Year: 2013
Local Reviews: Raw Xtract
I’ve never heard anything sound quite like this record by local poet and pianist Ami Hanna. There are moments of this scattered effort that are listenable as more conventional music, but the majority sounds like homework assignment poems read over amateur beats. … read more
Local Reviews: Reveeler
Ogden’s Reveeler has grown leaps and bounds since the 2008 demo I reviewed. Their short but potent EP gets rid of the garage rock qualities of the demo, giving them a more refined sound. The production is definitively precise and propels the tracks into their own unique realm of metal goodness. … read more
Local Reviews: Red Bennies
SLC stalwarts Red Bennies have never sounded pretty. Their fuzzed-out blues-based chord progressions sound eternally mangled and mashed out of a shitty bar P.A. David Payne’s strangled yelp often writes checks his vocal chords can’t cash. … read more
Local Reviews: Sayde Price
Sayde Price’s debut album is something of a revelation. Price’s skeletal folk songs aren’t revelatory in the sense of ground breaking musically or topically, but rather in the way a voice and a guitar still sound impossibly intimate and personal after the genre has been done to death. … read more
Local Reviews: Spell Talk
It must be tough being a southern rock band from northern Utah, but Spell Talk has it down. I haven’t been able to see these guys live since guitarist Dylan Roe joined the band, and this definitely isn’t how I remembered them sounding. … read more
Local Reviews: Trenton McKean
Ah, the lonely life of a session musician. You make an album like The Many Shades listenable, but you will never be mentioned beyond the liner notes. I am truly sorry. Along with the expert musicianship Trenton McKean has at his employ, The Many Shades has quite a few nice things going for it. … read more
Local Reviews: Arienette
This is Arienette’s first full-length album release. The album hits the clichéd acoustic routine found at any open-mic night to the exact point of “I’m glad I didn’t pay for this.” … read more
Local Reviews: Babble Rabbit
Boy howdy!! The fuzzed-out funk/punk on this EP is so overwhelming that when you listen to it, you kind of feel like you might be sitting in a pile of your own timber. But rest assured, it’s not you that’s causing this feeling—it’s the astounding sounds of Babble Rabbit. I can’t begin to describe how breathtaking this album is. … read more
Local Review: Drew Danburry – Geraniums
The first time I saw Drew Danburry play live was beside a fire at Kilby Court. I walked into the courtyard mid-song, half the audience turned and shot me dirty looks like I was interrupting something. And in a way I was: the amicable Danburry held court like it was his living room and we were friends who stopped by. … read more
Local Reviews: Game On
Listening to Game On takes me back to the days before teenage girls stole the words ‘punk rock’ to describe Yellowcard and the All-American Rejects. Playing in the Background is full of songs that, with a bit of work, could sound just like any track on a Fat Music compilation 10 years ago––specifically “Untitled 7” and “Skank If You Got ‘em.” … read more