The story of BEN QUAD is punctuated by moments of randomness: a chance meeting via Craigslist bonding over bands like Microwave and Modern Baseball. An out-of-nowhere namedrop from indie tastemaker Ian Cohen lauding their debut album, 2022’s I’m Scared That’s All There Is. A one-off sonic curveball that somehow turned into their biggest song–and, without them realizing it at the time, a brand-new freedom to reinvent themselves. But serendipity has done more than bring Ben Quad here, to the release of WISHER, their first LP for Pure Noise Records: It’s taught them to thrive inside the unpredictable, to harness a no-limits musical mentality and self-effacing sense of humor and turn it into some of the most resonant, captivating emo of today. Well, actually, post-emo. “This is our love letter to the genre,” singer/guitarist Sam Wegrzynski says of the album. “It’s an amalgamation of all the shit emo kids like: screaming, synths, pop sensibilities all mixed withcrazy emotional stuff. What’s post-emo if not the next evolution?” The Oklahoma City-based quartet have always been evolving. I’m Scared That’s All There Is cemented them as a force in the modern emo movement, landing them on bills with the likes of Hot Mulligan and Knuckle Puck. The standalone single “You’re Part of It” added a harder, screamo-tinged edge to their sound, while an outpouring of support to a social media shitpost declaring “If ‘You're Part of It’ gets 10K streams by Wednesday, we'll put out a screamo EP” took them even further down that road with Ephemera, their 2024 EP. (The song currentlyboasts more than 4 million streams.) Now, with Wisher, the band deliver a true follow-up to theirdebut that fully embraces everything that’s followed it since. The 10 songs on Wisher find Wegrzynski, Edgar Viveros (leadguitar), Henry Shields (bass/backing vocals) and Isaac Young (drums) pulling from every corner of their recordcollections: jagged punk riffs, glassy math-rock, sticky pop hooks and glitchy production that push toward something futuristic. But rather thana scattershot collage, these elements recur asmotifs–a melody here, a guitar line there–stitched together with purpose and intention. First single “It’s Just A Title” serves up a groove factory complemented by smooth vocals andlifting keyboards, while the frantic “Painless” rips through speakers with the ferocity and melodicism of They’re Only Chasing Safety-era Underoath, if their guitarists spent more time studying Midwest emo than metalcore. “Did You Decide to Skip Arts and Crafts” welcomesTreaty Oak Revival singer Sam Canty–and a well-placed banjo–onto a genre-blending Tumblr-era throwback, “Classic Case of Dead Guy on the Ground” ascends with a preposterously sublime falsetto hook, and the brooding “West of West” brings things full circlefor the band with a cameo from Microwave’s Nathan Hardy. Leaving the Sooner State for New Jersey, the band connected with producer Jon Markson (The Story So Far, Drug Church) to bring the album to life, taking up residence at his farm/studio fortheir first real studio experience. Amidst barnyard animals and peaceful countryside, the idyllic setting provided the perfect backdrop–full of time and space–to find themselves and the next evolution of their sound. “Our older stuff was done driving to and from places on the weekend,” Wegrzynski says. “But this time, we had access to rooms full of instruments like banjos and sleigh bells and more ampheads than I could ever imagine. I think it’s a change in sound because it’s a change in scenery. How can you be sad in a beautiful place like that?” That shift in perspective carries directly into Wisher’s subject matter. In stark contrast to the heavy existential questions the band posed on I’m Scared That’s All There Is, the songs here aren’t about survival but rather savoring life’s small victories–the moments that might not feellike much at the time but can snowball into something bigger if you only allow yourself to find the joy in them. In many ways, it’s much like Ben Quad themselves, their own story built on a string of seemingly minor twists of fate that’s only been amplified by a relentless DIY attitude andinstinct to chase every idea, no matter how improbable. “We really wanted to build a more positive outlook, a more hopeful tone,” Viveros explains.“We’re still talking about love, loss–all the things that emo bands write about–but we wantedto spin it on its head and let people know that things can get better. Life is what you make it, andit’s important to grasp onto the little moments.”  

the motherfucking band.

Footballhead is a Chicago-based alternative rock band headed by Ryan Nolen. At its heart, the band is a vessel to toil forward through internal and external insecurity. It also serves the unrelenting spirit of new-millennium Midwestern youth, with MTV and skatepark dreams in the core of their memories. By blending pop structures with alt and emo sounds, Footballhead channels the frantic, dramatic, and anthemic to map the pressure points of existence. It’s outcast music, revitalized in search of a modern, blissful awakening.  Nolen was a skate kid from the western Chicago suburbs; the one who only kicked it with older neighborhood kids. The punkish attitude of late-90s and early-aughts alt-rock galvanized Nolen, from the infectiously fun music down to the fashion. A teenage relocation to Palm Springs, CA coincided with Nolen inundating himself with all the music he could: Warped Tour, 411 videos, Limewire and the like. The Footballhead ethos comes from this comfort zone of pop impulses and raucous energy, carried by a DIY spirit that grants Nolen the autonomy to facilitate honesty and reflection.  Joined by Snow Ellet, Adam Siska, Liam Burns, and Robby Kuntz, Footballhead crafts supercharged rock songs like brief, open secrets. However weathered one is from their struggles and mistakes, this music offers unbridled fun as a reprieve, and salves for the shaken. These are your old friends inviting you in to commiserate, elevate, and believe.

Aren’t We Amphibians make chaotic and cathartic anthems for anyone who finds beauty in the world despite all the reasons not to. On their debut full-length, Parade! Parade!, the San Diego-based trio transform the emo playbook into something weirdly joyful and instantly memorable. The act of “parading,” in the band’s context, is the opposite of wallowing; taking all of your past experiences, good or bad, and using them as a means to appreciate the fact you made it this far at all. Formed by lifelong friends Joshua Talbot (he/him; vocalist and guitarist), Brandon Cunningham (he/him; drummer) and his brother Tyler Cunningham (he/him, bassist), Aren’t We Amphibians–AWA–is a true testament to growing up with your band, not just bouncing from one to the other. Every awkward phase of life has led to the creation of Parade! Parade!, and they’ve experienced it all together. This album marks both their mission statement and a map to their future; a commitment to continue finding light amidst the wreckage of life.