06. Practice Absence

Off Minor/Killie (2008)
01. Off Minor - Some Clown
02. Off Minor - Abbatoir
03. Off Minor - Everything Explicit
04. Killie - Part 1
05. Killie - Part 2

Ampere/Off Minor (2008)
01. Ampere - Conquest Success
02. Off Minor - Abbatoir

Off Minor/My Disco (2005)
01. Off Minor - Some Clown
02. My Disco - Troubled Receiver

Innominate (2004)
01. Cadaveric
02. Killed For Less
03. Inadequate In Absence Of You
04. Demolition Heuristic
05. In SL
06. Devil Ether
07. Allele
08. Family Circus

Off Minor/St. Alban's Kids (2004)
01. Off Minor - In SL
02. Off Minor - My Father's Dreams
03. St. Alban's Kids - Dissthentic Penetration
04. St. Alban's Kids - When We Are Just Days Away From Illiteracy

The Heat Death Of The Universe (2002)
01. The Heat Death Of The Universe
02. This Is A Hostage Situation
03. It's A Beauty
04. Punch For Punch
05. The Transient
06. Staring Down The Barrel Of Limited Options
07. Spartan
08. Monday Morning Quarterbacks
09. Off Minor

Off Minor/I Am The Resurrection (2001)
01. Off Minor - Problematic Courtship
02. Off Minor - My Recovery
03. Off Minor - Farewell Ne'er Do Well
04. Off Minor - Willow Weep For Me
05. Off Minor - Remainder
06. Off Minor - Perfect Strangers
07. I Am The Resurrection - Gauges
08. I Am The Resurrection - Spliced Film Smiles
09. I Am The Resurrection - This New Broom Sweeps Clean
10. I Am The Resurrection - Short, Fast And Oh So Stylish
11. I Am The Resurrection - Came Home Pushed And Full Of Pins
12. I Am The Resurrection - The New Apostles
13. I Am The Resurrection - The Fall And Rise Of Cameron Hodge

VA - Wayfarers All

Wayfarers All is a compilation released by Owlsa Records in 2004. It collects a lot of amazing emo and screamo bands, such as The Pine, La Quiete, Stop It!! and Sinaloa. I think all (or at least most) of the songs are exclusive to this compilation only.

Wayfarers All (2004)
01. Life At These Speeds - You Know To Say Yes
02. The Pine - Desperate And Lonely
03. True Feedback Story - Solution Set
04. Liza Kate - A Terrible Beast And A God
05. La Quiete - Lettere che avevo intenzione di scrivere
06. Sinaloa - Dent Instruments
07. Wilderness Medicine - The Fisherman
08. The Shivering - Look Away
09. Reactionary 3 - Since I Quit My Job
10. Hit Self Destruct - Like Water For Absinthe
11. Stop It!! - Not Mentioned On Maps
12. Big Little Torso - Outro

Stop It!!

Stop It!! was a band from Richmond, VA that existed between 2001 and 2004. The band recorded a demo two months after forming. The band remained a bit unknown and had shitty equipment at first, but things changed eventually. In 2003, Stop It!! released a full-length on Robotic Empire and Perpetual Motion Machine.

The band sounds similar to bands like Sinaloa, Daniel Striped Tiger and L'antietam. They take a very catchy take on emotive punk rock music that's strongly associated to the indie rock sound. The band also used post-rock elements in their songs. Ranging from harsh and frantic to melodic and stoned out, all overlaid with shouted vocals and the occasional burst of beautiful harmonies.

Members had played in City Of Caterpillar and Municipal Waste and went on to play in Cloak/Dagger, Brainworms, Pink Razor and more.

Captain Roboto from the Self Made Maps LP

Self Made Maps (2003)
01. Maybe She's Born With It
02. Name + Number
03. Amen & Boys
04. A Clever Play On Words
05. Remove Your Teeth
06. S.S. Betrayel
07. Captain Roboto
08. Here's To New Shortcuts
09. Beethoven's Funeral

Demo (2001)
01. When Doves Cry
02. My Prerogative
03. Theme Song For Beverly Hills, 90210
04. When A Man Loves A Woman
05. Paradise City
06. Exile On Main St.
07. Mr. Roboto

Van Johnson

Van Johnson was a band from Ottawa, Canada that existed from 2002 to 2005. The band put out a two-song demo, a 7" on Firewalk With Me and Exotic Fever, a split 7" with Kaospilot on Level Plane, and a full-length on Exotic Fever.

The band takes a rather post-hardcore influenced  approach to screamo. I first heard this band when I got a free 7" with an order I made, and I was blown away instantly. I suck at describing bands, so I'll just quote:

"This Canadian act covers a lot of ground, never letting up on the frantic screaming vocals but musically offering everything from standard jangly clean passages and intense guitar textures with noisy picking speeds to sparse clean breaks with light effects adding more atmosphere. During such calmer moments (musically) the drumming really starts to shine with some nice flare on the cymbals and such, and it's also interesting that much of this material is only melodic in very abstract manners." - Aversionline.com


Haunting This Body from the s/t LP

Van Johnson (2005)
01. Speechless For Once
02. Haunting This Body
03. Spagator
04. Ashes
05. Sturm und Drang
06. Flatlands And Graveyards
07. Beggars And Bones

Van Johnson/Kaospilot (2004)
01. Van Johnson - Spagator
02. Kaospilot - Vivre sa vie

Ladies And Gentlemen... (2004)
01. Like A Ghost
02. A Dance

Demo (2003)
01. Haunting This Body
02. Flatlands And Graveyards

Song Of Zarathustra

Song Of Zarathustra was a band from Sioux City, Iowa that existed between 1997 and 2003 with a little break between 1998 until 2000. Members were also involved in The Book Of Dead Names (possibly known for the split with Jeromes Dream), The Khayembii Communiqué, Artifact Shore, The Cardinal Sin and a few more. The band released material on a bunch of cool labels inlcuding Level Plane and Witching Hour.

I think there is one aspect of their sound that makes it outstanding and different from the rest: the synthesis of heavy bass and guitar play mixed with droning organ music. The sound in general is very noisy and chaotic, but finds also its calm moments. Along with that, the vocals come off very feverish and crushing. Doing research for this post, I stumbled upon a accurate statement: "Song of Zarathustra is merely attempting to damage your hearing with a vicious attack of noise and volume."

I've heard a great deal of bands using synths and they mostly suck (yeah, those who call themselves nintendocore or whatever, horrible...). But Songs Of Zarathustra know what how to handle these influences.

Mess Of Zero from the The Birth Of Tragedy 12"

Near And Far Vol. 2 (2002)
01. Racebannon - Waltz Of El Diablo, Part I
02. Racebannon - Satan's Kickin' Yr Dick In, Part IV
03. Racebannon - Waltz Of El Diablo, Part II
04. Racebannon - Satan's Kickin' Yr Dick In, Part V
05. Song Of Zarathustra - Establishing An Introduction, Part I
06. Song Of Zarathustra - All Cries Of Accidents, Part II
07. Song Of Zarathustra - A Plan To End All Plans, Part III

A View Of High Tides (2002)
01. We Scholars
02. Shakes In Pain
03. Find A Grave
04. Pill Catcher
05. Half Mass
06. A Poisonous Movement
07. Inaccurate Accuracy
08. The Messenger Of Heat
09. Tame
10. The Passing

2 Song EP (2001)
01. A Poisonous Movement
02. Lude Boy

Bote des Zorns (2001)
01. Inaccurate Accuracy
02. Half Mass
03. Quantity At Hand
04. Messengers Of Heat

The Birth Of Tragedy (2000)
01. Intro
02. Mess Of Zero
03. With Hands That Bleed
04. The Great Longing
05. The Evening Beat
06. Deep Yellow And The Burning Red
07. The Birth Of Tragedy
08. Science, Science
09. Cry Of Distress
10. The Stillest Hour
11. Machinist Union
12. Outro

Song Of Zarathustra/Johnny Angel (1998)
01. Song Of Zarathustra - Recommend For Digestion
02. Song Of Zarathustra - Black And Blue Award
03. Johnny Angel - Mercks
04. Johnny Angel - Yearbook

Song Of Zarathustra/Spread The Disease (1998)
01. Spread The Disease - Cyst Of The Unborn
02. Spread The Disease - Black Eyed
03. Songs Of Zarathustra - Theme For Bastard Children

Song Of Zarathustra (1997)
01. One Strike At Romance
02. Murder In La-Jolla
03. Save Our Ship
04. Science, Science
05. Ramirez-Lira