Check out these lyrics:

Ambulance, let me in
Don’t make me stay here
Ambulance, hold your breath
We’re running short on air
Breathe it in, resuscitate

At the edge
You see clearly
I was dead
Now I’m back to life
And love is a fragile thing
We all stand on a bridge
That’s been slowly burning down

Ambulance, take me back
To the house I was born in
Ambulance, finish it
Don’t wake me up again
Ambulance, resuscitate

At the edge
You see clearly
I was dead
Now I’m back to life
And love is a fragile thing
We all stand on a bridge
That’s been slowly burning

Breathe in, breathe out
Resuscitate
Blink if you’re hearing this
Are we clear
Set the charge, take the hit
Clear
Just one more time
Breathe in, breathe in
While there’s still time

We could be the heartbeat
And everything nine tenths collapsed
Would come back to life
We could be the breath of air
Pushed into the lungs of the dying
Can you feel a pulse
It’s been stopped for so long
Can you start it
Can you feel a pulse
It’s been stopped for so long
Let’s restart it
With a kick drum hit
With a thousand voices
With a single word
Live, live, live

When alone
You see clearly
I would know
Now I want to live and love
All these fragile things
We all stand on a bridge
That’s been slowly burning down

You can’t tell me those words aren’t existential in their basic function.  Now if you go on listen to this song, Resuscitation of a Dead Man by Thursday, you will really feel how this song contains a perfect example of anxiety, of Angst.  This is what I keep saying, over and over again. Post-hardcore music as a genre is a musical embodiment of existential dilemmas and the Angst inherent in existence. It is conflicted, it  struggles. The funny thing is…everyone popularly hates on the whole “emo” thing but it seems to me that these emo-kids are the ones who are really getting the picture. They see life for the absurdity it is and they struggle with it. If you really listen to their music that is what it is about, not the violence of the punks or the death-fare of the goths and heavy metal. Contrary to the popular assumption, most post-hardcore music (which is deemed emo) does NOT talk about kids breakin up with girlfirends–rather it talks about the absurdity and struggle of life–and it seeks after a way to get out of that.

Check out these other songs:

Only Medicine by Scary Kids Scaring Kids
Angela Baker and My Obsession with Fire by Senses Fail
A Goat in Sheep’s Rosary by From Autumn to Ashes
Deliverance! by From First to Last
Pretty much any other song by Thursday, esp Cross out the Eyes, I am the Killer, and Asleep in the Chapel
Capricorn by 30 Seconds to Mars (really their whole first, self-titled album)

Now go read some existentialism! Get some Camus or some Sartre and tell me that doesn’t line up! These guys probably don’t understand or know of their philosophical counterparts but nonetheless, I see this as evidence that as technology spreads it consumes our ability to avoid this Angst. Its coming!

On my way home from Rock Hill today I was listening to some really good music. First I listened to the new album by the EBM/futurepop freakin awesome band VNV Nation. I was my first listen through and I was pleased that Ronan (the lead singer/songwriter/mixer) was able to keep up his same ethereal sound with the nice balance of fast beats and slow interludes. And, as always, his lyrics were fantastic.

Then I switched to some post-hardcore, a genre that a lot of the people I know stay away from. As far as I can tell, two types of people listen to post-hardcore: morons who just like to scream and thrash around mosh-pit style, or those who feel incredibly passionately about life and the things these songwriters are talking about. Most people say post-hardcore is “emo” but the stereotype…umm, people just don’t get it.  These bands…they know something about life. They feel it deeply. Post-hardcore is about weaving the chaos, turmoil, and absurdity of life in with the beautiful, worthwhile, and passionate desires. The alteration of loud and soft, the screaming interwoven into soft, sometimes whispered, sometimes beautifully sung lyrics–these are all meant to capture the central paradox of life. These people are serious, yes, but they feel like they have a reason to be serious. These people struggle with depression, yes, but they say that there is a reason to be depressed. But most of all, these singers just seem intelligent.  I mean, some of them are freakin brilliant with the songs they put together.

Take these two songs: Deliverance! by From First to Last and A Goat in Sheep’s Rosary by From Autumn to Ashes (similar names, yes). Both of these are incredibly deep songs that speak very wisely about life. Deliverance is about how we want freedom but don’t seem to realize that freedom is only worthwhile if we can live with ourselves.  Then A Goat In Sheeps Rosary is even more incredible. I think these guys pretty much captured the emphasis of existential absurdism in one song. Amazing.

Anyways, why do I talk about music now? Because there is an element within me that lives off this stuff and I don’t think I’ve ever really found anyone who sees completely eye to eye with me on this. I mean, someone who is smart, deep, and able to listen to this stuff. I wish I had a friend who I could just sit around with and put this music on and we could talk through the night bout life. Curt and I can do that with EBM, so thats good. But he won’t touch the post-hardcore. Oh well.

I guess maybe I’m just too intense. Maybe this has to be a personal thing. Maybe this is a relic of a dramatic idealization of the group of passionate, deep feeling, friends who weren’t afraid to feel and to talk and to dance and to scream–or do other stuff like wear crazy clothes, dye our hair crazy colors–and to do it all with an intelligence and purpose that could not be denied. This is a crazy desire because it won’t ever happen.

So it goes.

I’ve been saying for a long time that Emo, screamo, and post-hardcore music is some of the best lyrical music around–that these people understand that the world is conflicted and that sometimes we need to really feel how conflicted it is.   Lyrically, the genre have been hard at work opposing violence and war.  Unfortunately, lists of “greatest anti-war songs” will always include the heavy hitters that everyone knows and listens to, from System of A Down to Bob Dylan.  This is the other anti-war song list, which I bring to you from my somewhat eclectic taste in music.  Besides the emo songs I’ve included a few others that are odd but excellent.

Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance

Friends in the Armed Forces by Thursday

Deth Kult Social Club by From Autumn To Ashes (warning, this video should have a siezure warning. Also, there’s a lot of screaming so click on the name over there for the lyrics)

Bulletproof by Scary Kids Scaring Kids   (More screaming Here)

Divide and Conquer by Story of the Year

A Battle Hymn For the Children by The Faint

Screaming at the Wailing Wall by Flogging Molly

Hero of War by Rise Against

Operation Iraqi Liberation by Anti-Flag

Holiday by Greenday