The Anniversary

The Anniversary are a five-piece emo/indie band from Lawrence Kansas that formed in 1997 and broke up in 2004. They have since played reunion shows in 2016, 2020 and 2022. This is another band that can be filed in the "way overdue" category, as their debut is commonly cited as an emo "classic", and one of the few releases with that accolade I have yet to cover. The band does skew to the poppier side of emo, more in the vein of bands like The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World. Their usage of keyboards and male/female harmonized vocals makes for a unique sound. Fans of Tigers Jaw especially need to hear this, as I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if The Anniversary were a huge influence on them. Their sophomore release, Your Majesty is also solid, as its a little more sonically varied and experimental, though Designing a Nervous Breakdown is definitely the crown jewel. It's packed with tight songs and their signature sound, and is definitely what I'd recommend starting with if you're new to this band. They put out a compilation in 2008 that contains most of their non-LP material, so that along with the two full-lengths are the essentials here. Enjoy.

The Anniversary/Proudentall (1998)

1. The Anniversary - All Right For Now

2. Proudentall - Say Something

The Get Up Kids/The Anniversary (1999)

1. The Get Up Kids - Central Standard Time

2. The Anniversary - Vasil + Bluey

The Anniversary/Hot Rod Circuit (2000)

1. The Anniversary - To Never Die Young

2. Hot Rod Circuit - This One's For Randy

All Right For Now (2000)

1. All Right For Now

2. Hold Me Tonight

3. Low Tide And Hospital Bed

Designing a Nervous Breakdown (2000)

1. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

2. All Things Ordinary

3. Perfectly

4. The D in Detroit

5. Emma Discovery

6. Shu Shubat

7. Till We Earned A Holiday

8. Without Panasos

9. Hart Crane

10. Outro In No Minor

The Anniversary/Superdrag (2001)

1. The Anniversary - O' Lady Butterfly

2. The Anniversary - Anais

3. The Anniversary - Up In The Sky

4. Superdrag - Take Your Spectre Away

5. Superdrag - I Guess It's American

6. Superdrag - The Emotional Kind

What's My Name? My Name Is... What!? What!? / Tu-Whit To-Whoo (2001)

1. What's My Name? My Name Is... What!? What!?

2. Tu-Whit To-Whoo

Your Majesty (2002)

1. Sweet Marie

2. Crooked Crown

3. Peace, Pain & Regret

4. Husam Husam

5. The Siren Sings

6. Never Die Young

7. Tu-Whitt Tu-Whoo

8. The Ghost Of The River

9. Devil On My Side

10. The Death Of The King

11. Follow The Sun

Devil On Our Side: B-Sides & Rarities (2008)

Disc 1

1. Fletcher Durbin

2. Alright For Now

3. Alone In Debtford

4. Those Eyes

5. Hold Me Tonight

6. Lowtide And Hospital Bed

7. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

8. I Haven't Slept

9. Diamonds And Daisies

10. Kids In Carolina

11. 100 Ships

12. Till We Earned A Holiday

Disc 2

1. Vasil & Bluey

2. To Never Die Young

3. That's My Name? My Name Is... What?! What?!

4. I Believe That The End Of The Reign Of Terror Is Soon Near

5. O' Lady Butterfly

6. Che

7. Ain't That Bad

8. Kali

9. I Know What's Best

10. Lover

11. Let It Slip

12. Lodi

13. Strings Back

14. High School Talent Show

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The New Amsterdams

The people have spoken, and it's clearly this band is what they want. I didn't have much of theirs, so thanks so much to Tim for supplying all of it. The New Amsterdams are a five-piece indie rock band from Lawrence, Kansas that formed in 2000. Originally, they were conceived as a side project by Matt Pryor (best known as the guitarist/vocalist of the legendary Get Up Kids), who wanted to explore more acoustic-based material. Since then The New Amsterdams have evolved into a full band, with Pryor still at the helm. Their early work features collaborations from other members of the Get Up Kids (notably Rob and Ryan Pope), though in recent years The New Amsterdams have solidified a line-up entirely of their own. The band isn't currently active, since The Get Up Kids are back together and Pryor's involvement in his now truly solo career.

There's not too much I comment on sonically, since admittedly I don't listen to this band a whole lot, but if you can imagine The Get Up Kids songwriting (with Pryor's unmistakably distinct voice) in a slowed down, acoustic-oriented atmosphere, this would be it. There's a ton of material to delve into here, and I'm super happy to finally deliver it. Never again will the requests be flooded with "The New Amsterdams". Enjoy.

Never You Mind (2000)

1. Every Double Life

2. Lonely Hearts

3. Proceed With Caution

4. Slow Down

5. McShame

6. Goodbye

7. Idaho

8. Drama Queen

9. Make Me Change My Mind

10. When We Two Parted

11. Never Treat Others

12. I Won't Run Away

Para Toda Vida (2002)

1. My Old Man Had A Pistol

2. Picture In The Paper

3. Son Of A Prophet

4. Stay On The Phone

5. That Side Of Me

6. Four More Years

7. Forever Leaving

8. Adeline, Out Of Tune

9. All Ears

10. Losing You

Worse For The Wear (2003)

1. Vignette

2. The Spoils Of The Spoiled

3. Hover Near Fame

4. From California

5. Hanging On For Hope

6. The Smoking Gun

7. Are You True?

8. Asleep At The Wheel

9. Poison In The Ink

10. All Our Vice

11. Worse For The Wear

12. Slight Return

Story Like A Scar (2006)

1. The Death Of Us

2. Turn Out The Light

3. Bad Liar

4. Past The Pines

5. Your Ghost

6. Intelligent Design

7. Calendar Days

8. Beautiful Mistake

9. A Small Crusade

10. Turn Out The Light (Reprise)

Killed Or Cured (2007)

Disc 1: Killed

1. Wears So Thin

2. Your Red Hand

3. Watch The World Cave In

4. Drinking In The Afternoon

5. Maybe I'm A Fool

6. Heaven Sent

7. Full Thunder Moon

8. Has Anyone Seen My Wings

9. Just So Over You

10. Strangled By The Thought

Disc 2: Cured

1. Wears So Thin

2. Your Red Hand

3. Watch The World Cave In

4. Drinking In The Afternoon

5. Maybe I'm A Fool

6. Heaven Sent

7. Full Thunder Moon

8. Has Anyone Seen My Wings

9. Just So Over You

10. Strangled By The Thought

At The Foot Of My Rival (2007)

1. Revenge

2. Wait

3. Fountain Of Youth

4. This Day is Done

5. Without A Sound (Eleanor)

6. Silverlake

7. Last Long Shot

8. Hughes

9. Beacon In Beige

10. Story Like a Scar

11. Fortunate Fool

12. Lay On The Rails

13. Drunk Or Dead

14. Blood On The Floor

Outroduction (2013)

1. Guitarkansas

2. Dear Lover

3. Ex's And Oh's

4. Too Many Of A Good Thing

5. Stand Here And Bleed

6. Whatever You Say

7. A Mile In Your Shoes

8. Heaven Sent

9. The Ballad Of Mike And Beth

10. Your Look Gave You Away

11. Old Enough To Know Better

12. A Long Event

13. Suit Sacrifice

14. The Connoisseur

Lizards Have Personalities

Lizards Have Personalities were a three-piece post-hardcore/screamo band from Lawrence, Kansas that formed in 2009 and broke up in 2014. This band was really in a league of its own when it came to amazing modern screamo bands. These three dudes are insanely talented, and seamlessly blend together to create this complex and chaotic, yet simultaneously melodic sound. The vocals are harshly sung, constantly on a breaking point, with some incredible guitar work and a tight rhythm section to back them. They wind through each song with such vigor and intensity, whether it's a more melodic breather, a post-rock inspired bit, or an all-out skramz fest. Lizards Have Personalities are definitely on my recommended list of "newer" screamo bands, and it's a shame I've only gotten around to sharing them now, years after their end. Their guitarist/vocalist is also in/is Emo Side Project, which is an acoustic-based emo side project that I definitely also recommend checking out. Enjoy.

In All Honesty (2010)

1. Like Lifetime Movies

2. The Heart's Descent

3. The Plight Of Eurydice

4. We'll Always Have Paris

5. ...So Beautiful In May

6. In All Honesty

Snows Of Kilimanjaro (2010)

1. In The Wake Of A Dying Kite

2. Dinosaura, We

3. Upon A Scarlet Sunset

4. For Once Then, Something

5. C'était hier l'été...voici l'automne

6. Snows of Kilimanjaro

Caitlyn Bailey/Lizards Have Personalities/Orion Pax/Viceversa (2011)

1. Lizards Have Personalities - The Doppler Effect

2. Lizards Have Personalities - Der tunkel sterne der birget sich...

3. Lizards Have Personalities - The Sky Has Rotted: It Won't Be Long For Any of Us.

4. Orion Pax - Awarewolf

5. Orion Pax - And Then I Tricked Her...

6. Orion Pax - The Spectacle and The Charlatan

7. Viceversa - En nat på tredive dage

8. Viceversa - A Violent trend

9. Viceversa - Evigt Alene

10. Viceversa - Retrospectacle

11. Caitlyn Bailey - Hindenburg/Notes: From The Parade of Carrion Worms

12. Caitlyn Bailey - The Quiet Passing of Lights And Highways

13. Caitlyn Bailey - Circles of Latitude

Lizards Have Personalities/¡Silencio, Ahora, Silencio!/Todos Caerán/Book Of Caverns (2011)

1. Lizards Have Personalities - Je suis fait d'ombre et de marbre

2. Lizards Have Personalities - Ptolomea

3. ¡Silencio, Ahora, Silencio! - Dr. John Dee

4. ¡Silencio, Ahora, Silencio! - Sin Dolor No Hay Presencia

5. Todos Caerán - The Gernsback Contiuum

6. Todos Caerán - The Fragments of a Hologram Rose

7. Book Of Caverns - Marial Bai

8. Book Of Caverns - Champion City

Lizards Have Personalities/Adaje (2012)

1. Adaje - Ladder For A Step

2. Lizards Have Personalities - Dear Girl Lying In The Middle of the Road, You Could Do Better

3. Lizards Have Personalities - Sanc Kingdom's Collapse

4. Adaje - Kanga Wu Pouch

Lizards Have Personalities (2014)

1. Mononoke

2. Eta Carinae

3. A Letter To Clotho

4. Hedonistic Calculus

5. A Letter To Lachesis

6. Monstrum In Fronte, Monstrum In Animo

7. The Last Oracle Of Luud

8. A Letter To Atropos

9. Eurynomus

10. Tartarus

Compilation Songs

Let your heart guide you. It whispers so listen closely.

Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Don't Rat Out Your Friends (Orchid cover)

Bandcamp

The Appleseed Cast

The Appleseed Cast are a four-piece emo/indie/post-rock band that originated in Southern California in 1997, thought they relocated to Lawrence, Kansas a few years later. This band's name is probably familiar to you, since they've been an incredibly influential band in the development of indie/emo music, especially for their experimentation with post-rock and atmospheric effects. Though their first two albums sound a lot like Sunny Day Real Estate or Mineral derivatives, they really came into their own skin for their most experimental albums to date, the Low Level Owl volumes. They abandoned a lot of the standard song-structures found in their earliest work in favour of long, atmospheric, passages that would blend into each other. This seamless sound was really only most prominent on these two albums. Their follow-up to it, Two Conversations, was a return to their original sound, featuring the upfront guitar sounds and prominent vocals they started with, with slight hints of their more experimental side seeping in. However, their subsequent albums found a much more balanced amount of their song-structured emo/indie rock and atmospheric, experimental post-rock, and this is the sound they are best known for. Definitely give this band a listen, there is no way you will be disappointed. Their music can be both catchy and captivating, what more could you want from a band? Enjoy.

The End Of The Ring Wars (1998)

1. Patchwork & Marigold

2. Antihero

3. On Sidewalks

4. Moment #72

5. Stars

6. December 27, 1990

7. The Last Ring

6. 16 Days

7. Dreamland

8. Portrait

9. Untitled 1/2

Chapter Two: A Million Miles Away (1998)

2. Max

Planes Mistaken For Stars/Race Car Riot/The Appleseed Cast (1999)

1. Planes Mistaken For Stars - Staggerswallowswell

2. Race Car Riot - Broken

3. Race Car Riot - Rain Check

4. Race Car Riot - Racing California

5. The Appleseed Cast - Tale Of The Aftermath

6. The Appleseed Cast - Remedios The Beautiful

Mare Vitalis (2000)

1. The Immortal Soul of Mundo Cani

2. Fishing The Sky

3. Forever Longing The Golden Sunsets

4. Mare Mortis

5. Santa Maria

6. Secret

7. ...And Nothing Less

8. Poseidon

9. Kilgore Trout

10. Storms

11. Bonus Track

Low Level Owl Volume I (2001)

1. The Waking Of Pertelotte

2. On Reflection

3. Blind Man's Arrow

4. Flowers Falling From Dying Hands

5. Messenger

6. Doors Lead To Questions

7. Steps And Numbers

8. Sentence

9. Bird Of Paradise

10. Mile Marker

11. Convict

12. A Tree For Trials

13. Signal

14. View Of A Burning City

Low Level Owl Volume II (2001)

1. View Of A Burning City (Reprise)

2. Strings

3. A Place In Line

4. Shaking Hands

5. Rooms And Gardens

6. Ring Out The Warning Bell

7. Sunset Drama King

8. The Last In A Line

9. Decline

10. The Argument

11. Reaction

12. Confession

Lost Songs (2002)

1. E To W

2. Peril, Pts. 1, 2, And 3

3. Novice

4. Facing North

5. Take

6. State N W/K

7. House On A Hill

8. Beach Gray

9. Novice Ambient Cannibalization

Unreleased No. 2 (2003)

4. The Spider Wall

Two Conversations (2003)

1. Hello Dearest Love

2. Hanging Marionette

3. Ice Heavy Branches

4. Losing Touching Searching

5. Fight Song

6. Sinking

7. The Page

8. Innocent Vigilant Ordinary

9. How Life Can Turn

10. A Dream For Us

Peregrine (2006)

1. Ceremony

2. Woodland Hunter (Part 1)

3. Here We Are (Family In The Hallway)

4. Silas' Knife

5. Mountain Halo

6. Sunlit Ascending

7. February

8. An Orange And A Blue

9. Song 3

10. Woodland Hunter (Part 2)

11. Peregrine

12. A Fate Delivered

13. The Clock And The Storm

Sagarmatha (2009)

1. As The Little Things Go

2. A Bright Light

3. The Road West

4. The Summer Before

5. One Reminder, An Empty Room

6. Raise The Sails

7. Like A Locus (Shake Hands With The Dead)

8. South Col

9. An Army of Fireflies

Middle States (2011)

1. End Frigate Constellation

2. Interlude

3. Middle States

4. Three Rivers

Illumination Ritual (2013)

1. Adriatic To Black Sea

2. Great Lake Derelict

3. Simple Forms

4. Cathedral Rings

5. 30 Degrees 3am

6. Branches On The Arrow Peak Revelation

7. Barrier Islands (Do We Remain)

8. North Star Ordination

9. Clearing Life

10. Illumination Ritual

The Fleeting Light Of Impermanence (2019)

1. Chaotic Waves

2. Petition

3. Time The Destroyer

4. Collision

5. The Journey

6. Asking The Fire For Medicine

7. Reaching The Forest

8. Last Words And Final Celebrations