key vs. locket

I haven't been coming up with new releases this year as much as I'd like to, but this is one of the few that have really stood out to me. key vs. locket is a new solo project created by twikipedia (I don't know her actual name I apologize), who recorded, performed, and released this fantastic new album titled i felt like a sketch. Pulling the mathy, midwest emo guitars into tracks that both punch and shimmer, what really sets this apart is in the indelible songwriting, with fantastic hooks and melodies (some of which are in Portuguese) across its entirety. These tracks are dynamic, with the lo-fi only adding to its scrappy charm. The instrumentation is even varied, with acoustic guitars, pianos, and what sounds like digital percussion/synths, all of which comes together beautifully at the end of "symptom". It's 50 minutes but there's a plethora of variety amongst most of these tracks, with frenetic guitar work and unique hooks, tones, and structures within each that make it the whole album a breezy listen. If you're into Car Seat Headrest, Parannoul, Marietta, or Oso Oso, maybe give this a listen. And if there are any other albums from this year that have stuck with you, please let me know as I need to catch up! Enjoy.

i felt like a sketch (2025)

1. tackle

2. half enough

3. mundo

4. rifle

5. hourglass memory

6. symptom

7. conjoined (interlude)

8. nothing for a moment

9. only human / anywhere at all

10. snowman, snowman

11. a play

12. medicine

13. promise

14. carpe diem avem

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

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.

 

Something New (1999)

1. Something New

2. 700

3. Mediocre

4. A Song For Alexie

Whispers In The Wind (2000)

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

Realign/The Cable Car Theory (2000)

1. Second Guessing

2. Analysis

3. Fatal Flaw

Note: Cable Car Theory tracks only

The Cable Car Theory/I, Robot (2001)

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

The Deconstruction (2001)

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)

Fables And Fictions Of The Human Condition (2003)

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

An Incomplete Retrospective (2020)

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

Spotify

Apple Music 

Facebook

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.

 End Of Seasons (2010)

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

Bandcamp

Facebook

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. 

Novelty EP (1992)

1. Two Days

2. Wonder

3. Looking Down

4. Ending

Jabberjaw/The Bloodhound Gang (1992)

1. Jabberjaw - Dividing

2. Jabberjaw - Sometimes

3. The Bloodhound Gang - Past The Fence