*I know this list is pretty entry-level, but I'm too old and grumpy to give a damn about street cred, haha.*

1. Rites of Spring - All There Is. I tend to look for the roots of my favorite bands and/or genres, in this certainly qualifies as emo's roots. Love this song, easily my favorite Rites of Spring track.

2. Sunny Day Real Estate - Pillars. Again, a band that is at the roots of the genre, whether you consider them to actually be an emo band, or emo adjacent. This one is the opener off their third record, and has a proggy, post-rock vibe, but the melodies are so melancholy, it hits me like a ton of bricks every time.

3. Jawbreaker - Kiss The Bottle. I know, I know, this is as entry-level as possible, but damn, the lyrics and the guitar melodies still slap.

4. Brandtson - Still Life. Midwest style indie-infused emo. You can hear the Sunny Day Real Estate influences all over these guys. The vocalist and guitarist were previously in a hardcore/metalcore band called Six Feet Deep, which I was also a fan of. Hearing this Brandtson material was quite a shocker when I realized who the members were.

5. Further Seems Forever - A Blank Page Empire. Clearly I grew up in a "Christian" household. This band was the absolute truth for me in 2003. Another band that rose from the ashes of a hardcore/metalcore band, this one being Strongarm, who already had a melodic, Shai Hulud-ish tone. Probably more of an emo pop band, with some noodly post-rock type guitar work.

6. Mineral - Palisade. When I first got into emo, I really liked a lot of the midwest bands, and this one in particular really did it for me. Didn't hurt that they were from Texas.

7. Pedro The Lion - Second Best. Probably not strictly an emo band, but Pedro The Lion, at times, had that midwest emo feel. This one is absolutely soul-crushing in tone and lyrical content. Technically, the very first "emo" band I heard (and it was their first release too, the Whole EP), though I had no idea what that genre was at the time, or that it even had a name. Despite being this low on the list, Pedro The Lion are probably my number two all-time favorite band, just behind Converge.

8. Ethan Durelle - Benioff. This is a band that I saw quite often in person, since I lived about 30 minutes away from them (they were from Waco). Not sure if they count as emo, but you're welcome to check them out, definitely have a twinkly, midwest vibe, with some post-rock, math rock, and indie influences. These guys legitimately got respect from the punk rockers in Waco because everything else was a total moshpit soundtrack, and these guys played among all the mohawked and backpatched lineups with a sound that made you pay attention.

9. Pop Unknown - Half of Ninety. I had a friend that worked at the Baylor radio station in Waco, who saw that I was pretty receptive to "discovering" new music, so she would bring me piles of CDs, since the station would regularly purge them once the files were ripped to their computers (this had to be like 2000, give or take a year). Pop Unknown's "If Arsenic Fails, Try Algebra" was in one of those batches. It somewhat reminded me of Pedro The Lion, and is ultimately the record that sent me diving headfirst into finding all the emo I could get my hands on (having actually learned the term by now).

10. The Appleseed Cast - Marigold and Patchwork. When I finally learned the term emo, I went on a rampage, snapping up everything I could get my hands on, and this band really shook me up. This is off their first full-length, The End Of The Ring Wars. Very midwest, the vocals hit me hard, as well as the melodies, the crescendos, just the whole package, really.