Brian Shultz

The Life And TImes Lost Bees Allen Epley has now been heading the Life And Times just as long as he was fronting Shiner, thriving on a fertile, creative mindset that's gotten just as much mileage out of breathy alternative/space rock as he did with the late-’90s/early 2000s post-hardcore math rockers. The Life And Times' […]

Rx Bandits Gemini, Her Majesty Rx Bandits spent several albums twisting and contorting the notions of modern ska-punk until it was no longer a recognizable part of their sound. Even before 2009's horn-depleted false farewell, Mandala, the band had earned the namesake “the Mars Vol-ska,” a pun either complimentary of their prog-rock liberties or derisive […]

Park Jacob The Rabbit EP Park were an interesting anomaly among the mid-2000s emo lot. After lingering amid the local Midwest circuit in the late ’90s and early 2000s before finding a musical sweet spot on 2003's It Won't Snow Where You're Going, they provided a darker underground alternative to powerhouse acts of the time […]

Joyce Manor Never Hungover Again The title of Joyce Manor's 2012 effort Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired proffered a self-fulfilling prophecy. While their sophomore album expanded the Torrance, California, band's scope to include alluring shades of new wave and lo-fi influence that pushed their power-pop-corroded punk into new waters, envisioning a hypothetical […]

United Nations The Next Four Years United Nations were an act deliberately shrouded in mystery for some time. While Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly has been the face of the band since initially conceiving them in 2005, the act avoided possible record contract violations and lawsuits from the actual United Nations with all-star members like Glassjaw's […]

Braid No Coast There's no more glaring way to put the “Midwest” in “Midwest emo” than to title an album that claims coastal neutrality. Along with Cap'n Jazz and the Promise Ring, Braid helped cultivate the uncorked, spastically energetic 1990s emo strain that's now suddenly one of the most blogworthy around, resulting in thinkpieces and debates and generally extensive […]

Annabel/Dowsing Split EP Annabel and Dowsing aren't exactly newcomers, with both acts boasting a pair of full-lengths and multiple EPs under their respective belts. It's no surprise then that both contribute a pair of strong tracks that mostly progress emo revival into new and interesting territory. Annabel show off their polished indie-pop side on “Always,” […]

Three Man Cannon Pretty Many People Pretty Many People is Three Man Cannon's first full-length in four years. But since the Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania-based quartet filled the gap with an EP and a split full-length with Lee Corey Oswald, and oh yeah—members Pat Brier and Dennis Mishko were in that band Tigers Jaw, helping […]

Foxing The Albatross Foxing own an interesting dichotomy on The Albatross, this being a remixed and remastered version of their full-length debut originally released by Count Your Lucky Stars in 2013. Their themes are classicist emo, singing about ex-lovers and lovers that never were, through obtuse metaphor (“Bloodhound”) or otherwise (“I swear I'm a good […]