Troy and Matt introduce the podcast and the first series of episodes on post-hardcore legends Thursday, then dive into the band's debut album, Waiting.

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Today we're kicking off our new series on Paramore, starting with All We Know Is Falling. Launched into the heyday of the emo and pop punk revolution, it's a fun, catchy album and an impressive artistic statement for a band so young. We go through the album, a slew of early demos, and end the show with a new segment.

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We're a little bit baffled and a little bit intrigued by Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley's uneven swan song (for now?). As we finish our series on the band, we get into producer choices, a wealth of B-sides, and finally rank the discography.

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We're at the turning point of Thursday's career, so we're talking leaked demos, experimental left turns, and Dave Fridmann's controversial production and mix on A City By the Light Divided. 

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Our Thursday discography series continues with a deep dive into War All the Time. We talk through the band's embattled relationship with Victory Records, the long, expensive recording process, and how this album spoke to both of us as young fans.

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Will our second episode become an undisputed classic that defines an entire era? Will it influence every podcast recorded in the next 20 years? Probably not, but Full Collapse sure did.

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Rilo Kiley made the jump to a major label for More Adventurous, but we're still very much an independent podcast. Fortunately, that won't stop us from diving into this masterclass of songwriting and production.

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We're back to our Rilo Kiley series with The Execution of All Things, an album of deeply personal self-exploration and spectacular guitar lines.

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We're taking a break from our Rilo Kiley series to look back on 2024 and count down our favorite albums of the year.

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Our Rilo Kiley series continues with their first proper full-length, Take Offs and Landings. We go deep on the brilliance of "Pictures of Success," get distracted by Explosions In the Sky album artwork, and suggest additions to Matt's emo trumpet playlist. In an unlikely turn of events, Troy even praises a Blake song.

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Can we do the Frug? Can we do the Robocop? We certainly can’t do the Smurf. But we can talk about Rilo Kiley’s early years, their self-titled EP (also known as The Initial Friend), and whether Troy is related to Blake Sennett.

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We're taking a little break between series to discuss the (to date) short discography of Boygenius. Join us for supergroup history, celebrity replacement conspiracy theories, and a lot of great music.

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We’re finishing up our Thursday series with No Devolución and its striking balance of chaos and beauty. Then we dig into the band's breakup, subsequent reunion, their first new music in over a decade. Finally, we share our discography rankings and Troy unboxes some merch.

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After two major label releases and plenty of music industry disillusion, Thursday once again became free agents in 2007 and entered their most prolific era. We're digging into a slew of small releases and, of course, the vital and visceral Common Existence.

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Paramore broke big with Riot! Maybe we'll do the same with this episode? Probably not, but it was a lot of fun to rave about how great these songs. Also: lots of talk about The Final Riot (filmed in our native Chicago), Jimmy Eat World, and the remnants of MySpace.

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One of modern hardcore's premiere acts, The Armed are notable for the shocking intensity of their shows as much as their penchant for mystery, pranks, and performance art. But before all of that mystique formed, the Armed were "just" a hardcore band from Detroit (or were they?). On the first episode of this series, we get into the band's history, their debut album These Are Lights, and a handful EPs, some of which we had to dig up from the depths of the internet.

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For the final episode in our series on The Hotelier, we're joined by Lauren Lederman to talk poetry, Pitchfork Fest, and, of course, Goodness.

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While Rise Against was gaining steam, frontman Tim McIlrath was also pseudonymously dabbling in metalcore with The Killing Tree. They only released one full-length album, which Matt loves and Troy is hearing for the first time. We're joined by our first ever guest, Matt's longtime friend Kyle Wilnewic, to explore the early 2000s Chicago punk scene and this beloved side project's life and legacy.

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Our Rise Against series ends (for now) with Nowhere Generation, a refreshing return to form and, if you ask us, a genuinely great album. Also discussed: The Nowhere Generation II follow-up EP, the last great music video, and, of course, discography rankings.

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On paper, Wolves should work. Rise Against responding to the 2016 election with a renewed anger and energy seems like a recipe for a great record. And yet, we kind of hate it?

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Rise Against released The Black Market in 2014, and we... kind of forgot about it for a decade or so. Did the shift from overtly political to introspective lyrics not work? Did the band just sound too tired? Whatever the case, we're giving it a fair shot now.

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On Endgame, Rise Against allegedly considers the end of the world as we know it and whether that might actually be a good thing. But does the album actually engage with that idea in an interesting way? Is this where Rise Against really lost the plot for us? Did they have beef with Against Me!? Listen to find out.

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide and homophobia 22:30-29:30.

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Appeal To Reason features some of Rise Against's most enduring songs, but it's also a divisive album, which makes it a lot of fun to talk about. Join us to find out how our feelings have evolved since 2008 and why we aren't Geffen Records executives.

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This week we're digging into Rise Against's fourth album and arguably their magnum opus, The Sufferer and the Witness (including the Walmart edited version that Troy still has in his iTunes), as well as a slew of hardcore covers and the strange and surprising Generation Lost documentary.

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Our Rise Against series continues with Siren Song of the Counter Culture, their major label debut and source of one of their most enduring hits, "Swing Life Away." 

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We're getting to the core (pun not intended but we're not changing it) of our Rise Against series with a deep dive on Revolutions Per Minute, a formative punk rock album for both Matt and Troy and an undisputed genre classic.

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It's time for a new series, so we're diving into the early years of Chicago punk band Rise Against, from the early demos and signing to Fat Wreck Chords to their debut album, The Unraveling, and its weird alien cover art. Are you ready to rock?

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It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call Home, Like NoPlace Is There the defining album of an entire emo era. We get deep into weeds (or, more appropriately, wildflowers) of The Hotelier's second album, its themes, and its legacy.

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Sometimes bands have long, prolific careers filled with ups and downs, and sometimes they release one great album and fade away for unknown reasons. The Tower and the Fool is the latter, and this week we're talking about How Long, their stellar collection of emo Americana heartbreak.

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A power outage interrupted the finale of our Paramore series, but we fought through it to dig into yet another genre turn on This Is Why, making records in an unstable world, and the big remix project.

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We've reached Paramore's massive fifth album, After Laughter, which means we're talking Talking Heads influence, mallet percussion, and the coolest mewithoutYou collaboration ever. 

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As our Paramore series continues with their massive self-titled album, we dig into the hit songs, the band Live Journal, and why this album didn't land for us in 2013 (but don't worry, we love it now). We also pay tribute to David Lynch with our weekly recommendations.

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Paramore had already cemented their legacy in the scene with Riot!, but their third album took them to even greater heights. It's the Brand New Eyes era, and we're talking emo anthems, band turmoil, and Twilight.

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It's time for a new series, so we're digging into a short but spectacular discography: The Hotelier (or The Hotel Year, if you were around for the early days). This week we cover their early EPs and their debut album, It Never Goes Out, a burst of youthful idealism tempered with deep sadness.

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We're taking a little break between series to count down our favorite albums of the first half of 2025, including Laura Stevenson, Coheed and Cambria, and more.

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We're capping our My Chemical Romance series with a survey of the band's non-album output, from the Conventional Weapons singles series to "Fake Your Death," "The Foundations of Decay," and what may or may not exist of The Paper Kingdom.

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Look alive, sunshine! Our My Chemical Romance series continues with their final proper album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, a bright, power pop-inflected concept album (and expanded universe comic series) about rebellious gangs, evil corporations, android gods, and, sometimes, the experience of being in My Chemical Romance.

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Come one, come all to this tragic podcast! We're joined by Watch No Evil co-host Zach Siegel to discuss My Chemical Romance's magnum opus, The Black Parade.

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We're rising out of our coffins this week to talk about My Chemical Romance's breakthrough smash Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. We get into the mash-up of emo angst and pop punk choruses, the intense behind-the-scenes moments chronicled in Life On the Murder Scene, and the enduring legacy of this album.

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This week we're starting a new series, and it's a big one. My Chemical Romance is a foundational band for us and for the entire emo/punk genre. On this episode, we get into the band's origins, their connections to Noise Floor faves Thursday, and of course their first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.

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Our series on The Armed continues with a discussion of their third album Only Love. We break down the boundary-pushing songs, the literary and historical reference points, and how to trick Ben Koller into playing drums in your band.

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The Armed recruited guest drummer Nick Yacyshyn and proceeded to push the limits of their sound further than ever on their second album. We might not be pushing the limits of podcasting in the same way, but we are digging into Untitled, its commentary on modern media culture, and the band's incredible music videos.

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Our Bright Eyes series continues with the first canonical Bright Eyes album (or is it?). We explore Conor's growth as a songwriter on Letting Off the Happiness, the contributions of producer Mike Mogis, and a slew of B-sides and EPs from this era.

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It's fall, which means it's time to break out the acoustic guitar and get emotional with us as we go through the Bright Eyes discography. In this episode, we recount our personal histories with the midwestern emo/folk legends, touch on Conor Oberst's pre-Bright Eyes work, and break down the group's somewhat haphazard first album, A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997.

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It's time for a palate cleanser between series, so we're talking about one of the biggest one-album wonders of the pop punk scene: Box Car Racer. We get into the dynamics in Blink-182 and Tom Delonge's life that led to this side project, how 9/11 and existential angst informed the songs, and how the album holds up over two decades later.

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Our series on The Armed comes to a close with their latest album, The Future Is Here and Everything Needs To Be Destroyed. We break down the band's return to their aggressive roots and what the album has to say about existing in our present moment. And as always, we rank the discography.

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On Perfect Saviors, The Armed shed the aliases and antics in order to "be a reliable narrator." The result is their most expansive, accessible album yet, but it still has plenty of surprises. We get into every turn, from acoustic guitars to jazz fusion to the secret EP hidden inside the vinyl packaging.

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This week we refract into ULTRAPOP, arguably The Armed's magnum opus and inarguably another compelling turn in their discography. We cover the songs, the fascinating and absurd marketing campaign, and the culmination of the ULTRAPOP era in Live At the Masonic.

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Rise Against is back with their 10th album, Ricochet, so we're checking in on the Chicago punk stalwarts. We go deep on the band's approach to these songs with producer Catherine Marks, the discourse around the album's politics, and decide where it slots into our discography rankings.

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Bright Eyes formally ended an eight-year hiatus with 2020's Down In the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, the band's most grandiose, orchestrated album yet. On this episode, we cover the tribulations that led up to the band's reformation, expanding the Bright Eyes fold with players like Flea and Jon Theodore, and how processing tragedy informs this group of songs.

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