Your Halo Is A Radar

Your Halo Is A Radar was an band from Sweden that was active in the early 2000s. They played the kind of angular post-hardcore\emocore that was exemplified by bands like Life at These Speeds, fast and aggressive and discordant, very inspired by the Dischord sound. They had a very consistent aesthetic over their releases, featuring optical illusions for covers and lots of black and red.

They put out two EPs, the first in 2001 and the second in 2003. Both are self-titled. Discogs lists one as being a minialbum, but since the records are within four seconds of being the same length, I don't believe that. The second EP has some interesting packaging, coming in a cardboard slip cover fitted over a solid white CD case.

Your Halo Is A Radar

The Interstate Ten

The Interstate Ten were from California, possibly San Diego. Their first album was released on a label from San Diego, anyway, though since that label seems to have never put out anything else, I suspect it's self-released. Their sound is a mashup of mid-90s emo and post-hardcore, drawing from emo's discordant side but fitting those sounds into a midwest emo frame. This is the non-twinkly side of midwest emo, less Mineral and more Boys Life.

Their first album, released in 1997, is rough, almost a proof of concept for the far better second album. There are some good songs on there, but it's practically a demo compared to their later work. Their second album came in 1998, silverlakecreekbelowforestprimevil, and was put out on classic emo label Wrenched Records. It's fantastic; "Black Die No. 5" is a must-listen. To the best of my knowledge, their only other song is "I Call You By The Name" from the Self De-construction compilation, which appears to be an early version of "Black Die No. 5."

The Interstate Ten Discography

Northstar

I'm not going to start any collective eyerolling by trying to claim that Northstar are obscure—not by emo standards, anyway. As a band, they are rightly renowned for writing some of the sharpest, catchiest emo pop this side of Nothing Feels Good. They don't really fit the usual metrics of this blog, but they are just so good that I figured other collectors out there might want some FLAC files. For those of you content to stream the LPs, I have three other offerings.

The first is Broken Parachute, a collection of unreleased songs and acoustic versions. The second is a demo known as Early Demo #2. According to Wikipedia there were a bunch of other demos, but this is the only one that seems to be circulating online. It has the amazing "For Anyone But You," so be sure to check that out. I've also added a link for an instrumental version of Pollyanna.

Northstar Partial Discography

Pollyanna (Instrumental Version)

Angels in the Architecture

Angels in the Architecture were from Buffalo, New York. They played a very polished version of midwest emo, heavier on the chords and choruses and closer to emo pop. In some ways they sound like an alternate universe Christie Front Drive trying to go mainstream, but in most ways they sound like a late-90s emo pop band leaning towards alt rock. There's a lot of emphasis on big hooks here, especially in songs like album opener "blue line," which is either their best song or their second best behind "team no radio."

Their discography consists of a 1997 EP, one ten, which is their most classically midwest emo work, and an LP in 2000 which is the more catchy, emo pop work. In between they released a split with Amp 176 and contributed a track to the Pocket Bomb compilation.

Angels in the Architecture Discography