Yo Coyote

Maybe it’s the Algernon Cadwallader reunion, but I feel like we’re on the cusp of an emo-revival-revival. It’s now been long enough that people making music now can yearn for a scene that folded nearly a decade ago. While there are plenty of examples for a resurgence of twinkly emo, I’ll point toward Yo Coyote, a new Chicago emo band. There’s nothing particularly inventive when you listen to them. It’s comfort music for people of a certain age, mainly people in their 30s who spent their college years at DIY spaces like Strangelight and Treasure Town. But I find myself returning to A Dark Wave constantly. It does a good job of never being overzealous with its guitar athletics. The songwriting is strong enough on its own, never using virtuosity as a crutch.   

Repeating Colors

1. Blues

2. Owl

A Dark Wave

1. Last Song

2. Sticks

3. Unsaid

Oceans

While Oceans released their only record in 2009, they make more sense in the proto-emo revival era. Where many other bands were unafraid to show their hardcore/screamo roots, Oceans was unambiguously influenced by indie rock. They trafficked in the kind of post-rock that dominated the early 2000s, creating long, drawn-out soundscapes that are only broken up by an occasional vocal passage. It doesn’t always work, missing those intense moments of catharsis that make these songs’ long runtimes pay off. “Boy Detective” is one of the standouts, giving a peak into what drummer Nick Wakim would accomplish with his other band, CSTVT.

Nothing Collapses

1. Lit up Under Streetlights

2. We Are Ruins

3. Ways with Wolves

4. Boy Detective

5. Sound of Static

6. City at Peace

7. Terrified of What We Might Become

8. Traps and Traps

9. Your Plane Leaves Tommorow

Heccra

Heccra is a one-person project that sprung out of working in what they describe as a “shitty-seafood restaurant” and “feeling the fatalism of being trapped in a foggy, dark, and wet hometown.” What was created on White Eagle felt like emo’s version of The Shape of Punk to Come. It didn’t necessarily feel beholden to the emo revival we were experiencing in 2012 but something that was more a reflection of the modern internet age. The songs were kaleidoscopic and often featured breakdowns that made sense on a metalcore record. There was a sense of invention, as if something totally new could come out of the speakers in the next second. I don’t love to use the word genre-bending, but in this case, it feels apt because there’s no other way to describe it. As time went on, emo has moved closer to Heccra with fifth wave emo. You can hear Heccra’s influence all over the place, from Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly to Your Arms Are My Cocoon. 

White Eagle

1. Brain Damage Is My Friend

2. Homecoming

3. Greenfields

4. VHS Porn

5. Monster Cul De Sac

6. Shitty Water

7. Your Window, Water

8. AM

9. Best Dreams Ever

10. 1997: There's No Future!

The Last Weekend of Summer

1. I Spent July in Heaven

2. Camp Algonquin

3. <life sux/>

4. Patience

5. Teenage Corpse

6. This is Cinema

Heccra-Kazooie

1. Banjo-Kazooie

2. Corium Leak

3. Homemade Haloween Costume

4. Pissed Off Kids in the 90's

5. I Wanna Go on a Ski Trip With The Beach Boys

6. Smelling the Vents with the AC On

7. Life Sux! Pt. 2

Pizza Is Emo

1. I Only Wanted to Heelflip (Too Bad Maine is Full of Pricks)

2. Going to Hell

The Devil-Faces of My Old Friends, Beneath Me

1. Roses for Darth Vader

2. The Mint that Grows behind the Dumpster

3. Fox

4. Cabin in the Attic

5. I Drop Acid in my Spooky Victorian House

6. Port Deadwords

7. Koala Bear

8. Bikeride Eyes [Bonus]

9. Koala Bear [Fast Version]