Local Review: Vile Blue Shades – Live! in Salt Lake -or- Live! in Denver (I Don’t Remember)

Local Review: Vile Blue Shades – Live! in Salt Lake -or-...
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Red state, blue state, now that both the Red Bennies and Vile Blue Shades allegedly are no more, Utah is much less a punk rock state. … read more

Local Review: The Wasatch Fault – Self-Titled

Local Review: The Wasatch Fault – Self-Titled
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The band from Logan and Salt Lake City, Utah veers between something like a jam-band groove and indie rock angst. Vocalist Tyler Gilvarry, in his existential meanderings, resembles a much less tortured Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. … read more

Local Review: Spörk – Spörk 2.Ö

Local Review: Spörk – Spörk 2.Ö
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Sometimes good things come in twos, and the second release by local self-proclaimed “stoner rock” duo Spörk—the embodiment of synthetic, petroleum-based fast-food flatware—the musical equivalent of what passes for “journalism” in frontman Bill Frost’s television-addicted, sarcasm-singed, tube-top addled mind… … read more

Local Review: Socialists – Self-Titled LP/Hasta La Rock EP

Local Review: Socialists – Self-Titled LP/Hasta La Rock EP
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Now here’s a couple of good, old-fashioned leftist punk rock releases, by local band the Socialists. You might want to call this group more of a “collective.” They are true to their beliefs enough that they include “Praise Boss,” with lyrics by the Australian IWW from the early 1900s and “This Little Scab” with lyrics by the Chicago IWW and Local 329 SEIU. … read more

Local Review: Red Bennies – High score

Local Review: Red Bennies – High score
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Red Bennies = Glinting Gems + Puri Do – Jazz Jaguars
… read more

Local Review: No Sleep – Self-Titled

Local Review: No Sleep – Self-Titled
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Happy Valley pop rock is alive and well with the Provo band No Sleep’s self-titled full-length. Guitarist Matthias Hammon’s shimmering, fingerpicked arpeggios dominate the somewhat spare production with the sweet-without-saccharine vocals of Shelby Crawley, who shares vocal duties with Hammon. … read more

Local Review: I See Your Nightmares – A Lovely Occurrence

Local Review: I See Your Nightmares – A Lovely Occurrence
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I See Your Nightmares = Lou Barlow + Lou Reed – Sebastian Bach … read more

Local Review: I See Your Nightmares – Affinity For Broken Things

Local Review: I See Your Nightmares – Affinity For Broken...
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The latest entrant in the local oddball folk music area, I See Your Nightmares includes some experimental and even slightly prog-amplified touches, like in the fuzzed-out musings of “Crocodile Tongues.” … read more

Local Review: George Charles Nelson III – Little Engine

Local Review: George Charles Nelson III – Little Engine
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Sweet Salt Records was founded last fall by Tom Bennett, a transplant from North Georgia’s Piedmont region and singer/songwriter “in his own write,” to borrow a phrase from John Lennon.
  … read more

Local Review: Black Cum – Black Cum Is the Best Band On the Planet and This Is Black Cum’s Best Album

Local Review: Black Cum – Black Cum Is the Best...
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With an album title like Black Cum Is the Best Band On the Planet, it’s not surprising that Black Cum talks about Black Cum repeatedly on the song titles and the songs themselves. … read more