Damezumari

This is one of my favorites. Damezumari is a very original, distinctive emotive-hardcore band. This band has some very talented musicianship with some awesomely noodly guitar and bass work, at times almost sounding like a jazz band gone emo. The vocals are very distinctive, kind of halfway between singing and yelling, but eventually the odd vocals became one of my favorite parts of this band. I dont know much besides this band besides that they kick ass so just give them a listen.

Start off with Angelus Novus, they are all incredible albums but thats a good one to start with.

Damezumari Angelus Novus
Damezumari The Politics of Lonely
Damezumari No Hugging, No Learning
Damezumari/Steeples/Someplace to hide
Damezumari/Fire Team Charlie

Touche Amore

One of my favorite releases of the last year. Touche Amore, a relatively young band from LA, combines melodic hardcore and screamo for a very unique, heavy sound. One of those albums where you can just feel the energy. The vocals are raw, the drums simple but solid and powerful. And besides, who can hate a band with a song called WeHateFredPhelps.com ? My favorite is definitly Honest sleep which starts off very intense with some hard hitting drums and effective pauses that leads into a very well put together melodic section and the ending is well..just listen. Broken records is my second favorite

Touche Amore 2008 7"