Reggie and the Full Effect - Greatest Hits '84-'87 (1999)

To start, I'd like to share the crooked path that I took last night to listening to Greatest Hits '84-'87 for the first time in a number of years: A contestant named Suzanne Goldlust, who I'm arbitrarily routing for, wins Jeopardy! (I'm a few episodes behind) → Start singing "Susanne" by Weezer → Go to the kitchen to make brownies, listen to "Susanne" → "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" → Return of the Rentals → "Holiday" by the Get Up Kids → Greatest Hits '84-'87.

I was 17, a junior in high school, and had been dating this girl for over a year -- which in high school relationship time is practically a lifetime -- when she cheated on me, then dumped me before school, in the rain, on her birthday. After a couple weeks of me crying, writing terrible poetry, and generally moping around, my Mom took me to Record and Tape Traders and told me she'd buy me a CD of my choice, hoping to cheer me up. I had heard some of Greatest Hits '84-'87, and even though my initial reaction had been to hate it, when I saw it on the shelf, it called to me.

Friends, this record completely turned me around. It didn't just speak to my broken heart, my insecurities, and my profound teenage yearning: it translated them into the biggest, brightest, catchiest hooks I'd ever heard. (Kinda like that line about cocaine in Walk Hard: "It turns all your bad feelings into good feelings!") The language, which clearly was simplistic by design -- all "girl"s and "boy"s and "you"s and "heart"s and "never"s and "run away"s -- made it even more potent, as did the rich, shimmering synths, which sounded lifted directly from "Friends of P". Plus there were a bunch of dumb, fun sketches. I became obsessed, and played it over and over at home and in my friends' cars, as we all came to memorize and sing along to every goddamn word. Thus began our emo phases.

Some less personal background info for those who don't already know: Reggie and the Full Effect is the emo-power pop solo project of James Dewees, who played in Coalesce (that's him on drums), the Get Up Kids, and a bunch of other bands. Greatest Hits '84-'87 is, obviously, a joke name, as it was recorded in 1998 with two other Get Up Kids, then released the following year. It's the project's first album. Dewees is punker, cooler, and nicer than you. This record usually sounds cloying/grating to new listeners, and I get it. It's still my heart.

P.S. Thanks everyone for all the kind words on my last post. It truly means a lot to me, even coming from (sometimes anonymous) strangers on the internet.

Track listing:

1. Drunk Guy at the Get Up Kids Show

2. Girl, Why'd You Run Away?

3. Fiona Apple Can Kiss My Black Ass

4. What's Wrong?

5. Props to the Queen of Pop A.K.A. Keep on Climbin' That Velvet Rope Baby

6. Your Girlfriends Hate Me

7. Megan Is My Friend to the Max

8. My Dad - Happy Chickens (Kirksta Party-to-Go Mix)

9. Another Runaway Song

10. Drunk Guy Talks Chemicals to Us at the Get Up Kids Show

11. Your Boyfriend Hates Me

12. Pick Up the Phone Master P

13. Where's Your Heart?

14. Get to the Choppa

15. Better for You

16. Everything's Okay

17. Just a Reminder

18. Brandi's Birthday Song

So long

I finally figured out what was wrong

You should also listen to:

that dog. - Totally Crushed Out! (1995)

Tony Molina - Dissed and Dismissed (2013)

Purplene - Purplene (2004)

A near-perfect swan song from this short-lived Australian group. Elements of emo, math rock, and post-rock coalesce in a warm, strangely meditative sound powered by tasteful, angular guitar work, understated vocals, skittering drumming, and subtle, thoughtful compositions.

Track listing:

1. Love: Western

2. Swords Down

3. Lyonhardt

4. The Battler

5. Second Shift

6. Scares for Sores

7. Cahoots = 1

8. Watch the Watch

They're on to us

If you like this, you should hear:

Gastr del Sol - Camofleur (1998)

U.S. Maple - Purple on Time (2003)

Castor - Castor (1995)

Related:
Centaur - In Streams (2002)

Excellent, generally low-key 90s emo/indie rock. Great guitar interplay and understated vocal melodies that always remind me of Hum.

Track listing:
1. Anecdotes
2. Pontiac
3. Grind in Motion
4. Ceremal Frame
5. Dust Gun
6. Trans
7. The Package
8. Baroque

One thousand miles from nowhere

Also listen to:

Mineral -
The Power of Failing (1995)

Ester Drang -
Goldenwest (2001)

Ester Drang - Goldenwest (2001)

A forgotten gem of hazy, shoegaze- and emo-indebted Oklahoman post-rock. I've always gotten vaguely Christian vibes from this band, but as far as I'm aware, their lyrics are cryptic enough to elude specifically religious interpretations.

Track listing:
1. Goldenwest
2. Song for Jonathan
3. Is Nothing New
4. Repeating the Procedure
5. That's When He Turns Us Golden
6. Words That Cure, Part 1
7. Words That Cure, Part 2
8. How Good Is Good Enough?
9. Felicity, Darling

Everything you do
Becomes a part of you

You should also hear:

Aereogramme -
Sleep and Release (2003)

Piano Magic - The Troubled
Sleep of Piano Magic (2003)

The Paper Chase - Now You Are One of Us (2006)

Dark post-hardcore-emo-indie rock. Dense, jagged songs laced with musical and lyrical elements straight out of the golden age of Italian horror. This band has become something of a footnote in the career of lead vocalist/guitarist/songwriter John Congleton, who's gone on to produce some of the biggest names in indie rock, including St. Vincent's three best albums (Actor through self-titled, that is.) I don't exactly love him as a vocalist -- he's an over-enunciator -- but the total package is tight.

Track listing:
1. It's Out There and It's Gonna Get You
2. We Know Where You Sleep
3. The Kids Will Grow Up to Be Assholes
4. Wait Until I Get My Hands on You
5. You Will Never Take Me Alive
6. Delivered in a Firm Unyielding Way Lingering for a Bit Too Long to Communicate the Message 'I Own You'
7. The Most Important Part of Your Body
8. What's So Amazing About Grace?
9. You're One of Them Aren't You?
10. The Song Will Eat Itself
11. ... And All the Candy You Can Eat
12. All Manner of Pox of Canker
13. At the Other End of the Leash
14. We Will Make You One of Us
15. The House Is Alive and the House Is Hungry

Do you know what it means to be doomed?
Do you know what it means to be cursed?
When the blue eyes are washing their mouths in the south
You know they're hiding bodies north

You might also like:

Aereogramme -
Sleep and Release (2003)

MadLove -
White with Foam (2009)

Envy - Insomniac Doze (2006)

Fuck, I forgot how great this record is! On Insomniac Doze, these Japanese hardcore legends aggravated a good chunk of their fanbase by going the Isis route, crafting an album of expansive, passionate post-metal. Their take on this sound, however, still draws heavily from screamo, and feels more human, and less cryptic than their peers.

Track listing:
1. Further Ahead of Warp
2. Shield of Selflessness
3. Scene
4. Crystallize
5. The Unknown Glow
6. Night in Winter
7. A Warm Room

Farewell to words

You'd probably also like:

Sadness -
Somewhere Along Our Memory (2016)

Sylvaine -
Wistful (2016)

Aereogramme - Sleep and Release (2003)

One of my all-time favorite alt rock records, from Scotland's sadly defunct Aereogramme. It's angsty and musically all over the place, and they make this clear right off the bat with a 1-2-3 punch that jumps from flawless, layered guitar crunch ("Indiscretion Number 243") to starry-eyed, string-saturated dream pop ("Black Path") to dark, electro-tinged post-rock ("A Simple Process of Elimination.") But it all flows quite well -- thanks in part to atmospheric vignettes that tie most of the tracks together -- to create a dynamic, engaging, and moving whole.

Track listing:
1. Indiscretion Number 243
2. Black Path
3. A Simple Process of Elimination
4. Older
5. No Really, Everything Is Fine
6. Wood
7. Yes
8. In Gratitude
9. A Winter's Discord
10. Untitled

The reason we're all disfigured

You might also wanna hear:

Hum -
Downward Is Heavenward (1998)

Matthew Sweet -
Kimi Ga Suki (Raifu) (2004)

Mineral - The Power of Failing (1995)

I just read that vaguely Christian emo favorites Mineral are doing a reunion (probably because they heard that Sunny Day Real Estate already did one -- get it?) so here's their awesome, ragged first full-length. Get ready to lock yourself in your bedroom, writing poetry, smoking cigarettes, and pining for that rad girl who likes pharmaceuticals and has a boyfriend who's in a band that sounds like Archers of Loaf -- just like we all did in high school.

Track listing:
1. Five, Eight, and Ten
2. Gloria
3. Slower
4. Dolorosa
5. 80-37
6. If I Could
7. July
8. Silver
9. Take the Picture Now
10. Parking Lot

Rejoice, my soul
How long will you fear

Airs - Adore (2013)

Some downcast, heavy SF shoegaze for your Sunday. There's a rawness and anger bordering on hardcore/metal at work on Adore -- some screaming here, some double kick there, and is that a blastbeat? -- but, at its heart, this might actually be an emo record that got buried in distortion, feedback, and reverb.

Track listing:
1. Adore
2. Blue
3. Still for a Moment
4. Missing
5. Adrift
6. Sundials
7. Morgan and Frankie
8. What You Were

Heaven with you

Jeremy Enigk - Return of the Frog Queen (1996)

Following the first breakup of Sunny Day Real Estate, frontman Jeremy Enigk went into the studio with an acoustic guitar and a full orchestra (plus, from the sound of it, a case of whiskey), and recorded this woozy masterpiece. The songs are complex, the instrumental arrangements ornate and psychedelic, and Enigk's already surreal lyrics, which may or may not be addressing his then newfound love for Jesus, are further abstracted as he slurs and shouts his way through every song.

Track listing:
1. Abegail Anne
2. Return of the Frog Queen
3. Lewis Hollow
4. Lizard
5. Carnival
6. Call Me Steam
7. Explain
8. Shade and the Black Hat
9. Fallen Heart

Rise and shine to the smell of flowers