Autumnleaf

 Autumnleaf were formed in 2006 in Fukuoka, Japan, and were active until at least 2012, which is the year that saw their last released material. Their sound was a combination of midwest emo and indie rock, with an increasing amount of influence from slowcore as their discography progressed. Their most well-known album, 2011's the foot, is a softer version of American Football's LP1, a quiet, contemplative album that could be considered emo's version of easy listening. Their more obscure early discography hits it harder, especially their first release, though don't get the idea that they were ever aggressive; they just weren't quite so laid back at first. Their first full-length is my favorite release of theirs, as it's placed in the middle not only chronologically but also sonically, being beautiful yet without slowing down as much as the second full-length.

The band's first release was a minialbum in 2007, Red lies in the White field. It was self-released, but all subsequent releases were on the band's own label, wood/water. In 2009 they put out their first LP, still have nothing to be sure, early copies of which came with a CDr that had four remixed album tracks. 2011 saw two releases: their second LP, the foot, and another EP of remixes. Autumnleaf's last release is an odd one: a 2012 five-track EP of what I think were instrumental tracks only, included as part of an artbook and performed as a live art installation called "with THE MOUNTAIN." It seems like the book didn't see much in the way of distribution, and I could not find a copy for sale, but I do have the files on offer. The only trace I could find of the first remix EP are two tracks from the wood/water Soundcloud.

Still, I have assembled a high enough percentage of their work to call it a discography, if technically a partial one.

Autumnleaf Discography

all out

 

This post was a very long time in the making, for reasons specific to Japanese emo that I've already discussed. The short version is that CDs are still popular in Japan and exporting them is very costly when its possible at all. But Japanese emo was and continues to be some of the best stuff around, so I'm glad to be able to offer another band from that scene.

All Out were possibly from Aichi Prefecture, formed in 1997 and active until 1999, at which point three of the members would form The T.V. Dinners. If considering the first half of All Out's discography, their sound would remain mostly congruent between projects, a mix of emo pop and pop punk with some of the rough elements of melodic hardcore intact; 'emo punk,' as it's sometimes called. However, in the back half the band began to bring in far more midwest emo influences.

The band existed long enough to put out a couple demos and two splits. In 2017, they reunited to put together their semi-posthumous discography, the end of serenade (the Mineral reference is blatant, but earned in the second half). I say 'semi'-posthumous because they recorded a new song while briefly reunited.

It's great that the band cared enough about their legacy to put together a discography nearly twenty years later. Sadly, the end of serenade is the worst kind of discography: an incomplete one. The band released the new song as a single, 願い, and on that single also included four songs from their first demo that aren't on the discography either. That makes five missing songs from a discography that's already only nine songs long, and it's entirely possible there are other missing tracks as well. 

I was unable to find a retailer that had the single in stock and was also willing to ship to the States, so the end of serenade is all I have to offer.

the end of serenade

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

bufferins

I wrote before about how difficult it is as a western fan to get into Japanese emo. Between the absence of most of it on digital services and the cost of physical media—up front and for import shipping—the barrier is high enough that at times it's downright impossible to collect a full or even a partial discography for Japanese emo bands. This is terribly frustrating because there are so many excellent Japanese bands in emo. Things are slowly changing, with more and more bands from Japan showing up on Bandcamp and streaming services, but they are late adopters and there are so many earlier bands whose work is utterly inaccessible.

Suffice it to say, it took me more than six months to get everything ready for this post, and if you're wondering how much money it cost me to put together this discography, the answer is I don't want to talk about it.

Bufferins were a legendary Japanese emo band, formed in 1993. They weren't just a band playing in the style of 90s emo, they were a true 90s emo band, contemporaries of the American scene despite being a world away. Their songs are energetic emo pop laced with midwest emo and a fuzzy, shoegaze aesthetic that reminds me of Evergreen.

The band's first release was a self-titled EP in 1997, also sometimes known as Pond. In 1998 they had a split release with Last Days of April and their first LP. The first LP appears to be self-titled, but is also called corrupt (or 'currupt' on the obi from the EP). I think the confusion is intentional, given the art from the album, so I decided to have corrupt be the album's subtitle. In 2001 they release their second album, koboreochirumono. I wasted months trying to track down a physical copy of this album but ultimately failed, so unfortunately I can only offer FLAC for the first LP and two of the EPs.

The group seems to have disbanded somewhere around 2002 but reunited long enough to put out a final EP, what a beautiful world, in 2009, though this timeline is confused somewhat by another EP they released in 2005. The 2005 EP appears to be self-released on CDr, so perhaps it was handed out at a reunion show or something similar. The band also contributed tracks to a few compilations, but the only unique track was on Cycle of the Moon 2 in 1999.

bufferins Complete Discography