If there's one common trend amongst emo bands (apart from playing emocore, being signed to indie labels, playing small venues, singing emotional bullshit and generally just being emo) it's a lack of recorded material. Hell, look at caP'n Jazz, one of the most highly regarded, critically acclaimed, influential emo bands to come out of the 90s midwest emo explosion. They deserve all the praise they get and all, but just think about it. You can get EVERYTHING they ever recorded in one 34 song compilation. And it's the same for a lot of bands.
Another great example of an entire career squished into one amazing album would be this beauty by quiet/loud practioners Indian Summer.
For those who are unfamiliar with this band let me try and explain their sound. I guess you could compare them to Slint but more extreme. That is to say, the quiet parts are really quiet and the loud parts are REALLY FUCKING LOUD. The average song will start of with some beautiful, melodic yet very minamilistic guitar playing and rather soft, gentle drumming. A hushed voice creeps in, whispering over the music. It's all nice and quiet. Ahhh....
SUDDENLY LOUDNESS!
So check it out, see how the quiet/loud dynamic that was so often used by the likes of Pixies, Nirvana and Slint was applied to the emotional hardcore genre that we all know and love so much.
Give it a listen
Goddamn, you wanna buy THIS album? I can't find it ANYWHERE, for srs.
