Some emo mixes I made
Hey frens,
The ‘emo’ subculture of music, in its broadest true meaning, is an amalgamation of punk and hardcore of the 90’s with a heavy emotional undertone. I’ve been listening to emo-influenced music for most of my life, and started creating small mixes (without any experience or any real direction) about two years ago. Recently, I became inspired again to pick up the hobby, and so I resumed making playlists as I continue to explore the genre.
On Mixes 01 through 03, I was less selective on gatekeeping the ‘true emo’ punk/hardcore realm and merely drew from my library of music that I already knew and was familiar with. Beginning on Mix 04 and onward, I drew major inspiration from one of the listed tracks, and specifically chose and arranged the rest of the tracks to complement that one song for a ~20 minute setlist. The product is countless hours of active listening, referrals, and discovery of new music within the scene.
So yea, here's my mixes on Spotify with some commentary:
Emo Mix 05: (December 01, 2020) "Unfinished business & ongoing conflicts"
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0MeZGo1bUhWVdYxkqEXvVh?si=8tGsolaTSb69hbnpceZr2g
https://i.imgur.com/1R8koXi.jpg
I was inspired to make this playlist after discovering the Japanese screamo band Envy on Funkysouls’ Emo/Hardcore forum. I originally wanted to base the playlist around their track “Left Hand,” but I decided that it would end up sounding too similar to the last mix, so I instead went with “Your Shoes and the World to Come.” Both tracks are from their 2001 album All the Footprints You’ve Ever Left and The Fear Expecting Ahead. The rest of the tracks on this mix were specifically chosen to sound more ambient and less intense than Mix 04. All of the tracks from Math’s album "Descent" were great candidates for this playlist’s mood, but I eventually chose “Belief in Sorrow;” the closest runner-up was “Wilderness.”
Emo Mix 04: (November 23, 2020) "A pleasant surprise"
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3RhIsaIj5m8ioMaw02uJJq?si=HgG7tNBNRR-S_GH33AGaYg
https://i.imgur.com/3i8Hr4n.jpg
I was inspired to make this playlist after discovering the Virginia screamo pioneer Pageninetynine on 4chan’s /mu/ forum about six weeks before this mix was created. The base of this mix was their bonus track “The List” on the reissue of their 2001 album Document #8. Unlike older mixes, I challenged myself this time to stay strictly within the bounds of “classic” screamo origins, with the oldest track dating as far back as 1988 (Moss Icon’s track) to the most recent one in 2005 (Funeral Diner’s track). The Saetia compilation album lists the release date as 2016, but the tracks themselves are from 1999.
Emo Mix 03: (April 03, 2019) "Intel from yours truly"
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eKoi65lrXsPg9Pi05EBK4?si=GBoTEQ5vTR-ishs1UvouOA
https://i.imgur.com/8Ge2bju.jpg
I started this playlist with inspiration from Underoath’s “Alone In December” and found myself at a dead end in my post-rock library. After almost two weeks, I discovered the Title Fight track “Your Pain is Mine Now” that seemed to transition the two genres somewhat well. This was my last mix for over a year and a half, because at this point I had exhausted my entire library and needed to actively search for new music to put further mixes together.
Emo Mixes 01-02 (March 20-21, 2019)
Mix 02: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jom93layqOsqpspxAztKn?si=RCLoBUODRbq1N_XJPQ80Cg
Mix 01: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4rNSJ5dVjdAZkg15AYm4M5?si=yLfIW-IMQJ22kl4QEImBBQ
https://i.imgur.com/oEdJw1N.jpg
These first two mixes were me getting my feet wet with playlist creating. Mix 01 leans more towards post-hardcore than anything else, and Mix 02 leans towards the general rock/electronic elements of emo’s “mainstream” perception. I will probably re-visit Mix 02 at some point in the future and refine it on a new mix with better inspiration.