Blonde Allibi

Blond Alibi has a short discography. There is virtually no information to be found on them. They had one seven-inch and a live session on a local college radio station. They are reminiscent of an era of emo that now feels lost. Blonde Alibi is caught in between eras. They are not indicative of what is to come in the emo revival. They have more in common with what happened in the 90s, even covering Pegboy for a covers compilation. It kind of reminds me of Small Brown Bike and Hot Water Music. If Blonde Allibi was around now, I would call them orgcore or fest punk. 

Just Tell Me Who It Was

Live On WLUW

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

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]

Coping

Coping captures what makes the emo revival feel so special all these years later. It seemed as if a bunch of people unintentionally tapped into twinkly pop punk simultaneously. You get that same feeling of discovery when you put on Lawndale Cassette for the first time. There’s a palpable energy that comes across when I stream the songs through Bandcamp, trying to reach out to you. It's exuberant and youthful, as all great upbeat emo music should be. The only real knock against Coping’s first release is that it sometimes feels a bit too indebted to its influences to sound like its own thing.

By the time Coping released Nope, their only full length, they’ve settled into an identity, which is apparent with the 1–2 punch of Somewhere in Skokie into B(my favorite song). It still has those elliptical guitar runs that Joe Reinhart popularized, but the songwriting is on another level here. There are genuine hooks on here, helped by a more robust recording. The dual vocals make the songs pop, adding another layer of desperation. And in true emo fashion, this would be the last thing Coping ever released, leaving fans with a short discography to pour over.

Lawndale Cassette

1. Left Ear

2. Croquet

3. '95 Mariners

4. Mixed Horror Stories

5. Robert Pershing Wadlow

6. Seniors

Coping/The Clippers Split

1. Stoopin'

2. F For Now

NOPE

1. Somehwere in Skokie

2. B

3. Everything No Problem

4. Where A.T. At?

5. Teach Me How To Fish

6. Ro' Money Ro' Problems

7. Love Tigress

8. Knuckle Puck

9. #72 East

10. Double Perfect