Month: October 2013
Review: Blouse – Imperium
Blouse Imperium Captured Tracks Street: 09.17 Blouse = Beach House + Still Corners When I first heard this album, I could’ve sworn that I’d already heard it. The dreamy female vocals combined with a fairly simple upbeat indie rock sound seem pretty generic, but not necessarily in a bad way. Although nothing experimental or new
Review: Black Tusk – Tend No Wounds
Though Tend No Wounds may not be treading much new ground, it is a testament to Black Tusk’s consistency. For best results, pair with whiskey and/or beer, moshing and friends. … read more
Review: Black Books – Self-Titled
Black Books write big songs confined to small places. There is an epic and anthemic quality to Black Book’s cloistered little pop songs: a driving, pulsing urge to express something too huge for words written in broad brush strokes of soaring choruses and the diffused light of atmospheric passages oozing out of guitars and synths that blend ambient colorings into vital, crunchy power chords. … read more
Review: Black Hearted Brother – Stars Are Our Home
After fronting the legendary shoegaze band Slowdive, and then moving on to the delicate folk on Mojave 3 and his own solo output, Neil Halstead has returned to the free-floating psychedelia of heavily affected guitars and synthesizers with his new band, Black Hearted Brother. … read more
Review: Audacity – Butter Knife
Audacity, like any great garage rock outfit, shouldn’t be listened to in headphones. This shit is always best when blasted through a shitty PA in an under-ventilated asbestos ridden basement. … read more
Review: Against Me! – True Trans EP
The True Trans EP is an acoustic teaser for the band’s forthcoming full-length, featuring a pair of songs with excellent titles (“FuckMyLife666,” “True Trans Soul Rebel”) and weighty subject matter, but not a whole lot of punch. … read more
Review: Agnes Obel – Aventine
Sweet as dark chocolate, Agnes Obel combines sultry yet poppy chamber instrumentals with whimsical vocals that make the Danish singer/songwriter’s sophomore album an absolute delight. … read more
Review: 3:33 – Bicameral Brain
While listening to this, I realized I had been taken on a journey into deep ambient darkness. The sounds of rain, thunder, hollowed echoing of the drumbeats, sizzling snare and pulsating bass had carried me into a sort of void. … read more
Localized: Bustbloom
Photo: Helen Leeson Sometimes a music project is too important to simply abandon. With long stretches of band roster difficulties and other frustrations, Dustbloom could have easily become a minor footnote on the pages of Salt Lake City rock history, but Ian Cooperstein (guitar/vocals) and Cameron Jorgensen (drums/keys) kept the dream alive. The duo met
Localized: Problem Daughter
This month’s Localized is a cross-section of SLC punk: the visceral, dissonant hardcore punk of Foster Body, the surf-soaked party punk of JAWWZZ!! and the acerbic, bittersweet pop punk of Problem Daughter. These bands have shared bills over the last few years—Foster Body and JAWWZZ!! even share a drummer. They all name each other among