Your way in
Midwest emo 1994
Open tunings and interlocking arpeggios, odd meters and lyrics about autumn and empty rooms.
- Heaviness
- 2
- Speed
- 4
- Melody
- 10
- Where from
- Illinois / Kansas, USA
- Tempo
- 100-150 bpm
- Song length
- 3.5-6 min
- Written about
- Adolescence in retrospect, Place - specifically the suburban Midwest, Failure at intimacy, Weather and seasons
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Midwest emo | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singing When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 100% | ×3 |
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 2 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| Slow. Let it take its time. What pace? | 4 out of 10 | 70% | ×2 |
| The nineties Does it matter when it was made? | 1994 | 100% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 93% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 4 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1 out of 8. Midwest emo ties with the next, and won on being the broader of the two. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Sunny Day Real Estate, Diary 1994
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary. The bridge between DC hardcore and everything that followed.
- 2The one to put on first
American Football, American Football 1999
American Football - Never Meant. That opening guitar figure is a whole genre.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Emo, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Midwest emo's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Dream pop 93%
The same reverb haze, but with the melody left on the surface and the tempo slower.
8 steps from Midwest emo, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Dream pop -
Indie pop / twee 91%
Sweet melodies, shy vocals, clean guitars. The gentle reaction to rock machismo.
8 steps from Midwest emo, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Indie pop / twee
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Singing put 54 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Post-hardcore. Worth 3 of 8.
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 8.
- Slow. Let it take its time. put 22 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Hardcore punk, Black metal, Death metal. Worth 2 of 8.
- The nineties put 23 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Blues rock, Progressive rock, Rock and roll. Worth 1 of 8.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.