I guess nsync type stuff hasnt been selling for a long time.

I was browsing myspace the other day and came across these cats listed in their "music feature"-

www.myspace.com/thealmost

I heard them on the radio too not long after.

Basically it's one dude who supposedly sat down with a producer and came out with this album. I imagine the producer wrote all the songs anyway and real musicians laid down the tracks. The rest of the band must be kids who had the right look and could sort of play, and got hired on.

It's strange to me how these "bands" are being manufactured.

That is absolutely true. There´s all these crap manufactured "musicians" around like Avril Lavigne and whatnot. They must all burn.

this type of music got me laid.

but i will never touch it again

i'm worse than hitler ._.

i think its a side project of a member of underoath

for the record, i hate the new wave of emo/ scene crap nowadys, back in the early-mid 90s when it was new, and the creators were playing the music, it was actually pretty good (at the drive-in for example) but now its just been streamlined and all that jazz, and its just become terrible.

its the new hair metal imo.

At least they don't suck as bad as Fall Out Boy.
It IS a side project of Underoath. The drummer from Underoath, Aaron Gillespie, plays all of the instruments and does the vocals for The Almost. He writes the material and does all of it. He's a one man band. Its all opinions, obviously someone out there likes the stuff, and its making him money, so no hatin', what gets the money gets the money. Besides, its music, and music is the most opinion based thing ever.

This crap is not emo, for the last time. Emo is stuff like pg.99, Circle Takes the Square, Moss Icon, City of Caterpillar, Hot Water Music, Angel Hair, Rites of Spring, etc.

This is just boy bands, with guitars.

Those of you who are bashing the newer emo/screamo labeled bands are just as fashionable as you perceive them to be.

First off, "emo" started in the mid 80's with Embrace/Rites of Spring/other bands on the DC Dischord label. Even Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat/Embrace/Fugazi/owner of the Dischord label) thought the tag was stupid...the word was made up by some music critics/reviewers/media. That fact that you're still using that word today shows that they did their job well. Most of the posters thus far weren't even zygotes when emo was "created".

Second, looks like most of you guys are into much heavier music (including the OP). The "new wave of emo" may be easy listening to you, but keep in mind that the average listener still buys Carrie Underwood and John Mayer records. So bands like Underoath, Bullet for My Valentine, the Almost, etc may seem, as Brian Posehn likes to say, "gaytarded" to you, they are FAR too heavy for mass consumption. These guys aren't selling out arenas...they're making decent money off mid-size tours making music THEY love.

Third, OP, do some research before slagging on a band. Aaron Gillespie (the singer for the Almost and drummer/second vocalist for Underoath) is a talented individual that sings WHILE he plays with Underoath. That's not easy, in any kind of music. He did not hire a songwriter/producer to back him like NSync/Backstreet/clones.

I personally like the newer stuff just as much as I do the OG hardcore bands. It's good to see young guys still picking up guitars and banging away (and it's a bonus that they actually can play more than three chords). It's just how the cycle of music works; everything gets rehashed every 5-10 years because there's always a new generation of kids to pickup on the music. And every cycle there are jaded "scenesters" that lament that they were doing that years ago before it was cool. And then oldtimers rag on those idiots because they weren't around when it really started. And so-on and so-forth.

Just FYI, I'm one of those jaded types that thought he was "punker than you" in 1993. I hung out with some "bigger" punk bands before they were huge, worked at a well-known indie label and spit/threw things at bands when they signed to major labels. But I was 18/19/20 and stupid. I refuse to get caught up in that BS now. And I truly believe that Green Day is a better band now than when they were "legit" on Lookout. So there. :spit: :D

Emo is the shortened version of what was deemed "Emotive" hardcore back in the 80's.

Somewhere down the line it was turned into emo and thus being now known as what it is.

There isn't to much of what people call emo or emotive today that even vaugly resembles that stuff.

There are some around now a days that do, some that don't. I do believe the ones that still are selling out arenas and the like.

But when you start having discussions like this it turns into a pissing match of opinion.

One of my favorite newer emotive hardcore bands would be Refused... they turned into International Noise Conspiracy.

There are many post hardcore bands that are quite emotive that I like as well such as stated before: pg 99, city of caterpillar (amazing), circle takes the square and the like.

I used to really dig Rites of spring as well!

Ehhh

I'm done

Peace

-Benny

The Refused was awesome. New Noise is one of my favorite driving songs ever...

I've always disliked Rites of Spring, but the funny thing was that my old band was named after one of their songs (the singer was a big fan). :)

The shape of punk to come is a great album but I have to say my favorite album of theirs has to be Songs to fan the flames of discontent.... so harsh!

Peace

-Benny

Second, looks like most of you guys are into much heavier music (including the OP).

How long did it take you to figure that one out? :p ;) :D :D :D

The "new wave of emo" may be easy listening to you, but keep in mind that the average listener still buys Carrie Underwood and John Mayer records. So bands like Underoath, Bullet for My Valentine, the Almost, etc may seem, as Brian Posehn likes to say, "gaytarded" to you, they are FAR too heavy for mass consumption. These guys aren't selling out arenas...they're making decent money off mid-size tours making music THEY love.

That is so true. But I don't think it's cus some bands ARE too heavy, but in part because people are told that they are. Hell, I've heard some people call "top 40" a genre :eek:

People these days listen to what the big record companies feed them. Right now they're being fed "emo"...

I think that the music world would be better if everyone went into the "Metal" section of you local music retailer, and just picked up a random album. Some people might learn something...


everything gets rehashed every 5-10 years because there's always a new generation of kids to pickup on the music. And every cycle there are jaded "scenesters" that lament that they were doing that years ago before it was cool. And then oldtimers rag on those idiots because they weren't around when it really started. And so-on and so-forth.

[english accent]So bloody true[/english accent]

Though I doubt noise/drone will ever be "cool" :D

Though I doubt noise/drone will ever be "cool" :D

Ever heard of Sonic Youth? Not technically noise, but close enough to tag the word on to what they play; noise pop.


There's a lot of crap within every genre, but there are also kick ass bands in every genre.

I love the music. But I'll never agree with those ridiculous jeans.

Oh god i hate the bands like green day, fallout boy, "Every-band-with-a-small-lame-ass-singer-with-lame-ass-power-chords-pathernes-and-false-love-lyrics"

Okay, first: all the emo and pop-punk hate is really unwarranted. Its like hating rock because you don't like the Bay City Rollers and not liking metal because you don't dig Winger. Every genre has its crap and its gems.

Secondly, while I don't by any stretch appreciate the pop-rock that passes for emo in the mainstream nowadays, its reductive to call them boy bands. Groups like Fallout Boy are pompous and irritating but they've definitely paid their dues in bands like Racetraitor and Arma Angelus.

I love that whole album. And STFTFOD too. I worked at the label that released the Refused albums in the US (it was a licensing deal with Burning Heart Records in Sweden).

Not a big fan of their earlier, more basic "Pump the Brakes" era stuff. I like INC too...different, but still cool.

Check this "video remake" of "New Noise":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z35zk135m_k




Great tune, but my fave on that disc is The Deadly Rythm. Good stuff though!

YUP. SOFTEE EMO KIDS. SAY NO TO EMO. I'LL ADMIT SO BANDS ARE REFRESHINGLY ORIGINAL AND I DON'T CLOSE MYSELF OFF TO ANYTHING BUT WOW SOME OF IT IS JUST MIMICING ANOTHER BAND.

I like a lot of emo....yet at the same time, my band is meant to poke fun at emo (see sig).

Aaren is a really talented individual. Not only does he play EVERY instrument on that cd and he wrote all the songs as well, he will play an Almost show in the afternoon and play an underoath show at night. Not to mention that he also writes most of the lyrics for underoath and has produced several cds over the last few years. He is anything but untalented. That being said, I don't really like the almost.

lowsound

People seem to forget that one of the first boy bands was The Beatles. Though they played their own instruments and were credible musicians the records companies marketed them heavily towards teens, especially girls. The term boy band was used long before the "band" didn't play any instruments.

Anyway, people already said what I already have to say about emo (jtlee, Saetia). I'd really rather just listen to Jawbreaker or Leatherface than a lot of the so-called emo bands nowadays, but that's because they're great bands, not better emo. It seemed like every punk band that wasn't pop-punk or hardcore during the late 80s to early 90s was considered emo. It's a throwaway term that most bands hate. But does anyone think it's funny that because of Pete Wentz, Lifetime is now bigger than they've ever been? Talk about a successful reunion.

the first "boy band" was The Monkees... the Beatles existed and had a sound before they were found and marketed... the Monkees were assembled to be the stars of a TV show... ie. they had to look and act clean and wholesome, musical ability wasn't required as they would be miming over tracks recorded by session artists...

<surfacing briefly from DB side>
LOL, some good zingers here folks - I don't disagree with the OP that's for shure.

As someone who was into punk / emo / hc before some of you were born (yeah, whatever) I'm occasionally amazed at the progress of Emo (TM) from really obscure hardcore to completely commodified pop music - where you can not only buy the music at the mall but also the outfit to match.

And a note on semantics: as linguists will tell ya, usage determines grammar - if Fallout Boy are popularly referred to as 'emo,' then they're emo - regardless of what we may think the real emo is or isn't.

What's interesting to me is that the major label bands like Fallout Boy are still more aggro than I'd have expected to hear on pop radio - and yet there they are. FWIW I think what passes as major-label emo owes more to Victory records-style hardcore than the, uh, 'angular,' 'spiky' sound I associate with emo from way back. But that's just me. In any case I figure the lesson is that content will always play second fiddle to marketing once the corporate world is involved - if the suits see a market, they will find a way to sell it. And part of that process is that as we, the people on the ground level making music, get older and start to get involved in the industry, we get drawn into that paradigm of validating ourselves by Finding The New **** and Selling It. If y'all aren't familiar with Steve Albini's infamous article about the music industry ("The Problem with Music"), take a look at that - especially in re: what he has to say about A&R reps.

Anyway this makes me think that now that I play mostly noise / free improv / free jazz, I'm counting on THAT being the commercial music of a few years from now - you'll be able to go to the mall and buy a ratty white shirt like Derek Bailey's, with the sleeves pre-rolled up to the elbows ... eh?

<ok, re-submerging>