Chat Pile

Oklahoma City metal band Chat Pile are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands these days, their mix of black metal, emo, and grunge, along with their penchant for experimentation, just vibing with me in all the right ways.  September sees the release of new album "Who Loves the Sun."  Pre-order the LP here from The Flenser and listen to the crunchy "Deep Blue" below.

Daily Jam - Now, We Just Slowly Circle the Draining Fish Bowl

Here's a real downer of a track from one of my all time favorite albums, The Paper Chase's 2004 opus "God Bless Your Black Heart."  Listen to "Now, We Just Slowly Circle the Draining Fish Bowl" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Grendel

Over the last several months, i've been going through old CD's, LP's, and downloads and listening to a bunch of music i haven't listened to in years.  To be honest, Sunny Day Real Estate's "Diary" has never been too far from my ears for over 30 years now, but a few weeks ago, i listened to it from start to finish for the first time in a long time, and i was immediately a shy, insecure 15-year old all over again.  I don't want to be so maudlin as to say that the album "saved me" or whatever...but it was certainly a life raft of sorts for those days.  Here's the penultimate track "Grendel," our Daily Jam.

Chat Pile

Oklahoma hardcore punk/black metal/screamo band hybrid dropped a new 7" on Friday that i missed out on whilst working all weekend.  The A-side is a beast and the B-side is a cover of an old Nirvana song.  Check out both "Masks" and the "Sifting" cover below and download them here from Sub Pop (the vinyl is already sold out).

Main Era

Boston band Main Era somehow manage to melt together every alternative rock subgenre from the last 40 years into one on their latest release, "IV of Wands."  It's all there: grunge, shoegaze, post punk, post rock, slowcore, emo, screamo, math rock, etc., etc., etc.  I believe i just found what i'll be jamming for the rest of the day.  Check out "Double Dragon" below and snag a copy of the album on cassette or CD here from Disposable America.

Daily Jam - The Siren Sings

They were only around for a few years, but Kansas emo-tinged alt-rock band The Anniversary really made a lovely pop record with their second and final album "Your Majesty."  In a lot of ways, it kind of served as proto-indie rock album in 2002, a forebear of things and sounds to come.  Check out the dramatic "The Siren Sings" below, our Daily Jam.

Agriculture

LA metal band Agriculture have a new album heading our way in October with the upcoming "The Spiritual Sound."  Pre-order the LP here from The Flenser and check out first single "Bodhidharma" below.  It bounces around from black metal to emo to slowcore and back again.

Moving Mountains

I'm not overly familiar with New York indie rock band Moving Mountains, but last month the group dropped their first album in over a decade with "Pruning of the Lower Limbs."  The record is an earnest mix of indie and post rock with just a hint of emo.  Listen to "Everyone Is Happy, and Nothing Is Good" below and order the record here from Wax Bodega.

Daily Jam - Hazel

Here's an awesome track from the short-lived '90s Swedish emo band Far Apart.  Listen to "Hazel" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - How It Feels to Be Something On

I saw that Sunny Day Real Estate are about to go on tour next month.  To celebrate, here's the title track from their third LP.  Listen to "How It Feels to Be Something On" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Close to Me

Back in March, my wife won tickets for us to see Sunny Day Real Estate perform "Diary" in its entirety.  It was awesome.  And opening for them was fellow '90s emo band The Get Up Kids...a band i had not thought about since their heyday in said '90s.  Here they are covering The Cure.  Listen to "Close to Me" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Table for Glasses

Still busy as hell at work, but got some awesome wings for lunch with a bunch of co-workers, so everything's going to be alright.  Here's Jimmy Eat World with "Table for Glasses," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Words Come Back (Piano)

One of the artists i've been fortunate enough to discover this year is '80s Maryland hardcore punk and proto-emo band The Hated.  Much thanks to the good folks at Numero Group for reissuing the band's brief but stellar output, a highlight of which is demo piano version of the song "Words Come Back."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Staying Alive

I have started and stopped and started and stopped writing this article about a dozen times now, mind blank and an unending stream of words erased parading in front of my eyeballs. I start from one angle, then abandon it and begin again from another only to abandon it as well. I change my song choice. Start over. Come back at it again. Start over. Change the song again. Start over. Come back to the original song. Blank. Blank. Blank.

I start to write about my kids, get halfway down the page, and realize the whole thing’s a rambling mess of goo.

I start over again.

I debate writing a long list of songs I could have chosen, realize how stupid that sounds and stare blankly at the computer some more.

This is going nowhere.

I guess there’s a reason I’m bringing this column to a close. I’m repeating myself or losing my train of thought, and after 198 entries, I suppose that makes some kind of sense. I’m tired, and that may have been the angle I was coming from when I started writing about my boys. But then erased.

Writing is hard.

And what does this have to do with “Staying Alive,” the closing track on Cursive’s 2003 album The Ugly Organ? Nothing. Nothing at all. I really could have picked anything to play for this penultimate edition of Endless Loop, but the dramatic swell and then sustained pause of the song just felt right, and felt more at home and in place than the songs by Genesis or The Deftones or Spiritualized or The Flaming Lips or so many more that I could have used instead.

So let’s just let this quasi-emo track play us into next week’s finale.

I’ll be better then.

“Doo do doo do doo do doo do, the worst is over…”

Sleepwalk

I had to bid farewell to my car of the last 12 years this morning, my wonderful little Kia Soul.  I also had to buy a new one this morning as well, and now i'm stuck with a car note again.  Le sigh.  Anyhoo, here's some great throwback music from Chicago band Sleepwalk.  The new "Out of Focus" EP has got a little bit of grunge, a little bit of shoegaze, and some hints of emo.  Check out "Lucky to Be" below and snag the cassette here from the band.

Daily Jam - Seven

Oh, to have come up in the 90’s, a time before the term “emo” was kind of a bad word. It was okay. Honestly, there was just as much bullshit to contend with back then as there is now. It was just different. But to come of age during that time and to really get into music then, the nostalgia runs hard and deep, the songs and bands and styles and genres forever cementing themselves to my psyche. They are forever running through my veins, my ears, and my heart. I was young, and so was emo. It hadn’t morphed into the…thing…it would later become. It was just a style of melodic music indebted to hardcore punk, but skewing personal rather than political, dwelling on private feelings and interpersonal relationship commentary rather than social themes or mores. There was still anger, but there was hopelessness as well, and enough self-doubt and insecurity to rile up any teenager within listening distance. Which worked out well and good for me, as I was 15 the first time I heard Sunny Day Real Estate’s Diary, and fell head over heels for it.

Opening with “Seven,” a song that would go on to pretty much define the band, if not the entire emo sub-genre, for the next couple of decades, Diary flows through it’s 11 tracks with a quiet/LOUD/quiet/LOUD panache, a swirl of dark and sweet moods and obtuse, (maybe) confessional lyrics. It’s like reading the journal entries from some mysterious teenage outcast, the quiet, brooding genius sitting by himself at the lunch table. The whole thing felt instantly relatable, despite any lack of understanding of lyrical thematic meaning or content on my part (i'm kind of an idiot). It didn’t matter. The album felt like anguish, thanks in no small part to Jeremy Enigk’s swoon and wail. It was perfect for a shy, insecure teenager like me, and while I may have moved away from it while growing up, I always find myself coming back for more “Seven.”

Being the first song I heard from the band, probably on 120 Minutes or something, “Seven” seemed to belong just to me. At the time, none of my other friends had any idea who Sunny Day Real Estate was, and as far as I knew, I owned the only copy available in Midland, Texas. That was certainly not the case, but I felt like they were my band. Growing up, you attach yourself to plenty of different groups and artists that belong to your group of friends, or your generation, or whatever, but it was wholly different and wonderful to have something that seemed like it was mine entirely. In a lot of ways, that feeling is what has made me actively seek out and discover new and interesting music over the last 30 years, like some junkie trying to relive that first high. I want to feel that way again.

The craving never subsides, but I guess I’m okay with that.

Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Sunny Day Real Estate

In honor of the album's 30th anniversary, Sunny Day Real Estate are releasing a live studio version of their wonderful debut, "Diary."  And they've included a new song to boot, originally written during the sessions for "How It Feels to Be Something On."  Check out new tune "Novum Vetus" below and pre-order the "Diary Live at London Bridge Studio" LP here.

Infant Island

Fredericksburg, Virginia screamo band Infant Island have a new album coming out next week with "Obsidian Wreath."  The band's mix of emo, black metal, shoegaze, and post rock is very often just what the proverbial doctor ordered.  Check out the Greet Death assisted track "Kindling" below and grab the new album here from Secret Voice.

Infant Island

Fredericksburg, Virginia screamo band Infant Island are back next year with new album "Obsidian Wreath."  The band's mix of emo, hardcore punk, black metal, post rock, and shoegaze is often just what the doctor ordered around these parts.  Check out "Another Cycle" below and pre-order the new LP here from Secret Voice.

Daily Jam - The Happiest Place on Earth

Here's a track from Conor Oberst's harder-edged and political side project Desaparecidos from the band's 2002 debut.  "The Happiest Place on Earth" is a critique on capitalist, warmongering America, and nothing has changed during the 20 years since the song was released.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.