james

21 • he/him

[manymanybones]

hello! call me james… this is a sideblog i am starting as a sort of diary. i have been using it so far as a vent blog but id like to do some journaling and talk about the music im listening to.

my favorite music tends to be midwest emo and folk punky. i love a bunch of instruments and a lot of words. bonus points if the vocals are kind of bad. recommendations always appreciated ^_^

i live in chicago and ive been wanting to get into the local music scene but im extremely nervous about it.

[manymanybones]

Those Days Are Gone (2014)

Free Throw

Album

Rating: 7.5/10

Genre: Midwest Emo, Pop Punk, Post-Hardcore, Emo-Pop, Math Pop

Favorite Track: Two Beers In

I’m trying to get more into more emo music. I feel like a lot of my touchpoints for emo are very modern baseball-y. I really like the vocal sound that mom jeans and adjust the sails have but I want to expand a little bit because I know there’s more out there.

I really like free throw’s vocals. I feel like they are as intense as they need to be for the moments they live in. I also really like the use of guitar in this album. It’s so good.

[manymanybones]

Hi. I got dumped this week. Bumping this album up to a 9/10. Agonizing stuff really.

[manymanybones]

Beachboy (2014)

McCafferty

Twinkle twinkle little star, alcoholics don’t get far / Unless they drink and drive / Let’s go for a ride

Album

Rating: 6.5/10

Favorite Track: Alligator Skin Boots

Genre: Pop-punk, Midwest Emo, Folk Punk, Dance Punk

This album is fine. I like it fine. I think I’ve kind of grown out of pop punk. I’m borderline irritated by the vocalist at times. It feels like someone trying very hard to sound sincere, but it doesn’t really land on my end. It’s almost too much of a performance.

I think if I had listened to this album as a teenager, I would have loved it. Me at 14 would be very endeared by all of it. The 21 year old me thinks it’s just fine.

[manymanybones]

Circle Thinking (2015)

I Hate Sex

And I'm still carving "I am my own god" / Deeper into my forearm every day

EP

Rating: 8/10

Favorite Track: San Francisco

Genre: Screamo, Midwest Emo

I don’t have a lot to say about this one beyond that I really like it. I’ve been trying to get into music with some harder vocals. I like the idea of vocals being more textural than strictly lyrical. This EP rules for that I think.

It’s a shame this band existed for so little time— I wish they had more work to dig through. It’s not, like, super shocking that they were so short lived. I don’t know if emo bands are capable of behaving like normal people.

[manymanybones]

D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L (2020)

Panchiko

Compilation

Rating: 3/10

Favorite Song: D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L_R>O>T

Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Indietronica

I think sometimes people get too wrapped up in the narrative and aesthetics of a project to realize that it fucking sucks. I will admit I do think there are some interesting things going on. I really like the ROT tracks although I don’t think they are so distinct from their originals that it warrants inclusion on the same compilation.

There is something really interesting to me about a group of British teenagers misspelling pachinko and putting an anime girl on their album cover. The whole thing smells like 17 year olds trying to do something way cooler than what they are capable of.

Sometimes lost media is lost because its kind of bad. I imagine that if Pachinko had stayed active consistently in the past 30 years, they never would have gained this air of intrigue or this level of popularity.

The songs themselves are just fine. I don’t particularly like them. The vocals are quite bad, but not in a way that I find interesting. You can tell they are 17 and British. Whatever.

[manymanybones]

Those Days Are Gone (2014)

Free Throw

Album

Rating: 7.5/10

Genre: Midwest Emo, Pop Punk, Post-Hardcore, Emo-Pop, Math Pop

Favorite Track: Two Beers In

I’m trying to get more into more emo music. I feel like a lot of my touchpoints for emo are very modern baseball-y. I really like the vocal sound that mom jeans and adjust the sails have but I want to expand a little bit because I know there’s more out there.

I really like free throw’s vocals. I feel like they are as intense as they need to be for the moments they live in. I also really like the use of guitar in this album. It’s so good.

[monstersovka]

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