You won’t catch me flipping the dial when literally anything attached to the Swami John Reis is ripping through the stereo.
Rocket from the Crypt, Group Sounds (2001) Replete with minor chords and the sort of autumnal poetics of third wave emo, the album reaches its zenith on the The Waiting Hurt. Sadly lost to time, it’s the sort of track that deserves to be included on emo retrospectives and listicles alike. It’s a grippingly melodic set of emo tunes that calls to mind everyone from Chamberlain to Fairweather.
Their 1999 debut, And the Sadness Prevails., which relatively recently celebrated two decades, is instead a wistful and lovelorn collection that opens with the stunning “Nostalgia” and never relents. If you’re a newbie, don’t expect a band that’d have shared stages with Ill Repute or Dr. Despite the band’s earnest and driving emo sound, they’ve long been associated with Nardcore. (1999)Īnother early entry from the label’s less crowded early stable, Oxnard’s No Motiv are an interesting one. Though it predates the loathsome orgcore tag, fans of the gravelly sort of melodic punk peddled by The Fest or Polar Bear Club take note: The Hurt Process is a breezy, buried gem worth unearthing and polishing anew. This band that not so famously shared stages with hometown favorites The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and inadvertently helped launch Big D and The Kids Table may not be remembered, but they deserve mention for being there first and rising to the occasion with a timeless batch of songs. The whole thing whizzes by in a caffeinated blur and there’s nary an ounce of fat to be found. The Beantown four-piece excelled at their polished blend of snotty punk a la Osker, the melodic hardcore of Lifetime, and the twee hooks of The Promise Ring. Having caught the attention of Face to Face’s Trever Keith, whose keen ear lent production duties, the now mostly forgotten unit fished out a unique sound. Disbanding before a sophomore effort, Boxer's sole offering is a crucial snapshot of a time before the sonic landscape changed forever. The Boston band’s alignment with the then unknown Vagrant Records set was sadly short lived but no less rewarding. 1998 saw the release of The Hurt Process by Boxer. Boxer, The Hurt Process (1998)įirst up, as promised, is the inaugural release for the then still green label. Check them out if you’ve never gotten the chance. While lesser lauded, they’re no less essential. I’ve assembled an equally essential grip of Vagrant releases that, to these ears, is every bit the match of their tentpole releases. Most puzzling of the label’s many assorted curios was Music For Cars, an early entry from the now world beating poptimists The 1975. The label’s myriad twists and turns resulted in a wildly varied discography that gifted us, among others, an alchemical triad from long-running Thrice, the Bill Stevenson assisted, idiosyncratic self-titled album by recent headline makers The Lemonheads, The Hold Steady, and the left field pop workouts of Paul Westerberg. Enough has been made of their countless merits so I needn’t regale you with well-tread tales of classics. Off the back of recent signees Alkaline Trio and their 2001 label debut, From Here to Infirmary, it was the flagship band the Get Up Kids that made hay of a now famous loan used to pen the all timer, Something to Write Home About.Įlsewhere, both Saves the Day’s Stay What You Are, and The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most by Dashboard Confessional found Vagrant in the unlikely position of becoming an instantly storied household name with enough cache and goodwill from the underground to top charts whilst simultaneously engaging with the ardently independent crowd.Īny of these aforementioned classics would be a sole pillar sturdy enough to cement an ironclad legacy, but Vagrant can claim ‘em all. The turn of the century saw their fortunes change quite literally, resulting in a quartet of still massively successful and ceaselessly influential records. The fledgling imprint’s first few years on the street saw them sans roster and their first release didn’t actually find shelves until nearly three years later, though I’ll spill more ink on that dazzler later. Once puzzlingly dubbed by Spin as “The Death Row of Indie Rock,” Vagrant Records was co-founded by Jon Cohen and Rich Egan in 1995.
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