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

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