Porter Hall were a band from Calgary, Canada, active from 1997 to about 2004, though apparently they briefly reformed somewhere around 2009. I'm basing the 2004 breakup date on the release of their second and last album on German label Dead Serious, which must have been the European physical release because the album itself was released in 2001; no one has added a Canadian variant to Discogs, but I'm presuming one exists. I'm betting that band survived to see that release, but they may not have.
Porter Hall played emo pop punk in the 90s tradition, showing no sign of the early 2000s mall emo trends. Their sound is identical between their demo and their first record, to the point some of the songs use the same takes on the album. Their second album, Everything I Know I Stolen, is a little more aggressive than than the first, featuring a bit of emocore edge and rougher vocals.
Unless one of their compilation tracks features a different version than the albums, this download comprises the band's current known discography.
The Awards were a Quebecois band, formed in 2001 and active to at least 2003, if not a little later. Despite coming in after the turn of the millennium, their sound is much more 90s emo pop than the 2000s version that was making inroads towards the radio at that point. Keep in mind, however, that this is only true for their first release. By 2003, their split with Burn Your Wishes showcases a band pivoting towards the new form of emo (if the metal-flavored bands of the latter half of the 90s earned the moniker nu-metal, then why isn't third wave emo called nu-emo?).
The Awards have only two releases: the Pictures Beside Words EP in 2002, and a split with Burn Your Wishes in 2003.
Any frequent visitors of the blog with probably have noticed by now that while it covers all the variations of emo, it tends to specialize in midwest emo. This is a reflection my personal tastes, as the original, 90s midwest emo sound is my favorite form of music. I do enjoy the Kinsella-focused emo revival version of midwest emo, but bands like Mineral, Strictly Ballroom, and Christie Front Drive will always be the best version of the genre to me.
Therefore, whenever I get my hands on an unknown bit of aughts music that purports to be emo, I don't allow myself to build any expectations on the midwest emo front. There are any number of emo pop bands from the 'mall emo' years that namedrop various 90s bands as inspirations and then play the exact kind of emo you immediately heard in your head when I said 'mall emo.' (Every now and then they'll throw me a bone with a nice twinkly part before hitting the same chords again.) So when D.S. Sutton claimed in their bio to be influenced by Sunny Day Real Estate and The Promise Ring, I didn't exactly get my hopes up.
I've rarely been so happy to be wrong.
D.S. Sutton were a band from British Columbia, active from 2001 to around 2004. When they started out, they played genuine midwest emo, similar to other bands that just missed the second wave like Outsmarting Simon, The Autumn Year, and Fly, Mordecai. The Sunny Day Real Estate influence can be felt throughout their excellent full-length Towards The Stars And Falling. It opens with the fantastic, anthemic "They Don't Believe Me." It closes with the epic, nine-minute "Ivan" which shows that D.S. Sutton, like Michael and The Interstate Ten, understood that emo mixes well with strings.
In 2004, the band released the Hope EP with a new lead singer. From the outset, the EP leans more towards the glossy emo pop of their peers that the first completely avoids. That said, they never fully embrace the emo pop aesthetic. The first song, "This Is The Way The World Is Ending," could easily make you think you're about to get another Hot Topic-suitable album, and then on the second song they immediately resume the midwest emo. It's half and half, poised between the genuine indie emo of the album and the emo pop punk of the band's contemporary scene. In other words, if the album is Outsmarting Simon, then the EP is Hot Rod Circuit.
Hope was the band's last release, denying us the chance to hear where they would have gone with a second LP. One of the band members has a current indie pop project called Summer Eyes, and were kind enough to sell me a copy of the otherwise completely unattainable Towards The Stars And Falling.
There's not a lot of information on this band out there. Greater Than Less Than were from Edmonton, and seem to have been active between 1997 and 2000. I say this despite the fact that their last album was released in 2006; the liner notes indicate that it was recorded in 2000 and produced by the band members over the ensuing six years before finally seeing release. I expect it was a posthumous release, though I can't say that for absolute certain, but the long track listing and bountiful bonus songs are also indicators of it being a compilation of all remaining material.
Greater Than Less Than were an emo pop outfit, crossed with generous amounts of pop-oriented midwest emo. Four Minute Mile-era The Get Up Kids is the immediate comparison, albeit in a more polished version, and there's a lot of Jimmy Eat World present as well. Their discography is remarkably consistent across all its releases, without any major changes in sound or style. Tropic of Eville is maybe slightly more experimental with its instrumental passages, and the 7" is a bit rougher overall, but every release contains songs that are pretty interchangeable. This is solid emo pop that occasionally makes room for some good midwest emo riffs, and consistently delivers.
Greater Than Less Than's first release was a self-titled 7" in 1997. This was followed by the six-song Leaving Back Home in 1999. The band's final release, Tropic Of Eville, came in 2006. If they ever released anything else, the internet doesn't know about it.
I've written before about how every nation has its own Mineral. Filmmaker were a band from Canada, and while they are too emo pop to be considered that country's Mineral, they'll suffice until I discover who was actually the Canadian Mineral. Besides, they're a really good emo pop band.
Filmmaker know their way around a chorus, that's for sure. Between "Don't Speak, She Said" and "Sing To You," these guys have taken up some permanent real estate in the lizard part of my brain that loves catchy repetition. The Break This Fall EP is very strong, but I think the album edges it out, if only because of some excellent midwest emo influences shining through. I'm also a big fan of how the two releases work together, with the final track on An Invitation To An Accident reprising the chorus of the first track on the EP; I strongly suggest listening to the EP and LP back to back.
Together, the 2001 EP and the 2002 LP comprise the majority of the band's discography, though there's a compilation track out there somewhere. I've also included a collection of songs that the band released through MP3.com, several of which were on a demo CDr.
