boys with bangs, parents' garages, and eyeliner were the hallmarks of post-9/11 American suburbia. hardcore punk was dead center in the shift towards becoming labelled post-hardcore, an arbitrarily descriptive term that refers to the evolution of hardcore towards a more introspective, melodic, and sentimental form. though i was not alive to experience this era of music, or at least i was not conscious enough to do so, i find this to be my most listened to genre of music. there's something that strikes me about this particular scene of music, where its greatest heroes could very well be your uncle or dad's high school classmate and the spotlight stays on the stage exclusively. the mild pretentiousness that teenage and quarter-life punks exude drenches these records, and while many lambast its kitchy juvenility its impact as a musical era has shaped a generation of young, dumb rebels (perhaps me including). the following albums are the soundtracks to my undying youth that i am currently living and and that hopefully will live on even as i approach the age of my post-hardcore heroes.
disclaimer: due to the transient definition of the term post-hardcore over the years of its evolution, the list will be split between old and modern post-hardcore, with the old one being the more immediate child of hardcore punk and modern being the 2000s era scene.
the clashing tones of ian mackaye's humbucker-driven gibson sg and guy picciotto's shrill rickenbacker ring through fugazi's sophomore album, floored by joe lally's infectiously groovy basslines and brendan canty's dextrous drumming. this was the anthem of my summer entering my senior year of high school, and i would let the bare, driving instruments flood my ears as i walked around admiralty's hkuspace campus to learn music production and psychological projective drawing. i was familiar with mackaye's vocals from his previous band minor threat, another band i hold dear, and picciotto's vocals from rites of spring, and hearing them combined is a force to behold. joe lally's basslines were particularly striking to me; it is was played so tightly with leanings in jazz, dub, and funk whilst maintaining the fierce punk pacing that it solidified him as one of my favorite bassists. canty's drumming was filled with stamina, played with power and speed without sacrificing timing. it was a fiery display of what four people, each with individual styles, can achieve when contrast becomes a strength.
favourite songs: repeater, greed, shut the door
unwound is one of those bands that i thought i would never like, but listening to them over and over again lapsed into listening to them even more until i started to finally understand the cult of unwound. unwound's first album oozes the diy aesthetic of punk from the mix that sounds like garbage in the beginning but your ears slowly acclimate to. justin trosper's screams are a hallmark of a time when screams were visceral outputs of aggression instead of a practiced-and-perfected art of distorted vocals, and the pure, raw state of the vocal mix allowing you to imagine him in a studio straining himself to his fullest. of all the women in rock that so many people laud (patti smith, debbie harry, etc.), i believe that sara lund is the most overlooked but in my opinion the greatest representative of the capabilities of women in a male-dominated genre. her playing meshes perfectly with unwound's musical flow, and her stripped-down but clearly violent playing perfectly reflects the oxymoron of what a polished punk is. the late vern rumsey's bass is the final piece to fill out the bare soundscape of a 3-piece band, with the very bright scraping of a pick on the relatively high-gauge string windings cutting through the mix like a hot knife through paper. the harmonic content of the three members is enough to fill your audio processing capabilities while leaving room for you to realize that you are, in fact, listening to the musical equivalent of a burning train going through pitch black, silent tunnel.
favorite songs: lucky acid, nervous energy, kantina
it seems to be impossible to talk about post hardcore without the mentioning of relationship of command. this album came out smack dab in the middle of post hardcore's evolution from the introspective child of hardcore punk and the scene that ruled post-9/11 america. it is such a monumental album, mainly due to its transgressive and relentless innovation on the sound of punk that was slowly becoming banal. it is instrumentally intricate, especially regarding the guitar interplay between jim ward and omar rodriguez-lopez. at the drive in has an interesting band dynamic with a clear line drawn by the bands that formed following its demise: omar and singer cedric bixler-zavala went on to form the more polished progressive post-hardcore band the mars volta while the other three members formed the more down-to-earth sparta, and it is apparent in live performances how that divide was present even during the release of relationship of command. bixler-zavala's commanding presence and voice are reminders that the band, no matter how unsober its members may be, has a message to tell by means of organized chaos and in-your-face presentation. the album is an unreplicable piece of art from unreplicable artists who crafted a masterpiece that perfectly reflected their brutal creative intent and inimitable energy.
favorite songs: arcarsenal, rolodex propaganda
this album may be my most listened to album of all time for a combination of reasons. as much as a music snob like me likes to show off about my taste in inaccessible music, saosin's self-titled is terribly accessible like the kind of music pop listeners say they listen to when they say they listen to metal. i believe that human ears unanimously prefer more accessible, melodic music, therefore saosin's self-titled checked that box. there are 12 songs on this album, and all twelve songs manage to be just similar enough to maintain a motif but unique enough to recall by its hook, riff, or breakdowns. cove reber's voice stands at the forefront of this album, and while many question his ability to replace anthony green's unforgettable vocals on translating the name, i see reber as indispensable in the developement of saosin and post-hardcore in general. reber's vocals were archetypal of the youthful boy-band singer in an era when his type was starting to become the craze, and with him singing in such a deliberately post-hardcore band setting only assisted in the widening of the fanbase of this otherwise niche genre. saosin is known for having impeccable instrumentation, especially in the drum department playing dense fills with millisecond timing, and this album showcases it in its abundance of memorable guitar lines and painstaking production. this album is a thematically simple one, but in its simplicity it touches on topics that everybody experiences like mental anguish, our fragile emotions, and the human aspect of weakness. if there is one album i say shaped me deeply, i would not hesitate to say this one.
favorite songs: sleepers, voices, finding home, collapse, you're not alone, bury your head
while many may point to worship and tribute to be glassjaw's magnum opus, i believe that coloring book is glassjaw's sound at its most polished and most creative. worship and tribute is raw and insanely executed as the creation of glassjaw's signature sound, but coloring book is that sound matured and deliberately shaped to reflect the desire to create something unique in a genre that has become saturated in the last decade. daryl palumbo's distinctly goofy and emotive voice is presented with a unique combination of distortion and melody. justin beck's intrumental work is the standout of this ep, with his baritone guitar being played throughout it and his signature use of effects (in particular, slapback delay) resonates unmistakeably through this record. the drums and bass of glassjaw songs regardless of era may very well be the most valuable asset for glassjaw, with its artfully crafted basslines bouncing between subby low-end and skullcrushing distortion and driving drums that propel the music through your eardrums with unstoppable power. glassjaw's innovative punk rhythms and dub-inspired breaks are completed by its flawless flow between songs, showing glassjaw's mastery of musical manipulation and syncretization of genres to the point of genre-defying characterization. if you want to hear a masterclass of creative output, coloring book stands as a key example.
favorite songs: black nurse, gold, vanilla snake poltergeist
thrice is one of those bands that cannot be overlooked when talking about this genre. unforgettable riffs and beautiful interplay between melodic and screamed vocals cover this album from start to finish, seamlessly bridging the pretty and ugly sides of this genre. as the nature of the genre, post-hardcore teeters on the edge between mainstream accessibility and aggression warranting it underground status, but this album finds the balance that many others miss to varying degrees. well-respected by diehards of this genre and easily enjoyed by newbies, thrice crafted an album that showcased their intention to stick to their roots without making it dissonant to a fault. every song is equally as catchy as they are defiant, with the distorted guitars shredding the mix while dustin kensrue's vocal harmonies soar into your ears with the conviction of a defendant in from of a jury. while no individual instrumental section is flashy, the conglomerate of the instrumentation demands well-deserved attention. thrice mastered the art of utilizing simplicity to create technically and harmonically dense music where no one part sticks out, but as a combined product it batters you into oblivion. thrice reminds you that music is a team sport, and this team happens to be the musical equivalent of the duncan-ginobili-parker era spurs.
favorite songs: cold cash and cold hearts, stare at the sun, paper tigers, the artist in the ambulance