Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance (2003)

Intense atmospheric emotional indie rock from Seattle just at the turn of the century. 

It's raw but clean sounding, ragged yet polished. 

Highlighting bass player Derek Fudesco from seminal garage punk act The Murder City Devils as well as Jason Clark on guitar from post-hardcore cult band Kill Sadie and featuring the amazing vocal stylings of one Andrea Zollo, this band burned too bright and ended way before their time. 
Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance (2003; Matador Records)

Coheed & Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002)

Coheed & Cambria have been able to blend prog rock and post-hardcore music seamlessly together to create some intricately layered and dense sounds; along with Tool and The Mars Volta (the only other bands I can think of that do that, post-millennium), they have created a music that's both rhythmically complex yet totally listenable- I've always thought that Coheed is what Rush would sound like if they were born way later and were raised on Fugazi and NoMeansNo.

Anyway, here's their debut record from '02; where it lacks in technical prowess it makes up for in raw emotionality.

Coheed & Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002; Equal Vision Records)

Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology (1998)

I don't know if there's another band from the 90s that has spawned more imitators and at the same time gone so un-noticed; maybe because the imitators they spawned got it all wrong, or did it "cleaner", or were less about having fun and more into whiny self-involvement (you know who I'm talking about), but Cap'n Jazz were definitely one of the most original bands of the early-90s Midwest emo scene, probably because they took a medium that was used mainly for heartfelt self-expression and had a shitload of fun with it.

The brothers Kinsella (Tim & Mike; vocals and drums respectively) along with bass player Sam Zurick and guitarists Victor Villareal and Davey Von Bohlen laid the blueprint for what was to come (basically any "emo" band that can't be tidily described as some form of "hardcore") and all the bands that grew out of their eventual demise; The Promise Ring, Joan of Arc, American Football, Ghosts and Vodka, etc. Here's their 1998 compilation from Jade Tree Records, which basically culls all their tracks ever (except for one song; Naive) so you can trace the arc of their career from early 7-inches to a fully realized, tightly coiled pile of post-emo indie punk rock. 

So if you grew up listening to all that early-millennium whiny screamy shit, here's where a lot of it started; except this band was a joyful, shrieking catharsis of sloppy precision...

Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology (1998; Jade Tree Records)

Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come (1998)

It's been brought to my attention that punk, and especially hardcore (and post-hardcore for that matter) have been sorely under-represented in this here blog. Let me remedy that malfeasance by posting one of my favorite punk (or post-hardcore, whatever) records of all-time, Sweden's Refused and their landmark 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come. This album took such a toll on the band that they had to break up immediately following the completion of recording. Good thing they didn't hang around in the aftermath of this record, they not only set fire to but destroyed preconceptions of how punk was supposed to sound; they basically turned the world on its fucking ear.

Blending as many styles as they could here, it runs the gamut from straight ahead chunky rock riffage to shrapnel-laced blast punk to artier noise stuff to screamo and back again; it seeks to confound ears- every time I think I know what I'm listening to, it changes from one to the other. If it's not a focused arpeggio centered around minor chords then it's screechy string rakes and harmonic Eddie Van Halen-esque tapping sections, and then jumps on to these over-the-top bombastic drumming passages, all the while knob-twiddling galore behind the studio glass (acting as an instrument in and of themselves). I'm out of clichés and adjectives after this paragraph.

Anyway, this is meant to be listened to loud. Turn this shit up, kiddies.

Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come (1998; Burning Heart Records)

Five Dischord Bands...

Dischord Records, god bless 'em; gotta love the business model that label heads Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson created way back in 1980 to get their Minor Threat records out to the public. It's been a wonderful American success story, maybe not in the monetary sense but in the stick-to-your-guns-no-sell-out success story: integrity at all costs. Or at very little cost to us, the general consumers.

I would feel bad about sharing these albums but a) these bands no longer exist and b) I own (or have owned at one time) these actual records or c) have spent money on these bands (via digital download, concerts, etc.) But it still feels like stealing from Robin Hood in a way.

Oh well, morality bullshit aside, let's start it off with one of my favorite bands to break up this past decade, Q and Not U. Post-hardcore-slash-dance punk group extraordinaire; I've chosen their 2000 debut record No Kill No Beep Beep for you- it's a tad rawer, fresher and more exciting than their other two records. Sadly, the boys broke up in September of 2005 leaving a three album legacy to the world, also leaving loyal Washington, DC fans wanting more.

Q and Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep

Next up is another DC band, math rock stalwarts Faraquet. They only put out one record, 2000's The View From This Tower, but it definitely left an impression. I'd chunk it right between earlier post-hardcore giants Quicksand and Dischord flagship band Fugazi- tight grooves, heavy drums but not afraid to get funky. Then the King Crimson-esque prog rock stop-on-a-dime staccato blasts. They recently reformed to play a string of shows and release an anthology of earlier singles, but no plans to record in the future. I think they should do it...

Faraquet - The View From This Tower

Black Eyes will straight up fuck your face into an oblivion. Two albums, markedly different- their self-titled debut is far more focused, dare I say listenable? Not that follow-up Cough isn't rad as shit in it's own right, I figured you weren't ready for it. Yet. That's another blog all by itself. For now, you'll have to get by on 2003's eponymous record; an arty, slightly pretentious and noisy version of hardcore punk.

Black Eyes - Black Eyes

El Guapo's Fake French might be the one album that you couldn't pick out from a police line-up, especially from a band that might not have the typical Dischord sound. A bit more heavy on the synths, call-and-response lyrics and electro beats placed here and there would have your scratching you head a little. That's okay; El Guapo wouldn't mind. They're technically the only band here that didn't break up per se, as they merely changed their name to Supersystem (and shedded their original drummer). Here's their 2003 offering for you...

El Guapo - Fake French

Antelope started as a side project for El Guapo/Supersystem/Edie Sedgewick member Justin Moyer along with ex-Vertebrates Bee Elvy and Mike Andre, and their sole offering to the world was 2007's Reflector. Heavy on the bass, the sparse drums interlock perfectly providing a pocket for Moyer's angular and pointed guitar lines. It's minimal, it's sleek, and they're gone...

Antelope - Reflector

Wipers - Youth of America (1981)

Greg Sage and his Wipers were another band that was sorely under-rated and unfairly glossed over; I think they received more press because Kurt Cobain happened to be a fan and Nirvana covered a few of their songs, but Wipers was another band that was ahead of their time- they fused raw punk energy with catchy hooks and a taste for experimentation. Think Hüsker Dü starting a band with Mission of Burma that was trying to sound like Television.

Wipers started out as Sage's experiment; only meant to be a recording project with no touring or promotion- Sage's dad owned an actual record press in their basement and Greg would record songs off the radio and press records for his friends. As Sage would meet drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal, they'd cut a single on their own label (Better Off Dead on Trap Records) and play some live shows around Portland, gaining notoriety and achieving some cult status with the release of their first full-length Is This Real?

Exit Henry & Koupal, enter the Brads; Davidson on bass and Naish on drums. This is the line-up Wipers went with to record this album, and it's fair to say that this was the most adventurous album in the hardcore genre at the time, so much so that it coined the term "post-hardcore" because of its song lengths (the title track clocks in at 10:27) and reliance on other instruments and timbres somewhat unknown to hardcore bands at the time. They broke the mold with this record, and forever altered the punk rock landscape in doing so.

Wipers - Youth of America (1981; Park Avenue Records)

At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command (2000)

Standing at the intersection of post-hardcore and progressive rock is El Paso, Texas' At The Drive-In; my friend Conor turned me on to these guys well after they had broken up and went on to form The Mars Volta (guitarist Jim Ward would start Sparta). This is what Rush might have sounded like if they grew up on Minor Threat.

These guys were pretty ahead of the curve, a lot of bands tried to do this but failed miserably; by the time other bands figured out what they were doing they were already done with this and deep into 45-minute, eight-part prog rock suites.

So here's some of what Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala were doing before they got really freaky with shit like De-Loused In The Comatorium and Frances The Mute...

At The Drive-In - Relationship Of Command (2000; Grand Royal Records)

Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You (2001)

Unwound was cut from the same mold as the two other '90s stalwart post-hardcore bands that got most of the attention; Fugazi and Quicksand. Unwound veered from the safer path those two took (albeit one by breaking up and the other maturing into one of the finest bands ever) and went a bit more avant in their approach.

They kept it subtle and airy at one end but made it noisy and grating on the other; taking the best attributes of post-punk and fusing it with the audacity of noise rock, all the while toeing the line between indie, post-hardcore and post-rock; this is definitely one of the best albums of the new millennium. It's a sprawling and expansive hour-and-seventeen minute affair that delves into both spacey atmospherics and punk rock riffing.

Bravo, Unwound. Nice way to go out- leave your fans wanting more and critics scratching their heads with the whole "what if?" question.

Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You (2001; Kill Rock Stars)

Bear vs. Shark - Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands... (2003)

My friend Conor turned me onto these guys a few years ago; I always thought they were like a poor man's Les Savy Fav- a driving rhythm section, distorted and screechy guitars and vocals alternating between shouts, barely intelligible screaming and melodic singing.

One of those bands that puts out two really good records, shows a shitload of promise and then goes and breaks up.

Go figure...

Bear vs. Shark - Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry (2003; Equal Vision Records)

Quicksand - Slip (1993)

I think I got this record the summer between my junior and senior years of high school- the cassette actually wore out from listening to it so much; I would eventually buy the CD (three times). I've wore out a ton of cassettes, but this was definitely the last; I went to CDs shortly after. Someone stole this CD from me, so I bought it again.

Then I don't know what actually happened to it, I either sold it on one of my big CD purges or lost it or someone stole it (again), but all I know is that I bought it again in 2002. I currently do not have that copy but do have a digital one, so... yeah. I get it, I'm not supposed to own a physical copy of this, it finds a way out of my possession.

Probably because it rocks so fucking hard- Walt Schreifels (who played bass in Youth Of Today and guitar for the Gorilla Biscuits) was a heavy in the whole New York hardcore scene of the late '80s, and the vision he had for Quicksand was as a more mature, more post-hardcore entity than anything he'd done previous. The first obvious influence you'll hear here is Fugazi, but where Ian and Co. were able to sustain some sort of longevity through cohesiveness, Quicksand fell apart after one EP and two full-lengths. Blame the fiery spirit of their tunes, the raw emotional outpouring, the melding of genres, hell- I don't know why they broke up. I just know they fucking rock.

So, here's their debut LP. They'd go on to make another record, Manic Compression (1995), that headed more in the direction of metal, but pound-for-pound this is one of my favorite records of all-time- it reminds me of my bullshit teen angst more than anything else...

Quicksand - Slip (1993; PolyGram Records)