Local Review: MiNX – Golden

Living up to their reputation as one of SLC’s more prolific bands, vocalist/rapper Ischa B. and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Raffi Shahinian return after last year’s MixTape with an album of nine new tracks. More emphasis on singing versus rapping helps to solidify the duo’s strengths, even if they don’t seem to know what their sound is yet. The exotic-sounding title track and the cool keys of “Down” lead to an out-of-place sounding (despite it being pretty) song called “A Slow Parked Death.” But maybe that was just to buffer the more spoken than sung ill-advised duo of tracks “Crazy, Different” and “Just Sayin’.” I will say, however, that “Love Love” is quite palatable and features the strongest chorus of the set. This cut also highlights another of the duo’s strengths: their great drumming, which truly enhances “Give it to Me” and the ominous closer, “Got to Live.” –Dean O Hillis