NYC is home to a great (and sometimes overlooked) underground screamo scene at the moment, and though coronavirus has taken its toll on it (along with everything else it's taken its toll on), it hasn't been able to stop it completely. Today, Larry Records and Limited To One have released a compilation with songs by six of the city's best current screamo bands, and five of these songs were actually recorded during the pandemic.
Larry Records owner Eric Jablon tells us, "Being a New York native, I have always had a place in my heart for New York screamo. The music here has been killing it for the past few years and I wanted to showcase these amazing bands. All the songs are demo versions and five out of six were actually recorded during corona."
The comp includes Eric's band Pique, who contribute the effectively raw "My DIY Is Not Their DIY." There's also the pulverizing "A Noble In Iron Fetters" by Army Wives; the pained, passionate "A Calm, Noble Voice Lying To You" by Aspine; the clean/melodic-turns-harsh/heavy journey of Aspartame's "Still"; the discordant attack of Lytic's (the current band of Saetia/Off Minor member Jamie Behar) "Shaped by Hand of Virtue"; and a gorgeous acoustic contribution from Chiming, "III" (which follows their recent "I & II"). The whole comp is great, as you can hear for yourself by streaming it below.
Physical copies will be limited to 50 cassettes and 21 lathes, available at Larry Records' Bandcamp now and in the Limited To One store starting Friday (7/3).
