Emo bands with singing vocals?
 

what are some good emo bands with actual singing? I know some bands kinda feature it, but which bands have it habitually?

I think most midwest/post-emo bands sing normally

what about emo bands with female vocalist?

Depends on your definition of "emo", but from your question I'm guessing you mean modern emo/ screamo...

Try Eyes Set to Kill: [male screamer, female singer]


Eyes Set to Kill - "Broken Frames" Suburban Noize Records - YouTube

Flyleaf [female singer, occasionally screams]


Flyleaf - All Around Me - YouTube

Fireflight

Fireflight - Unbreakable - YouTube

Damone

Damone - Out Here All Night - YouTube

Flee The Seen

Flee The Seen - Wire Tap Out - YouTube

Versa Emerge

VersaEmerge: Fixed At Zero [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube

Blameshift


Blameshift: Secrets [Official Video] - YouTube

The Material


The Material - Life Vest [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO] - YouTube

^And none of these bands are emo, modern, screamo, or otherwise.

I didn't want to be the one to say it, so I'm glad someone else did. They are all definitely pop-rock bands.

Emo bands with a female vocalist? My favorite is Football, etc.



I also like Pity Sex, but I don't know if a lot of people would really consider them emo.

And so it begins. "Emo" is basically an almost utterly subjective definition, these days - the word has been appropriated and applied to so many different sub-genres that it's essentially meaningless.

Therefore, I will not apologise for using the word in two differing contexts:
a. to refer to the subgenres with which I personally associate it
and b. to refer to the genres/ subgenres that are associated with the word in popular/ mainstream conceptions.

Why the latter? Because chances are, no matter what your personal [and potentially more informed] perspective on the matter may be, if someone who doesn't know much about this area of music uses the term, then they probably are actually picturing something that sounds more like Fall Out Boy.

Obviously, understanding context is always expedient when trying to conduct a conversation. Since the person who asked the question doesn't [IMO] seem to know much about the genre[s], then I provided a list of what I thought she would most likely wish to hear.

Now, you can waste your time getting all holier-than-thou about my more pragmatic approach, or you can learn to accept the fact that the meanings of words evolve and change, and that, moreover, it makes absolutely no difference to you what another person listens to - no one is forcing you to follow suit.

Now please, re-consider your elitist attitude. It's neither big, nor clever, and it certainly doesn't make you seem cooler than the other kids.

Here, this is the only band you need right now.


The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Gig Life - YouTube

I get your sentiment, but it's frustrating to be a part of something that often gets misrepresented by watered down and disingenuous bands that don't know where they come from. I wouldn't know what else to call more mainstream bands that get lumped in with "emo" and "screamo" but it's unfair to bands like Indian Summer and Orchid and blablablahnamedrops to lead people away from them and towards groups that don't accurately represent the culture. It's like giving a person looking for a place to eat directions to the nearest McDonalds. Sure, it's good enough for a lot of people and maybe the person asking for advice but why not lead them to something really great?

That's a good way of putting it. No offense to xLizardX but insisting that it's okay to recommend those bands as "emo with singing vocals" is like insisting that McDonald's is fine dining.

excellent suggestion

Everyone in the emo forum has the TWIABPAIANLATD boner now, maybe I should check them out..? Also, those bands mentioned earlier are not emo bands, as the others have mentioned.

Hey first off I don't super appreciate the last comment. My one sentence contained no judgement about personality just a statement disagreeing with how you choose to group things based on sound so please don't make an assessment on my ego. I don't need it. I'm not accusing you of being an elitist, big, or clever so don't do the same to me. It's rude.

Secondly, what you're suggesting is counterproductive to the way genres actually function. The point of them is to group things according to like sonic characteristics, which is not subjective. I can objectively say that the Damned and the Ramones are similar bands. I can point towards song structure, guitar tones, the complexity of the riffs, tempo, et cetera and definitively say "these belong in the same cadre of bands" in a way that I can't argue that the Ramones and Miles Davis do.

So if you want to keep calling Flyleaf screamo go ahead but people are going to call you out on it (including me) and whether you cry about it being "elitist" or not. You're completely ignoring large aspects of music history as well as articles in this forum that have shaped the emo discussion here for years.

In the meanwhile I'm going to suggest he/she listen to....

Sunny Day Real Estate


American Football

lots of cool stuff in here. with the whole debate thing, sorry if these aren't eligible

Those are all tops emo bands, dunno why you would think they're ineligible.

i'm terrible with the whole genre labeling thing



this whole ep's nice

I'm not deliberately ignoring anything - in fact, I took care to point out that the genre definition is actually very broad and ambiguous, and that my own interpretation of the label [and the question] was subjective.

Do I think that Flyleaf is the best possible example of a "screamo" band? No, of course not. However, they are certainly a band with emo/ post-hardcore influences, and the singer does occasionally scream. Since the singer is also female, and there are far fewer women vocalists than there ought to be in this genre, I included them in the list.

I'd like to point out, however, that I've received responses similar to yours [in similar situations] regarding very different sounding bands. For example, some people would call bands/artists like Taking Back Sunday, Death Cab For Cutie, Dashboard Confessional, and Brand New emo - using the term to apply to softer, more indie/ acoustic/ pop-punk influenced music. Some people would call bands like Funeral For A Friend, Bullet For My Valentine, or even Killswitch Engage emo - using the term to apply to anything remotely post-hardcore or metalcore. Yet more people apply the term to any pop-punk band with a floppy fringe.

The borders are further blurred by the fact that many modern bands combine "emo" vocals with pop punk hooks and metal-core/ post-hardcore riffs and breakdowns.

Therefore, you can understand why I don't believe the genre has a precise definition any more.

Now, personally, I don't have a problem with that - I love music that blends genres, and I love music of many different genres. I'm generally far less concerned with defining precisely what category a band or a song falls into than I'm concerned simply by how much I like said band or song. Hopefully, the majority of people feel the same way.

If the person asking didn't like the bands/songs I suggested, then that's fair enough, but I think it's rather poor to imply that my suggestions are somehow a disservice, since a. they were merely *suggestions* that could freely be ignored if disliked, and b. as aforementioned, the genre is extremely loosely defined.

I apologise if I have inaccurately accused you of elitism. Because I enjoy lots of different genres and I'm not too pedantic about how I label it, I have frequently experienced people complaining at me: "oh, that band's not really industrial, it's industrial metal... no, that's not simply ska, it's third wave ska-punk...." etc. You get the drift. This pisses me off because the inference seems to be that being narrow-minded is somehow indicative of superiority, when of course it's anything but. So, I am sorry. Elitists are a pet hate of mine, and I may have unfairly projected some of that resentment onto you.

I suppose I assumed that a forum entitled "Hardcore & Emo" would probably concern most connected /influenced genres as well. Perhaps that presumption was inaccurate.

The lines aren't blurry. The people who call the bands you listed emo can call any band emo or any other genre- that doesn't mean they're correct. There's an entire culture of people associated with emo and screamo with values that started with 80s hardcore. The bands you listed have nothing to do with that culture. They don't share those values. Those values, along with the music, are what define a band as emo, screamo, hardcore, punk, whatever. It's not about being condescending or elitist, it's about filtering out the listeners who share those values from those who don't. How would you feel if you invested your life into a culture that has no "real world value" and then people who thought you sounded and looked "cool" copped your style and assimilated it to turn a profit? To add insult to injury, what if that culture became the subject of constant parody based completely on people's ignorant and inaccurate perceptions and depictions? How would you feel then?

When genres/sub-genres begin they are usually very loosely defined. See Post-Rock for a really good example, it was first used to label bands like Stereolab, Seefeel, and Pram to name a few. None of the mentioned bands resemble any contemporary post-rock groups like GY!BE, God is an Astronaut, Mogwai, and EITS. I'm not sure if I really think of modern post-rock, most new bands in the genre try to sound like Godspeed!, but at least the genre isn't scrutinized by the general public for stupid reasons.

ps. +1 for American Football.

I've always had a boner for them, they're pretty great.

Would you care to elaborate exactly what these values are? Defining music by subjective values seems, if possible, even more nebulous.

The process you describe - of a grass roots music movement becoming increasingly popular, modified, and yes, commercialised, is hardly unique to emo. It's a common phenomenon in the music industry generally. Not that many modern pop-punk or punk-rock bands share the values of the original 80s punk bands, but does that make their music worthless? No! Does it in any way devalue the original music that inspired it? Funnily enough, no it doesn't.

Rock and roll was appropriated from blues and r'n'b - does that make it worthless as a genre? Do modern metal artists undermine their predecessors by only partially emulating them?

No, and no again. I appreciate that commercialisation can be frustrating, but it's an unfortunate part of the process of musical evolution - these people you perceive as "copying" you because they want to "look cool" for the most part, probably have simply discovered, and genuinely are enjoying what is to them, a new sub-genre of music. THAT IS NOT A BAD THING. Music is awesome - so why shouldn't it be as participatory as possible? It's very narrow minded to think "well, I heard this band first, so I must keep them to myself" - and it's counterproductive to the bands as well: they may honestly have no wish to make lots of money from their music, but they do need to be able to sustain themselves, at least, if they wish to keep producing it.

Now, obviously, when enough people like a thing, then companies etc. will start trying to deduce ways to make that thing profitable. However, it really would be unjust to blame the other fans, or for that matter, any of the bands for this: they, just like you, are simply trying to enjoy the music.

Personally I've never adhered to one specific subculture stringently enough to feel that people in general are imitating me, although I have experienced a few individual/ specific instances of people imitating me on a personal level. I generally take it as a compliment - why should I mind if, for example, I explain my opinion on politics, or religion, or mention some music that I like, and then the person to whom I've explained myself is sufficiently persuaded by my motivations, rhetoric, or taste, to wish to adopt that opinion for themselves? Surely that's a good thing?

As far as parody goes - well, I've been bullied and ridiculed for any number of things. What's one more to add to the pile? I'm confident enough in my own principles to dismiss the castigation of people so insecure in their own self esteem that they feel the need to attempt to empower themselves by unfairly belittling others.

I get the impression that you feel like something you love has been appropriated from you, and bastardised, but the truth is that it was never yours, in a proprietary sense, to begin with: it's something that you participated in, certainly, but how can a collective idea or movement be said to belong to any one person?
You cannot possess it. You can merely believe in it.
My second point is that the thing you love has not been corrupted at all - all the original music you enjoyed is still there - it still exists [unless for some reason every single person who owned it as a cd or file or record destroyed or deleted it]. Your memories of it remain - surely you do not allow modern incarnations of the genre to tarnish them?

Should I suddenly hate Buffy the Vampire Slayer just because the vampire genre has now suffered Twilight? No. Of course not - because all the things from the past that I love... are still there for me to appreciate. Do I care that the vampire genre is currently awash with girly romances? Not particularly - because even though it is a little frustrating, I know that logically, this also means that there is far more chance of GOOD new vampire fiction getting published as well. I just have to sift through the dross a bit.

This is how it is with music. It really doesn't matter if there are modern bands you dislike, that claim influence from bands you do like. So what? Didn't Hitler claim Darwinian theory as an excuse for eugenics? Doesn't mean Darwin wasn't a brilliant guy - just that a few of the people who decided to read his material were *******s of the highest [or should that be lowest?] order. That happens. It's a risk of being successful.

Anyway, since we're on the subject, I'd be interested to hear what, in your opinion are the core values of emo music... and in seeing how many other people unequivocally agree with them.

I can't believe it's 2014 and we're arguing about what is and isn't emo.
If people haven't learned by now, there's no hope in them ever catching on.

Who's the stunner in your avvy?

Her name's Virginie Ledoyen, she's a French actress known mostly for her role in the Leonardo DiCaprio film 'The Beach'
You know the one where DiCaprio goes to Thailand in search of purpose and finds the island colony of world travelers?

This is obviously a picture of her in the late 90's/early 2000's but she's aged well.
This is a gallery of her 10 years after The Beach was released

Virginie wears dress, price on application, Chanel Paris-Moscow - London Evening Standard

Don't think she had much of a prolific career outside her home country but whenever she smiles, it just gets me. I just melt.

Anyway, back on topic here's a track for you guys;



and another



They're more modern. Not every emo conversation has to come back to Mike Kinsella's bands.

just gonna quote this for truth and let myself out before this turns into that thread in the punk section by Larehip.



to answer the OP who hasnt even signed in in a month and has probably been scared off, Lifetime are good:

Where in their catalogue should I start?

Also, as for the "core values" of emo, you just gotta hear it. Listen to the bands posted in this thread. They should share something the third emo bands don't have.

Probably their full length, Whenever, If Ever. This song is so good.



But I mean, their entire discography is fantastic, including their comp track "To the Janitor, To the King".



So go ahead and listen to the full length, but you'll ultimately want everything. They only have 80 minutes worth of music in total.

this is great. thanks!

Topshelf Records is really cornering this market right now. Here's another one

This is more screamo but there are female vocals in this. This is my favorite song from I Would Set Myself On Fire For You :)

reminds me a lot of old death cab for cutie tbh


not a bad thing