6th Avenue were a band from Germany, presumably active in the late 90s to somewhere in the early aughts. There's precious little information about this band available. The liner notes for their album mention they had multiple tracks on promo CDs and compilations, but as far as the modern internet is concerned, they have one release and one release only: 2000's …hope is the last to die. Their sound wavers back and forth between emocore\melodic hardcore and emo pop, sometimes landing in the middle and sometimes landing at either extreme, changing from song to song or within the same song. There's even a little midwest emo thrown in there, though not enough to earn the tag, I think.
Unless something else surfaces, this album is their only full release.
Ashen were a band who may have been from Atlanta, and were active from 1996 to 2003. I was unable to find a working archive of their website, but there is an archive for the site of their label, Two Sheds Music, which offers this comprehensive biography:
Ashen began as an instrumental trio in 1996, as long-time friends Benjamin Cenis, Kelly Guinn, and B.J. Hale came together to put their own spin on the "shoegazing" genre with their blend of textured, melodic pieces. A couple of years later, the trio felt the need to add a vocalist, and Erin Akemi was brought into the mix. The band has now been transformed into a powerhouse which bridges the gap between trailblazers like Swervedriver and the Cure, and more modern indie bands like Jejune and Sarge.
In 1999, the band released its first single, a split 12" which featured two Ashen songs. The band followed that up with a quick tour of the mid-Atlantic and mid-West area, then returned to the studio to finish its brilliant full-length release, No Other Comfort.
Zac Carlson joined the band in early 2001, as B.J. left to focus on his career. Zac had previously played in outfits Autumn Cotillion and For the Life of Me. Having originally passed on auditioning due to time and school constraints, Zac was delighted to learn that the position was still open once No Other Comfort was released, and officially joined the band in January 2001.
The band's efforts to write for its follow-up record was interrupted in May 2002 by a van accident while returning from a show, but the band was able to resume completion of material for a follow-up EP. The band finally recorded Pull and Repel at Zero Return Studios in Atlanta in February 2003, and the EP was released in June 2003.
Shortly following the release of Pull and Repel, Ashen decided to disband, leaving behind a catalog of 15 songs, no fluff, and a lot of disappointed fans.
Benjamin and Kelly are now members of the Atlanta band Fate Heroic, which also features B.J.
Multiple sources, including a review on RateYourMusic, talk about the band as being an early example of emogaze, but to be honest I don't really hear it. Compared to something like, say, Bufferins, or something more modern like Sore Eyelids, the shoegaze elements are very subdued. I would call them an emo pop\midwest emo hybrid with a lot of 90s post-hardcore influence. The midwest emo portion of their sound would become much more prominent on their final EP.
The band's discography is simple enough: A split 12" with Flux Capacitor (a band who are a good candidate for the blog and whose discography is mostly a mystery) in 1999, the full length No Other Comfort a year later in 2000, and the final EP, Pull and Repel, in 2003. Besides that, they contributed a track to Fireworks Anatomy: A Twenty Band Compilation, but it's from the LP.
Unfortunately, my copy of the album came with the booklet somehow glued shut, and opening it destroyed much of the interior artwork. I've been unable to locate a second copy, so for now it is what it is.
Hailing from Milwaukee, The Autumn View were an emo pop band active from the late 90s to the mid-aughts. They have many of the elements common to the genre at the time, mixing mainstream emo pop with post-hardcore instrumentation and screaming. What makes them stand out is the midwest emo they bring into that sound, with a bit of twinkling that goes in and out of the emo pop. The band also aren't quite as glossy as many of their peers, retaining a lot of 90s pop punk style.
Aside from their 2003 album fist-fighting with broken wrists, the band recorded a two-song demo in that same year and released a split with 52 Pickup called for all the wrong reasons… in 1999. As to whether this comprises a full discography, I can't say. Interpunk refers to "compilations and splits," plural, so it's possible there is more material out there.
Sad Man Said were a band from Spain, active from around 2000 to 2004. Despite their name, which definitely should belong to a screamo band, they began life as a pop punk\skatepunk band, and their first album, Statement, was released in 2000 and is straight pop punk to the point it sounds like MxPx to my emo ears. Two years later, their sound morphed into a combination of melodic hardcore and emo pop, leaning more towards the pop side of things. Their second album, 2002's The Value Of Simple Things, is a quick-moving bit of melodic punk with emo pop vocals. It would be their last release, with the band playing a farewell show in 2004.
