Today we will turn our attention to an unusual, atypical, and in recent years increasingly popular musical genre known as Midwest emo. This is not about nostalgia for 2007, but rather a cohesive aesthetic and philosophy that took shape in the mid-1990s in the Midwest of the United States — in Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Minnesota. Unlike the more aggressive popular emo from the East Coast, Midwest emo was built on a minor atmosphere, complex time signatures, erratic rhythms, and sharp dynamics — from whispers to bright vocal outbursts. Independent labels (Polyvinyl, Jade Tree, Caulfield Records, Vagrant, Deep Elm), local clubs in major cities of the designated states, fanzines (homemade magazines from active listeners that were distributed at concerts), and homemade tapes played a key role in the emergence of this genre. One of the starting points is considered to be the album by the band Cap’n Jazz — Shmap’n Shmazz, released in 1995. It can be described as a mix of post-hardcore, absurdity in rhythms, and teenage poetry (most of the members were around 20 years old). Although the band broke up almost immediately after the release of this landmark album, Shmap’n Shmazz made it onto NME's list of the 20 emo albums that have stood the test of time. In Rolling Stone's ranking of the "40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time," Shmap’n Shmazz took 7th place, becoming an important model for dozens of emo and post-hardcore bands of the late 90s and 2000s. Another iconic band of the genre is American Football. Their self-titled debut album from 1999 changed the perception of how the emo genre could sound. The musicians used complex guitar parts, unconventional time signatures, and emphasized technical mastery, which is why the album is often classified as math rock. Although the album initially did not receive widespread recognition, leading to the band's breakup shortly after its release, over time it gained cult status. In the mid-2010s, during a resurgence of interest in the emo genre, the album became a true benchmark for new generations of musicians. The 2014 reissue confirmed its relevance — demand was so high that it crashed the label's website, and the remaster made it onto the Billboard 200. Moreover, this record gave us one of the most recognizable houses in the emo genre or even in the music industry as a whole. In the 90s, a building in the town of Urbana, Illinois, became a popular spot for student parties and punk concerts. While studying at university, Chris Strong — the photographer and cover artist — lived in the basement of this house. The members of American Football were friends with Strong and often visited this house for concerts and parties. When the musicians asked him to shoot the cover for their debut album, he took a whole series of photographs of the building. Ultimately, they chose a nighttime shot of the second-floor window of the facade. According to vocalist Mike Kinsella, the band chose this image because it appealed to them the most. After the band's breakup in 2000 and their reunion in 2014, Strong filmed a music video for "Never Meant" — the opening track of the 1999 album, which became the most streamed song in American Football's history. In 2016, a photograph of the inside of the front door, taken by him from the stairs, adorned the cover of the band's second album. Alongside them, attention to Midwest emo was drawn by The Promise Ring with the album Nothing Feels Good (1997), Braid and their record Frame & Canvas (1998), Mineral with the releases The Power of Failing and EndSerenading, as well as Texas Is the Reason with the album Do You Know Who You Are. The genre also often includes the album Diary by Sunny Day Real Estate, although the band was not connected to the Midwest. All these bands and albums solidified Midwest emo on the musical map. The lyrics, sound, and even covers evoked memories of summer evenings, hangouts with friends, and chance encounters with girls in a favorite music store in a small town. After the breakup of key bands that did not receive due attention at the time, Midwest emo gradually faded away, giving way to emo pop, alternative rock, and post-hardcore. However, in the 2010s, Midwest experienced a mega-renaissance. This period was dubbed the "fourth wave of emo music," which reinterpreted everything that was created in the second half of the 90s. Algernon Cadwallader brought back the chaotic energy of Midwest emo, Modern Baseball infused personal lyrics with a touch of self-irony, and Foxing added elements of post-rock to their sound in the album The Albatross. The most iconic band became Tiny Moving Parts, who managed to combine emotional delivery, personal lyrics, and virtuosic guitar technique. The beginning of the track "Always Focused" became a hallmark of the revived genre. Tiny Moving Parts eventually gained worldwide recognition and were scheduled to perform in Moscow in 2020 at the bar Punk Fiction, but the pandemic disrupted this concert. Somewhere in the back of a drawer lies a ticket — a reminder of the canceled evening and hope for a return. The genre also includes Mom Jeans and Remo Drive, although their sound leans more towards punk rock and is closer to the emo pop of the early 2000s. The internet played a huge role in reviving interest: the music platform Bandcamp, the social network Reddit, and modern streaming services introduced Midwest emo to a much larger audience than in the 90s. Moreover, alongside new artists, the pioneers of the genre rose from the ashes, beginning to reissue old albums and create something new. Memes about the house from the American Football album made it a part of pop culture. Speaking of the house, in the fall of 2022, it was put up for sale, and rumors circulated that developers planned to demolish the building and construct a modern condominium in its place. On May 5, 2023, American Football announced on social media that they had purchased the house together with Polyvinyl Records, Chris Strong, photographer Atiba Jefferson, and the Chicago organization Open House Contemporary. The press release emphasized that the house had become a symbol of a nostalgic dream about the possibilities and beauty of beginnings — and Polyvinyl could not allow this story to disappear. Since 2023, the building has been marked on Google Maps as a cult location, and recently American Football announced the release of a new album on May 1 — featuring a photograph taken from that very second-floor window.