xcult_classicx

portrait sounds really really heartfelt though

Trauma

Seriously, in some parts, Drew just sounds like he's trying to write intelligent-sounding lyrics rather than make an intimate song.
Even though songs like "Same Shade" and "Kill the Switch" are epic, Jeff Burgoon was very punctual, and still more heartfelt, in songs like "Missing the Shore" (And he said it wasn't worth it if I made you feel like you're everything).
Both amazing bands nonetheless.

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sleepy jack

When did everyone decide to start hating on Circle Takes the Square? Did they sell too many shirts or something?

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bardonodude

I think it has to do with CTTS beginning to "sell out" and being the only popular true screamo band. So many people know about them and theyre so good that some people dont want to like them anymore merely because they seem to overshadow other extremely less popular bands...i.e. portrait

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

those who think CTTS are sellouts/too commercial or whatever are generally those who have the "eliter-than-thou" feel to them.

xcassiusx

C.T.T.S. just doesnt seem overly pretenious and obnoxious, they smell of being overly pretenious and obnoxious in their music. I think it's pretty clear they seem to try for more intellectual aspects rather than intimate and emotional aspects.

Just because CTTS might have more epic constructed songs and intellectual poetic thoughts throughout their music doesnt make me like them more than Portrait.


Portrait IS really heart-felt and I cite them as one of the major influences for modern screamo. Plus Portrait can have some epic awesome beautiful build ups as well (listen to "north ebony" SERIOUSLY AWESOMENESS)
Best songs: (in no particular order)
"summer solstice"
"north ebony"
"missing the shore"
"constellations of a stargazing iris"

All beautiful well done songs with special parts in them. Summer Solstice could be possibly my favorite song by them, their 1:30 intro build up with the soft singing is just completely amazing, everything about it. North Ebony's 2:30 build up is genius and is very refreshing, which eventually leads us to Portrait's ability to pull off extremely intense moments while still mixing in beauty and emotion. The violent viola and the shreding guitar riffs with the double-kick bass drums stomping away. Missing The Shore is packed full of awesome lyric-lines and great music moments that is spine-tingling for myself. Continiously shouting aloud "love is not for me!" (2:17) This is another song you really gotta pay attention to, their guitarists can get overlooked due to their recording qualities but besides their passionate soft parts, they pull off some great heavy/shredding riffs. I'm really a sucker for a song at the last minute (3:20) And of course, Constellations Of A Stargazing Iris has to be one of thee earliest songs ever recorded with the signature emo/screamo parts where at the soft part/breakdown, the band goes crazy with just bursts of heartfelt screams (which seems more like a tradition with bands so often these past years, no wonder they're called such an influence for modern screamo)

Trauma

Word.
Also, that was a very good review of Portrait.

Circle Takes The Square aren't sellouts or anything like that, they're very popular because they're very good, and they were in the right place at the right time. Bands like Portrait circa 1996 who were arguably "better" than Circle Takes The Square just didn't have everything going for them at the right time.

My only problem with CTTS is exactly what cassius said. On top of that, they would probably be the biggest band (even more than Ampere) to say "We don't associate ourselves with emo or screamo, we are a combination of metal and punk rock, through and through". This is so ironic just because their sound is probably 100X more "emo" than Ampere, and you know Drew listens to a ****load of bands like City of Caterpillar, Saetia, and Pg. 99; their influence on the band is obvious. That pretense alone is infuriating.

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A mi no me importa nada
Para mi la vida es un sueño

xcassiusx

Well, I'm pretty sure it's the fact they just reject genre terms, as many bands and fans have done in the past (and people continue to now). Some bands, especially a lot of the modern day screamo bands, have finally accepted it, or have no beef with calling their music either "emo" or "screamo"

Guy, from Rites Of Spring, and Ian MacKaye, of legendary Minor Threat and future emo-project Embrace, have both refused the coin term and critized it. They both thought they were playing punk rock, and magazines begin to term these certain D.C. bands "emocore" as a way to help identify their bands/approach with ease. At the time, their bands, along with many others (Gray Matter, Beefeater, One Last Wish, etc) basically WERE playing punk rock. They basically just took one step back from the aggressive hardcore punk wave that exploded in the early 80s and added very small and different elements (for some bands, the smallest difference from an "emocore" band and a "punk rock" band was the lyrics).

As time moves on, emocore/emo/hardcore emo bands began to further and further away from their signature fast and simple power chord and hit the snare and highhats a lot formula. Bands began to incoroporate different writing styles, octave chords, different song structures, low to high dynamics (and vice versa), twinkley guitars, and many more additions over time.

Yet these bands continue to simply associate themselves with their roots. Maybe it's due to the fact they're still just branching off from Punk Rock, or maybe it's the fact they still share the same ol' punk rock and D.I.Y. and political ideologies. Hell, maybe one band can admit they just hate being labeled as "emo/screamo" when all these other trendy fake bands are tagged that as well...

(a lot of bands sticking with their punk rock roots can include pg. 99 (pageninetynine) who really helped spread the word of punk rock and even used the what is now the infamous Kurt Cobain quote at the beginning of document #8. Others are Welcome The Plague Year, Orchid, etc. and apperarantly C.T.T.S.)

Other bands who really stick with their punk rock roots of having D.I.Y. ethics and having more than plenty political minded lyrics, but have also accepted the term "screamo" One major example is Cease Upon The Capitol.

swim

Sellouts? No fucking way. Overrated? Sure are but so what.

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sleepy jack

I don't understand how anyone could call CTTS sells out when they havn't switched labels or anything like that and havn't released anything since as the roots undo. And last time I checked As the Roots Undo was the same album everyone here was cumming all over about two months ago.

Aside from that as far as overrated emo bands go, how come no one is bitching about Orchid? At least CTTS has a unique sound even if it is 'pretentious' and 'obnoxious'.

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