Cap'n Jazz

I know I've been pretty inactive with the blog lately, and I'm sorry about that. A ton of things have been keeping me very occupied lately, but hopefully I can get back into the habit of working on the blog and responding to the stack of requests and submissions it's got. Thanks for being so patient, and thanks to Robert for the request.

Cap'n Jazz are legendary, seminal, influential, important, a plethora of adjectives can be used to convey the gravity of what they were. They were a five-piece band from Chicago, Illinois that initially existed from 1989 to 1995, and reunited for a shows in 2010. They are arguably THE "emo" band, pioneering the upbeat, twinkly, nostalgic energy that so many bands after them emulated, though could never quite match. The band consisted of very young members (most of them were in their mid-to-late teens) that would continue to be play major roles in many other integral bands to follow, such as American Football, The Promise Ring, Joan Of Arc, Owen, Owls, and Ghosts And Vodka. Cap'n Jazz only released one full-length, titled Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards In The Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On And Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over, though it is more commonly referred to simply as Shmap'n Schmazz. They also released two 7"'s, and appeared on numerous compilations. All of their recorded (and some live) material can be found on their discography album, titled Analphabetapolothology (only one song of theirs is known to be missing, which is "Naive"). This band is absolutely essential, and have had a huge impact on me as well as many others, so if you have yet to hear Cap'n Jazz, or are just getting into them, I mean this in the most sincere way: enjoy.

Analphabetapolothology (1998)

Disc 1

1. Little League

2. Oh Messy Life

3. Puddle Splashers

4. Flashpoint: Catheter

5. In The Clear

6. Yes, I Am Talking To You

7. Basil's Kite

8. Bluegrassish

9. Planet Shhh

10. The Sands Have Turned Purple

11. Precious

12. Que Serte!

13. Take On Me (a-ha cover)

14. Tokyo

15. Ooh Do I Love You

16. Hey Ma, Do I Hafta Choke On These

17. Forget Who We Are

18. Olerud

Disc 2

1. We Are Scientists!

2. Sea Tea

3. Troubled By Insects

4. Rocky Rococo

5. In The Clear

6. Soria

7. No Use For A Piano Player When You Got A Player Piano

8. Scary Kids Scaring Kids

9. Bluegrass

10. Winter Wonderland

11. AOK

12. Geheim

13. Sergio Valente

14. Easy Driver

15. Theme To '90210'

16. Ooh Do I Love You (acoustic)

Fall City Fall

Thanks to Patrick for the request.

Fall City Fall are a five-piece hardcore/metalcore/post-hardcore/I don't really know what to call them since every one of those tags are technically inaccurately used outfit from Calgary, Alberta that formed in 2008. The band features two vocalists, which they certainly use to their advantage by constantly playing off of each other and varying their vocal styles. I admittedly am not usually into bands like this, but Fall City Fall actually seem quite authentic, and actually make some decent music to back it up, or at least I think so. This is some quality stuff, definitely check them out. Enjoy.

1629 (2010)

1. The Gate

2. Dead Eyes

3. Blackout

4. Trodden Black

5. The Body Discourse

6. From The Dust, To The Grave

7. Still Life In Stop Motion

8. 1629

Dead Saints (2012)

1. Intro

2. Fearamid

3. Psalmute

4. Unawarewolf

5. Funeralationship

Victus (2013)

1. St. James

2. Dissentipede

3. Anxiety Attack

4. Bitter To The End

5. Lovebirds

6. Many Masters

7. Many Lives

8. Shallow Believer

9. Dead Saints

10. Taken

11. Victus

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The Beautiful Ones

Thanks to Alvarock for the request.

The Beautiful Ones are a five-piece hardcore band from Mesa, Arizona that formed in 2011. They play mid-tempo, intense hardcore/punk that trudges and tramples, but keep an element of melody, particularly with the vocals, which are often close to being sung (and at some points actually do so), with lyrics that are usually very distinguishable. There's also a hint of thrash metal influence thrown in there. They're a really cool band, check them out. They've got an EP out with 6131 Records titled Birth Of Desire, which is probably the best starting point, even though they don't really have much else out. Enjoy.

Demo (2011)

1. Too Beautiful

2. Truth Hurts

3. Old News, Same Blues

4. Absolute Minds

Casa de Diversion Vol. 1 (2011)

11. Hear Me

Full comp here

Birth Of Desire (2012)

1. Can't Stand The Sight Of Me

2. True To Me

3. Down

4. Birth Of Desire

5. Cut Me Out

Covers Vol. 2 (2012)

15. Drain You (Nirvana cover)

Full comp here

Demo II (2013)

1. Absolute Minds

Flowers Are Forever (2014)

1. Flowers Are Forever

2. All Eyes On Me

Jaded Love (2015)

1. Jaded

2. Preface (Take It All Away)

3. Exhale (Room 312)

4. Transcend

5. The Morning

6. Flowercrown

7. Lovers Stomp

8. Bloom & Destroy

9. Stay

10. Heart in a Jar

11. Nothing. Existing. Missing.

Bandcamp

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Trapped Under Ice

Thanks to Justin for the request.

Trapped Under Ice are a five-piece hardcore punk band from Baltimore, Maryland that formed in 2007. As of August 2013, they're on hiatus, though do plan to return someday, thankfully. Stylistically, they take influence from a lot of NYHC bands. They're brutally intense, and straight up kick ass, as I'm sure most of you know. They're probably one of the better-known hardcore bands around now. But if you are just getting into them, enjoy. They have two full-lengths, a split with Dirty Money, and a compilation titled Stay Cold. The compilation contains the 7" EP of the same name, their demo from 2007, and some live stuff.

Update: They reunited in 2015, and released their first new album in 2017, which was third album, Heatwave

Stay Cold (2008)

1. Half A Person

2. Stay Cold

3. Skeleton Heads

4. Street Lights

5. Brain Waves

6. Beneath The Sheets

7. Soul Vice (Demo)

8. Reality Unfolds (Demo)

9. Evelyn (Demo)

10. Unfinished Business (Demo)

11. Heavy Thoughts (Demo)

12. Evelyn/Street Lights (Live)

13. Between The Sheets/Soul Vice (Live)

14. Reality Unfolds (Live)
15. Evelyn Dub (by Black Ark)

Dirty Money/Trapped Under Ice (2008)

1. Trapped Under Ice - Gemini

2. Trapped Under Ice - Death Clock Ticking

3. Dirty Money - Hollow Shell

4. Dirty Money - 2007 Was A Bad Year

Secrets Of The World (2009)

1. See God

2. Believe

3. American Dreams

4. TUI

5. Gemini

6. Too True

7. The Vortex

8. Eye Hand

9. From Birth

10. Titus

11. Against The Wall

12. World I Hate

Big Kiss Goodnight (2011)

1. Born To Die

2. Pleased To Meet You

3. Jail

4. Outcast

5. Victimized

6. The Waits

7. Dead Inside

8. True Love

9. Disconnect

10. Draw The Line

11. You And I

12. Still Cold

13. Reality Unfolds

Heatwave (2017)

1. Backstabbed

2. XL

3. No Relief

4. Do It

5. Throw It Away

6. Pressure Is On

7. Oblivion

8. Slow Death

9. Heatwave

10. Other Side

11. Move

Aurora

Aurora are a four-piece pop punk band from Leominster, Massachusetts. They kick some serious ass, seriously. They're fast paced and super fun to listen to. If you like bands such as Post Season, Handguns, A Loss For Words, and Misser, Aurora might be a band for you. They've currently released 2 great EPs independently. I highly recommend downloading Stepping Stones, but don't let that stop you from downloading their first EP. These guys have a full length coming out soon, and I have a feeling that they're going to get big, so give them a listen, you won't regret it.

Fairweather (2012)

1. The North Star Narratives

2. Cry Baby

3. One More Night

4. Little Traps

Stepping Stones (2013)

1. Stepping Stones

2. Searchlight

3. Rough Gem

4. Violet

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Bandcamp

Ivy League TX

Thanks to Emily for the request.

Ivy League (sometimes referred to as Ivy League TX) are a three-piece pop punk band from Midland, Texas that formed in 2009. They also take quite a bit of influence from hardcore and alternative rock. They're a great band that just recently put out their first full-length, Transparency, on 6131 Records, and it is just awesome, as are the things they did before it. The vocals are gruff, the songs are fast-paced, but they always carry some melodic sensibilities to strike a nice balance between catchiness and aggressiveness. If you're into Title Fight, Make Do And Mend, Rotting Out, Turnover, Citizen, Polar Bear Club, or Basement, then Ivy League are definitely a band that you should be checking out immediately. Enjoy.

Ivy League (2011)

1. Daily

2. Les Incompetent

3. Jaded

4. It's Only Temporary

Summer Sessions (2011)

1. Daybreak

2. 1508

3. Daybreak (Acoustic)

4. Les Incompetent (Acoustic)

5. Here's Looking At You, Kid (Acoustic)

Transparency (2013)

1. Canopy

2. History Repeats

3. Void

4. Transparency

5. Coalesce

6. Egress

7. Losing Sleep

8. Watch You Suffer

9. Daily, Pt. 2

10. All My Skeletons

11. My Mercenary

Ivy League TX/Turnover/Maker/Such Gold (2014)

1. Ivy League TX - Cave

2. Turnover - I Would Hate You If I Could

3. Maker - Here She Comes

4. Such Gold - Framed

Ivy League (2016)

1. Daily Pt. III

2. Four Years ft. Drew Fish

3. Cold Burn

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Swain (formerly This Routine Is Hell)

Swain (who were formerly known as This Routine Is Hell) is a four-piece hardcore punk band from Utrecht, the Netherlands that began in 2009. They're passionately furious, making each song sound like a vicious declaration. Rumbling bass lines are violated by sharp, piercing guitar parts, which are backed by pounding drums and vocals that tear at your skin. Basically, this band just kills it. Check them out, Howl is probably one of my favourite hardcore releases of 2013 (so far). Enjoy.

FFO: Ceremony, Paint It Black, Trash Talk, Midnight Souls

The Verve Crusade (2010)

1. The Gate

2. Tied Down (but comfortable enough)

3. Manufacturing Consent

4. Crossed Fingers

5. Crooks & Robbers

6. The Verve Crusade

7. Make Haste

8. The Weight Of Defeat

9. Hear. See. Speak?

10. Question Everything

11. The Desperate Sway

Repent. Repeat. (2012)

1. Without Spirit, We Roam

2. Repent. Repeat.

3. Shine

4. Memories Are Haunting Me

5. Repulse

6. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

Howl (2013)

1. Gather Your Stones

2. Nostalgia

3. Howl

4. Shiver

5. - 

6. Wrongdoer

7. Cancer

8. I Wake To See The World Go Wild

9. Gloom

10. Don't Let Them

11. Uncommon Ground

12. Asleep

Heavy Dancing (2015)

1. I Weep For Mankind

2. Heavy Dancing

3. I Need Some Space

4. Vaarwel

The Long Dark Blue (2016)

1. Hold My Head

2. Half Asleep / Half Awake

3. Punk-Rock Messed You Up, Kid

4. Never Clean My Room

5. It's Hard To Make Friends

6. Kiss Me Hard

7. Faze Me

8. Secrets Inside

9. Seen A Good Man (In A Bad Mood)

10. You're Not Special

11. Hoping For It

12. It's A Strange Way Down (The Underwater Song)

13. Rid Myself Of You

Website

Facebook

Bandcamp

Backtrack

Thanks to Justin for the request.

Backtrack are a five-piece hardcore punk from Long Island, New York that began in 2008. They're carrying on the legacy that tons of great New York hardcore bands started before them such as Youth Of Today, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Sick Of It All, Madball, H2O, and tons of others. They, like the bands that came before them, play pissed-off and in-your-face music that just makes you want to break shit. Enjoy

   

The '08 Demo (2008)

1. Standing On Two Feet

2. Kept Out

3. Different Direction

4. Another Way Back

5. Paused Progress

Deal With The Devil (2009)

1. Retrace The Lines

2. Welcome To The Pound

3. The Roots Of Evil

4. Organized Crimes

5. Deal With The Devil

6. Drawn Back To Misery

Darker Half (2011)

1. The Worst Of Both Worlds

2. Life's Plan

3. Too Close

4. Violent Split

5. The Greater Good

6. Scratch The Past

7. Darker Half

8. Hard To See

9. Erase The Rat

10. Enough To Know

11. Soul Sucker

12. Red Handed

13. Retrace The Lines

14. Drawn Back To Misery

15. The Roots Of Evil

16. Welcome To The Pound

17. Deal With The Devil

18. Organized Crimes

19. Standing On Two Feet

20. Kept Out

21. Different Direction

22. Another Way Back

23. Paused Progress

The Extermination (2012)

1. Suburban Scum - Beaten From Birth

2. Backtrack - Boiled In My Blood

3. Turnstile - Figure It Out

4. Soul Search - Burning

5. King 9 - No Dreams

Lost In Life (2014)

1. Their Rules

2. Wash Away

3. Lost In Life

4. Under Your Spell

5. Nailed To The Tracks

6. Tortured

7. Rot In Your Race

8. Right This Wrong

9. Play Safe

10. Still Searching

11. Guilty Conscience

12. The Way It Is

Bad To My World (2017)

1. War

2. One With You

3. Bad To My World

4. The Deep Is Calling

5. Dead At The Core

6. Cold-Blooded

7. Gutted

8. Crooks Die Slow

9. Never-Ending Web

10. Sanity

capacities

capacities are a four-piece screamo/hardcore band from New Jersey that began in 2012. Members of this band were also in The Saddest Landscape, You And I, Black Kites, and a bunch of other great bands. Regardless of their association with other amazing bands, capacities have certainly made a name for themselves. They play intense, chaotic, and emotional screamo with pummeling force. Lyrically, they explore many social/political/philosophical themes in addition to some personal ones. Seriously, check them out if you aren't already familiar with them. They're probably one of my favourite modern screamo bands around now, they're just too fucking good. Enjoy.

One quick note: Preliminary Recording was just a sampler thing that the band first put up on their Bandcamp. It's been removed now because all of those exact recordings also appear on The Unexamined Life.

Preliminary Recording (2012)

1. Booker Tells It

2. All That One Can Do

3. An Unsuccessful Attack

4. I Am Better On Pills

capacities/Coma Regalia (2012)

1. capacities - In The Ground

2. capacities - A Damn Fine Cup Of Coffee

3. capacities - Waking Up At The Doctor

4. capacities - I Didn't Know We Were At War

5. Coma Regalia - It Actually Is Rocket Science

The Unexamined Life (2012)

1. An Apology

2. Hedgehog's Dilemma

3. An Unsuccessfull Attack

4. Shigoto

5. A Cycle of Hollow Joy and Vicious Self Hatred

6. I Am Better On Pills

7. Walk Me Through This

8. All That One Can Do

9. I'm Glad You Like A Book

10. Booker Tells It

11. Presque Vu

12. The Unexamined Life

There Is No Neutral (2013)

1. Personhood In The 21st Century

2. Tacenda

3. Academic Flexing

4. Through The Mill

5. Narrow Hallways / Trapped Doors

6. God to the Flatlanders

7. A Young Woman Against The Taliban

8. Home For The Holidays

9. Sons Of A Silent Age

The Sound of Young America (2014)

1. Calculator - Only The Winds Home

2. Calculator - You Say It, We Play It

3. Calculator - Victoria

4. Innards - July 5th

5. Innards - Slow And Repeat

6. Capacities - This Man's Navy

7. Capacities - The Art Of Excuses

8. Capacities - Advice From Tyrion

9. Capacities - Condolences

10. Ittō - Death Frenzy

11. Ittō - Daigoro

Capacities (2014)

1. Watchmaker

2. Splitting The Breast

3. The Statue

4. Show Of Hands

5. Empire In Decay

6. Animatic

7. Bumper Sticker Education

8. Family Future

9. Personal Constructs

10. Words In The Black Lodge

11. What's A Rerun

12. Elycroft

13. The Pink Noise

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For Want Of

For Want Of are a screamo/hardcore band from Austin, Texas that began in 2008. They play music in a similar vein to Loma Prieta, Hot Cross, You And I, and La Quiete.These guys are a great band, and are currently releasing their long-awaited, much-antipicated full-length album, and it was certainly worth the wait. This thing delivers, and it delivers a lot. They let out spurts of passionate fury in each song, make great use of their multiple singers, and just kill it. Anyone into modern screamo needs to be checking this band out. Enjoy.

For Want Of (2010)

1. The Orchestrated Decay of Self Sufficiency

2. Moment In Time

3. Summer Of Distance

4. Shattered City

Epilogue Of A Car Crash...A Tribute To Orchid (2013)

3. Death Of A Modernist (Orchid cover)

Full comp here

Smoke (2013)

1. I'll Go It Alone

2. Golden Cages

3. Coyote

4. Assimilation

5. Dogmatists

6. Episode IV

7. Mentors

8. Dark Path

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