Sunday, 22 June 2025

The Cable Car Theory


The Cable Car Theory were a four-piece post-hardcore/emo/screamo band from Staten Island, New York that were active from 1997 to 2003. They only released one album, 2001's The Deconstruction, but recorded a good chunk of material that appeared across an array of splits, EP's, and compilations. Most of their material was compiled in 2020, but it is missing a few things (most notably a track from The Deconstruction and Something New respectively), but it's also the best entry way to get into them as it covers the full length of their tenure and evolution. Sonically, they encompass all the great hardcore offshoots you'd expect to find on this blog really; the winding and syncopated rhythms of post-hardcore, melodic, arpeggiated melancholy of emo, with driving energy and throttling vocals. They're versatile, vitalized, and will appeal to fans of bands as disparate as Hot Water Music, Split Lip, Avail, Gray Matter, Falling Forward, By A Thread, or Twelve Hour Turn. Definitely give them a listen if you haven't, they will more than likely be up your alley. Enjoy.
 
1. Something New
2. 700
3. Mediocre
4. A Song For Alexie

1. Tears For Broken Toys
2. 2000 Years
3. Fire Away/If You Only Knew
4. Something New
5. 22 (feat. Matt "Baby Jesus" Grande)
6. Thought, Feeling, Action
7. Whispers
8. Fingerpaint

Note: Previously unreleased material recorded between 1997-1999

1. Second Guessing
2. Analysis
3. Fatal Flaw

Note: Cable Car Theory tracks only

1. I, Robot - The Answer
2. I, Robot - Call Me "Killer"
3. The Cable Car Theory - Touch The Sky
4. The Cable Car Theory - Without Armor

1. Nakama
2. I Left My Heart In New Brunswick
3. Redress of Grievances
4. Analysis (feat. Nick Gambacorta)
5. Caffeine Battle Cry
6. Spit Happens
7. Fix The Pipe Or Hide The Puddle (feat. Todd Currier)
8. Without Armor
9. Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy
10. 10 Minute Wrinkle Release Program (feat. Bricks Avalon
11. Eyes Of The Ibad
12. Whispers (feat. Christian Lopez)
13.  Tears For Broken Toys (feat. Tommy Schlatter)

1. Green Eyed Aphrodite
2. The Mahdi And The Masses
3. Threads (feat. Cynthia Acerra)
4. The Litany
5. How To Break Orbit And Thwart A Muse
6. The Sayyadina

1. Green Eyed Aphrodite
2. The Mahdi and the Masses
3. Threads (feat. Cynthia Acerra)
4. The Litany
5. How To Break Orbit And Thwart A Muse
6. The Sayyadina
7. Nakama
8. I Left My Heart In New Brunswick
9. Redress Of Grievance
10. Analysis (feat. Nick Gambacorta)
11. Caffeine Battle Cry
12. Spit Happens
13. Fix The Pipe Or Hide The Puddle (feat. Todd Currier)
14. Without Armor
15. Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy
16. 10 Minute Wrinkle Release Program (feat. Bricks Avalon)
17. Whispers (feat. Christian Lopez)
18. Tears For Broken Toys (feat. Tommy Schlatter
19. Tears For Broken Toys (Demo)
20. 2000 Years
21. Fire Away/If You Only Knew
22. Something New
23. 22 (feat. Matt "Baby Jesus" Grande)
24. Thought, Feeling, Action
25. Whispers
26. Fingerpaint
27. 700
28. Mediocre
29. A Song For Alexis (feat. Frank Stapes)
30. Touch The Sky
31. Without Armor (Demo)
32. Second Guessing
33. Analysis
34. A Fatal Flaw

I Never Knew You

I Never Knew You were a two-piece screamo band from Orange County, California that were around from 2010 to 2013. They only put out one release, which came out in December 2010 which is why it's sometimes listed as a 2011 release online. There's possibly also a demo floating around, but I unfortunately don't have that. End Of Seasons is absolutely fantastic and I wish I found it sooner. Impassioned and cathartic, the band melds melancholic arpeggios and crushing metalcore-ish chords and riffs into something seethingly chaotic, cleanly melodic, and remorseful. For a loose comparison, if you're into Funeral Diner, Sed Non Satiata, You And I, We Were Skeletons, L'Antietam, Xerxes, check this out. Enjoy.

1. Beads
2. Null
3. A Frown For You
4. A Void In Hearts
5. Far
6. This Shadow Needs Me
7. Seasons Come To An End

Jabberjaw

Jabberjaw were a three-piece punk/emo band from Oakland, California that were active around 1992. The band is notable for giving way to Indian Summer, which singer/guitarist Adam Nanaa formed as he moved away from the pop punk direction of this band. Sonically, they're somewhere between Jawbreaker, Screeching Weasel, and Crimpshrine, a little rough around the edges but melodically inclined. The band only put out one EP and one split (with The Bloodhound Gang, but not the one you're thinking of), both of which were put out by Nanaa's own Homestead Records. Naturally this doesn't compare to the monumental work of Indian Summer (who I returned to recently and still astounded by). But as for as scrappy, melodic punk that sounds like a young band still carving out their sound, it's decent, with added historical signifigance to boot. 

1. Two Days
2. Wonder
3. Looking Down
4. Ending

1. Jabberjaw - Dividing
2. Jabberjaw - Sometimes
3. The Bloodhound Gang - Past The Fence