Where to start with 90s Midwest Emo
90s Midwest Emo is a music scene from Midwest United States (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky), 1989–2000. Its principal artists include American Football, Cap'n Jazz, Braid and The Promise Ring. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 16 dated events.
Start here
- 1
In This Life
Articles of Faith · 1987It kicked off Chicago's emocore lineage years before that lineage had a name, the earliest spark of the scene.
- 2
Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports...
Cap'n Jazz · 1995The chaotic template that broke up right after defining an entire regional sound, foundational to everything after.
- 3
American Football
American Football · 1999Original release: Polyvinyl · PRC-025 · CD · US 1999This is the record most people mean when they say 'Midwest emo,' the genre's defining statement.
Go deeper
- 4
Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5
Braid · 1995Original release: Divot Records · #2 · CD · US 1995Braid's 1995 debut on Divot Records came together shortly after the band formed in December 1993, and it laid the groundwork — high-energy, guitar-forward, still finding its footing — for…
- 5
The Age of Octeen
Braid · 1996Original release: Mud Records · Mud-CD-018 · CD · US 1996Released on Mud Records in 1996, The Age of Octeen helped lock in the cycling guitar figures and unconventional vocal phrasing that would become Midwest emo shorthand.
- 6
Fate's Got a Driver
Chamberlain · 1996Original release: Doghouse Records · DOG 031 · CD · US 1996Fate's Got a Driver came from a band with roots in Split Lip, who reinvented themselves as Chamberlain to move fully into the emerging Midwest emo style.
- 7
Christie Front Drive
Christie Front Drive · 1996Original release: Caulfield Records · CR-024 · CD · US 1996This 1996 self-titled debut was part of the trio of releases — alongside Braid's The Age of Octeen and Chamberlain's Fate's Got a Driver — that critics point to as…
- 8
Frame & Canvas
Braid · 1998Original release: Polyvinyl · PRC-018 · Vinyl · US 1998Recorded with J. Robbins at Inner Ear Studios in 1998, Frame & Canvas carried Braid's high-energy, dual-guitar sound to an audience well beyond Champaign.
- 9
30° Everywhere
The Promise Ring · 1996Original release: Jade Tree · JT1026 · CD · US 1996The Promise Ring's Jade Tree debut sold tens of thousands of copies, hard evidence that Midwest emo's slower, pop-inflected wing could work commercially, not just as a DIY curiosity.
For the obsessed
- 10
Analphabetapolothology
Cap'n Jazz · 1998Original release: Jade Tree · JT1036 · CD · US 1998Jade Tree's 1998 double-disc retrospective gathered Cap'n Jazz's scattered recorded output into one place, and its arrival — three years after the band's breakup — did as much to build…
The stories behind every record are in 90s Midwest Emo, a members' issue.