The Ivory Coast were a band from Boston, active from 1998 to July of 2003. Like their fellow Bostonians in The Shyness Clinic and (originally) Jejune, they combined the sounds of indie rock with midwest emo and emo pop. Their early discography has a great deal of emo in its makeup, but The Ivory Coast were around just long enough to make the jump to a bigger label in Polyvinyl, and their style shifted in accordance, letting the indie rock mostly take things over.
In 1999 the band put out a demo or promo called Japanada. Last.FM claims the band's subsequent first album was finished in 1998 but not released until two years later, though that's the only source I have for that tidbit. However, considering all four songs on the Japanada demo/promo are the same versions found on the full album, perhaps that is indeed the case and they were shopping those particular tracks around in search of a label (Japanada was not listed on any version of their website I still have access to, indicating they did not consider it an official EP). That album, The Rush of Oncoming Traffic from 2000, is my personal favorite of the band's releases, what I consider to be a frequently overlooked indie emo gem (in another connection to Jejune, it was released on Big Wheel Recreation). That same year the band also released a 7" single, Lake Placid 1986, which hints at their forthcoming change in sound. Listening to the single, the differences from the album seem substantial enough that it would be odd for such a change to happen within so short a time, adding some credence to the idea that the album was recorded years earlier. One of the tracks for the single somehow found its way onto the great German compilation Achtung Autobahn. In 2001, the band would end their career with their second album, Clouds, as well as an appearance on the Polyvinyl compilation ReDirection.
