...right? Anyone?
I'm currently listening to Appleseed Cast: Low Flying Owl Volume 2. It's a beautiful thing, really, lo-fi production but at the same time, beautiful songs that twist within the limits of production costs and simply go for the jugular, isntead: melody, sometimes a song consisting of an overlapping, lovely guitar melody, other times intwined with the fantastic drumming and wonderful instrumentation of the other members (although the drumming really is a highlight). The vocals are buried in the mix (not a bad thing: pick up My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless", one of the most remarkable albums to ever be made with guitars), and it all exists in such a great style that a 2-CD doesn't seem pretentious - one gets the notion that Appleseed Cast could continue on to a 4-CD set and still not waste a note. And they used to be emo, too. heh. I don't know what they would be called now. Prog-rock? Who cares? Pick it up if you see it.
Also, other great albums that really return to guitar rock are And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead's "Source Tags and Codes". The melodies are great, and they'll switch up from pummeling onslaughts to breaks in the songs, combining to ride up into simply beautiful finishes. A great band.
If guitars aren't your thing, try Fennesz's "Endless Summer". Really, an excellent descent into noise/music/noise. Not like My Bloody Valentine, because droning is not really used. It's like melodic glitch. It's like drumless IDM. It's, like, completely rad, so go get it. The man does some incredible things with audio.
Or if you don't like music, you're probably not reading this anymore.
That's OK.
I had another prom date anyway.
broken-hearted,
Jared