Review: V.A. - Emotive Songs for Emotional People, Act III (Realoemo-comp)
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| Label: Honeysuckle Records & Milkcrate Merch |
When it comes to the online world RealoEmo really is the turning point of "real" Emo - along with Washed Up Emo for sure! While they're doing their thing on Instagram for 6 years only, they've built an impressive, ever-growing community and are way important for the new Midwest-Emo-sound. That's where they shifted their focus on in the last few years and personally I really appreciate it, since it's one of my favourite styles of music. It's a pretty niche "scene" overall, especially after the hype of the 90s with bands like SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE, JIMMY EAT WORLD or THE GET UP KIDS was over. Well, the whole sound was pretty much gone by the late 2000s. But it was kinda re-discovered by some bands in the 2010s. As a fan of this sound you get a satisfying range of bands once again after many dry years. It's not like the "scene" is overflowing, but it's more than worth it. It's able to survive alongside all the waves that are crashing in...
Way back in the 90s and early 2000s there was a compilation-series called "Emo Diaries", put out by Deep Elm Records. In retrospect, the status of this comp is way strange. I wonder if there ever was a more important compilation-series to any genre than the "Emo Diaries" were to Midwest-/Indie-Emo?! Another mindblowing thing is that Deep Elm Records still get associated the most with this series, despite bringing out a lot of other cool records in the heydays of Midwest-Emo. And yeah, the label's active as well, that makes it even more fascinating, 25 years after the first incarnation of the "Emo Diaries".
Here we are, with RealoEmo's compilation-series "Emotive Songs for Emotional People", that is designated to fill the huge shoes of the "Emo Diaries". After the first act came out in 2020, they followed it up a year later with act II and now they released the third act just a few weeks ago. And without taking anything away, they did a great job once again. To me personally it really is like listening to the "Emo Diaries". I knew one half of the twelve participating bands and was looking forward to their new songs, but the coolest thing is, that I didn't know the other half. It's what a comp should be all about: Getting into new bands!
David put some thought into the tracklist. He starts us off with the more modern-sounding Emo of BLAME IT ON WHITMAN, MOSEY JONES & XANDER BEERSMOKER. Personally I was looking forward to the comeback of MOSEY JONES, a band I'm supporting for a very long time now and they definitely don't disappoint. The track by XANDER BEERSMOKER is my only complaint about the whole sampler. It's no bad song, but the production is more lo-fi, it's lower in the mix than the other tracks and thus the feeling is a bit anticlimatic. Other than that the flow of the comp is fantastic. The phase from track 4 to track 9 "lulls you into a false sense of security", like David himself put it. It's a string of moody, melancholic, intensive songs with many highlights. STILL THERE's 6-minute-contribution "Replicant" is one of my favourites and the band out of Canada seems worth getting into...
SINKING are next with an acoustic-track, the most sensitive song so far, that spreads tons of 90s-nostalgia. TINGE is another band I didn't know before and they floor me as well, continuing with the melancholic sentiment in a big way. For sure, the next band GREEN GRASS FOR MILES was also new to me. 90s-Indie/Emo stuff as well, but cleaner and with nice usage of a keyboard. I dig. As I'm wondering why the fuck I don't know all this neat bands, LETTERPRESS come my way with their new track "The Circles beneath our Feet". They don't put out too much songs, but if they do the songs are perfectly constructed. LETTERPRESS have one of the most distinctive styles in the genre right now, and dang, they need a good kick in the ass, as I want to hear a record from them anytime soon. Excellent track. We end my favourite section of the comp with another banger, "Reunion Scenes" by A RISE AND FALL OF A DILAPIDATED HOME. For the first time I read the name of the project, I fell in love with it. Talking bout the music, I somehow couldn't get into his "old-ish songs" or didn't give them enough time, and so I haven't bothered from there on. But this new track hits me like a truck! It's a breathtaking blend of bands like STILL LIFE, HUMAN HANDS and MERCHANT SHIPS with amazing spoken words.
The still mellow but also very gruff sentiment of "Reunion" serves as a smooth transition to the harsher style from VS SELF with their song "Desert". It's probably more like Emotional Hardcore, but very nice indeed. MARY'S LETTER then get the Midwest-Emo back into the game with "Why wasn't it me", paving the way for the beautiful "Kiss & Ride" by KITES AND PAPER TREES. An epic song that was written to close a compilation like this.
"Emotive Songs for Emotional People, Act III" was available on CD via Honeysuckle Records but they're already sold out. As far as I see there are still some tapes left at Milkcrate Merch! And of course, you can buy a digital version on Bandcamp. And you should, cause 100% of the Bandcamp-sales will be donated.
Their intention was to bring back the aura of the "Emo Diaries" and with the third and final part of their series the guys at RealoEmo did exactly that. It's a love letter to real Emo and a sureshot for everyone into this special kind of music...
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