New Year's Eve: Thursday - Jet Black New Year

     This one's got all kinds of layers going on. See, it's a post for New Year's Eve, and the song's at least somewhat New Year's themed. And New Year's Eve fell on a Thursday in 2015, and this is a really cool song from seminal post-hardcore act Thursday. It's like an onion, right?

     Or maybe not. Either way, even if you think the title is a little too emo, Thursday's "Jet Black New Year", from the 2002 Five Stories Falling EP, is a great song and one of my favourite Thursday tracks. The music has a bit of an edge that lots of Thursday lacks, even if the lyrics are standard Geoff Rickly (which is to say decent, but maybe, like I said, too emo for tr00 metalheads). So since I'm so late to the literal party with this one, keep it in your back pocket for next New Year's.

Monday: Thursday - For the Workforce, Drowning

     Ever feel like you're getting buried in whatever it is you're working on? Like you're taking one step forward and two steps back? I get that feeling all the time, so if you're anything like me, I've got the perfect belated Monday song for you.

     Emo/screamo/post-hardcore pioneers Thursday opened their 2003 album War All the Time with "For the Workforce, Drowning", a lament for our cubically contained, post-modern office world. But even if you don't sit behind a desk making copies (of copies of copies, when will it end?) I think you can probably still raise your defiant fist and get into to the spirit of casting off whatever labour shackles happen to have you fettered. Start your soundtrack for said shackle off-casting with this one.

Thursday: Thursday - Signals Over the Air

     Time for another Throwback Thursday song, and this week I've got the perfect pick in the form of a track from celebrated emo/screamo/post-hardcore act Thursday. A Throwback Thursday song by Thursday. Get it? Get it?! Yeah, you get it.

     2001's sophomore disc Full Collapse remains my favourite Thursday record, probably due in no small part to it belonging to a rose-coloured part of my youth, but they've got a catalogue with lots of other good stuff in it. Full Collapse follow-up War All the Time is one such solid record, and a piece of work that fans of the genre should check out.

     And to make sure that you check it out you do, I'm going to hook you the same way Thursday hooked me on War All the Time back in 2003, with the album's first single "Signals Over the Air". Catchy, singable, and with just enough groove to get your head going, "Signals Over the Air" is a great example of just how much better than your preconceptions "emo" can be.

United Nations - United Nations vs. United Nations

     You might be in need of something snappy after last night's post-rock meanderings, so tonight I bring you an incendiary couple of minutes of modern hardcore/aggro post-punk from supergroup United Nations.

     With a founding roster than includes members of Thursday, Glassjaw, and Converge, United Nations is a supergroup in the truest sense of the word, and a mysterious one at that. The permanent membership of the band remains largely unconfirmed and speculative, other than Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly, giving it the feel of a collective where art is more important than artists.

     The band's sophomore LP The Next Four Years comes out in the next couple of weeks, so you should probably get ready by listening to the first song to be released, "United Nations vs. United Nations", and hear a band that has most definitely picked up the torch first lit by Refused.

Song of the Day Double Header 2: The Resongining

     Apparently we're going to tackle this long weekend in chunks. OK, fine.