Review: Craft Spells – Nausea

Review: Craft Spells – Nausea
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With a record label that fosters the likes of Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils, it’s expectable that most Craft Spells compositions will be aimed toward the average pop-loving introvert. … read more

Review: Callow – Blue Spells

Review: Callow – Blue Spells
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The overly mesmerizing disposition of Blue Spells won’t sober up lovesick music listeners like garden-variety pop songs would, but serves more as a “hair-of-the-dog” cure and further inebriates them via beautiful minimalistic slowcore. … read more

Review: Beat Radio – Hard Times, Go!

Review: Beat Radio – Hard Times, Go!
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Thanks to the ADD-enriching convenience of Internet music applications, today’s pop music culture has become overly saturated with boorish indie musicians who think success is more contingent on who-you-know instead of what-you-know; opting for that over talent. This is why it’s such a delight to come across a no-nonsense diamond in the rough like Beat Radio. … read more

Local Review: Damien Fairchild – For All The Girls

Local Review: Damien Fairchild – For All The Girls
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If you’re at all familiar with the local music scene, chances are you know who Drew Danburry is. However, this will be the first time you’ve heard of Damien Fairchild, Danbury’s lovesick lothario of an alter ego. In For All the Girls, Fairchild sings soliloquies about every female he’s possibly ever—at one point or another—desired.  … read more

Local Reviews: The Summer Storm

Local Reviews: The Summer Storm
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The Summer Storm is the kind of outfit that possibly would’ve thrived quite decently in the late ’80s and might’ve even gotten a listen by Steve Albini, but repetitious guitar tones with spoken word in lieu of sung melodies has never been common. … read more

Local Reviews: Spirit Master

Local Reviews: Spirit Master
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Notwithstanding their lack of prior coverage and how their name sounds like it was loaned from a Dungeons & Dragons manual, Spirit Master is definitely an interesting act when contrasted with the current local music scenes. Locals might recognize band member Brent Dreiling from Band of Annuals and The American Shakes, but needless to say, comparing those with this record is comparing apples to oranges—engrossedly psychedelic oranges. … read more

Local Reviews: Sea Gown

Local Reviews: Sea Gown
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It’s a very taut rope to walk when trying to craft a successful downtempo/techno-pop crossbreed album. Electronica one-man-band Peter Densmore tests his sense of balance with his project, Sea Gown.  … read more

Local Reviews: The Awful Truth

Local Reviews: The Awful Truth
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Whether it’s intentional or a happy accident, the release date of Birthright seems very well timed to me. By this, I mean it’s possibly one of the best fall albums I’ve heard in a while from a local artist.  … read more

Local Review: PTO

Local Review: PTO
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Pointless has possibly gotten just as many plays on my stereo as it would have on a college radio station two decades ago. Even though the album’s performers are just four local (and young) dudes, they could still easily pass as Clinton-era slackers. … read more

Nurses @ Kilby 01.14

Nurses @ Kilby 01.14
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When it comes to West Coast experimental pop/freak-folk outfits, I typically gloss over their reviews or any sizable mention in the press, since they’re not usually my cup of tea. As for Nurses, there’s something inextricable which compels me to grant their tracks more listens per usual—even placing certain songs on mixtapes. Fortunately, I was bestowed the chance to investigate this dilemmatic phenomenon by witnessing them live at Kilby.  … read more

Appleseed Cast, Kathryn Calder, Hospital Ships @ Urban 11.09

Appleseed Cast, Kathryn Calder, Hospital Ships @ Urban 11.09
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The five-piece Kansas outfit known as Appleseed Cast came back to Utah to grace us with their presence for the second time this year on November 8. Instead of playing to an all-ages assortment at Kilby Court, they sought refuge from the impending frigid weather with a loose crowd of twenty-somethings at Urban Lounge. … read more

Cass McCombs, Frank Fairfield @ Kilby 02.04

Cass McCombs, Frank Fairfield @ Kilby 02.04
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Being a songwriter who not only released two separate albums in 2011, but also got them both to be ranked––by more than a few publications––as two of the best albums of year, Cass McCombs is something of a marvel who’s shown up as a sizable blip on most listeners’ radars. … read more