One Point Two
"Demo"
(Self-Released)
Before Gatsby's American Dream wowed pop-punk kids, there was once One Point Two, a band that consisted mostly of members who'd go on to Gatsby's and Casey Bates, Fueled by Ramen's producer du jour. It's pretty much in the vein of Blink 182, but there's some interesting stuff in this demo.
Download HereLabels: Indie Rock, One Point Two, pop-punk
Blue Sky Mile
"S/T"
(Ohev)
Seattle-based Blue Sky Mile was a band that couldn't really fit in a specific category. They had elements to their songs that were math-y, but they were too emo (in the truest sense of the term) for the indie rock crowd and too indie rock for the emo kids. That being said, they were probably amongst the most underrated bands in the city.
They found a home in Louisville's Initial Records, but it happened after Initial stopped growing as a label and other outlets like Fueled by Ramen and Vagrant had taken the reigns.
This is long their out-of-print debut EP on Florida's Ohev and is a split production between Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla and former Seaweed guitarist Clint Werner.
Download HereLabels: Blue Sky Mile, Death Cab for Cutie, emo, Indie Rock, pop-punk, Seattle, Seaweed
Autumn Poetry
"Poietes (Red Demo)" and "From October to Marge"
(Self Released/West of January)
Autumn Poetry was pretty much the original Mountlake Terrace (Brier, maybe) band. Their influences are clearly within the realm of early 90s emo like Sunny Day and Christie Front Drive, but done in a way that isn't boring or trite.
The "Red Demo" and "Marge" are from 1999 and 2002 respectively and are the most intact of how I remember the band to sound like. In 2003, Autumn went through a personnel change with the rhythm section leaving the fold and with the addition of their new members, there was a stylistic shift, focusing on more rocking, uptempo songs.
Download Here (both files)
Download "Red Demo" Here (Dave told me that one of the tracks on the Red Demo was corrupted, probably because the .rar file was too large; so here's "Poietes" as a separate file)
Labels: Autumn Poetry, emo, Indie Rock
Death Cab for Cutie
"Live at the Crocodile Cafe 11/2000"
(Unreleased)
This is a short, 10 song set from Death Cab when they were the support for Pedro the Lion. Many of the songs are culled from "The Fobidden Love EP" and "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes." There's some pretty awkward banter from Gibbard and the live version of "President of What" is pretty rad.
Download HereLabels: Death Cab for Cutie, Indie Rock, Live
The Get Up Kids
"Live in Seattle 10/9/1999"
(Unreleased)
This recording was from the soundboard at the RCKNDY in Seattle when the Get Up Kids were on tour in the fall of 99, hot off the release of "Something to Write Home About." This bootleg was floating around Napster and other filesharing sites in the embryotic days of mp3 trading.
To celebrate the Get Ups current reunion (and subsequent reissue of their seminal album), I'm sharing this totally sweet recording, which is much funnier and cooler than the live album that Vagrant put out a few years back as this bootleg has all of the stage banter and drunkeness that the gang is known for.
Download HereLabels: emo, Get Up Kids, Indie Rock, pop-punk, powerpop
Various Artists
"A Fadeaway Records Sampler"
(Fadeaway)
AP once declared Fadeaway the Sub Pop of Long Island, NY, which I could kind of see, but there were a ton of great bands on their roster including Miracle of 86, The Movielife, Get Up Kids, Thisyearsmodel, Last Days of August, Glassjaw...the list goes on. This is a sampler that I got at a Get Up Kids show in 2000 and it has a bunch of sweet songs on it, most of which are out-of-print.
Tracklist:
1. Last Days of August - "Words I Wish Were Mine"
2. Now She's Gone - "Ride"
3. Miracle of 86 - "Surprise Me"
4. The Movielife - "Maybe It's Nothing"
5. Thisyearsmodel - "One Million Volumes"
6. Glassjaw - "Midwestern Stylings (acoustic)"
7. Bonus Track
Download HereLabels: emo, Fadeaway Records, Glassjaw, Indie Rock, Kevin Devine, Last Days of August, Miracle of 86, pop-punk, sampler, The Movielife, Thisyearsmodel
Ambitious Career Woman
"...To Avoid a Lawsuit"
(Lujo)
I don't know if this shit's still in print, but Ambitious Career Woman is one of my favorite bands of the last few years. Their abrasive Drive Like Jehu-esque sound meshed with elements of garage rock made them one of the most unique, yet underrated bands in Seattle. Also, my old band did, like, 50 million shows with them and some of the best memories I have playing in bands are related to these dudes.
Labels: Ambitious Career Woman, Indie Rock, punk
Little Yellow Box
Discography
(self-released/Negative Progression)
Little Yellow Box was a band from the east coast who were brash and would've fit well with the Dischord roster. They ended up on Negative Progression, but were lost in the sea of bands like Coheed and Cambria and Finch. This post has their two EPs, one of which was a self-titled, self-released demo, the other was the EP put out by Negative Progression. Enjoy.
Download HereLabels: Indie Rock, Little Yellow Box, punk
Jimmy Eat World
"Self-Titled/Wooden Blue"
(Wooden Blue)
Like Weezer and The Bronx, Jimmy Eat World has about fifteen different "self-titled" recordings. This is their first album which came out on Arizona's defunct Wooden Blue Records. Unlike the popular J.E.W. albums, Tom Linton sings all the songs on this recording, and it's ridiculously fast and is very much in the vein of bands like J. Church and random Fat Wreck bands.
Labels: Indie Rock, Jimmy Eat World
Fielding, "S/T"
Fielding was a pleasant surprise in the summer of 2005 when I was just starting out with Redefine. Vivian asked me to do a bunch of quick reviews and I found this one to be particularly great. In many ways, Fielding has a lot of the best elements of cute indie pop -- great harmonies, lyrics and the musicianship is top notch.
Unfortunately, The Militia Group didn't really do much with them and I've seen their self-titled record in the $.99 bin quite a few times. This record is kind of hard to find, so I'm posting it on here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Labels: Fielding, Indie Rock, Militia Group
