San Diego Evening Post: Vol. 6

The bass line throbs in the dark, triggering at times the batteries of lights that wash over the cavernous space. Revealing, for mere seconds, the undulating mass of bodies rhythmically rolling likes waves to the swells of the 808s. 
It's a night, much like any other night in San Diego, temperate and mild, there's a cool ocean breeze drifting along outside but not inside. Inside there's a sweet humid air...a product of a mix of perfume, alcohol, and sweat with a faint accent of cigarette smoke creeping in through an open door. It's crowded, there's an eclectic mix of people who make up the audience. In tight black leather jackets and blazers, post- punkers line the walls trying to look vaguely uninterested. The garage grungers, in over sized Hawaiian shirts and ironic ball caps, bob their heads to the beat.  The hypebeasts, fitted in the freshest Sup'reme gear, lurk throughout. Everyone's eyes however stay fixed on the stage, it's the alter. The priests and prophets, baptized in neon lights, pour their sacred message upon the gathered crowd. 

San Diego is home to a thriving music scene. It's relative isolation ( LA is 130 miles away) and relaxed climate has created a unique laid back attitude that manifests itself in all walks of San Diegean life. Especially so in the music that is created here. In my eyes there are two really identifiable branches of the indie rock tree that have become uniquely San Diego. The first is a garagey surf rock, with its most identifiable icon Wavves( i.e. Nathan Williams ) and shit, there's even a San Diego record label that's just for this sect of music. Like Seattle and its cultural export grunge, San Diego has been exporting this fuzzy reverb soaked strain of rock since the sixties. And like Seattle's grunge sect, whos unkempt uniform of plaid and faded ripped denim has become iconic, the surf rocks' uniform has been canvas shoes and Hawaiian shirts. 

But San Diego isn't just a beach town, and surf rock is not our only export. That's because even though our city is located on the ocean it's also in the desert. And like the dry Santa Ana wind that sweeps through every autumn, bluesy soaked psychedelic rock, dry and raspy that rolls along with thunderous chords and an occasional synth blows through and reforms into a glorious tune that emerges from the desert wind like a bat out of hell.

The raddest part of have a thriving music scene is the shows. It should be common knowledge that the ultimate way to enjoy music it to hear it live and in San Diego, especially in the summer, there is at least one killer live show going on each night. While local bands are always playing, having a thriving scene means that music artists from around the world stop off at San Diego to play a set( usually it's scheduled at either the beginning or the end of their tour due to our location ) and shows normally mean venues( not always, cause some of the most killer live sets have been in houses, remember high school?). And like in every city, there are always a few iconic ones.