About Me

San Diego, Ca, United States
Hi. How are ya? Good yes? Fantastic. Welcome again to Latitude 32°'s lil slice of blog heaven. What is Latitude 32° you ask? Well Latitude 32° is one of San Diego's music and culture review sites. We've been around longer than you think. Reviewing local and mainstream acts, artists, fashion events, films and filmmakers. All to promote local talent. So please support us, spread the word. Check out the reviews, we like to pride ourselves with out "no B.S." reviews. And hey.... have a fantastic day yeah? Cheers. -The Latitude 32° Crew

Friday, July 10, 2009

Heavy Glow

You ever go pub crawling and just run into one of those fantastic bands that is just pure and straight up rock and roll? Something you’re not really looking for but just by pure happenstance run into and fall in love with? Well that’s what the guys from Heavy Glow are; just pure and simple rock music. Catching them at the Radio Room the other day, playing to a rather undeservingly small crowd for a Saturday night, still managed to blow me away while I was sipping my traditional rum with a dash of coke. They managed to be one of those bands that just makes you want to tip the brim of your hat way down low and bob your head as the guitarist, Jared, fingers away and his mates Joe (bass) and Dave (drums) keep a steady driving hard beat. Now there are a lot of bands in San Diego. A lot of great bands, a lot of solid tight sounding bands but Heavy Glow is one of the few that you really want to keep an eye out for. Their six track self titled EP is simply amazing is transitions into a fantastic live performance. You know how some bands are great on the tracks and are kind of “so so” in the live aspect, or vice versa? Well these guys managed to capture some of that live attitude to their recordings. And no wonder, having recorded and produced their EP with local guitar great Stevie Salas, if you don’t know him look him up kids. A little deeper into the bands style, if you listen closely you’ll find a literal hodge podge of sounds and influence, as reflected on their myspace page (www.mypsace.com/heavyglowmusic). You’ve got a guitarist/singer (Jared Mullins) who captures a late 90s alt rock spirit but plays like a literal bat out of hell. You’ve got one of the quickest drummers (Dave Rollans) I’ve seen who brings a very funky yet heavy side to the mix and a basest (Joe Brooks) who just brings it all together in a progressive stream. Honestly an impressive lineup of talent that has yet to be recognized in the state, but apparently the mates down under have taken notice, having signed to an Australian distribution label, Stockxchange Music. Go figure that one out. To put it bluntly in the end though Heavy Glow is pretty much everything you look for in a solid rock band. A dynamic driving force of riffs both old school and progressive, a dash of experimental and over all straight up soul. It’s a band you have to check out, a CD you have to pick up and just a sound you have to love.

Eulogies- here anonymous

As I drove up to Los Angeles, Eulogies hometown, I could not help but ponder why the band had chosen a name with such strong implications and then made their album title “Here Anonymous.” I instantly saw myself giving a Eulogy with a paper bag over my head…I’m here giving one of the most important speeches of my life, but not really…then I realized that I needed to start the album over and actually listen. This was when the album and band name actually started to make perfect sense and became an allegory alluding to the bands style. Walking the borderline between indie rock and emo music, the album has a moody upbeat tempo with cathartic, melancholy lyrics. What makes this album work though, is its honest attempt to capture an untainted portrayal of the human condition. I felt like I had time warped back into my junior year of high school when I was too hormonal to put my feelings anywhere but out in the open. This is why I could totally relate when singer Peter Walker says, “Eulogies for me is not about talking about someone who’s dead. It’s saying those things that someone would say only at that moment but wish they had said right now. That’s what I’m preaching to myself-don’t be quiet. I can’t survive down that road.” The first few songs on the album set the stylistic tone, upbeat pop rock with weighted heartfelt gloomy lyrics. Of this more common style of song I found “The Fight (I’ve Come To Like)” the most enjoyable and the most danceable. I could see myself waiving my arm around at the upcoming show on May 22nd at San Diego’s own Casbah. Some surprising tracks that strayed a bit from the stylistic norm included “Two Can Play” which features Nikki Monninger from the recent Coachella playing Silversun Pickups. The song has a soft dreamy sound that brings a sweet downbeat change to the albums more upbeat instrumentals. My personal favorite song, also the most experimental on the album, comes towards the end of the LP with “Stranger Calliope.” This song features a Casiotone keyboard over a live flute player, which creates an ethereal sound that brought me images of riding a candy colored carousel on a cloud. The album definitely grew on me the more I listened and deserves a couple spins through before you make your judgments. I appreciate the honesty of the album, which does a great job of remaining simple and direct. Sometimes an easy to listen to album becomes the perfect cure for being caught in LA traffic. Review by: Tara Rose Gladstone