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Local Reviews: Juana Ghani
If you enjoy a good tale, then you will definitely enjoy what Juana Ghani has done with their release, Shall We Live Forever. I found the CD best listened to after I read the accompanying novella, Kasojeni Bay, by frontman Brian Bonell. … read more
Local Reviews: JP Haynie
Jordan Haynie created this album with purpose. He wanted to make a soundtrack for the drive from Utah to California, so he played what he calls “desert music.” He wanted to give people deeper access to his creativity, so he included a 24-page book with drawing and recording notes. But I would guess that his primary purpose was self-expression. … read more
Local Reviews: Jake Burch
The local scene has been graced by the presence of the eclectic folk band L’anarchiste. Now the band’s influence is growing as one of its members, Jake Burch, has gone solo. He offers jazz-influenced folk in his debut, War. I want to like the album, but it just rubs me the wrong way a few times. Almost every song highlights a new instrument and different vocal style. … read more
Local Reviews: Esther
Esther’s self-released EP, Common Choirs, finds its groove in the post-hardcore/ screamo realm—it would sit well on the shelf next to late ’90s/early ’00s genre releases. The hallmark heart-on-your-sleeve, metaphorical lyrics are abundant, just waiting to be turned into tattoos/T-shirts/Facebook status updates, and are backed by emotive guitar lines that dip into heavier territory than others of this genre might. … read more
Local Reviews: Eagle Twin
If you live in Salt Lake City and you are even remotely into heavy music, you, at the very least, have heard of Eagle Twin. Master craftsmen Gentry Densley and Tyler Smith return with their highly anticipated follow-up to 2009’s epic, The Unkindness of Crows, and the anticipation is far from unwarranted. This fucker is heavy, and I don’t mean just a little. … read more
Local Reviews: The Dhoon
I appreciated Bright in No Light after my second listen quite a bit more than the first—which was on a sunny day in busy traffic. Listening while outdoors at night happens to be the better way to get into this music. … read more
Local Reviews: Def Letter
Def Letter is Salt Lake’s own MC Dumb Luck and veteran DJ Linus Stubbs. Social Introduction is a very literal title for this album, as it is Dumb Luck’s premiere headliner. The album screams the white-boy angst of early Slim Shady with 20 tracks of high-speed life-struggle raps. … read more
Local Reviews: Daisy & The Moonshines
Daisy & The Moonshines’ second release is six tracks of mediocre garage rock. It’s not bad rock music, but it is forgettable. The rhythm guitar feels like it’s mindlessly picked along with the drums, as if someone who didn’t know the music was playing along with a chord chart. … read more
Local Reviews: Brad Stock
The Atomic Clock promised a “rare mixing of genres” and life-changing songs that would send my mind reeling into unknown space, but the whole thing plays like generic radio rock you’d hear at the mall. His lyrics are (occasionally laughable) elementary rhymes—“Watch out, this is mace/pointed straight at your face”—and, on track “Conspiracy of 2,” he even rips off George Carlin’s Napalm and Silly Putty book title. … read more
Local Reviews: Visigoth
Nobody can resist headbanging to Final Spell. Visigoth gets right to the point in “Creature of Desire” as frontman Jake Rogers’ perfect falsetto crescendos into “whoa-oh-oh”s with the aid of the front line, exhibiting vocal prowess akin to Rob Halford. … read more