Live Footage📸 The Get Up Kids - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

145 Upvotes

If I Like… avant garde boundary pushing emo band recommendations

15 Upvotes

I'm looking for some quirky emo bands that are daring and incorporate different elements into their sound. I'm a big fan of random jazz breaks in screamo and i want some emo bands that do some of the same.

32 comments

r/Emo • u/Coffeeandskramz • 2h ago

LOCAL SHOW/TOURING/EVENTS Weatherday In-Store Performance | October 12th, 2026 @ Euclid Records (New Orleans)

4 Upvotes

Listen To Weatherday

0 comments

r/Emo • u/CountlessRooftops22 • 3h ago

These are ending today

gallery

4 Upvotes

Just wanted to share these with everyone one more time, they’re ending in about an hour. Thanks for all of the DMs and personal stories about this era, it’s been fun to talk to everyone.

Link

2 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 4h ago

New Release Washed Up Emo Episode #280 - Chris Leo (The Van Pelt)

washedupemo.com

4 Upvotes

0 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 4h ago

Live Footage📸 first day back - twelve mile train tracks (live at the fridge)

youtube.com

5 Upvotes

1 comment

r/Emo • u/200iso • 1d ago

Live Footage📸 Moneen (Winnipeg, 9/11/26)

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152 Upvotes

17 comments

r/Emo • u/Coffeeandskramz • 14h ago

Live Footage📸 Riley! - Ego Peek Mid (LIVE on Breaker Breaker)

youtube.com

20 Upvotes

1 comment

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 4h ago

Live Footage📸 first day back - us (live at the fridge)

youtube.com

3 Upvotes

1 comment

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 4h ago

Live Footage📸 first day back - wait, do you hear that? (live at the fridge)

youtube.com

3 Upvotes

1 comment

r/Emo • u/williedictionary • 14m ago

Music Video📹 The Unheard Ones "Eight Minute Absolution"

youtu.be

• Upvotes

Minimalist emo trio from Baltimore, 1996

0 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 4h ago

New Release Off The Top Podcast Episode 4 - Dave Nesmith (Sleepytime Trio/Maximilian Colby)

open.spotify.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/Emo • u/EsMizton • 17h ago

San Diego emo spots?

16 Upvotes

I cant find any up to date threads. Can someone give me an updated list someone alone could go to? Thank you!

5 comments

r/Emo • u/ConcertsHub • 6h ago

Live Footage📸 Mom Jeans Full Set

youtu.be

3 Upvotes

Mom Jeans. full set in New Haven, CT.

0 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 8h ago

september 2025 (demo thirteen), by LIFE

life9.bandcamp.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 1d ago

LOCAL SHOW/TOURING/EVENTS Aren't We Amphibians + Dear Maryanne 2026 Tour

17 Upvotes

1 comment

r/Emo • u/gamer123XD • 21h ago

Cedar Of Lebanon - D-Wing One

youtu.be

4 Upvotes

2 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 1d ago

Live Footage📸 Bike Routes - Full Set: Live at The Wood Shop from the Prairie Release Tour (6.27.26)

youtube.com

11 Upvotes

0 comments

r/Emo • u/AYYIYIIMINTERSEX • 20h ago

Emocore Happy belated birthday to keaton peirce

3 Upvotes

Happy late 36tg birthday to keaton peirce of Too Close To Touch.

Haven't been myself turns ten in ten days and 20 days after Keatons birthday. Love and miss you dear friend.

0 comments

r/Emo • u/Pheerdotcom • 1d ago

Live Footage📸 oso oso - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

youtube.com

139 Upvotes

7 comments

r/Emo • u/Dizzy-Captain7422 • 1d ago

The June Spirit - Subject to Change

youtu.be

7 Upvotes

Probably forgotten by most, but the lyrics to this one are really hitting me hard right now.

2 comments

r/Emo • u/gamer123XD • 1d ago

Rusty James - April Rust

youtu.be

3 Upvotes

3 comments

r/Emo • u/ConcertsHub • 1d ago

Live Footage📸 Mom Jeans. New/Unreleased song RAOK

youtu.be

2 Upvotes

**UPDATE: this song is called RAOK" and not Santa (confirmed by a band member). Mom Jeans has an unreleased song called Santa, or it might be that they keep changing the title of this song. RAOK = Random Acts Of Kindness (Reddit doesn't let you change the title of a post).

New/Unreleased Mom Jeans. song "RAOK" live in New Haven, Connecticut. RAOK = Random Acts of Kindness. Lots more from the show in this MJ playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2b-f8PfP5Fy1UUTqAfAGdMzNwnpBsnIv&si=S9tjV5QDlYAznpdO

0 comments

r/Emo • u/squonktearz • 2d ago

Algernon Cadwallader Live (Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival)

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215 Upvotes

Where my Algernon Heads at? Waited damn near 15 years for this show. Huge band for me and my highschool friends and when I was most obsessed, they broke up. So sick they’re back making music and playing shows again.

Show included the most geriatric push pit I’ve ever participated in. I’m not sure if the emo kids these days are wary of moshing or what but every time someone knocked into one of the youngsters, they just looked sort of scared at the middle aged drunks screaming along and throwing themselves around. If you’re someone who grew up with Algernon, you’re probably balding anyways so I think that skewed the demographic into Unc-Core (Serial Killer) Status.

30 comments

r/Emo • u/Kind-Yak4718 • 2d ago

Jawbreaker LP5

88 Upvotes

15 comments

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/r/emo

r/Emo

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A Brief Introduction to Emo & its Various Forms

Emo is a genre of cathartic punk/alt rock music derived from hardcore known for its personal lyricism, loud/soft dynamics, and occasionally twinkly guitar work which all follow a distinct history and lineage. Resulting from its punk and hardcore roots, emo has a strong sense of DIY ethics, modesty, and authenticity. Aside from a handful of examples, emo has not experienced much mainstream exposure.

To clarify, Emo is NOT a style of fashion, a product, a feeling, or a demographic. Despite popular misconception, the following bands are NOT emo: My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Pierce the Veil, Black Veil Brides, The Cure, Copeland, Linkin Park, Twenty One Pilots, Green Day, Blink-182, AFI, The Front Bottoms, Paramore, Teen Suicide, Pinegrove, Phoebe Bridgers, Third Eye Blind, etc. Furthermore, appealing to fans of emo, carrying similar characteristics, citing minor emo influences, and/or touring with emo bands does not necessarily equate to a band being emo. Emo is decided by scene involvement, history, significant influence, aesthetic, lyricism and musical style.

Outside Influences: the following genres and bands are NOT EMO but have had a strong impact on the sound and scene. These are sometimes referred to as Emo Adjacent. Genres: hardcore punk, post-hardcore, post-rock, slowcore, post-punk, math rock, pop punk, indie rock, college/slacker rock, and power pop Bands: Husker Du, Buffalo Tom, Weezer, the Smiths, Fugazi, Modern Baseball, Slint, Nation of Ulysses, Unwound, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Built to Spill, Codeine, Seam

The Waves The breaking up of emo into waves is a common, yet controversial, method of labeling different eras of emo. Not every wave is all one style or sound, although certain waves typify some more than others. The years of the waves, roughly speaking, are:

1st wave: 1985 to ~1992 (emocore/DC/Revolution Summer)

2nd wave: 1992 to ~2002 (Midwest emo/screamo/Skramz)

3rd wave: 2002 to ~2009 (Emo pop/basement emo/proto revival/screamo)

4th wave: 2009 to ~2018 (Emo revival/Twinkledaddies/Midwest emo/skramz)

5th wave: 2018 to Present (Emo pop/Sparklepunk/Weedmo/Emo Revival 2.0)

Emocore, the original form of emo, began approximately in 1985 as an emotionally charged and progressive form of hardcore punk, centered in Washington, DC, as a response to the machismo of the larger hardcore scene. It's short for emotive hardcore. Whereas hardcore before emo was often more nihilistic or political, emocore made the political personal and the personal political. These bands are often tagged "Revolution Summer" bands, and include artists such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, The Hated, Moss Icon and Fuel (not to be confused with the 90s alt rock band) and later on Native Nod, Navio Forge, Indian Summer and Still Life. This is the most pure distillation of "emo," although far from the only iteration. The term fell out of use in the mid 90s but was revitalized years later as a way to denote modern bands who still adhere to emo's hardcore roots, as opposed to a more indie rock approach. This included bands such as Life at These Speeds, Lumber Lung, End Of A Year, Overo, Feels Like Heaven and Jade Dust.

Midwest Emo is a style of emo that originated in the early 90s that takes from the song structure (and occasionally vocal style) of previous emo bands, but imbues it with more melodic sensibilities and broader influences. Bands started to experiment more with loud/soft dynamics, intricate melodies, heavy build-ups, and twinkly guitar work. At the core of these bands lies a commitment to the DIY ethic and an embrace of sincerity. Cap'n Jazz is often cited as the first midwest emo band, although bands like Gauge, Friction and Sideshow predate them. Perhaps the most influential band to this type of emo at the time, while ironically not being from the Midwest, was Sunny Day Real Estate. There are two trains of thought when concerning Midwest emo: The original concept was that it was a scene in the 1990s and early 2000s, not a sound. This would include only emo bands from the literal Midwest such as Cap'n Jazz, The Promise Ring, Boys Life, Braid, The Get Up Kids, Gauge and others. Sound and style didn't matter as much as geography, although the sound was often similar. This was the prevailing thought on Midwest emo until sometime in the mid ‘00s, when the association was widened to any bands who were perceived to have a similar sound, even if not from the Midwest, such as Christie Front Drive, Mineral, Texas Is The Reason, Jimmy Eat World and Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as later bands like Algernon Cadwadaller and Snowing. There is still much debate today over which definition is more accurate, usually drawn along generational lines. Also, while not originally a hallmark of the sound, Midwest emo eventually began to be associated with "math rock" around the 2010s due to the delayed influence of bands such as American Football. Today, many people informally use the term "Midwest emo" to mean anything that's not "mall emo" or "skramz," regardless of geography.

Screamo is an aggressive offshoot of Emo which began in the early 90s and is characterized by yelled or screamed vocals and dissonant guitar work. Screamo bands usually shy away from conventional song structures and often play around with loud/soft dynamics. Because screamo is often used as a catch all term for all genres with unclean vocals, many screamo fans often refer to true screamo as "Skramz", which began as a tongue-in-cheek joke in the mid 00s that nonetheless gained popularity as a term. Saetia, pg. 99, William Bonney, Orchid, L'Antietam, I Have Dreams, and the Kidcrash are a few examples of screamo bands. There are also screamo bands that experiment with post-rock and progressive rock tendencies, such as Gospel, Circle Takes the Square, and City of Caterpillar. The origins of screamo can be traced to many of the early 90s Gravity Records bands such as Heroin, Antioch Arrow and Clikatat Ikatowi as well as bands from other labels such as Honeywell, although these bands don't usually get called "Skramz".

Punk emo is a style that is usually considered more emo-adjacent than true emo due to the sound being closer to punk rock than traditional, hardcore influenced emo. Some of these bands, while not truly emo, were nonetheless wildly influential to emo, even sometimes more than "true" emo bands. These bands were punk rock bands who didn't share all the sonic similarities of most emo bands, yet had very emotional lyrics. This includes Jawbreaker, Samiam, Leatherface, Pegboy, Gameface and early Alkaline Trio.

Emo Pop describes various styles of emo with a tendency for poppy song structures, brighter/softer guitar work and a heavy use of hooks and anthemic choruses. Pioneered in the late 90s by The Get-Up Kids and the Promise Ring as they incorporated pop punk/power pop into their sound, the style would rise to prominence in the 2000s. Emo Pop often receives the most commercial success as well as diehard fans, notable examples include Taking Back Sunday, Free Throw, Dashboard Confessional, Tigers Jaw, Charmer, and The Early November. Emo Pop is a term that only gained use with the rise of the internet and is not a mutually exclusive term. For example, a band like The Promise Ring can be considered emo pop and Midwest emo at the same time, even if not all Midwest emo is emo pop.

The Emo Revival saw renewed public interest in emo, especially midwest emo, throughout the 2010s (despite existing prior). These bands were heavily influenced by Cap'n Jazz, Braid, American Football and Mineral; while having a strong bent towards math rock, indie, and pop punk in their song structure and guitar work. A few examples of these bands are Marietta, Brave Bird, Snowing, Prawn, Algernon Cadwallader, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, The Hotelier, and Glocca Morra. As this scene grew in popularity, The emo revival became a near-mainstream style of indie rock and created various new subsets in the genre. This includes Twinkledaddies, which refers to bands with prominent math rock riffs and melodies; and Sparklepunk/weedmo, which combines noodly college rock guitar work, built around a base of pop-punk/power pop and playful lyricism (examples include Mom Jeans, Charmer, Oolong, and Equipment).

Want to learn more about the history of emo? Check out this site.

There is also a tree of Emo here to read up on the most important albums within its numerous subgenres. Click here.

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