Nothing Dies With Blue Skies- Split 7" with Friction and Cap'n Jazz

This record, in some ways, symbolizes a turning point in the relationship between emo and hardcore. While often thought of being initially part of the same music scene, in the mid 90's there was a fairly dramatic shift with bands like Christy Front Drive, SDRE (and those bands hoards of clones) pushing the genre toward more mainstream markets with big indie rock sounds. While markedly showing more hardcore tendencies, Chicago's Cap'n Jazz mixed emotive hardcore with a heavy dose of mathy indie sounds.

Friction was a hold out from the hardcore roots of the style(though you may not notice if this is the only track you ever hear of theirs. The majority of Friction's output was a faster, sometimes heavier, melodic hardcore. They had an LP (I think) on another label, and i see on Ebay from time to time and occasionally you can grab their other Shakefork release, the Makeshift EP, on there as well.

This split, however, fell into the trap of many hardcore and emo records of the early 90's, in which the band broke up before its release and the label folded later that year, meaning the record did not get any real distribution. That said, I only know of one copy to sell on Ebay, and it apparently is rare enough to garner a hefty sum of money. The Cap'n Jazz track is from another recording session, and its not that strong, and its fairly poor in sound quality. And since its also available on their Analphabetapolothology discography, its really not the gem of this record.

That goes to the A-side. Friction's song has such a since of finality, that I think has only been bested, in my listening experience, by Julia's recording of "Our Last Song". Its just gorgeous and unlike some last records, the band pours their hearts into it and you can just feel the urgency in their voices. I personally think this one of my all time favorite songs, of any genre, and it certainly one of the jewels of my small record collection. It is with great pleasure that I present to you Nothing Dies with Blue Skies.

Nothing Dies With Blue Skies - Split 7"
Friction- Transit; Cap'n Jazz- Rocky Rococo (Butterfly Version)
Shakefork #10
7" 45rpm on black vinyl
out of print