Free Throw

Free Throw are a five-piece emo/indie/punk band from Nashville, Tennessee that formed in 2012. These guys dropped their debut full-length album this year on Count Your Lucky Stars, and it is absolutely phenomenal. They can easily be compared to the plethora of modern twinkly/emo revival bands that seem to multiply by the daily. So when a band like Free Throw comes along, who fit into that niche, but simultaneously stand out so much in it, you know you're in for something good. They make masterful use of their vocals, which are often harmonised. They are also often very harsh, which is more akin to bands like Old Gray and Tiny Moving Parts, which is a nice contrast to their Snowing-esque instrumentation. They write insanely catchy songs, which sound very distinct from each other, and occasionally incorporate elements that lean on the border of sounding pop punk. If you're looking for new emo bands that aren't You Blew It! and friends, Free Throw are the exact band you need to be listening to.

Free Throw (2012)

1. A Wild Pidgey Appeared

2. Lvl. 2 Pidgey In A Masterball

3. My High

4. My Low

5. An Hour Pissed

6. Gersberms!

Lavender Town (2013)

1. Slam With The Best Or Jam With The Rest

2. Now Kith

3. Lavender Town

4. Pennsylvania Dutch

Free Throw/Grandview (2013)

1. Free Throw - Pallet Town

2. Grandview - Concrete

Those Days Are Gone (2014)

1. Such Luck

2. Two Beers In

3. Good Job, Champ

4. Tongue Tied

5. Pallet Town

6. An Hour Pissed

7. Kim Tastie

8. How I Got My Shrunken Head

9. Let's Get Invisible

10. What Day Is It, October?

11. Hey Ken, Someone Methodically Mushed The Donuts

Bear Your Mind (2017)

1. Open Window

2. Rinse. Repeat.

3. Randy, I Am The Liquor

4. Weight On My Chest

5. Hope Spot

6. Weak Tables

7. Andy And I, Uh...

8. Cal Ripken Jr. Johnson

9. Dead Reckoning

10. Better Have Burn Heal

11. Victory Road

What's Past Is Prologue (2019)

1. Smokes, Let's Go

2. Tail Whip, Struggle

3. The Corner's Dilemma

4. You Don't Say That

5. Stay Out Of The Basement

6. Anaconda Vice

7. Today Is Especially Delicious

8. The Fix Is In

9. Perfect Driftwood

10. Monte Luna

11. Cerulean City

12. What's Past Is Prologue

Piecing It Together (2021)

1. Cloud Sick

2. Worry Seed

3. The Grass Isn't Greener

4. Down & Out

5. Ocular Pat Down

6. Second Wind

7. Force Of Will

8. Dormancy

9. Trust Fall

10. Ghost In The Routine

11. Equilibrium

12. Dawn Of A New Day

Lessons That We Swear To Keep (2023)

1. A Part Is Better Than Zero

2. Spacer's Choice

3. Replacing Leene's Bell

4. The Museum Of Orphaned Concepts

5. So Yeah, So

6. Thanks For Asking

7. Into The Wind Stream

8. Joy Ephemeral

9. Cinnabar Island

10. Tips For Safe Travels

11. What Comes Around Is All Around

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Hightide Hotel

Hightide Hotel are a three-piece emo band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They formed in 2008 and are supposed to have broke up two years ago, but not until they finished and released their last album, which just came out on Count Your Lucky Stars. They are, in my opinion, one of the best emo/twinkly/math rock bands to come out of the past few years. Porch Luck is absolutely perfect, and their first album Nothing Was Missing, Except Me is also astounding. Their new, second album, Naturally, is definitely going to up there as well, based on a few listens so far. They had a different drummer/singer on their first two releases before switching to their current line-up on their first LP. Some of their members also play in Olive Drab, which shares members with THE band, Snowing. Here's Hightide Hotel's complete discography, enjoy.

Porch Luck (2008)

1. The Tender And The Terrible

2. I Know What The Word Gone Means

3. Open Your Eyes And Stare

4. Porch Luck

Secret Somethings (2009)

1. Wordsearch

2. Apartment Buildings (Acoustic)

3. Secret Somethings

4. Porch Luck (Acoustic)

By Surprise/Hightide Hotel (2009)

1. Hightide Hotel - Shuttle

2. Hightide Hotel - Elementary Biology

3. Hightide Hotel - Apartment Buildings

4. By Surprise - Invisible Ink

5. By Surprise - CB Radio

6. By Surprise - I Miss You etc.

Nothing Was Missing, Except Me (2010)

1. I'm Just Sippin' On Monster, Thinkin' About Life

2. Childish

3. Life Is Precious, And God, And The Bible

4. Where's Walden?

5. Weekends

6. I Know What The Word Gone Means

7. Be My Lobster

8. She Dreams Of Melting Rocks

9. Morning Mutes

10. Sometimes What Ends Doesn't

Secret Somethings: Vol. 2 (2011)

1. Intro

2. Ballad

3. Ultimatum

4. Hollow

5. Your Bed

6. My Bed

7. Hospital Green

8. Malice

9. Closer

10. Intro

Secret Somethings: Vol. 3 (2012)

1. Spring Cleaning

2. Secret Something

3. Kicked Off Bed Island

4. Fuck All These Documents

5. J.E. III

6. I Know What The Word Dead Means

7. The Tender And The Terrible (Live)

8. Be My Lobster (Live)

9. Closer (Live)

10. Wordsearch (Darien St. Version)

Dikembe/Hightide Hotel/Jet Set Sail/Monument (2013)

1. Dikembe - Donuts In A Six Speed

2. Hightide Hotel - Built To Last

3. Jet Set Sail - Strickland North

4. Monument - Sophisticated Liars

Naturally (2014)

1. Hello Cruel World

2. Basement Warfare

3. Henry

4. Vertigo Chamber

5. Dandelion

6. Cosmos

7. An Absence Felt

8. Apollo Silent Groove

9. Don't Need

10. Naturally

11. Sigh

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Brave Bird

Brave Bird are a three-piece indie/emo band from Ann Arbor, Michigan that formed in 2010 and (sadly) broke up in 2014. They had the whole "twinkly midwest emo" (a la Grown Ups, Snowing, etc.) sound going on, but at the same time were very distinct. The guitar is very technically and math rock-like, but actually create distinct melodies (kind of like American Football) instead of just playing unnecessarily complex things to achieve the "twinkly" sound. Their songs are so catchy, especially for their niche of music. They write choruses that need to be sung along to, and their bass lines act as chord progressions that make every song feel new (they even have a very pop-like sound on their final EP). Each member is very technically inept with their respective instrument, and the way they play off of each other is astounding. They just know how to create some really good songs, I don't know what else can be said. Oh, and their vocals sound like Jesse Lacey (Brand New). They have two singers, and they actually both kind of share a similar vocal tone to him, if he fronted a midwest emo band. Anyways, here's their entire discography. Enjoy!

Ready Or Not (2010)

1. Scared Enough

2. Healthy

3. The Worst Things Happen To Me

4. Tired Enough

5. See You Next Year

Demo 2011 (2011)

1. It's My Pride That I Swallow

Maybe You, No One Else Worth It (2013)

1. Too Late Now

2. Scared Enough

3. Healthy

4. Tired Enough

5. (Thick Skin) Should I Give In

6. Whittle Down The Days

7. The Worst Things Happen To Me

8. Get Over What's Right

9. Maybe You, No One Else Worth It

10. I'll See You At The Ring Of Fire

11. It's My Pride That I Swallow

You're Not Quite Ready (2013)

1. Too Late Now

2. Scared Enough

3. Healthy

4. Whittle Down The Days

5. Tired Enough

6. The Worst Things Happen To Me

7. Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

8. Should I Give In

9. It's My Pride That I Swallow

10. Maybe You, No One Else Worth It

11. I'll See You At The Ring Of Fire

12. Make Time In Due Time

13. Get Over What's Right

14. Secrets

15. I Was Never Your Boyfriend (Tigers Jaw)

16. We Will Make It Home

T-Minus Grand Gesture (2014)

1. I Don't Wanna Know

2. Rekindle

3. TMINUSGRANDGESTURE

4. Hard Enough

5. Open Up Your Mouth

6. Macaroni Time

7. Killer Velocity

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Foxing

Foxing are a five-piece band that formed in 2011 from Saint Louis, Missouri. What's their genre? It's somewhere between a blend of emo/indie/post-rock/math rock/electronic music, as if that narrows anything down. Alright, think of a band influenced by the likes of Explosions In The Sky, This Town Needs Guns, Listener, The Antlers, Tera Melos, Maps & Atlases, Death Cab For Cutie, Brand New, and A Silver Mt. Zion (and their 1000 names). Now imagine that said band came from the same music scene that spawned The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), Crash of Rhinos, and Prawn. And what do you have? Foxing.

This band utilizes a range of instruments in addition to the basic guitar, bass, drums setup. A trumpet is prominently used, as well as various string arrangements, and electronic tinkering, among others. Their guitars are very clean, often laden with delay and reverb. The drums focus more on forming rhythms than keeping basic beats. The vocals are varied, often ranging from spoken word parts to cracking shouts and sputters of intense emotion ("Why don't you love me back?"). The lyrical relatability and poeticism is painstaking, to say the least. The band crafts songs featuring endless crescendos, cathartic climaxes, and eventual breaking points, the formula of post-rock, but structure their songs to remain unpredictable and adventurous, which sets them apart from the predictably that plagues the genre. The Albatross in particular is an amazing piece of work that I highly, highly recommend everybody check out in its entirety. It has got to be one of the most solid albums put out in this realm of music in years, in my opinion.

Foxing released their debut full-length on Count Your Lucky Stars, and were quite quickly signed to Triple Crown Records, for good reason. Below is the aforementioned full-length and their earlier material. Be sure to support the band, and they are a must-see live band if you have the chance. Enjoy.

Old Songs (2012)

1. Friendly Homes

2. Sunspotting

3. Gold Cobra

Foxing/Send Away Stranger (2013)

1. Foxing - Ocelot

2. Send Away Stranger - Still Figures 

3. Send Away Stranger - You Look Like a Basketball Pro

Japenese Breakfast/Foxing (2013)

1. Japanese Breakfast - The Woman That Loves You

2. Foxing - Tom Bley

The Albatross (2013)

1. Bloodhound

2. Inuit

3. The Medic

4. Pent up in a Blind

5. Rory

6. Bit By a Dead Bee pt. I

7. Bit By a Dead Bee pt. II

8. Den Mother

9. Calm Before

10. Quietus

Dealer (2015)

1. Weave

2. The Magdalene

3. Night Channels

4. Laundered

5. Indica

6. Winding Cloth

7. Redwoods

8. Glass Coughs

9. Eiffel

10. Coda

11. Three On A Match

Two (2017)

1. Indica Two

2. Redwoods Two

Nearer My God (2018)

1. Grand Paradise

2. Slapstick

3. Lich Prince

4. Gameshark

5. Nearer My God

6. Five Cups

7. Heartbeats

8. Trapped In Dillard's

9. Bastardizer

10. Crown Candy

11. Won't Drown

12. Lambert

Draw Down The Moon (2021)

1. 737

2. Go Down Together

3. Beacons

4. Draw Down The Moon

5. Where The Lightning Strikes Twice

6. Bialystok

7. At Least We Found The Floor

8. Cold Blooded

9. If I Believed In Love

10. Speak With The Dead (feat. Why?)

The Albatross: Ten Years (2023)

1. Carly Cosgrove - Bloodhound

2. Insignificant Other - Inuit

3. Sweet Pill - The Medic

4. Prince Daddy & The Hyena - Rory

5. Home Is Where - Bit By A Dead Bee, Pt. I

6. Hey, ILY! - Bit By A Dead Bee, Pt. II

7. For Your Health - Den Mother

8. Colleen Dow - Quietus

9. The Medic (2023)

10. Rory (2023)

Foxing (2024)

1. Secret History

2. Hell 99

3. Spit

4. Greyhound

5. Cleaning

6. Barking

7. Kentucky McDonald's

8. Looks Like Nothing

9. Gratitutde

10. Dead Cat

11. Dead Internet

12. Hall Of Frozen Heads

13. Cry Baby

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Dowsing

Dowsing are an indie/emo band from Chicago, Illinois. They've been putting out "feel good sad jams" since 2010 on the loveable Count Your Lucky Stars. Bands such as Joie De Vivre, Into It. Over It., Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), Prawn, You Blew It!, and Brave Bird, could be considered contemporaries, though Dowsing is certainly on the same level as most of them. So if you're into that sort of thing, these guys are a must to check out if you haven't already. Enjoy.

All I Could Find Was You (2011)

1. Driving

2. Amateur Cartography

3. Dinos

4. ...And That's Why You Always Leave A Note!

5. Maxwell

6. Joking/Laughing

Dowsing/Parker (2012)

1. Dowsing - That Would Be A Lot Of Cool

2. Dowsing - Somerset (Alternate Version)

3. Parker - Make It Home Safely

4. Parker - Eleanor Roosevelt

It's Still Pretty Terrible (2012)

1. Get Dead!

2. What Did You Ever Do?

3. Gengar! Gengar! Gengar!

4. Wired For Success

5. Lavender

6. Littoral

7. Midwest Living

8. Up To Me

9. Terminals

10. Somerset

Stay Sweet Fest Split (2013)

1. Dowsing - Just Say When

2. Haverford - Memo

3. Run, Forever - Braddock Beach (Full Band)

4. Captain, We're Sinking - Judge

It's Just Going To Get Worse (2013)

1. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)

2. The Only One Who Could Ever Reach You

3. Motorcycle Drive By

4. Get Dead(er)! (Demo)

5. Gengar! Gengar! Gengar! (Demo)

6. What Did You Ever Do? (Living Room Recording)

7. Liutoral

8. Amateur Cartography (Living Room Recording)

9. Maxwell (Wild Method Workshop)

10. Joking/Laughing (Living Room Recording)

I Don't Even Care Anymore (2013)

1. If I Fall Asleep The Cats Will Find Me

2. Get Weird

3. Where're Here To Basketball

4. Meant To Shred

5. I Don't Even Care Anymore

6. Everything Works Out

7. No Offense To The Fun

8. Ferret Feelings

9. Still Don't Care

10. Nothing To Give

Annabel/Dowsing (2014)

1. Annabel - Always

2. Annabel - Forever

3. Dowsing - Fistful of Hot Wheels

4. Dowsing - World’s Finest Chocolate (How Ya Doin’ Today)

Still Don't Care (2015)

1. Fall Asleep

2. Get Weird

3. Hot Wheels

4. Basketball

5. PianoSong

6. No Offense

7. IDECA

8. Ferret

9. Still Don't Care

10. Nothing To Give

11. IDECA Butt Fast

12. Meant To Shred

13. Chocolat

14. Fall Asleep (Bedroom Demo)

15. Get Weird (Bedroom Demo)

16. Basketball (Bedroom Demo)

17. Hot Wheels (Bedroom Demo)

18. Just Like IDECA (Bedroom Demo)

19. PianoSong (Bedroom Demo)

20. No Offense To The Fun We're Having (Bedroom Demo)

21. Ferret (Bedroom Demo)

22. Still Don't (Bedroom Demo)

23. Nothing (Bedroom Demo)

24. Worst Joke Ever (Bedroom Demo)

25. Just Say Auto-Tune? (Bedroom Demo)

26. No Offense (Switchboard Sessions)

27. Cutoff (Switchboard Sessions)

28. Watermark

Okay (2016)

1. Wasted On Hate

2. Feeling Better

3. Kept Me Around

4. Grunge For Life

5. Dissolve

6. Finally Ghost

7. Born To Soar

8. I'm Sorry, You're Great

9. Outside

10. Red Legs Kicking

Sky Coffin (2019)

1. Blank Forever

2. True Hell

3. Major Something

4. Toc

5. It's Good to Love

6. Runners

7. Future Me

8. True Form

9. A Lifetime to Heal

No One Said This Would Be Easy (2023)

1. It Was Easy

2. Being Real

3. Forever Bed

4. Everything

5. All That's Left

6. Simple Projections

7. Shimmering Glow

8. RMT

9. Make It So

10. Goodbye

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Ape Up!

Thanks to Samuel from Old Scarf Avenue (check them out) for the request.

Ape Up! are a four-piece punk/emo band from Boston, Massachusetts and are signed to Count Your Lucky Stars. The drummer in this band used to drum for Algernon Cadwallader, and I don't know if this band has any other alumni other bands. But whatever, these guys are awesome on their own. They fuse "twinkly" guitar stylings with gruff punk vocals and energy, kind of similar to Algernon, Snowing, Glocca Morra, or Sirs, but slightly more aggressive. Ape Up! are a great band, definitely check them out. Enjoy.

Demo (2009)

1. Two Tickets To Stink Town

2. Not Quite There Yet

3. Traditions

4. Don't Call Me That In Public

5. Rudich Ranch

Compilation Tracks (2009)

1. Chinchillin'

2. No Troy

Note: Track 1 is from Short Attention Span, track 2 is from 75:24

Kemosabe (2012)

1. Nothing Serious

2. No Troy

3. 1(800) WILD-DAD

4. Honey Scoots

5. Drainbow

6. When I Was The Good Guy

7. Kemosabe

8. Sorry All Over The Place

9. Tejas

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