Albion

 From the city of Cheb in the Czech Republic came Albion, formed in 1996 and active until 2005. According to this blog post and its frustratingly broken download link, the band reformed in the early 2010s with a change in sound. This is supported by the most recent bit of music I can find from them, this 2005 music video for their song 'Different Love.' I don't know when or if the band actually reunited or what they did or didn't record on that occasion, but they were headed in a very mainstream direction after their first—and as far as I can tell, only—LP.

Prior to that, they tried on three different shades of emo. Their first release, a 1998 split 12" with Kevorkian, a hardcore band that shared members with Albion, is emocore with a strong midwest emo influence. On 1999's Mim, the midwest emo would come to dominate, and that 7" is the band's most classically 90s midwest emo release. In 2002 they would put out Synthpathy, one of the more unique takes on the midwest emo sound you'll hear, featuring, as the name implies, a lot of synths. It hints at the indie rock\pop direction the band would thereafter embrace.

Since the latter years of the band's discography are mostly a mystery to the internet, I've focused on their early emo discography. I've included the split 12", the 7", and the album, along with a 2001 compilation track that is pre-synth and sounds like it could have easily fit on the 7".

The compilation track is made available courtesy of How Nothing Feels.

Albion Early Discography

A New Spelling Of My Name

Hailing from Washington D.C., A New Spelling of My Name were a band partially comprised of members from the great Midvale. They were active from 2005 until possibly somewhere around 2007, though this is conjecture based on incomplete website archives. Finding any further information has proven difficult. Sonically, the band existed at the intersection of midwest emo, post-hardcore, and indie rock. I've seen comparisons made to Mineral, which is somewhat apt at times, though not consistently (this Ebay listing recommends the album for fans of R.E.M., which… is definitely something). 

The first thing that comes to my mind when listening to ANSOMN is that their descendants are bands like Cloud Gavin. This is dark and heavy music, broken up by sporadic use of acoustic guitar. At times it sounds really contemporary, which I think says a lot for how much this sound would influence current bands, even if that influence probably comes from other places—A New Spelling Of My Name remains, sadly, obscure. Here's hoping this post makes them a little more known.

The band's one and only release was 2005's The Fraud and Folly of Good Intentions. The info on this album out there is a bit confusing because the two best sources both have issues: The listing on Discogs is missing the first track, which is named on the disc label but not in the lyrics insert, and the copy on Internet Archive is missing the ninth track.

the fraud and folly of good intentions

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

Ultramagg

Ultramagg were a band from Texas, active from 1996 (they were previously known as Pull My Finger) to maybe around 2005; they broke up after their second album, but I don't know exactly when. On their first two releases, their sound was emo pop reminiscent of The Promise Ring or M.I.J., very 90s in style. On their last release, they morphed into a much slicker, bubblegum pop punk\indie rock that I would call somewhat Weezer-esque. It's this last album that is the only thing available on streaming. The first album and EP are much harder to come by, hence this post.

The band's first release was a self-titled album in 1997, not too long after ditching their original name and garage punk sound for emo pop. In 1999 they released an EP, Summer's Not Over, and contributed a track to The Emo Diaries Chapter Three. A full five years later, they released their second album, Script&Production, in 2004, which showcases a change in direction that ended up being a dead end, as the band would break up at some point after.

S/T + summer's not over

The Farewell Bikeride

 The Farewell Bikeride were a band from Provo, Utah, formed in 2001 and only active for a short time, probably breaking up somewhere around the winter of 2002 if their old website is any indication. Here's a poster from a show they played with Carissa's Wierd. Though The Farewell Bikeride don't have too much in common with that band sonically, playing a combination of 90s pop punk and emo pop, they have midwest emo and slowcore influences that lead to a lot of quieter segments in their songs, so it was a fitting enough bill.

The band has two releases, possibly three. I can't figure out if the self-titled single available on the Internet Archive is the same as the one listed on Discogs. The track listing suggests it isn't, but I'm also not sure I trust that information. Both tracks from the single on the archive are identical to the album versions. According to archives of their website, there was supposed to be a compilation put out by the band's label prior to the album, but the album is subsequently described as the label's first release, so it may never have happened. So unless that untitled track from Discogs turns up somewhere, the band's 2002 album This Is How It Goes (not to be confused with Nymb's So This Is How It Is) represents at least most of the band's material.

This Is How It Goes

The Shyness Clinic

 The Shyness Clinic were a band from Boston, formed in 1995 and active until somewhere around the turn of the millennium, based on their contributions to a couple compilations and the fact that March of 2000 was the last time their website was ever updated. One of the compilations was released in 2003, but I'm assuming that was posthumous. In an interesting bit of emo continuity, the band's drummer went on to play in Hot Rod Circuit.

The band's only LP was released in 1998, and it sounds exactly like you might hope for an emo record released that year. The Shyness Clinic played midwest emo; call it 'indie emo' or 'post-emo' if you will. I call it amazing, and forever my favorite genre of music. The Shyness Clinic are maybe a little poppier than you usually hear in this type of 90s midwest emo, bringing in a certain bounce at times, but they also have that lonely sense of space found in bands like Forty Nine Hudson and Boys Life. They're diverse, I'd call it, taking a lot of sounds from a variety of adjacent genres.

Their first release was The Pleasures of Beginning 7" in 1996. The first song on the single, 'A Certain Distance,' was also included on their CD EP, but the second track was not. In 1998 they put out a split with Everyone Asked About You and the full-length album Sea of Redlights. I'm not positive which came first, but I believe the song from the split was rerecorded for the album and not the other way around. Their final release was one of the Insound Tour Support series, volume five. The digital release of the album includes the EP appended as bonus tracks.

The Shyness Clinic Discography