Month: March 2013
Local Review: Dine Krew
Salt Lake seems to be spouting out a steady stream of promising, uprising hip hop artists lately—Dine Krew included. We-E.T.’s presents unassuming, mellow beats and slow, satisfying flow, with short tracks that place emphasis on transitions. … read more
Local Reviews: Hot Club of Zion
Hot Club of Zion is one of the best jazz trios around. They play a gypsy style of jazz, and even though the mention of the genre brings to mind the great Django Reinhardt, they still maintain their own identity while paying proper homage. … read more
Local Review: Lady & Gent
This debut album from the five-piece Provo group features a plethora of pure folk music—lots of singing along with acoustic instruments. Made up of brothers Garrett and Ben Williams, Jeff Adams, Dana Sorensen and Chris White, Lady & Gent demonstrate how the Americana genre is done. … read more
Local Review: Irun Toh
Where Reality Sleeps is a smorgasbord of heady guitar licks compiled haphazardly into an enigmatic debut compilation. The entire project is reminiscent of late-’60s/early-’70s heavy blues (with a modern twist). … read more
Local Review: Little Sap Dungeon
Six years since their previous album, Kevin Cazier (Perception Cleanse Perception) and Christopher Alvarado (Twilight Transmissions, Roses and Exile, Harsh Reality) are back with seven (no, eight! There’s a hidden one!) tracks, marrying their dismal dystopian visions to harsh yet beautiful, heavy post-punk industrial noise. … read more
Local Reviews: American Hollow
American Hollow offers an eerie blend of progressive rock and raspy, Eddie Vedder-esque vocals on their self-released EP. The background synths are darkly encompassing and help to fill their sound. These guys are undoubtedly talented guitarists. However, their sporadic changes in guitar chords and overall rhythm—sometimes metal and other times rock—left me confused as to what sound they really want to own. … read more
Local Reviews: Blackhole
This 40-minute live set is a slow burner—one long track of stripped-down, deep grooves from a psychedelic ensemble. Bombarding you with seemingly endless buildup toward a minimal climax, you have to pass that first crest before they start hitting their stride. … read more
Local Reviews: Charles Ellsworth and the Dirty Thirty
This Arizona transplant has created a record full of sorrowful tunes that seems to organically flow from within himself. Gentle in his approach, each song is as thoughtful in its songwriting as it is in its production. One that stood out for me was “These Desert Nights,” which builds a picture of the lost feeling that Ellsworth himself has surely had while spending time in his native land. … read more
Local Reviews: DJ RoboRob
I was pleasantly surprised by how well produced this album was. DJ RoboRob is a local Salt Lake City DJ that you can find throwing the sickest electronic music you’ll ever hear at the Metro every Friday. Having been a producer for quite some time now, An Aria Electronica is his first EP, and he knocked it out of the park. Tantalizing synths, smart layering, amazing samples and hypnotic drums that melt beautifully into my ears are felt throughout the EP’s entirety. … read more
Local Reviews: Draize Method
Slamming out legit hardcore—literally from the ’80s—Draize Method and their onstage socks n’ sandals represent a bygone era that has come back to haunt us. The band namely hashes out D-beat punk with natural, mid-level vocal aggression and thrashy chugs, such as in “Fear.” They do, however, add an Agent Orange-esque element in “Myself” and “Mantra,” where vocalist Dan Fonoti sings in a ghostlike voice and then breaks into throaty wailing. … read more