Tickle Me Emo

Emo came rather late to me, around July of 2001.

By then, most of the bastions of the old guard ha lost much of their luster or were already sent to the industry scrap heap. Mineral's supposed deal with Interscope had fallen through, The Get Up Kids had traded in the art of synchronised jumping in favour of acoustic guitars, and MTV was starting to take notice.

But there was something about those pre-millennium emo albums that was just a notch above the chasing pack. Maybe it's cause they do sound like they are often in serious hurt. In fact, Mineral's Chris Simpson often sings like he has 40 Katana blades stabbed into his stomach with his ex-lover slapping him continuously just after he was knocked down by a Deathstar.

Yes, it's an icky term for a genre. One laced with far too much puffy clouds and pink love letters for rock music's comfort. But hey, like B-grade movies, sometimes some things can be so bad, they become good. Like my soccer-playing activities. On Football Manager, that is.

Here are my favorite tracks from my six most essential emo rock albums released before 1999. Enjoy, cry or go take a dump.

Sunny Day Real Estate - In Circles (from Diary)
The song that sold the genre to me. The blueprint for sobbing emo can be traced back to the vocal chords of one Jeremy Enigk. On this, backed by Foo Fighters' defensive line, driving lo-fi guitars and syncopated hardcore attacks, we see what the fuss was all about to begin with.

Mineral - Take the Picture Now (from The Power of Failing)
Just suffer Chris Simpson's inability to hold a tune to the last 40 seconds of the song. Should redefine emo for you.

Texas is the Reason - Johnny on the Spot (from Do You Know Who You Are?)
What happens when a bunch of religious hardcore nuts starts singing about girls instead? Angular riffs and precise drum assaults, loaded with more than a couple of scoops of emotional dexterity. Lovely.

Mineral - Gjs (from EndSerenading)
Chris Simpson's at it again, this time using pseudo-Christian imagery to put his point across about just how much suffering he is experiencing. Unlike many of the rest, you believe him.

The Get Up Kids - Holiday (from Something to Write Home About)
One Tree Hill may have perverted this record a few rungs lower on the shelf but that doesn't remove the fact that this concept album about long distance relationships is about the only time that emo rock's marriage with pop punk worked. This furious opening track, filled with challenging time signatures and sliding octave chords, should get you up and jumping.

Jimmy Eat World - Table for Glasses (from Clarity)
Yes, they're MTV happy these days but there was a time when Jimmy Eat World sang songs for the lonely kids crying in their rooms. The gorgeous harmonies at the interlude should send you to a better place than where you are at the moment.

My Chemical Romance Live in KL?

Hear ye all ye mascara totting emo kids, there are strong rumors circulating that the hippest meanest leather-wearing emo son-of-a-goths My Chemical Romance will be making a stop in our mucky town.

Apparently the Singapore deal is done dusted and headed for the printers. but there are rumors that someone here's looking to cash in on the Black Parade. The tentative ballpark is December.

So lock your eyes here, there, down the street from your house to the nearest coffee shop, your furry imaginary friend Kundu and the hot girl selling raw fish at the market for more news on this.

My Chemical Romance - Disenchanted (from The Black Parade)

New Release: Weatherbox - American Art

Weatherbox are one of those bands that must have missed the memo issued by the unknown, unseen emo God. The memo that called on every band to quit the genre while they were ahead, before their moping fanbase grew up and found things in life to be happy about.

Nevertheless, their reduced cultural relevance doesn't really hurt their overall ability to churn out soaring tunes of the guitar-crunching, hook-humping type. After gallivanting the California indie rock scene via a couple of EPs, American Art is the four-piece band's debut. And, based on evidence from the couple of tracks below, they've got the goods to go the distance (that is, assuming they don't keep getting their equipment stolen, as reportedly just happened on their promo tour).

But still, it is kinda weird that (according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia) this emo outfit got their name from a song by post-punkers Mission of Burma. Which kinda makes you wonder: say mum was punk, and dad was emo. That would like, make the kid... emunk! Genius.

Weatherbox - The Drugs
Weatherbox - Drop The Mike

Anberlin, Copeland and the case of the Mos Burger

So the first grand post of this MP3 blog was supposed to involve me waxing lyrical about the recent Anberlin/Copeland concert in Singapore over the weekend. It was a lushly imagined post, filled with dancing babies and suicidal possums.

It would have been all that, and maybe more, if we didn’t turn up almost an hour late for the gig. Which meant we missed opening acts MarchTwelve, Vertical Rush and The Fire Fight (yet another disappointment, as I was kinda eager to catch MarchTwelve), as well as half an hour of Copeland’s set.

It’s a long story as to why that happened, one that involves mistaken venues, muddled-up times and four Mos burgers (if you buy us another four, we might just tell it to you). But for the moment, we'll just say that we had to settle for three-and-a-half Copeland songs (still blissful) and a full Anberlin set (which included some dancing puppets). Oh well.

Copeland - Brightest (from Beneath Medicine Tree)
Copeland - You Have My Attention (from In Motion)
Copeland - I'm Safer in an Airplane (from Eat, Sleep, Repeat)
Anberlin - Love Song (The Cure cover, from Blueprints for the Blackmarket)

Concert pics (courtesy of wakemeup music):