Latitude Blue

Latitude Blue were a band from the southwest of England, formed around the year 2000 and active to about 2007. They are primarily known for contributing a track to The Emo Diaries, Chapter Ten: The Hope I Hold Inside. They played a very polished version of indie rock with some influence taken from emo pop. According to their old website, they were finalists in a BBC Battle of the Bands, which makes sense. This is music that's aiming for the mainstream and the emo in it is only an influence, not up front and center.

The band's first release was Don't Lose Your Way, a three-song EP, in 2002. It was followed by their best-known and most available release, Searching For Perfect, in 2003. The subsequent year the band put out a split with Fell City Girl. Their last release was a self-titled EP in 2005. I've also included their track from The Emo Diaries as well as an MP3 that was given out to mailing list subscribers. Technically, the band did record more tracks than this, including a Jimmy Eat World cover of "Believe In What You Want." However, having strongly implied these are not of the greatest quality, the band's vocalist has made it clear he would prefer these not be part of the band's available discography, and I respect that. Not everyone gets to control their legacy.

Also, despite how it appears, I did not leave smears all over the artwork. For whatever reason, it's supposed to look that way.

Latitude Blue Discography

The Sound Of Rails

The Sound of Rails were a band from Omaha, active in the early 2000s and a part of legendary emo label Caulfield Records. They played that jangly, atmospheric, slow burn emo that typifies, to me, the midwestern strain of emo. This is the music of Dirtnap, Boys Life, Forty Nine Hudson, and The Interstate Ten. This is the post-hardcore side of emo, and not necessarily midwest emo. Though many of their contemporaries incorporated midwest emo in this sound (some to the point they are considered true midwest emo bands), The Sound of Rails lean more towards slowcore and math rock than midwest emo.

The band put out two albums on Caulfield. The first, Prelude of Hypnotics, was released in 2000. The follow up, Night Time Simulcast, was put out in 2003 and appears to have been the last gasp of Caulfield. The band also put out a 7" in 2000 and a split with Putrescine in 2002.

prelude to hypnotics + night time simulcast

Lorna Slavin

And now for something completely different. A few years back, I ordered a vinyl copy of Inside the Whale's superlative album Manifest, and the band member threw in a copy of Lorna Slavin's only release as a bonus. I expected something along the same lines, and that is not what I got. At least, not all the time.

To call this release eclectic would be an understatement. I threw pretty much every genre tag I could think of at this thing and, honestly, I could probably toss in a few more. Lorna Slavin often sound like a completely different band from song to song—sometimes they sound like a completely different band within the same song. This band was clearly a short-lived project, and maybe that's the way it had to be, because it feels like every band member brought in their influences and inclinations from previous bands and when it came time to decide what kind of band they were going to be, the answer was, 'all of them.' It's difficult to imagine a follow up album that wouldn't veer in one direction or the other. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this kind of balancing act would be difficult to replicate.

The 2007 EP Call Them And They Will Rise is Lorna Slavin's only release, featuring six diverse songs.

Call Them And They Will Rise

On When Ready

From the wunderbar German emo scene of the aughts comes On When Ready, from Recklinghausen and active in the years around 2003-2004 (this review says they were formed in 1998, but it's the only source I have for that). They spend the majority of their first album doing their best impression of The Get Up Kids circa Four Minute Mile, albeit with a lot more shouting. In that way, they often resemble their emo fellows Three Minute Poetry, a resemblance that grows more pronounced on the second album. Apparently the band had a changeup in guitar players between albums which would explain the changeup in sound. On the second album, the band ramps up the screaming and hits it harder on the guitars, becoming more akin to the post-hardcore of the period. Interestingly, they also ramp up the midwest emo, one of the few bands to move back in that direction on a subsequent work instead of starting there and gradually abandoning the sound.

Their discography is simple enough: their first album, Try Harder, in 2003 and the follow up, Fueled, in 2004. Any demos or unique compilation tracks haven't made it to Discogs or anywhere else that I can find.

try harder + fueled

Chocolate Kiss

Chocolate Kiss were an emo pop band from Atlanta, active from 1997 to around 2003. They were already a veteran emo group at formation, comprised of members from Car vs Driver, the hal al Shedad, and Savalas. The history of the band is chronicled by one of the band members here. Beginning with their first album, Onethrutwelve, this band had a similar sound to The Get Up Kids and followed a somewhat similar path in progressing it, becoming more polished and pop-oriented with each successive release. Regardless, this is 90s-style emo pop; despite the release timing, it has little in common with the greater 2000s emo pop third wave. And while the band did smooth out some of the rough edges from the early work, they never did away with all of them, nor did they lose the connection to midwest emo.

The band's first release was the Onethutwelve LP in 1998. I wasn't able to secure a physical copy of this release, so I'm linking to high quality copy on the Lost Songs. blog. In 1999 they released the Les Boom Boom EP, and followed it in 2001 with Set Yourself On Fire. The band's final release was the 2003 LP No Funeral, after which they called it quits.

Onethrutwelve at Lost Songs.

Les Boom Boom + Set Yourself On Fire + No Funeral