The mid-to-late-90s corpus of "Midwest" angsty suburbs emo is pretty massive and you don't really need to worry about running out of this style of music IMO. My personal favorite in and around the genre though is actually from New Jersey – Chris Leo (brother of Ted) delivers the characteristic tone of bittersweet/oblique-nostalgia-of-the-recent-and-hyperspecific-past with unique (and truly underappreciated) bookish sprechgesang vocals, Television-level guitar interplay, and politely epic chiming breakdowns.
Nov 13, 2024
Related Recs
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Chiodos, A Skylit Drive, Dance Gavin Dance, Brand New, Hawthorne Heights, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Underoath, The Front Bottoms
Maybe some of these aren’t technically Midwest emo but I don’t care
Mar 4, 2025
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I can't stand music discourse—particularly of the "rock is dead" or "rock is back" variety—because I find that nobody has decent taste, and often they're not even aware of the best bands making music now. I feel like most adults have a period of their life when they discover a lot of music and then they give up searching. I'm relentless when it comes to discovering new favorite bands. I don't think there has ever been a time with as much incredible and timeless guitar-driven music as right now. Nothing, Teenage Wrist, Soft Kill, Ruby Haunt, Ski Lodge, cursetheknife, Jorge Elbrecht, Narrow Head, Sports Coach, Gold Star, Choir Boy, Better Person, Private World, Peel Dream Magazine, Salem, Heavenward, Broken Head, Sweet Trip, Valleyheart, Sculpture Club, Winter, Deafheaven, No Joy, Sheer Mag, Day Wave, Roseville, Kitten, Glare, Amusement Parks On Fire, Soft Blue Shimmer, Black Marble, Provoker, Anonymous Club, Holiday Sidewinder, House of Harm, Superbloom, Softcult, Tigers Jaw, Second Skin, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, NewDad, Failure, Beachy Head, The Chain Gang of 1974, Cindy, Seer Believer, Fearing, and VR Sex are the names of some current bands you should probably be listening to that come to mind. And Drab Majesty's The Demonstration, a melodramatic tragedy pageant in honor of the Heaven's Gate suicides, remains the best album of the last decade. If you want something more electro, go for Real Lies, these two Islington dudes who make the most tasteful club pop since the Pet Shop Boys. Their recent single "Late Arcades" was written as an ode to their old schoolmate, Richard Spencer, who vanished years ago. That shit makes me cry. (Especially in the car.)
Mar 3, 2022
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Refused- The Shape of Punk to Come (Post-Hardcore)
Cursive's Domestica (Post-Hardcore)
Engine Down- Demure (Post-Hardcore)
The Associates- Hi, How Can I Help You? (Indie Rock)
Swirlies- They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons (Shoegaze)
Juan Luis Guerra 4.40- Bachata Rosa (Bachata/Merengue)
Gisselle y Sergio Vargas- Juntos (Latin)
The Newfound Interest in Connecticut- Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home (Midwest Emo/Post Rock)
Cap'n Jazz- Shmap'n Shmazz (2nd Wave Emo)
Babytooth- Babytooth (Indie Rock)
Elvis Depressedly- Holo Pleasures/California Dreamin' (Indie Pop/Lo-Fi)
Amoeba Arena- Absolutely (Midwest Emo)
Rival Schools- United by Fate (Post-Hardcore)
Mar 17, 2025
Top Recs from @iconicindex
Finally saw this for the first time (on 35mm thxx Prince Charles Cinema) and wow. Jonathan Glazer and co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière spending all of pre-production re-writing the script without informing the studio… DP Harris Savides pushing the boundaries of underexposed film and getting the craziest deepest browns and purples out of Kodak stock… Alexandre Desplat starting with what seems like a very polite classical score and then gradually bringing in heavy synth bass… and of course Nicole Kidman throwing herself headlong into an insane role (and apparently bullying the producers for more $$$ when they finished under budget)
Nov 10, 2024
The less you read about it (or look at maps) the better. Just enter via Haight Street, turn your phone off and wander 'til you reach the ocean. If you go on a Sunday afternoon and you didn't already come across it, proceed to turn your phone back on and track back to the 6th Avenue Skate Park to check out the roller disco party 🛼🔊😎
Mar 3, 2024
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Because of the extensive tradition of pirate radio in the UK (from Radio Caroline on down), London probably has the most insane landscape of 24/7 internet radio in the world. I've tried to rank these in terms of approximate popularity ranging from NTS (as mentioned) on down to purely DIY weekend-only amateur collectives like LWSTD. If you don't know the stations in your city, just have a quick google and do some Instagram "Following" list exploration and it should be pretty easy to find more (e.g. in Amsterdam check out Echobox, Radio Tempo Não Pára, RRFM, etc...)
- NTS (Dalston) https://www.nts.live/
- Rinse FM (Hoxton) https://rinse.fm/
- Worldwide FM (Islington) https://worldwidefm.net/ (currently mostly on ice but great archive)
- Balaami (Peckham) https://www.balamii.com/
- Soho Radio https://sohoradiolondon.com/
- Reprezent Radio (Brixton) https://www.reprezentradio.org.uk/
- Netil Radio (Hackney) https://www.netilradio.com/
- Subtle Radio (Hackney) https://www.subtleradio.com/
- Voices Radio (Kings Cross) https://www.voicesradio.co.uk/
- Aaja (Deptford) https://aajamusic.com/radio/
- Do You!! Radio (Hackney) https://doyou.world/
- LWSTD https://www.lovewillsavetheday.fm/
Apr 4, 2024