What if I came back really quickly with another round of review/recommendations? Dang, a novel idea huh? Here’s a new (but mostly “circling back”) edition of the tab for y’all as fall sets in. Just a warning, multiple references to IRC and stuff I used to listen to that I downloaded from FTPs in College, haha. Can you relate?
awakebutstillinbed – Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger (Tiny Engines)
As someone who really dug awakebutstillinbed's debut, this is an incredibly strong follow-up and maybe even better than their first in every way. I'm also someone who constantly complains about any album being more than 40 minutes long and I've spun this 56 minute record a few times and it justifies its length. absib takes a more is more approach on Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger; it's more poppy, it's more emo, it's more theatrical, it's louder (though in more sparse moments? hard to explain.)
There's a lot of emo that sounds similar to absib but for my money this is one of the best examples of the modern take on the genre. They never sound like they are indulging in tropes just because it's expected of the genre - every noodly little riff, foray into poppy hooks or pull back into sparse guitar and echo-y vocal takes feel earned and a part of a greater emotional whole.
I think by the end of “Bloodline” - the six and a half minute opener - you'll know if this is for you or not. I had shivers by the four minute mark and loved every minute of the rest of the album.
This is gonna be divisive. People are going to say they got too poppy or accessible (on an album with a 6 and 8 minute songs back to back?) or that they leaned too far into expected song structures, or even that the production is too clean. I dunno, none of that surfaced as I listened to this. It felt like a band's ambition sprawling out in every direction and somehow sticking the landing anyway.
No Weather Talks – Undoing Defeat (2015, No Idea Records)
Punk-pop that slots into the modern indie-punk orgcore category (it was debuted on PunkNews.org in 2015, haha) but has a bit of post-punk textures and generally has some variety to their sonic palette (see also: stuff like mid-career Menzingers maybe, or that album by Wasted Years from 2023.)
I know I call a lot of this kind of music "solid" but it really is just that; real down the middle but effective enough. Surprised they didn't go on to release anything after their debut in 2015? I feel like there's always an appetite for this kind of thing.
Nakatomi Plaza – By Chester Copperpot (1999, BD Records)
I had a rip of this in the early 00s downloaded off an FTP server I got access to via an IRC room. Somehow back then (despite having no connections to their local scenes) I stumbled into listening to Nakatomi Plaza and De La Hoya albums (both projects featuring Oscar Albis Rodriguez). This isn't something I'd reach for outside of for nostalgia's sake but there is a charm to hearing a young band with ambitions beyond their reach as they grab out at the punk rock, emo/emocore, post-punk and indie rock genres. They'd go on to really fine tune their style, and even the Private Property EP (see below) two years later sounds like lightyears ahead of their scrappy early work.
Nakatomi Plaza – Private Property (2001, Gunboat Records)
As mentioned above, this is surprisingly tight based on the shagginess displayed on their debut full length, Nakatomi Plaza really focused in on their emo-laden post-hardcore and indie-rock on this EP. Shades of Fugazi but with the dual vocal interplay (band member Alison Fair contributes way more vocally on this record which really rounds out their sound) of slightly poppier emo acts alongside that vaguely progressive ambition of early Moneen releases. Honestly a bit of a little gem here, and would sit well with fans of that corner of early 00s emo that Moneen slotted into as well.
De La Hoya – Dance! Techno Mega-Mix Vol. 42 (2000, Red Leader Records)
Another band featuring Oscar Rodriguez (Nakatomi Plaza), and another one I got off some FTP in my IRC days. It's hard to separate this record from nostalgia and think about it objectively, but for a 20 minute punk-rock / melodic hardcore album this is a strong one imo. This doesn't exactly fit into the EpiFat sound of the 90s, but it also doesn't not fit there, you know?
You could find similarities and compare them to a band like Good Riddance, particularly De La Hoya's more political songs like "A Light Shower". They do jump around melodically and stylistically though, incorporating elements of indie rock and emo into their punk rock sound. If this had been released on a bigger label, I could see it having more of a reputation these days as a solid hidden gem.
That said, Red Leader Records was also home to early releases from Strike Anywhere and Polar Bear Club before those bands got snapped up by No Idea/Jade Tree and Bridge Nine respectively so maybe it just wasn't in the cards for De La Hoya (or maybe they wanted to stay true to their fiercely independent lyrics?)
✂ Hope To Die, Raphael Nonsenso, I Think I'm Gonna Wanna Need That, Amplifier
The Squish - The Squish (1999, re-released by Shock Collar Records)
Total nerd-rock Weezer worship out of Kamloops, BC and created by multi-instrumentalist Kris Ruston. It’s all here: the simple crunchy riffs, the synth lines, the sweetly plain singer, the oh-woah-ohs, etc.
This comes from the early days of mp3.com when anyone could upload their songs and cultivate a small fanbase from across the world wide web. If, like me, you're always on the look out for that sugar rush of a good Weezer-like (or Rentals-like, or Ozma-like or or or) then you should check this out on Bandcamp ASAP.
Broccoli - Home (1998, Rugger Bugger)
Wow, this rules; sits somewhere between the bleakness of Jawbreaker or Leatherface and the melodicism/angst of second wave emo? Biggest problem I'd say here is pacing - they toss two 4 - 5 minute slower songs right in the middle and while they're good songs, back to back it's a bit of a speed bump. Otherwise this rips, shocked I had never heard it before. There's a desperation in this record that really works.
Not exactly playlists, but they have playlists to go along with them: I’ve been taking issues of Punk Planet and copy/pasting all the reviews into Rate Your Music lists. Done two so far, working on the third.
🧷 #01 Punk Planet (1994 May-June)
🧷 #02 Punk Planet (1994 July-Aug)
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
That Broccoli record, does indeed, rip!