Camping In Alaska

Camping In Alaska are an indie/emo/punk band from Huntsville, Alabama that have been around since 2012. Someone recently pointed out to me that I hadn't posted this band yet, which is absolutely insane and figured I'd get them up here as soon as possible. So, voila. I'm sure a lot of you are already familiar with this band, particularly please be nice which seems to get the most attention, but Bathe and Welcome Home Son are both certainly worth your time. They also might have a new album out soon, so be sure to look out for that. If you haven't heard them, they play a gruff, raw take on twinkly midwestern emo with lyrics meant to be shouted on drunken summer nights. Or something like that. Enjoy.

fuck shit up (2012)

1. burger king (what is this, democracy or uhhh... the other thing)

2. ...and now it's perfect for yoga!

3. lakeshore

4. turnover

5. green

6. why can't i be snowing?

7. frankie thinks she's punk rock but she's just a POSER!!!

8. intro

please be nice (2013)

1. insight

2. why can't i be snowing?

3. there's no "brain" in team

4. justin farmer

5. i just want to kickflip into the sunset and disappear

6. c u in da ballpit

7. dragon ball z budokai tenkaichi 4

Bathe (2014)

1. Bathe

2. Coptalks

3. Homestead

4. Jonathan's Lantern

5. Chinaski

6. Tuesday

7. Wednesday

8. Fourtwenty

9. Yoga

10. Backwards

Welcome Home Son (2016)

1. Bacon

2. Freight Train

3. DIY Karma Kit

4. Black Blood Feeds The Machine

5. Christ Is Resin

6. Roses

7. Horror

8. Wherewolvf

9. Angel

Bandcamp

Facebook

Good Sleepy

Good Sleepy are a three-piece indie/emo band from Worcester, Massachusetts that have been around since 2018. They play that old-time midwest emo in the heart of twinkle city, with plenty of jangly guitar noodling, shouted vocals, and lyrics struggling to see the bright side of life. Fans of bands such as Marietta, Algernon Cadwallader, American Football, and Grown Ups will dig this. They've put out both an LP, split, and EP this year, all of which I highly suggest checking out. Enjoy.

Rest Easy (2018)

1. Your Maker

2. Piano Hands

3. Peaceful Life

The Clock Shop (2019)

1. Setaside

2. Cheats Out Of Heaven

3. Affection

4. GOD.

5. Dessert Before Dinner

6. Sit Tight

7. Timesink

8. Blindeyed Boy

9. Live Your Life

A Doggone Split (2019)

1. closure. - Olympic Cryathalon

2. Good Sleepy - Be Alike

3. Knope - I'm Not A Punk

4. Knope - Piledriver!

5. Good Sleepy - Covers

6. closure. - Chill Lofi Beats To Study To

Okay With The Way It Is, As Is (2019)

1. My Word

2. Romantics

3. as i see

4. I Think That's It

5. closure

everysinglelittlebit (2021)

1. s'mother

2. suffokate

3. live and breathe

4. it's never quiet enough

5. sun aside

6. make your bed!

7. painting words

8. the dark

9. dihappy

10. childlike

11. for good hope (nursery)

i better start dreaming, Vol. 1 (2022)

1. Losing Light

2. Make Pretend

3. See Through

4. Childlike (Acoustic)

5. Sun Aside (Acoustic)

6. The Dark (Acoustic)

Bandcamp

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Armor

Armor are a hardcore punk band from Tallahassee, Florida that began in 2019 (presumably). I don't have much info on them, except that they put out on hell of a 7" this year in the form of Some Kind of War, which is four flawless tracks of exceptional hardcore. It's a blistering release that blends the gruff aggression of Negative Approach with d-beat influence. They've also put out a demo which is worth checking out. Enjoy.

Demo (2019)

1. Intro/Broken

2. NOS

3. Way Of Life

4. Road To Ruin/Age Of Machine

5. Daydreaming

Some Kind of War (2019)

1. Figure

2. Fraud

3. Military Discount

4. Friendly Fire

Bandcamp

Nuvolascura

Nuvolascura are a four-piece hardcore/screamo band from Los Angeles, California that have been around since at least 2015 (though they began under the name Vril). Early this year they released their first LP under the new name. This record is a hard-hitting yet diverse entry into the screamo canon, featuring fantastic production (courtesy of Jack Shirley) and some of the strongest vocals I've heard in a while. The musicianship is absolutely mind-blowing, with insane feats of technical prowess throughout. Listen to the latter half of "Saccharine Trance", the instrumental is all over the place, yet the band makes it work to an intensively chaotic degree. Fans of bands such as Loma Prieta, Lord Snow, Beau Navire, and Mahria will fall head over heels for this. To add awesome to amazing, this record was put out by Zegema Beach Records and Dog Knights Productions, two of the best labels around that can seemingly do no wrong. Enjoy.

Predispositional (2015)

1. 100,000

2. Weeds, Waves

3. In Vines

4. Kaleidoscopes & Perception

5. Thoughts Divide Us

6. Disillusion/Unveil

7. Post Abstraction

8. Sun Gods

No Traditions (2015)

1. General Consensus

2. Sentimental Longing For The Past

3. Grawlixes

4. No Traditions

5. Dispirit

6. Sanpaku

2017 (2017)

1. Final Circle

2. Sacrosant

3. Vemödalen

4. Mirrorshield

Nuvolascura (2019)

1. Death As A Crown

2. ...On Account Of The Posion

3. Flower Offering

4. Saccharine Trance

5. It Comes In Plagues of Consciousness...

6. Vow Of Violence

7. Half Truth

8. Cerulean Wound

9. Zen Depression

10. The Slowest Color Seeping Through (Mask Of Myself)

11. Design For An Altar

Buy the 12" here:

USA

Canada/International

UK

EU/International

As We Suffer From Memory and Imagination (2020)

1. As the Mask Begins to Slip

2. Disguised in Scintillations

3. Victory Position

4. For Their Own Diversions

5. Pixel Vision Anxiety

6. Irreversible Crying Spell

7. Essentially a Vivisection

8. Ceaseless Memories of Seperation

9. In Consequence of Coincidence

10. Who Knows What You Deserve

11. Apyrexy

12. Now It's Clear

13. We'll Never Know the True Extent of Our Loss

How This All Ends (2025)

1. if portals are linear; you'll die soon enough

2. and in the end, you threw it all away

3. why we never returned to the moon

4. figment of reality

5. if at all

6. cordiform projection

7. ex cryptids

8. last embers of awareness

9. before you disappeared

10. polar destinies

Bandcamp

Bigcartel

Facebook

Instagram

Fuel

Fuel were a four-piece punk/post-hardcore band from the Bay area that were around from 1989 to 1991. Though short-lived, they've proved to be hugely influential. This is thanks to their sole album, Monuments To Excess, which is an absolute must-listen and includes all their recorded material (after a 1995 reissue). Sonically, they took clear and heavy influence from the DC and Dischord bands that had popped up just before they did. The first two Fugazi EP's were certainly gospel to them, along with other Revolution Summer-era bands such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty, and Soulside, among others. They were unsurprisingly well-versed with the Dischord roster, and though that influence is very apparent, Fuel took that sound and ran with it, crafting some incredibly dynamic songs and fine-tuning the dual guitar/vocal approach of Fugazi, and that was later carried on by Hot Water Music (a band who have cited Fuel as an influence, and it shows). Enjoy.

Fuel/Angry Son (1991)

1. Fuel - For Lock Of Better Words

2. Angry Son - Thrown Away

3. Angry Son - Suffocation

Monuments To Excess (1995)

1. Disengaged

2. 2:52 (Instrumental)

3. Some Gods

4. Remains To Be Seen

5. Cue To You

6. The Name Is...

7. Why Can't You See

8. Actualized

9. Habit

10. Not Up For Sale

11. Take Effect

12. Untitled (Instrumental)

13. Incomplete

14. Fuel Hymn (Activate)

15. Turn On

16. Why Can't You (Shield Your Eyes)

17. The Name Is...

18. For Lack of Better Words (Shine)

Merel

Merel were a five-piece hardcore/emo band from New Jersey that were around from 1990 to 1993. They were integral in developing the "emo" sound of the underground hardcore scene in the 90's, with desperate vocals, driving bass lines, syncopated stop-and-starts, and dual guitar chaos, blending octave chords and dissonance. They'll fit right in for fans of Heroin, Mohinder, Hoover, and other like-minded bands of the era. Members of Merel went on to form Rye Coalition, while Merel reformed in full for a few shows in 2013.

Merel put out a handful of releases in their brief time together. The most notable was a self-titled LP in 1993, along with a split with Iconoclast in 1992 and a self-titled 7" in 1991. These were all compiled in 1995, on the again self-titled Merel. This is the most essential listening for the band, as it includes all their prime recorded material. However, thanks to Blogged and Quartered, we also have an early live recording, a demo (that includes both recorded and live material), and two tracks that appeared on a compilation put out by Troubleman United. I've included those as well, since the link at the aforementioned blog seems to be down. Enjoy.

Live On WNYU (1990)

1. Daydreamer

2. Fountain Wishing

3. Vigil

4. Under the Gun/Play Dead/Vigil

5. Bring To Pass

6. Wrong Again

7. Troops

8. Unknown

9. The Give And The Take

10. The Weathering

The Castle & Pies Demo (1991)

1. Troops

2. Vigil

3. Under The Gun

4. Bring To Pass

5. The Give And The Take

6. Fountain Wishing

7. The Give And The Take

8. Play Dead

Superpowers (1993)

26. Daydreamer

27. Wrong Again

Note: Merel tracks only

Merel (1995)

1. Lint For Brains

2. So Lovely Breath

3. RustyFishDeadPipes

4. Poolside & Potbellied

5. Waiting For A Fist Fight First

6. Cock Diesel

7. Bile (The Golden Years)

8. Pinatubo Said You Out

9. NewfoundSnideRemark

10. Play. Dead.

11. My Sweet Dull God

12. Shivers Thru A Loophole

13. The Weathering

14. Roadkill

15. The Guest

Note: Tracks 1-8 from the LP

Tracks 9-14 from the EP

Track 15 from the split

Greet Death

Greet Death are a three-piece shoegaze band from Flint, Michigan that began in 2011 under the name Pines. To date they've released an EP and two LP's, the most recent of which was released on Deathwish today. Sonically, they make constant use of ethereal reverb, droning chords, that come together in crushing, distorted climaxes that ascend incredible heights when played past max volume. Their songwriting ability is also noteworthy, with the vocals often taking the forefront in ways slightly unexpected from the genre. Fans of bands like Cloakroom, Nothing, Thunder Dreamer, Ovlov and Hum will take particular interest in here, especially considering some of the slowcore and alternative rock influences thrown into the mix. Their debut LP is a solid outing, with stand-out tracks including "Black Hole Jesus Christ" and "Cumbersome". Their most recent album, New Hell is an incredible outing that shows the band coming into their own with a unique style and interpretation of their influences. Each new song offers up a different idea, with standout track being "Strange Days" (it'll take a few more listens to determine more, but so far it's fantastic from start to end). Enjoy.

In Heaven // Your Lull (2016)

1. In Heaven

2. Your Lull

Dixieland (2017)

1. Sheets of White

2. Bow

3. Valediction

4. The Waste

5. Black Hole Jesus Christ

6. Dragged To Hell

7. Again

8. Cumbersome

9. Dixieland

New Hell (2019)

1. Circles Of Hell

2. Do You Feel Nothing?

3. Let It Die

4. You're Gonna Hate What You've Done

5. Entertainment

6. Strange Days

7. Strain

8. Crush

9. New Hell

New Low (2022)

1. New Low

2. Panic Song

3. Punishment Existence

4. Your Love Is Alcohol

5. I Hate Everything

Die In Love (2025)

1. Die in Love

2. Same but Different Now

3. Country Girl

4. Red Rocket

5. Emptiness Is Everywhere

6. August Underground

7. Small Town Cemetery

8. Motherfucker

9. Love Me When You Leave

Bandcamp

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Twitter

Instagram

Website

Deathwish

New Forms

New Forms are a four-piece screamo/emoviolence band from Boston, Massachusetts that began in 2019. Even before hearing them, I was already sold on them. When a band takes its name from a flawless Calculator EP (I assume that's where it's from) and their debut EP is titled after a Ramones lyric, they just has to be fantastic. Even the cover art and colour scheme look amazing. Even after all that, I still wasn't fully prepared for the chaos they emit. I Don't Want To Live My Life Again is six tracks of spastic rhythms, heavy dissonance, angular chords, jagged guitars and powerhouse drumming, with an overall sound that falls somewhere between Capsule and Ampere. This is an absolutely incredible debut from a band you should definitely keep an eye out for. Enjoy.

I don't want to live my life again (2019)

1. fortunato

2. sometimes the flowers arrange themselves

3. spirals

4. transitions in meta

5. ember twin

6. [redacted]

As Dust Collects (2023)

1. Damaging Sequence

2. Ephemerality

3. Senescence

4. Circling

5. Ember Twin

6. Pull Me Out

7. Transitions In Meta

8. Glass Gardens

9. Celestial Frequency

10. The Hidden One

11. Perpetual Dream State

12. Blood Orphan

Bandcamp

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

The Hareste

The Hareste were a four-piece screamo/hardcore band from Sioux Falls, South Dakota that were around briefly from 1999-2000. They played a raw, chaotic style of screamoviolence with notable technical ability, which is especially impressive considering how young the band was (all members were in high school throughout its duration). They released one EP, a track I don't have much info on, and a final EP, which was meant to be part of a three-way split featuring The Hareste, Love Lost But Not Forgotten, and pg.99, but that split never came to fruition. The pg.99 side would eventually become Document #7. Enjoy.

Self-Titled 7" (1999)

1. reflections on '84

2. a few days short of five

3. pain in decibels

4. ... and burn the negatives

5. smile and except it is better than the alternative

frequency modulation (1999)

1. frequency modulation

a symphony of horrors (2000)

1. personal narrative

2. genetic disclosure

3. angle of incident

4. pain in decibels

5. devolution for evolution

6. reactions fail

Bandcamp

Website

Grave Neighbors V.3

The always-incredible Middle-Man Records recently released a benefit cover compilation. The proceeds going to RAICES (The Refugee and Immigrant Centre for Education and Legal Services), an organization that helps separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States. You can find out more about their organization here.

This compilation consists entirely of covers done by some of the most fantastic bands around now, some of which have been mentioned here before (Coma Regalia, Snag, Overo), as well as many amazing others. The selection of covers is just as great, with a wide array of genres across the punk and indie spectrum, including Fugazi,  Thorns of Life, Slipknot, Now Now, Tegan and Sara,  Slipknot, System of a Down, Lifetime, Discharge, Against Me!, Sparta, Operation Ivy, FIDLAR, AFI, Rilo Kiley Rainer Maria, and Portraits of Past. I couldn't narrow it down to a few examples so that's all of them. Each band puts their own spin on some of this stone-cold classic tracks. You can donate at a pay-what-you-want rate over at Middle-Man's Bandcamp page, as well as pick up the cassette from them. RAICES also takes direct donations at their website, and every little bit helps. You can check out the full compilation below.

Middle-Man Records

Bandcamp

Facebook

RAICES

Website