Together with Ten Grand (formerly The Vida Blue) and the Speed of Sauce, Alto Heceta have recently brough recognition back to the small college town of Iowa City. [Back?, you ask. Check out Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 and Multiple Cat both with Iowa City roots]. While Ten Grand tears it up punk rock style, Alto Heceta (pronounced "huh-see-tuh") brings its brand of "soaring rock" to new levels on their latest full-length, This Distance, This Weekend, which proves in many respects to be bounds beyond their previous work (see the allmusic review of AH's last release, a split EP with the Speed of Sauce). Alto Heceta, who has performed with the likes of Rainer Maria, Cursive, Jets to Brazil, Joan of Arc, and most recently, Karate, now takes a measurable step out of the long shadow cast by emo rock in the Midwest. Though vestiges of emo are scattered throughout the album, This Distance, This Weekend is decidedly a rock album filled with gorgeous walls of guitar, impeccable drumming, as well as alternating vocalists that have matured considerably since their first EP.
John Svec (who has worked with House of Large Sizes and the aforementioned Multiple Cat) has done a masterful job recording this album, having extracted a certain richness in the guitar/bass work and highlighted Matt Heideman's drumming, while not overshadowing the vocalists. This Distance, This Weekend opens up with a glistening, though ephemeral, instrumental number, The Walk Home, that foreshadows the textured guitars prevalent throughout the twelve songs. Like most songs on this album, My Shrinking Paradise (download MP3) shirks conventional verse/chorus song structure, opting for a distinctly linear approach. This track, the last minute of which evokes post-comeback Sunny Day Real Estate, sets the stage for the album's best songs. Pull Out All the Stops is an early eye-opener with its punchy riffs that boast shoegazer-esque thickness and are sprinkled with some of singer Dino Balocchi's best lyrics. The alternating mellow/hard pattern reveals the band's emo roots on the next track, We Dig Silence, an emo cliche that is forgiven in light of the song's climax featuring one of the catchiest guitar lines on the album.
Article comments
1 - Jen Raj
Great review. I dig most of the folk they've toured with, and enjoyed the mp3's. Hopefully they'll come to the NY or DC area soon!
2 - Raj Chanani
The Martrix series
The Mummy Series
The Jurassica Park Series
The Batman Series
Waterword
Stargate
King Kong Series
Sky Captian's and the World of Tommorow
Molina
Charlie Tango
JaanBaaz
Kranti
Sholey
Sabasah Bada Kiladi
and various others are all excellent movies.
3 - Raj
In my openion, some of the best shows on TV have been,
Star Trek the Next Generation
Babylon 5
The Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Sliders
Perry Mason
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Nightly Business Report
Nature
Nova
Rooh
Achanak 37 Saal Baad
Chandrakantha
Mahabharata
4 - Kida
Atlantis the movie and Snow White were really good movies. I did not like the Lion King and Cinderella because it gives children and some adults the wrong idea about the behavior of animals.
5 - Raj Chanani
I have always thougth very highly about the Movie industry. It takes thousands of talented individuals to produce a feature film in Hindi, English, Mandrin, Tamil and various other languages.
6 - Raj
I wanted to thank the Movie Industry, especially Universal Studios and Disney Pictures for producing such wonderful films. You know that they are involved in everybody's business somehow.
7 - Star Trek
It would appear that the Borg cube is in the fourth dimension.
I also noticed that the little flies have about 8 eyes and they may be able to see into the fourth dimension. It is possible that the fly is a cross section of a forth dimension entity... Watch
8 - Human Being
Fantastic video on the planet and the Human growth.
9 - Nth Dimension
A picture of the Nth creature at the Nth dimension.
------------------------------------------------------
See that little blob, a bit off to the left, about 3 minutes into the video, notice there are million of such ones. Uh, Yes.
Well, that is our universe, that little blob, within it there are many planets, within each planet there are many creatures. You are the Nth creature at the Nth dimension.
Enjoy the entire video.
10 - Mind Universe Matter
Mrs Lucchi: Ray, what are you working on?
Ray: It's nothing new to us, though it maybe to yourself.
Mr. Smith: I read about it on the Internet as well.
Ms. Patal: You will like it very much. It is very fundemental.
Little Joe: Hey, that sucker got two lines.
Ray: Well here it is team members.
Mr Wallace: You will need to see the video a few times.
Big Joe: It's nap time little Joe.
Little Joe: You mean the grown ups can see it.
Big Tom: You got it partner.