Chicago Emo Review (2022)

After a year where everything happened for emo, 2022 felt much more like a cool-down. This is not to say there weren’t noteworthy releases. Ben Quad released one of my favorite twinkly emo records in recent memory. Home is Where went screamo for their split with Record Setter. Short Fictions leaned deeper into their emo pop sensibilities on their newest record. Prince Daddy & The Hyena released their self-titled record, making a jump towards pretty indie rock. Oso Oso surprise-released a record that was an homage to Jade Lilitri’s cousin Tavish. Anxious arrived with Little Green House, a record that bridged the hardcore and emo communities.

Chicago, too felt in a transitional stage, at least from my vantage point as a 29-year-old. We didn’t have an artist break out the same way as Snow Ellet, and Your Arms Are My Cocoon did last year. Coleen Dow of Thank You, I’m Sorry moved out west. And there seems to be an enormous gulf between newer emerging bands and the major players of the emo revival. They seem to exist in separate pockets and never cross over to play with each other. It makes any prognosticating for the future difficult, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. Emo will continue to exist and thrive as long as new blood comes in via the suburbs and college kids. Listen below for a sampling of what Chicago had to offer for emo in 2022.

Their/They’re/There-S/T

I never thought we’d get another release from Their/They’re/There. The project came during an incredibly prolific time for Evan Weiss, finding collaborators in Matthew Frank and Mike Kinsella. And to be honest, I didn’t necessarily need anything new from the band. It’s a style of emo that kind of became played out by the end of the 2010s. At times on the EP, the guitar almost overshadowed the songs too much. I’d only return to “572 Cuthbert Avenue” if I wanted to hear music from Their/They’re/There. But almost a decade later, something is comforting about new material from Their/They’re/There. We’ve already gone through several different life cycles of emo. What was once grating in 2017 is now charming. Also, the songwriting is just stronger. It strikes that difficult balance in twinkly emo, making sure to infuse the compositions with enough pop flourishes.

Elder Jack-Elder Jack Short Work

Elder Jack seems to not exist in one specific silo of emo. Their debut EP was closer to screamo than the typical sounds of the Midwest emo. One of the first songs they premiered for the project was an Alex G cover. The project seemed to be old friends coming together to make music when they could. Member Jacob West (Summer 2000) lives across the country, meaning that Elder Jack has only played one Chicago show so far. The newest release seems to lean harder into the jazz spectrum of emo. In a DM with West, he described it to me as “kind of jazzy DIY post-emo.” That description fits and makes sense when you consider Chicago’s long history with post-rock. I could easily see Elder Jack playing with Tortoise or Sea and Cake at Fireside Bowl and fitting in nicely.

Yo Coyote-A Dark Wave

Maybe it’s the Algernon Cadwallader reunion, but I feel like we’re on the cusp of an emo-revival-revival. It’s now been long enough that people making music now can yearn for a scene that folded nearly a decade ago. While there are plenty of examples for a resurgence of twinkly emo, I’ll point toward Yo Coyote, a new Chicago emo band. There’s nothing particularly inventive when you listen to them. It’s comfort music for people of a certain age, mainly people in their 30s who spent their college years at DIY spaces like Strangelight and Treasure Town. But I find myself returning to A Dark Wave constantly. It does a good job of never being overzealous with its guitar athletics. The songwriting is strong enough on its own, never using virtuosity as a crutch.

mil ataris por segundo-s/t

As Juan Bustillos told the Chicago Reader, sometimes all you can do is scream. Instead of stewing in negative emotions, he used mil ataris por segundo to channel that frustration. This decision coincided with a lot of similar artists making music that got called fifth wave emo last year. His songs combined the previous decade’s emo with a homespun bedroom feel, creating a novel concoction. And even though this style of fifth-wave emo has become a little stale this year, every new release from mil ataris por segundo is a welcomed addition. His screaming never feels like noise, for noise’s sake. Sometimes there’s a catchy opening riff; other times there’s a sticky vocal melody; Or maybe he’ll stick what sounds like a synth somewhere as an accent.

Mush-Dongle

Sometimes writing about music scenes feels like tracing a family tree that includes ten people. That’s at least how I feel writing about Mush. How many times can I say (insert band here) is comprised of familiar players from the Chicago emo revival scene. It originally had a bit of a silly conceit, releasing a card game along with their debut EP. The melodies were familiar to anyone who followed Dowsing and Erik Czaja’s projects. Jinno Redovan’s (Lettering) riffs were unmistakably his, featuring one of my favorite intros in “Enough.” Dongle, the newest release is also a bit silly, releasing a USB business card that comes with a digital download of the EP. It really drives home the point that at the end of the day, people play in bands because they want to have fun with their friends. Everything else that follows is secondary.

OK Cool-Songs From The Spare Room

I struggle to think of a band as enthusiastic about the Chicago scene as OK Cool. Their Instagram stories seem littered with local bands I never heard of. That infectious energy carries into each of the small releases Ok Cool has put out so far. It sits somewhere in the middle ground of indie pop and Modern Baseball influenced emo. It’s the type of emo that can appeal equally to someone who frequents r/emo as much as r/indieheads. Some songs are immediately grabbing, like “Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique,” whereas others sit more in the pocket (Hertz 2B). Songs From The Spare Room is the newest release and is probably the best introduction to OK Cool.

Party’z-Party’z EP

For those deeply entrenched in Chicago’s emo revival of a decade ago, the people in Party’z are deeply familiar. After Mark Jaeschke’s last band, Good Brother seemed to fold; he formed Party’z over the pandemic as escapism from the dreary times of the early pandemic. The debut EP is awash in glistening power-pop, making sense alongside local band What Gives. It’s the kind of music that makes the most sense on an 80-degree Saturday. The songs themselves seem to be aware of what the music is conjuring, yearning for a carefree time.

Recreational Drugs-Recreational Drugs

While Matthew Frank isn’t as beloved as other people in the Chicago emo community, he deserves to be spoken of with reverence. Between Lifted Bells, Their/They’re/There, and Loose Lips Sink Ships, he has carved a lane for a specific type of mathy emo. This isn’t even including his power-pop band Pacemaker, who I also enjoy a decent amount. If you’re new to his expansive discography, this newest Recreational Drugs record is a great place to start. It sits among the lineage of Ghosts and Vodka, which is instrumental emo that can be listened to as background or engaging listening. What helps most is it never feels like you’re just listening to some dude wail on his guitar, infusing the compositions with some legible pop structure.

Routine Fuss- I (Never) Want To Be Left Alone

Routine Fuss is that intersection where emo and indie rock meet. You get the feeling that Avery Black spent a lot of time listening to Into It. Over It. a decade ago and made their take on it. Specifically, I hear that that time when you couldn’t go to an emo show in Chicago without accidentally seeing an Evan Weiss project. But it comes from the perspective of someone a bit older, tackling subjects like sobriety and losing a parent to cancer. And even if you’re not a lyrics person, there’s plenty to latch onto on the debut release. Black moves between the straight-ahead ripper of “Cancelled Plans” to the contemplative musings of “Lessons Learned.” And it’s over in a short 22 minutes, giving you time to move on to something else if this style of emo is too burdensome for you.

snow ellet-Glory Days

If you’ve followed my writing over the past couple of years, you know how much I love snow ellet. I’ve probably seen them play more than anyone else in the past year. One of my favorite moments of 2022 was going to their release show and singing “Brand New” as loud as possible. But I have to be honest; I was a little concerned that Glory Days wouldn’t connect in the same way as suburban indie rock star. Those worries quickly vanished, and I now love both EP’s for different reasons. The one-off single “Playing Dead” is great too. And no matter how much has changed since the EP that came out last year, snow ellet is still sticking to the original statement for the band. It’s too pop-punk for the indie rock kids and too indie rock for the pop-punk kids. It sits squarely in the middle of multiple scenes, and that’s why the music feels so enduring to me. My only hope is for a full-length record in 2023.

dark middle chapter-…the way this all turned out

I tend to spend a lot of time on Bandcamp trying to find stuff I’ve never heard of before. A lot of the time, it feels pointless, leading me to music I’d describe as just fine. But sometimes. I’ll come across something worthwhile. Upon pressing play to Dark Middle Chapter, I was intrigued. The Bandcamp page only lists one song, describing it as one continuous play. This choice kind of works for the type of emo this is, fitting within bedroom screamo.

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