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 |
| This century Does it matter when it was made? | 1994 | 76% | ×1 |
| Somewhere else entirely What should the words be about? | Adolescence in retrospect, Place - specifically the suburban Midwest, Failure at intimacy, Weather and seasons | 0% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 6 min | 88% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 80% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 10. Midwest emo leads the next by 1 point. 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
-
Post-punk revival 80%
The same basslines and the same chill, revived every ten years with contemporary production.
6 steps from Midwest emo, meeting it only at Punk rock.
The way into Post-punk revival -
NWOTHM 79%
New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal: a new generation deliberately playing like it's 1982, down to the tape production.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 9 steps from Midwest emo.
The way into NWOTHM
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 10.
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 10.
- 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 10.
- This century put 43 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- Somewhere else entirely put 106 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 10.
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.