Braid: The Age of Octeen

The Age of Octeen
The Age of Octeen
1996Emo

Oh, emo, you’ve come a long way. Braid is one of the first, and one of the least annoying. The rhythms are crazy, and all over the place. This is true emo in its purest forms. It’s as if the band just picked up its instruments and let the spirit carry them. If you’re looking for normal song structure, go listen to some Good Charlotte and leave us alone, but if you want to be a little challenged by complex start and stop beauty, you could certainly do worse. How they would play this stuff the same way twice is beyond me, but the live sound of the album gives you the sense that you could go to show after show (if they were still together) and get a different, cool experience every time.