Smoking Popes + Braid

The first wave of Illinois' '90s pop-punk scene teams up with the emo wave that immediately followed it. With a singer that constantly garnered comparisons to Morrissey, the Popes were always more than some Green Day clone. Though Braid took that underground punk sound and fractured it/nerded it out with weird time signatures and less discernable lyrics, the two acts are quite similar in spirit. Braid has a new LP in the pipeline.