Authors: Ryan Hall
Local Reviews: The Devil Whale
In a year where many prominent SLC bands have either broken up or gone on lengthy hiatuses, The Devil Whale soldiers on, releasing a six song EP full of their strongest material to date. … read more
Local Reviews: Junior Bellows
Ever since The Hold Steady took back the term “bar rock” from the 40 year old denizens of dive bars countrywide trying to score with blond meth-head versions of cougars, I have been struggling to think of a catch-all phrase that describes not only the venue where you are most likely to hear this unbearably bland rock ‘n’ roll, but also the crowd that would pay good money to be assaulted by this incredibly boring version of ZZ Top. … read more
Local Reviews: Theta Naught
Omnium Gatherum is Theta Naught’s first full-length album in six years. Given their elastic membership and reliance on improvisation above all else, each release and live show has the capacity to take the prolific post-rock/jazz/classical collective into completely unexpected places. … read more
Local Reviews: Ferocious Oaks
Things have never quite been the same after Arcade Fire’s Funeral. The Montreal collective’s quiet-and-restrained-to-ramshackle-and-blisteringly-loud dynamic has imprinted itself all over this ambitious yet frustrating EP by Orem’s Ferocious Oaks. … read more
Local Reviews: OK Ikumi
Orem’s Karl Jorgensen has been perfecting this blend of playful chiptune melodies, elegant Komsiche synth lines, and glitched-out beat palate for five years now. While relatively new to Jorgensen’s output, I can’t help but feel like I have stumbled on to something that has taken years to make. … read more
Worlds Inside Worlds: Say No! To Architecture and Composite Songcraft
Don DeLillo once wrote, “There is a world inside the world.” For Allen Roizman’s musical output, this couldn’t be more true. Say No! To Architecture has been crafting lived-in soundscapes of unidentifiable sources and layers upon layers of sampled noises from Plainview, New York, for close to 10 years now. … read more
Local Reviews: It Foot, It Ears
It Foot, It Ears is a tricky animal. One part Nick Foster from Palace of Buddies, one part Jason Rabb from Bad Yodelers fame, It Foot, It Ears is cut from the same cloth as their experimental predecessors. Day Type is full of strange tunings, even stranger time signatures, disjointed melodies, loads of negative space and pregnant pauses. … read more
Local Reviews: Scapegoat
Utah has played host to its fair share of visionaries and eccentrics. Edward Abbey, Joe Hill, Wallace Stegner and LaMonte Young (Southeast Idaho is close enough) have spent time (or died) here in Utah. Drinking from that pool of collective genius is the dark ambient artist Scapegoat. … read more
Top 5 Experimental Albums To Soundtrack Your Faith Crisis
Have you had an existential crisis dealing with the faith that your parents raised you on? The experimental albums in this list can help you process the trauma. … read more
Dark Entries: Exhuming the Corners of Forgotten Synth-Based Music
This was my introduction into the expertly curated, aesthetically driven label Dark Entries that exists to release synth-driven coldwave, darkwave and post-industrial synth-pop records that have been long out of print. … read more