CD Haul (Tooth & Nail, The Militia Group)

Originally this was supposed to be in video form but I'm unreasonably awkward and my headphone microphone is really bad, so blog post it is! So, I was on discogs the other week looking for a copy of In Motion by one of my fave 00s indie-rock bands, Copeland. I found a copy I wanted but just in case I could save on postage I had a look at the sellers other items.. Anberlin, The Juliana Theory, The Terminal?! I just had to add all to bag, and the prices were too good to pass up. 

1. The Terminal - How The Lonely Keep 

The Terminal are a band that released the most bomb album of all time (see above) and then just dipped. How mysterious... The CD design is suitably edgy with a random bed in the woods - kind of reminds me of Paramore's random sofa in the woods. 

T&N bands are just so modest they never appear on the front cover...

The CD itself is very plain apart from this gold-y colour. I wonder if it's the same shade as Starflyer 59's Gold album? Random fact: when I ripped the CD on to my computer it opened the Tooth & Nail website. The branding is crazy. 

2. Anberlin - Blueprints For The Black Market

Anberlin are a weirdly popular band. Ok that's mean I do really like them but I'm always surprised that they were actually quite successful. Ok mean again. This album is their debut and probably not my favourite of theirs but it does have the song Readyfuels on it which is like one of the greatest songs of all time. The CD itself is really not my favourite design, I mean first it disputes my allegations that T&N bands are too modest to put themselves on the front, and also it has a sepia filter which I do not like. But what I do love is the Anberlin logo, it's just super stylish. 

Starflyer 59 Gold again?? The conspiracy is legit.

I laughed.

 3. The Juliana Theory - Emotion Is Dead

Was anyone else convinced that Kate Moss was on the cover of this album? Just me? But it does really look like her, right? British supermodels aside, I just love the design of this album, its so unique and graphic design-y. It's awesome that the design elements appear all over the CD - not just on the cover. The album itself is probably the Juliana Theory's most popular, which makes sense because its very good. 

The most awesome CD booklet!

4. The Juliana Theory - Music From Another Room EP
 

I was not gonna get this album but then I was listening to This Is The End Of Your Life and was like woah. I love this song. So I got the album hehe. It's a really simple design honestly but I do like it for what it is. A cool thing is that the back of the CD is just the front but backwards lol. The rest of the design is really basic and boring but it's just an EP so I'll allow it. 

5. Copeland - In Motion

Ok. This is not a T&N album like I thought it was. LOL it's by The Militia Group, I guess I'm a fake fan because Copeland actually only joined T&N in 2008 with You Are My Sunshine. Anyway, I really love this album even if the CD design is noticeably less interesting than their debut - Beneath Medicine Tree (see my unboxing of that here). This album is actually a two CD album, one with the album and the other with some live performances. One problem I have with this CD is that I am missing the slip cover, hence the lack of title on the front. 

Simple but still cool.

Unlike Anberlin I think these photos are a lot less edgelord and more elegant. I still laughed though.

That is the end of my CD haul! I'm looking forward to listening to all these albums and am so happy to add to my collection ^.^

This is all my T&N albums so far, in release order.

 

The Tooth & Nail Project

This week I finally finished working on a little project that I started last year, it's called the Tooth & Nail project, and it's more of a challenge that a project really. Tooth & Nail project is a web page where I am reviewing every Tooth & Nail records release from 2000-2005 (will eventually be 2000-2010). The page also features a list of every artist on T&N at that time and a handy sorting system for reviews!

For every one that isn't as into 2000s indie rock and adjacent music as I am, Tooth & Nail is a record company who have been releasing really great punk, indie, emo (and a lot more!) records since 1993. They really grew in the 90s with Christian pop-punk band MxPx a.k.a Blink 182 for kids whose parents didn't let them listen to secular music. Although, primarily enjoyed by the Christian rock community Tooth & Nail have signed lots of bands that make music that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of religion, like my favourites, mewithoutYou and mae. 

homepage! Featuring.. The Juliana Theory, Halo Friendlies and mewithoutYou

Reviewss with Havalina and Furthermore,

 

Hopefully, a few times a week I'll be uploading reviews - only got one so far! So if your interested in checking out some new music have a look on the site at: https://aliceinavocadoland.neocities.org/tnproject/ It'd be awesome if someone found a few album to listen to because of it :-)

 

Emo revival, more like emo time travel! {I Promised The World - New band spotlight 1#}

Scrolling through my YouTube home page again. huh. Is Rise Records is re-uploading old band videos, or is this video new and in 240p?? I am shocked. And so I enter the world of I Promised The World, a metalcore band from Texas that formed in 2023 under the name Sinema. 

My first impression of this band was, well confused. Your telling me this band formed 2 years ago and this music video is not only in awful quality, it's filmed in the white void formerly occupied by Medusa'Scream and Thursday about 20 years ago. And not only is the music video old school, the sound is unlike anything I've heard from any metalcore acts since Aaron left Underoath (2010, for my non-Underoath heads out there). I Promised The World are reminiscent of just about every metal band from the 2000s - From Autumn To Ashes, Haste The Day, Misery Signals, Poison The Well... ect ect, just look in the comment sections of their mvs to see about a hundred more comparisons. Oh you thought the nostalgia left there? You are very wrong. 

how is this not a 2001 album?!

The cover of their upcoming EP - I Promised The World, January 16th on Rise Records - is nostalgia central. For my 00s graphic design fanatics (Finny this one is 4 u), you know why this just feels like 2001. The font for starters is nothing fancy - it's an all caps rounded sans-serif, reminiscent of The Changing of Times by Underoath or Full Collapse by Thursday (I can't help it c'mon). It's a simple choice yet perfectly captures exactly what the band is going for, unlike a lot of modern album covers that look like a graphic designer did all the work and the band just nodded in agreement. Another bit of design that makes this cover 00s perfection is the grainy distressed filter on the whole thing, reminding me of the cover of I Am The Movie by Motion City Soundtrack or Don't Hold On to What You Hear by Hometown Anthem. 

 So, what's the verdict? Am I down with nostalgia-core or do I wish the 00s would stay where it is? Ok, it's clear I'm totally on board with this, I mean I love other nostalgic acts like After so for me I Promised The World are a slam-dunk. What I will say is this though, I hope their new EP brings something a little more than just nostalgia to the table, it would be cool to see how they can diversify their sound beyond just 00s metalcore. Any thoughts on I Promised The World? let me know in the comments :)

Best of 2000s emo: Euro-trip part: 1

I think my life passion is listening to emo/ post-hardcore music from different places in the world. Especially releases from the 2000s, because whilst most people could listen to music on the internet there wasn't as much available as there is now so each place sort of had it's own 'local sound'. It's like comparing emo from the east and west coast of America - similar but weirdly so different to the seasoned listener. 

The continent  of Europe is often overlooked in regards to emo - I mean for sure there were some big names like Wales' Funeral For A Friend or Germany's Tokio Hotel but in general America kinda invented emo so of course the most popular bands were gonna be American ones. However, as emo blew up in the 2000s it seemed like every country was on a mission to have their own My Chem and although many have been lost to time you can still find releases from many emo European bands of the 2000s. So begins this series of posts where I will be looking at a couple different European countries per post and talking about popular bands of the genre and how it's different from elsewhere.

Emo music in Russia

On discogs, the amount of emo releases per European country goes as follows: Germany, France and Russia. However, if you consider how many non-Russian bands had to re-release their music onto Russian labels the country falls even further down the list. This was surprising to me as I feel that the emo music scene was a huge cultural moment in Russia and many popular Russian bands in the 2000s were heavily inspired by it. If I'm gonna share one video which I feel like compiles the vibe for 2000s Russian emo, it's gonna be this slideshow of the song Часть моих мыслей by 6000000000 себя featuring pictures of the band looking all sad and edgy. 

 

6000000000 себя were a weird band, only around for a year but had a supposedly big following in the scene. Their music is heavily inspired by both electronic and classical music whilst still being easily recognisable as emo. This sound combination is heard all over the Russian emo catalogue as well as the rap-metal combo that many bands adopted as well. Compared to other countries music from the scene Russian emo is basically only sung in Russian and many of the lyrics lean further into the depressing lyrics associated with bands like Underoath rather than more humorous and upbeat lyrics associated with the pop-punk side of the genre. The popularity of the more 'gloomy' acts of the genre would actually lead the Russian government to allegedly try and pass a piece of legislation to regulate and suppress emo and other "dangerous teen trends" due to apparent risk of suicide? Crazy. Read the full article here.

Russian emo playlist-- Listen here!

I obviously think everything in the playlist is good but I've written a few words about some standout tracks here:

Idea Fix - Плачь и Танцуй.

Can't get more emo than a sepia filter and a piano intro. Wins award for best video.

 

6000000000 себя -  28 Дней

Same vocalist as Idea Fix, weirdly cinematic. Probably my favourite band of the genre. 

Wasabi - Прости

A win for women! Featuring the vocalist from metal band Rashamba.

KIT-I - После дождя

Mythological ass band. Released about 3 bangers and then broke up. Invented a new genre: emo-chic.

 
3000 Миль До Рая- Любить Сложнее, Чем Убивать Любовь

Just amazing. Early Brand New/ Emery vibes but heavier.

 
Jane Air - Мессалина

THE Russian rock/rap hybrid band. This is the song that started it for me. Maybe more pop than anything else here.

 
Tenkorr - Верю

SO SAD. Grungey alternative rock sound.

ПСИХЕЯ - Бесконечный стук шагов

Almost industrial but sad enough to be emo. Love that one guy just has a whole ass desktop.

 
MAIO - 99...100.

Classic crab-core Attack! Attack! vibes, super fun.

..В Себе - Дышать

Another female vocalist? Yay! Such a cool band.

Глубина Моих Дней  - На секунду

THIS GUY IS SO SAD OMG. Song is beautiful though.

 
Such A Beautiful Day - Каждый Из Нас

Music video so crazy, like who is the other vocalist and where did he come from? Who are those women??? Good song though.

Дозавтра - Что же будет дальше

Lowkey not emo but adjacent. Late 2000s indie-rock vibes. More great hairstyles...

Фея Драже - Еще Одна Смерть

Such a unique sound, really awesome use of a cowbell. But why are they in a bunker? And why's someone always gotta be shirtless??

Deadkedы - Следующим Утром

So what if they're a Sparta cover band. WHY IS THIS 1min 25?!

Глубина Моих Дней - Если ты

One of my absolute favourites. Midwest emo riffs always gonna steal my heart. Emo divorce in real time.

Radio Cambodia - Трогательная

To quote @yourfavoriteweapon92
"Fuck this is good. Don't understand a word but doesn't matter"