1000 Travels of Jawaharlal

1000 Travels of Jawaharlal were a band from Kita-Kyushu, Japan, active from 1999 to 2004. Their sound is what is often described as 'emo punk,' in that it's far too melodic to be hardcore and not poppy enough to be pop punk. Think screamo, but without the emo dynamics and quiet\loud structure, like a rough emo pop version of Yaphet Kotto: that's emo punk. You might call it 'melodic emocore.' 1000 Travels were a superlative example of this particular sound and their sole LP is fantastic from start to finish.

The band's first release was a 1999 demo tape that I haven't been able to find. They followed it up with a self-titled EP, also known as 'Letter.' In 2000 they released a split with Minority Blues Band, and three years later put out their masterpiece, owari wa konai. Their last release was a 2004 split with Aghast, though in 2016 a compilation called Oware Wa Konakatta was put out that compiles the EP, the first split, and the album. There are no new tracks on it and it unfortunately does not include the demo tape, but I'm offering a download of it as it has higher quality files for the pre-album tracks.

Splits + Letter + owari wa konai

Owari Wa Konakatta

While They Slept

 While They Slept belonged to the rare subgenre of 'screamo with strings,' along with such luminaries as Pansori, vowel, and I Would Set Myself On Fire For You. They were from Minneapolis and active in the early 2000s, with their last release being in 2002. They were too short-lived to release a full album, and their discography is commensurately small.

Combining screamo with the instrumental aspects of emo, While They Slept don't use hardcore vocals exclusively, making them even more of a hybrid band. They also have a fair amount of piano in there as well. The ratio of the genres they mix changes between their releases, and on their final EP they almost sound like a hardcore version of something like Utah! or Pompeii. 

They band had three releases in total: A split with Tora! Tora! Torrance! at an unknown date, the Where? There Is No Life There EP in 2001, and their final EP, Parade the Circus Around the Silhouette in 2002. For download I have the final EP, though I only have the booklet and the CD, so it's missing the back tray artwork.

parade the circus around the silhouette

While They Slept at This Endless Breath

Park

 

Park are a legendary emo pop band from Springfield, Illinois. I say 'are' instead of 'were,' because despite forming in the 90s and not having released any material since 2014, the band still pops up on the bill for various live events, usually local. Park's sound changed quite a bit over the course of their releases, but this post is focused on their early discography, from formation to the 2001 release of their second album. During those years, Park played the emo pop of the late 90s, catchy punk not too far off from the early work of bands like Northstar, Hot Rod Circuit, or Four Minute Mile-era The Get Up Kids. The sound of the band would shift towards post-hardcore\alternative over time; of course, given how many different lineups the band has gone through, it would have been more surprising if their sound hadn't changed.

Park's discography is extensive, but I've amassed everything they released (as far as I can tell) between their formation and 2001. Their Wikipedia entry says they formed in 1996 but I have a demo that's supposedly from 1995, so one of these things is wrong, but I don't know which one. The demo aside, the band's first official release was the Blue Screen EP in 1996, followed by the Mood Ring 7". 1998 saw the release of the first album, Scene 14, as well as a split with Civic. In 1999 they put out the Random and Scattered EP, and in 2001 released their second album, No Signal, which features a big jump in production values compared to the first. In between all these releases were multiple unique compilation tracks.

Unofficial Early Discography: 1995-2001

Big, Big Furnace

 Hailing from Wausau, Wisconsin, Big, Big Furnace were an emo pop outfit that began in 1999 and were active in the early 2000s to 2003. These guys played what I've always thought of as midwestern emo pop, the jangly and frequently twinkly sound of bands like Chocolate Kiss. An extremely thorough biography of the band is up at their somehow still active website.

Their first release was a self-titled EP in 2000. This was followed in 2001 by their best work, Soundtrack to a Midwestern Winter. After separating, the band reunited a couple years later to record their last release, Losing You. This final album is still poppy, but loses most of the emo in favor of an indie rock medley with some post-punk influences.

Big, Big Furnace Discography

Waiting for Autumn

Waiting for Autumn were a band from, I believe, California, which is strongly implied in an old bio I found through the Wayback Machine. Active in the early aughts, they played emo pop that wasn't quite at the production level that the genre would soon hit, a sound headed in that direction but with one foot still in the 90s. They toured with Noise Ratchet and The Beautiful Mistake, which might give you an idea of the kind of emo pop I'm talking about. There's also some fairly regular screaming going on in their songs, which gives them a slight post-hardcore flavor.

As far as I can tell, the band's first and only release was 2002's Now I know Forever.

Now I know Forever