how skramz should sound

[pygmyprieta]

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[lemyisgod]

I don't understand all the complaining. There are so many good bands out there right now. Im in my 30s and I still go to shows all the time to catch new bands to see whats out there. Seriously get off the internet and start going to more shows. Ive been to too many shows lately where there are only 2-3 paying customers on a Saturday night in Brooklyn.

[CitizenOfUlysses]

=Seriously get off the internet and start going to more shows.

[Phil]

I am also nineteen.

Anyway, I think the genre has changed quite a bit more than people are giving it credit for. There might not have been much expansion of the genre from the early 2000s to now, but compare Heroin to Loma Prieta and I think it's pretty obvious that there has been a big change over twenty years.

pg.99, honeywell, navio forge, closure, breakwater.. so far I have not heard any current bands re-visiting this original sounde

I think you're missing some good bands. Coma Regalia and Caust clearly have some Pg.99 records in their collection. Honeywell is kind of harder, no one sounds like Honeywell. It would be like me complaining that no bands sound like Angel Hair (potentially my favorite screamo band), NOBODY sounds like Angel Hair, and probably never will. But for Navio Forge, Closure and Breakwater, there is a definite resurgence of that classic 90s emo sound in bands like Human Hands, Wits End, Plaids, Brito, Deadverse, Manku Kapak, List, Secret Smoker, and to some extent, Adorno. It seems to be mostly European for now, but here's to hoping we get some more over here.

[JoshuatheNomad]

in 1996, when i was 17 i started a band that i thought sounded like converge, endeavor and reach out. we would play shows with saetia, closure, i robot, etc. you have to understand, back then there were heavy bands and there were emo bands and it was unusual for anyone to really mix the two into one song. more or less that's what those bands were doing. a year after we broke up people started telling me that i had been in a "monumental screamo band". i had no idea what this label meant and figured this was a new way for people to categorize emo bands that had more screaming.

by the early 2000s when the white belt explosion took place and jerome's dream, orchid and all those bands were huge i was told that this new crop of bands were "screamo" as well. i didn't see many similarities between these bands and my old/current band so i was baffled as to how the label was being applied so liberally to a myriad of bands. with all these differences, it seemed there had to be something more than just the sound of the music that was defining all this.

as someone said earlier, if you put closure and jerome's dream side by side, there's a huge difference in the tempo, melodics and overall attack of the music. however they share similarities in their approach to creating aggressive music that appealed to a more introspective sensibility. it was also, for lack of better term, totally nestled in a DIY approach.

Great stuff here, what band were you in?

This kind of music should always have the dynamics, the chaotic instrumentation, and wild ass vocals. I'm not going to say who or what these bands should sound like because I don't want to sound like a pretentious douche because this is all subjective. No right or wrong. No offense guy from For Want Of. There's one more thing before I shut up, I wish more bands wrote lyrics that represented the times instead of the bullshit self loathing lyrics about why no one wants to touch their dick. We have the opportunity to share and spread messages about how we can change ourselves and the world for the better, so why waste time writing junk lyrics? Take advantage of being in front of a group of people who have no choice but to listen to you!!! That's just what I think though. I'm sure many of you will disagree and that's perfectly fine because we all have different views on everything.

To an extent, you hit the nail on the head, seriously. I don't have a problem with sad lyrics, but trying to spread a message is great when done well, though I don't usually agree with all of the sociopolitical stuff that skramupslfhjela stuff gets into when they get political.

I also really like lyrics having to do with philosophy- again, to a certain extent. Orchid did that sort of thing, though I feel like some of the stuff lacked substance. Then again, though, part of that is probably just because their lyrics came off as being so weird.

[thebigmin]

will post my thoughts in a little bit, some good stuff in here so far

[JoshuatheNomad]

Some examples:

"to hear something new is hard and
painful for the ear. We hear the music
of forigners badly."
i make the sounds you can't understand-
this is my critique!
this is my subversion!
this is my revolution!

-Orchid, I am Nietzche

This is some of their more well written lyrics, in my humble opinion, though I am by no means a Nihilist. It works pretty well for the fast, melody-hinting style Orchid used.

as days turn to years the light goes out. it's too dark to see where we're headed. i cling to what's left in memory of all you've done for me. welcoming the rest with open arms. we've put too much in to let it go. tonight i scream for you.

-In Loving Memory, Tonight I Scream For You

This does a pretty good job of presenting the other side of this hardcore scene/whatever you want to call it. A lot of these bands played songs each made up of about a single paragraph's worth of lyrics using somewhat vague, narrative-like descriptions of an aftermath of a traumatic experience. Perhaps it's unnecessary to attempt and classify differing lyrical-styles.

the bird through the gray polluted skies, making way through our
mistakes. black dreams seeing nothing. this may be the end. the stars
will see us through to where we need to go. suffocating the earth with
our worn hands. waking up in darkness it's over. our evolution halted a
long time ago. as the human race destroys itself again. welcome to the
after life. they are very sad our planet is dying. we took it all
away. this is it. don't close your eyes. your dreams will be your
life. in the night it will take us away. we learned in this life we
never learned at all. man, animal killed for what? it's her time to
clean up our mess. say goodnight. this is the beginning of the end.
say goodnight.

-Welcome the Plague Year, into twilight

I'm pretty sure this is some of the sociopolitical stuff I was talking about- it's definitely talking about one unrelated being forced to attempt to survive in a situation of decay. I'd say this is a really good example of the "we've royally screwed ourselves over" trope I see in some bands. Specifically, in this band's case, it's society's crumbling out of their own mistakes.

[DandelionWar]

The new Bocanegra EP is dope, http://bocanegrapunx.bandcamp.com/

[Jakey LIAF]

all screamo should sound like the khayembii communique

[ifp]

=Seriously get off the internet and start going to more shows.

X1000