Palentine

 

This will be a short post. Palentine were a band active for an unknown period in the early 90s, and may have been from Maryland. That's all I know about them.

They played a fusion of emo and noise rock and put out one release, 1994's File .004. With four songs, I think it's technically an EP, but with a meager play time of seven and a half minutes it's basically a single. Based on what can be heard on it, it's a shame we never got File .005 or whatever their next release might have been called, because it's genuinely interesting music. Noise rock has always been an influence on post-hardcore and emo, but usually a distant one. Here, it's fully half of an experimental mix.

File .004

Jennifer Eight

 Jennifer Eight were a band from Germany, active in the mid-90s. My attempts to find out more about them have been stymied by a near-total lack of online sources and the language barrier. I do know that members of the band would go on to form the equally non-prolific Audreys Dance. While Jennifer Eight play a cross between emo and emocore, similar to bands like Still Life or Current, their future direction in Audreys Dance can be heard in their tendency to borrow the occasional sounds from midwest emo.

The band's only release appears to be 1997's Spooky.

Spooky

All Astronauts

The Wayback Machine has preserved All Astronauts' hilariously grandiose bio on their original website, a cosmic bit of hype that definitely sets a large stage for the band while failing to provide basic information. Consequently, I don't know for certain where the band was from, but they were probably in the same area as their record label, Lookalive, in Winston-Salem, NC. Their sound is a cross between the quiet\loud dynamics of emo and propulsive, mathy indie rock, gliding all around these sounds and others from similar genres, including a little slowcore. There are many long passages that sound like the lead in to a screamo track, but are actually headed in a different direction. In some ways they remind me of twisty indie\emo fusion bands like Utah!, though All Astronauts have a much harder emo edge, showing more hardcore roots than you usually find in this sound.

The band's only release appears to be 2004's Navigation Songs. The only other song I know of is a live track that was once available through the band's website.

Navigation Songs

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

another sevenfold

Another Sevenfold were a screamo band from North Carolina, active from the late 90s to around the turn of the millennium. Their sound combines the aggression of screamo with some of the elements of emo and emocore. They easily could have been around in the early 90s, they have that kind of first wave feel.

The band's website is somehow still active and reveals a discography that is mostly missing from Discogs and elsewhere. Through 1996 and 1997 they released four cassettes that can't be found anywhere. In 1997 they recorded the self-titled album, but all sources I can find say it wasn't released until 2000 on Motherbox. The record itself has no dating, which doesn't help. Later in 1997 they put out the Thousand Star Serissa 7", and that seems to be it.

I have a link for the album below, but if you'd like to get everything in one place then head over to do you feel at home?

another sevenfold…

The Sound Of Rails

The Sound of Rails were a band from Omaha, active in the early 2000s and a part of legendary emo label Caulfield Records. They played that jangly, atmospheric, slow burn emo that typifies, to me, the midwestern strain of emo. This is the music of Dirtnap, Boys Life, Forty Nine Hudson, and The Interstate Ten. This is the post-hardcore side of emo, and not necessarily midwest emo. Though many of their contemporaries incorporated midwest emo in this sound (some to the point they are considered true midwest emo bands), The Sound of Rails lean more towards slowcore and math rock than midwest emo.

The band put out two albums on Caulfield. The first, Prelude of Hypnotics, was released in 2000. The follow up, Night Time Simulcast, was put out in 2003 and appears to have been the last gasp of Caulfield. The band also put out a 7" in 2000 and a split with Putrescine in 2002.

prelude to hypnotics + night time simulcast

erevan

Erevan were a French midwest emo band active in the early 2000s. Their sound is focused on midwest emo but incorporates elements from other emo strains of the 90s, with harder passages and some screaming. Don't let the date on the records fool you—this is real 90s-style midwest emo, delivered a little late by the French emo scene, which is mostly known for its screamo bands. It's difficult to know much more about Erevan because I can't read French, so if anyone who can looks over these scans and finds something interesting, let me know.

Erevan put out a demo tape in 2000, followed a second demo CDr in 2001 and their first and only LP, Memorial, in 2003. I haven't heard the CDr, but the demo cassette showcases a band pulling as much from first wave emo as from second wave midwest emo, even opening, Indian Summer-style, with an old vinyl recording. Memorial would flip the influences around to narrow in on the midwest sound. Sadly, the LP was their last release.

Demo Cassette + Memorial