Month: April 2013
Local Reviews: Isle of Skye
Bluesy, folksy and right at home here in Utah, the home of every variation of the jammy-jam band, Isle of Skye is making the soulful kind of music that is more personal expression and less pre-packaged and commercial. … read more
Local Reviews: L’anarchiste
If all goes as planned, expect to hear a lot more from the fledgling band L’anarchiste. Eclectic, complex and a big bowl of folk for breakfast, L’anarchiste’s EP is a year’s worth of fine tuning by Robert LeCheminant, current member of Summerteeth and occasional contributor to Fox Van Cleef. … read more
Local Reviews: Roses and Exile
Yet another project by local Christopher Alvarado (Twilight Transmissions, Little Sap Dungeon, Harsh Reality), Roses and Exile is on its way out with this bang of a final album. … read more
Local Reviews: Gravetown
Logan’s Gravetown could be considered “the new(er) guys” in Utah’s metal breeding grounds. For a demo, the production of the five tracks here is better than a good chunk of material I’ve come across that actually had album producers and mixers. Gravetown dish up some devious death n’ thrash with the intent to respect the elder metal gods as well as bust the heads of “noobs.” … read more
Local Reviews: Huldra
Clocking in at nearly 45 minutes, this might be the longest EP I’ve ever heard—but I’m totally okay with that. Huldra’s sound is firmly cemented in the spacey, weighty grounds of post-metal where ISIS and Neurosis trod before them, their songs building and crashing over striking keyboard passages, and punctuated by bellowing howls. … read more
Local Reviews: Israel West
My only real complaint with this album by local hip hop artist Israel West is how hard the vocals are to hear on some of the best songs. They often sound like they were recorded in a shower, or from down a hallway and the beats totally overwhelm them. … read more
Local Reviews: Black Cum
According to the Black Cum “manifesto,” they don’t write songs, practice or do second takes—they just get fucked up, press record and play. I’ll give them props for apparently adhering to these self-imposed rules. This double-cassette release (with a nifty little patch included) is an…interesting listen, but I don’t exactly get the feeling they give too much of a fuck what some old, washed-up hack like me thinks about their releases. … read more
Local Reviews: Blue Moon Bombers
No matter how many times I’ve heard aggressive rockabilly music, whether it’s psychobilly, punkabilly, neo-rockabilly or whatever, it’s still an entertaining idea. The Bombers don’t seem afraid of going after full psycho or pulling it back to a more traditional feel. The guitar work is a heavy presence and is very well played as the drums and upright bass thump and bang out solid rhythms. … read more
Local Reviews: Enemy Octopus
This Salt Lake City alt-rock quartet definitely has an affinity for Rage Against The Machine. Hitting new topics like the economy as well as the basics (corporate greed, war and government controversy), Enemy Octopus performs a tight set on the short, self-titled EP with vocals on four of the six tracks, the bookends being instrumental. … read more
Local Reviews: The Plastic Furs
With a sly and energetic style, The Plastic Furs display a musical repertoire that spans the distance between dark, sexy psychedelia and supercharged rock tunes. The band’s punchy drone sensibility meshes well with Brian Mink’s hazy guitar reverberating through their washed-out tone. … read more
Local Reviews: Fictionist
You may recall that Fictionist had a flirtation with Rolling Stone Magazine and made it to the third round of their cover contest. This is their first release since said 15 minutes of fame, and their third total. While listening, I perceived swells of darkness against opposing waves of hope—there’s no doubt that this EP is an emotionally driven work of rock n’ roll. … read more
Local Reviews: The Anchorage
Welcome to emo-ska! This is a fun/hate romp through two genres, which actually works for locals The Anchorage. Lyrics about pointing fingers at the lazy, the runaways, the suicide-attempters and those who aren’t facing reality in general, meet a wall of happy horns. … read more
