10 songs from 10 of my favorite fifth wave emo bands reimagined using the soundfonts of some of my favorite video games.

this compilation is free to download. if you would like to add it in to your collection, please know that any & all proceeds from digital sales will be donated to Trans Lifeline. (translifeline.org)
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The idea of musical genre is a figment of our collective imagination. It’s a word we’ve made up to describe self-imposed, discrete, often rigidly categorized (but imaginary) schemas of classification that consolidate the infinite number of musical ideas our brains have the capacity to create & understand into a digestible number of groups. Philosophers & psychologists throughout history have noted similar “grouping” phenomena across all sorts of human activities - and it makes sense: our brain experiences more “cognitive ease” when there are less components to process & keep track of. Gestalt psychologists call this “the law of Prägnanz”: as individuals perceive the world, they eliminate complexity and unfamiliarity so they can observe reality in its most simplistic form.

But what if by eliminating the complexity & depth in understanding the art that others create, we are systematically limiting our collective creative conscience? What if by viewing the art form of musical expression through the lens of a small number of strictly gatekept “buckets”, we have effectively marginalized generations of creatives that don’t connect to or relate with the established groupings?

In many ways, fifth wave emo is the “anti-genre” that strives to break apart these schemas, blurring the lines of what we consider musical style until any one influence is only a mere overtone within the whole, the Gestalt. You would be hard pressed to find a self-proclaimed fifth wave emo band that sounds much like any other. But maybe that’s the point.

Genre is fake. But fifth wave is real.

peace,
Jacob
chp

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"So what the h*ck is Fifth Wave Emo? You’ve probably heard the term on Tw*tter or TikT*k, but little do people know that it is an actual movement. Post-2016, near the death of the emo revival, musicians from across the world slowly began to abandon the traditional midwest emo formula. They took a new refreshing spin on the genre, mostly taking queues from bedroom and noise pop, chiptune and experimental music.

A lot of this movement could be attributed to bands like The Brave Little Abacus, Crying and Heccra who were ahead of their time in regards to this.

With midwest emo gaining an entire new generation of audience. The genre saw more than just a change in sound, but also a change in the viewpoint in lyrics and issues raised in them. The genre today isn’t as much of a white cis male centered genre as it once was.

Fifth Wave Emo to me is people accepting it’s okay (and awesome) to not be dogmatic when approaching a genre that is known for being so.

Fifth Wave Emo is real, and it is here to stay."

[Jesse Gomez, @real_emo_only_consists_of_the]