Year: 2013
Local Reviews: Chaz Prymek
Bicycles and Breakfast is a followup to Prymek’s Everything Is Wrong, Everything Is Fine, and is music to my ears. Prymek could not have chosen a better title to describe the pleasant feeling that overcame me when I leaned back, closed my eyes and listened. … read more
Local Reviews: Elizabethan Report
When I first hunted down Elizabethan Report on the Internet, I was impressed by the band’s uninhibited and energetic stage presence. Even when I wasn’t sure their sound was really my bag, I knew I’d have a blast at one of their shows. On their five-track EP , the mixture of fast funk, stand-up-and-jump rock and various noise-making devices (think trashcan lids and toy pianos) could have easily yielded a discordant mish-mash. … read more
Local Reviews: Sheeprizer
I will always have a deep admiration for multi-instrument musicians. Sheeprizer is a pretty standard hard rock setup by a man known as Butt Socrates, consisting of basic distorted guitars, drums and no vocals. Therein is my problem. … read more
Local Reviews: The Smash Brothas
Hip Hop is not dead in Utah. Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. The crews around here should start paying attention, or at least start buying beats from the laundry list of producers and DJs that The Smash Brothas utilize on their latest release. … read more
Local Reviews: Josh Waldron
I’m no psychologist, but it seems that Josh Waldron may suffer from multiple personality disorder. This album flipflops more times than Cybil. First he thinks he’s in a mariachi band and before you know it, he’s part of the Goo Goo Dolls. I leave the room for one minute, come back, and he’s Garth Brooks. … read more
Local Reviews: Kill Everyone Now
I enjoy the occasional garage recording as much as the next SLUG staffer, and listening to Kill Everyone Now’s tracks remind me of just why I appreciate most start-out rock bands and their growth that occurs early on. … read more
Local Reviews: Madraso/Blackhole
Now this is a welcome listening experience. SLC’s Blackhole and Portland’s Madraso each offer up one song on this bit of vinyl heaven (the one they sent me was on clear orange wax). Reviewing 7″s kind of sucks because they’re so short, so I’ll keep this review the same. … read more
Local Reviews: Ghastly Hatchling
It seems that everyone and his leather-clad dog in Salt Lake is a “noise band” these days. As you may have experienced, half of these follow the “turn on machines, wave hands around, tweak knobs in an angry fashion, call it a piece of music” aesthetic. … read more
Local Reviews: Hew Mun
I’ve heard music like this described before as sculpture, and that really seems to fit this release. Though I do not mean a solid, statuesque figure�this is something far more abstract, almost void of shape, yet still symmetrical and meticulously crafted from every imaginable source of raw material. … read more
Local Reviews: Lewis
There’s nothing worse than having to give a local band � which represents you and your local musical community � a bad write-up. Nevertheless, nobody wins when a band continues on, ignorant of their lack of talent. Lewis is the epitome of the-pop punk sound a la Blink 182. Maybe they thought they’d fill the void for all the Blink fans who can’t get over Blink being gone. … read more