Month: March 2013
Local Reviews: Replica Mine
It’s always a pleasant surprise to hear good, interesting dark music made locally. While we have plenty of good bands, industrial is rare at best. Sandy-based Adam Harmon, former guitarist and keyboard player for Carphax Files, is the force behind this meandering industrial experiment, a follow-up to $ra, their 2008 5-song EP. … read more
Local Reviews: Small Town Sinners
Small Town Sinners are turning out quality discs like Notorious B.I.G. personally came down from the heavens and requested it. Blood and Dust, their most recent offering, continues Small Town Sinners’ pursuit of making the most amazing heartfelt alt-country possible would definitely inspire the late, great Biggie Smalls to put on his flannel and grab his acoustic. … read more
Local Reviews: Spoken For
These boys definitely have some very recognizable influences from Tool to, perhaps unintentionally, The Police (tell me you don’t hear it on the opening riff of “No More Blood on my Guitar”). They are taking their cue from some great musicians. It’s young and it’s pained—they are certainly taking advantage of all the pent-up frustration that comes along with being an adolescent group of boys becoming men. … read more
Local Reviews: Atheist
I was blown away by this release, straight up. It has everything I love in a hip hop record: rich and dusty beats from classic source material, tight verses by the main emcee and more than a few collaborations. … read more
Local Reviews: The Awful Truth
Whether it’s intentional or a happy accident, the release date of Birthright seems very well timed to me. By this, I mean it’s possibly one of the best fall albums I’ve heard in a while from a local artist. … read more
Local Reviews: Secret Abilities
The feminine sound of Tink Safeer’s backing vocals gives the already danceable “You’re Alive” a dash of ’60s pop. Decapitated slows to an end with a narrative sung from the perspective of a deceased lover accompanied only by acoustic guitar: “I Stopped Loving You Tonight” could be Deadbolt on open mic night. … read more
Local Reviews: The Young Electric
It takes about 150 seconds for this album to establish itself as one of the tightest, most well produced local efforts this year. It’s a seamless transition between the opener, “Patterns & Processes,” which subtly incorporates elements of its successor on the album, “Machines,” that sets the feeling for the remainder of The Young Electric’s debut effort as more of a complete package rather than an assortment of randomly distributed tracks. … read more
Local Reviews: Curseworship
Many bands have tried—and many bands have failed—to blend genres as seamlessly as Curseworship has been able to on this three-song release. The band is able to flow in and out of relatively harsh noise (à la Wolf Eyes), crusty metal and straight tone-worship without batting an eye. … read more
Local Reviews: Totem and Taboo
From the ashes of The Suicycles, we are given Totem and Taboo. Former frontman of the “dirty electronica-rock”-branded Suicycles, Camden Chamberlain, along with others in the band, have teamed up with some newcomers to deliver a new sound that is certainly dark and proggy. … read more
Local Reviews: 2WENTYTHRE3
The thing about this 2WENTYTHRE3 is that it’s really pretty good for what it is. From the little information I could find about Jared Smith, a Utahn, he’s taking himself pretty seriously and trying earnestly to turn in a solid effort for his sound and his branding, and it’s easy to tell that he is working very hard at both. … read more