Turning Point

Turning Point were a four-piece (originally five-piece) straight edge hardcore band from Moorestown, New Jersey that lasted from 1988 to 1991. They've been incredibly influential, mostly for their later material, which was foundational to both emo and melodic hardcore (as well as being straight-up amazing material). Their discography was compiled by Jade Tree in 2000, which documents their shift from their early straight edge hardcore days to a very tight melodic outfit, with classics like "Behind This Wall". Sadly, their vocalist Skip Candelori died in 2002, though the band has recently announced that they'll be playing this year's This Is Hardcore festival, with other vocalists filling in for Skip. That's highly anticipated, and a perfect example of how a reunion is done best, I think. Here's the discography LP for this essential band, enjoy.

1988-1991 Discography (2000)

1. Behind This Wall

2. Thursday

3. Anxiety Asking

4. Broken

5. Before The Dawn

6. Running In Place

7. Guidance

8. Face Up

9. Turn It Around

10. Shadow Of Lies

11. Life Goes On

12. Prophecy

13. Descent

14. Growing Stronger

15. Get It Back

16. Feeding The Fire

17. Insecurity

18. My Turn To Win

19. To Lose

20. Few And The Proud

21. Empty Promises

22. Never Again

23. Over The Line

24. Turning Point

25. To Lose

26. Face Up

27. Never Again

28. Behind My Back

29. Turning Point

30. Curtain Falls

31. Empty Promises

32. Growing Stronger

33. Down

34. Hollow Inside

35. Unexpressed

36. Undertow

37. Will To Speak

38. Watching It Fall

Kid Dynamite

I figured since I already put Lifetime up on here last month, I couldn't let another month go by without the inclusion of Kid Dynamite. Both bands are massive influences in both melodic hardcore and pop punk of course, but the two are also related through guitarist Dan Yemin, who began Kid Dynamite after Lifetime broke up in 1997. This new band released two amazing full-lengths, both through Jade Tree, before breaking up in 2000. A compilation came out a few years later, titled Cheap Shots, Youth Anthems.

Kid Dynamite reunited a few time after their initial break-up. Once in 2005, and then a handful of times between 2010 and 2013 before officially calling it quits. Their members have been involved in a handful of amazing bands, including Paint It Black, None More Black, and The Loved Ones, in addition to the obvious Lifetime. As far as sound goes, Kid Dynamite are pretty straight-forward. Catchy, heart-pumping "youth anthems" were their forte, and have made them a timeless classic, so please enjoy. I included a compilation of covers just because there are a ton of amazing bands that appear on it, including The Ergs!, The Wonder Years, Comadre, Lewd Acts, Make Do And Mend, This Time Next Year, Broadway Calls, Death is Not Glamorous, This Is Hell, the list goes on and on.

Kid Dynamite (1998)

1. Pause

2. K05-0564

3. Sweet Shop Syndicate

4. Table 19

5. Ph. Decontrol

6. Showoff

7. Bookworm

8. Scarysmurf

9. Ronald Miller Story

10. Bench Warmer

11. Zuko's Back In Town

12. Never Met The Gooch

13. News At 11

14. 32 Frames Per Second

15. Pacifier

16. 3 O'Clock

17. Shiner

18. Wrist Rocket

19. Fuckuturn

Shorter, Faster, Louder (2000)

1. Pits & Poisoned Apples

2. Death And Taxes

3. Cheap Shot Youth Anthem

4. Copout

5. Handy With The Tongue Sword

6. Living Day Lights

7. Introduction To The Opposites

8. Gate 68

9. Troy's Bucket

10. Rufus Wants A Hug

11. Got A Minute?

12. Penske File

13. Rid of The Losers, Bring On The Cruisers

14. Three's A Party

15. S.O.S.

16. Two For Flinching

17. Birthday

18. Give 'em The Ripped One

Cheap Shots, Youth Anthems (2003)

1. Heart A Tact

2. Breakin' A Memory

3. Give 'em The Ripped One

4. Two For Flinching

5. Rise Above (Black Flag cover)
6. Deny Everything (Circle Jerks cover)

7. Hateful (The Clash cover)

8. I Don't Wanna Hear It (Minor Threat cover)

9. Macho Insecurites (Dead Kennedys cover)
10. Showoff

11. Sweet Shop Syndicate

12. Never Met The Gooch

13. Fuckturn

14. Scary Smurf

15. The Ronald Miller Story

16. Bookworm (Demo)

17. The Unheard Chorus (Demo)

18. 32 Frames Per Second (Demo)

19. Wrist Rocket (Demo)

20. News At 11 (Demo)

21. Death & Taxes (Demo)

22. S.O.S. (Live)

23. Heart A Tact (Live)

24. Handy With The Tongue Sword (Live)

25. K05-0564 (Live)

26. Never Met The Gooch (Live)

27. The Penske File (Live)

28. PH. Decontrol (Live)

29. Deny Everything (Live)

30. Untitled

Carry The Torch: A Tribute To Kid Dynamite (2009)

1. Antillectual - Wrist Rocket

2. Smartbomb - Heartatact

3. Ernie Parada - Bench Warmer

4. Call It Fire - 32FPS

5. Fallen From The Sky - Pits And Poison Apples

6. 12 Cent - Pacifier

7. Broadway Calls - Bookworm

8. All Teeth - Never Met The Gooch

9. Deny Everything - Zuku's Back In Town

10. No Secrets Between Sailors - Living Daylights

11. Lewd Acts - PH. Decontrol

12. Comadre - Death & Taxes

13. No Harm Done - Three's A Party

14. First To Leave - SOS

15. The Golden Age - Got A Minute?

16. Death Is Not Glamorous - Pause

17. Make Do and Mend - Ronald Miller Story

18. Endgame - Copout

19. Get Back Up - Sweet Shop Syndicate

20. Static Radio NJ - Give 'em The Ripped One

21. To The Lions - Rid Of The Losers, Bring On The Cruisers

22. Stay Warm - Showoff

23. Hollywood - Gate 68

24. Take My Chances - Handy With The Tongue Sword

25. Hour Of The Wolf - Breakins A Memory

26. The Geeks - Shiner

27. No Trigger - K05-0564

28. Jump The Shark - Scary Smurg

29. Sakes Alive!! - News At 11

30. Latin For Truth - Table 19

31. The Ergs! - Fuck U Turn

32. Soldiers - Introduction To Opposites

33. Kill Conrad - Rufus Wants A Hug

34. Spanish Gamble - The Unheard Chorus

35. Torchbearer - The Penske File

36. The Wonder Years - Cheap Shot, Youth Anthem

37. This Is Hell - Troy's Bucket

38. Troublemaker - Two For Flinching

39. This Time Next Year - 3 O'Clock 

Lifetime

Lifetime are a five-piece melodic hardcore/pop punk/emo band from New Jersey that formed in 1990 and broke up in 1997. They played a few reunion shows in 2005 and ended up staying together and putting out a new album in 2007. Since then, they've still been fairly active with sporadic shows an such. They were signed to Jade Tree Records and then Decaydance when they reformed. Their guitarist Dan Yemin was also in Kid Dynamite and sang for Paint It Black. Hopefully this band doesn't really need much more of an introduction, since they are absolutely quintessential for any fan of pop punk or the less intense side of hardcore. Lifetime basically mastered the two-minute catchy d-beat rhythm sound, and thus have ended up being enormously influential. Jersey's Best Dancers is an absolute classic, as well as its predecessor Hello Bastards. There's really no need to rant on about how good they are, it's essentially a redundant statement of fact at this point, so enjoy.

Dwell (1991)

1. Dwell

2. Find

3. Souvenir

4. Gone

Background (1993)

1. You

2. Pieces

3. Myself

4. Thanks

5. Up

6. Bedtime

7. Old Friend

8. Ghost

9. Alive

10. Background

Tinnitus (1994)

1. Isae Aldy Beausoleil

2. Ferret

3. Star Sixty-Nine

4. Ampersand

Hello Bastards (1995)

1. Daneurysm

2. Rodeo Clown

3. Anchor

4. I'm Not Calling You

5. Bobby Truck Tricks

6. (The Gym Is) Neutral Territory

7. I Like You Ok

8. It's Not Funny Anymore (Husker Du cover)

9. Irony Is For Suckers

10. What She Said

11. Knives, Bats, New Tats

12. Ostrichsized

The Boy's No Good (1996)

1. The Boy's No Good

2. Somewhere In The Swamps Of Jersey

Jersey's Best Dancers (1997)

1. Turnpike Gates

2. Young, Loud And Scotty

3. Francie Nolan

4. 25 Cent Giraffes

5. Hey Catrine

6. Bringin' It Backwards

7. How We Are

8. Theme Song For A New Brunswick Basement Show

9. Cut The Tension

10. The Truth About Lars

11. The Boy's No Good

12. The Verona Kings

Somewhere In The Swamps Of Jersey (2006)

Disc 1

1. Somewhere In The Swamps Of Jersey

2. Isae Aldy Beausoleil

3. Ferret

4. Starsixtynine

5. Ampersand

6. Secede

7. Young, Loud And Scotty

8. Bringin' It Backwards

9. Theme Song For A New Brunswick Basement Show

10. New England (Billy Bragg cover)

11. Money (Embrace cover)

12. You

13. Pieces

14. Myself

15. Thanks

16. Up

17. Bedtime

18. Old Friend

19. Ghost

20. Alive

21. Background

22. Dwell

23. Find

24. Souvenir

25. Gone

26. Tradition

Disc 2

1. You

2. Pieces

3. Myself

4. Thanks

5. Up

6. Bedtime

7. Old Friend

8. Ghost

9. Alive

10. Background

11. You (Live)

12. Ghost (Live)

Note: Missing the last few songs, all live tracks

Two Songs (2006)

1. Haircuts And T-Shirts

2. All Night Long

Lifetime (2007)

1. Northbound Breakdown

2. Airport Monday Morning

3. Just A Quiet Evening

4. Haircuts And T-Shirts

5. Can't Think About It Now

6. Spiders In The Garden

7. Yeems Song For Nothing

8. Try And Stay Awake

9. Song For Mel

10. All Night Long

11. Records At Nite

The Promise Ring

First off, I want to apologize for not being very active in the last two months or so. I've just been really busy and kind of put the blog to the side for a while. Excuses aside, I've got a few posts that will be added within the next week or so, and I'll get around to responding to all of your messages this week as well, since I also let those pile up in my state of procrastination. So again, sorry for disappearing for a while, but I'll try and keep this more updated in the future.

The Promise Ring were a four-piece emo/indie band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin that formed in 1995. They began just as singer/guitarist Davey von Bohlen's other band Cap'n Jazz were coming to an end. Despite the shared member, The Promise Ring always had more in common with bands like Jimmy Eat World or Braid than Cap'n Jazz and its numerous offspring (American Football, Joan of Arc, etc.) For one, The Promise Ring are very poppy. Their songs are fairly structured, with strong, sing-along choruses and lyrics that get stuck in your head. As they grew, this become more and more true, with Very Emergency being a quintessential power pop album, and their final album Wood/Water coming close to a full-on indie pop record featuring a lot of acoustic guitar. However, their earlier work features some mid-tempo songs and gentle guitar arpeggios in the vein of Sunny Day Real Estate and such. But what really defines this band is their second album, Nothing Feels Good, which is generally regarded as their best work, and for good reason. The songs on it are catchy, the instrumentation hoppy, and the production is tight and crisp. This could easily be considered one of the great albums of the 90's in the way Nirvana's Nevermind or Weezer's Pinkerton are. If you listen to one thing by this band, make sure it's Nothing Feels Good.

The Promise Ring had a fairly long life for a band in their corner of the musical universe. They broke up in 2002 after a seven-year run, with four full-lengths and numerous EP's to show for it. Davey von Bohlen and drummer Dan Didier formed Maritime, who are still active today. And in keeping tradition with the Cap'n Jazz family bands, The Promise Ring have reunited several times as well. They played one show in 2005, and a handful of shows in 2012, but no plans have been made beyond that. Anyway, here's their discography, an essential for any "emo" fan. Enjoy.

First Demo Tape (1995)

1. Jupiter

2. 12 Sweaters Red

3. Mineral Point

Falsetto Keeps Time (1996)

1. A Picture Postcard

2. Saturday

3. Scenes From Parisian Life

The Promise Ring/Texas Is The Reason (1996)

1. The Promise Ring - E. Texas Ave

2. Texas Is The Reason - Blue Boy

30° Everywhere (1996)

1. Everywhere In Denver

2. Red Paint

3. Heart Of A Broken Story

4. Scenes From France

5. Anne You Will Sing

6. My Firetower Flame

7. Between Pacific Coasts

8. A Picture Postcard

9. Somebody's Done For

10. The Sea Of Cortez

11. Run Down The Waterfall

12. We Don't Like Romance

The Horse Latitudes (1997)

1. Watertown Plank

2. Mineral Point

3. A Picture Postcard

4. Saturday

5. Scenes From Parisian Life

6. E. Texas Ave.

7. Miette

8. I Never Trusted The Russians

Nothing Feels Good (1997)

1. Is This Thing On?

2. Perfect Lines

3. Red & Blue Jeans

4. Why Did We Ever Meet

5. Make Me A Chevy

6. How Nothing Feels

7. A Broken Tenor

8. Raspberry Rush

9. Nothing Feels Good

10. Pink Chimneys

11. B Is For Bethlehem

12. Forget Me

Boys + Girls (1998)

1. Tell Everyone We're Dead

2. Good Looking Boys

3. American Girl [Version 02]

Very Emergency (1999)

 1. Happiness Is All The Rage

2. Emergency! Emergency!

3. The Deep South

4. Happy Hour

5. Things Just Getting Good

6. Living Around

7. Jersey Shore

8. Skips A Beat (Over You)

9. Arms And Danger

10. All of My Everythings

Electric Pink (2000)

1. Electric Pink

2. Strictly Television

3. American Girl (V. 01)

4. Make Me A Mixtape

Wood/Water (2002)

1. Size Of Your Life

2. Stop Playing Guitar

3. Suffer Never

4. Become One Anything One Time

5. Wake Up April

6. Get On The Floor

7. Half Year Sun

8. My Life Is At Home

9. Letters To The Far Reaches

10. Bread And Coffee

11. Say Goodbye Good

12. Feed The Night

Spraynard

Spraynard are a three-piece punk/indie/emo band from West Chester, Pennsylvania that formed in 2008, broke up in 2012, and reunited in 2014. These three young gents have knocked out some of the best jams this corner of the musical universe can offer. This is the soundtrack to small towns, skateboarding, and the summer, and the definition of "good vibes". Whether you're 15 or 30, Spraynard have got something to say. Funtitled is perfect from start to finish, get into it. If you like crunchy pop punk, such as Iron Chic, Latterman, or RVIVR, get into this band. I know I'm missing a few of their splits, but the majority of their discography is here, and the songs on the splits are compiled on The Mark Tom And Patrick Show. Enjoy.

Demo (2010)

1. Are You Ladies Familiar With the Work of Zach and Cody?

2. Timmy Gave Me a "G"

3. Don't Throw Me Down, Clark

4. Punch and Pie

5. Ruth Buzzi Better Watch Her Back

6. Mary Swanson

7. Just Like Mexico

Cut And Paste (2010)

1. Stickin' Together Is What Good Waffles Do

2. That's A Cake!

3. STR8TRPN

4. Different Cat, Same Result

5. That's No Moon

6. Take Your Shoes Off, Thank My Mom

7. The "Z" Sealed It For Me

8. Ruth Buzzi Better Watch Her Back

9. Say What You Want About Jesse...

10. Jay's Cafe

11. Damn Julie, Damn.

Spraynard/Sundials (2011)

1. Spraynard - No Taxis In Malvern

2. Spraynard - Subsidizing Edward Norton

3. Sundials - Snowballs At Cops

4. Sundials - Fire Escape

Funtitled (2011)

1. I Care Not

2. The Denver Broncos Vs. The Denver Broncos

3. O.R. They?

4. Little Green Ghouls

5. We're Pretty Nice Guys

6. Ah Gun

7. Damn You, A Box

8. Spooky, Scary

9. Homies Where The Heart Is

10. Quite Exciting, This Computer Magic

11. Not Good Enough, Gary

12. Joe Gallgher's Fantasy Fun Camp

Exton Square (2012)

1. Can I Borrow A Feeling?

2. You Can't Get There From Here

3. Trembling

4. Intents And Purposes (Three Words)

Paramedic!/Spraynard (2013)

1. Paramedic! - Hellz Yea!

2. Paramedic!/Spraynard - Yokozuna Daydreamer

3. Spraynard - Do You Guys Even Like U2? 

4. Spraynard -  Airports And Prank Phone Calls

The Mark Tom And Patrick Show (2014)

1. Internet May Mays

2. Are You Ladies Familiar with the Work of Zach and Cody

3. Just Like Mexico

4. 84' Sheepdog

5. I'm Going to Look One More Time for That Baby Deer

6. Thrillhouse

7. Do You Guys Even Like U2?

8. Airports and Prank Phone Calls

9. No Taxis in Malvern

10. Subsidizing Edward Norton

11. Until Next Time

12. Our Retired Explorer

13. Live Recording at My Parents' House

14. Everyone Everywhere

Mable (2015)

1. Applebee's Bar

2. Buried

3. Medicine

4. Pond

5. Everywhere

6. Bench

7. Listen To Me

8. Lost Boys

9. Out Of Body

10. Home