emo has a very distinct sound to me. i think promise ring, cap'n jazz, sunny day real estate, you know.. lots of intermingling quiet guitars, emotional unconfident unsure vocals with deep introspective emotive lyrics, some complex time signatures but all contained in a rock form.
anyway, my all time favorite "Emo" record is sunny day real estate - lp2. i also love clikitat ikatowi's "conducted/orchestrated by", which to me sounds like something at the drive in listened to about 600 times. speaking of which, i'd say "acrobatic tenement" is pretty damn emo! i'd also reccomend jawbreaker - dear you and 24 hour revenge therapy, which don't fit the emo template, but i'm not sure if it fits any template...
__________________
|