Local Review: Aaron Cole – Aorotica

Local Review: Aaron Cole – Aorotica
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Aaron Cole Aarotica Aaron Cole = The Prodigy + Clover   With Aarotica, Aaron Cole, who has been involved in local projects for over a decade, blends repetitive electronic beats with dub and drum and bass with soft alt-rock and world music, resulting in an infectious dance mix for a party of monstrous proportions, or

Local Review:  Almost Undone – Sugar & Despair

Local Review: Almost Undone – Sugar & Despair
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Almost Undone Sugar & Despair Combining the best of Evanescence and Kittie, Almost Undone present a choppy, chunky metal cocktail that’s a little bit nü, a little bit jagged core (Crisis, Otep, Kittie). I never liked Evanescence, but Brenna White does a better job than Amy Lee or Morgan Lander combined, especially since Kittie has

Local Reviews: Kid Madusa

Local Reviews: Kid Madusa
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Enter the dark, raw, silky mysticism of the parallel universe that is Kid Madusa. This album, Kid Madusa’s first, begins with a haunting, harpsicord waterfall and rich doubled vocals that seem to hold the sorrow and wisdom of 200 years, not the 27 of Lindsay Heath, exdrummer of Phono and The Tremula and current drummer of Bronwyn Beecher and Twin Lull. Lindsay’s trademark heavy, unpredictable drumming serves the album well, especially in the trippy beats of “The Baderie Acid Recovery Project.”  … read more

Local Reviews: Loom/Prize Country

Local Reviews: Loom/Prize Country
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Loom and Prize Country pair up for this split EP from Exigent. Like kissing cousins at a family reunion, Loom is the agonized genius hanging out in the back room gnawing on beakers and discovering the secrets of the universe while Prize Country is the Pabst-guzzling uncle with a two-foot beard and a long and lively prison record.  … read more

Local Reviews: The Rubes

Local Reviews: The Rubes
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Greg Midgley is one of SLC’s geniucians (genius + musician), which sounds a lot like “magician.” Not a coincidence. Boy can play piano, climb pillars and strut with more heat than a mating tomcat. And now he can croon.  … read more

Local Reviews: Ben Johnson

Local Reviews: Ben Johnson
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Oh my! I don’t know what I was expecting with this CD … actually, I thought it was going to be second-rate, diluted folk music; something about the calligraphy font on the front cover. But the album opens up with a big, classy, big band-era sounding rock extravaganza and goes on from there to 40s and 50s crooner hits with “fun” pschedelia thrown in (think Flaming Lips, not Jefferson Airplane). … read more

Perfect Vision: Colby Houghton of Exigent Records Talks Shop

Perfect Vision: Colby Houghton of Exigent Records Talks Shop
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“If someone had told me 10 years ago that I’d be a major player in the Salt Lake scene, I would’ve said, ‘That’d be awesome, but it’s not going to happen. That would take an incredible amount of drive and sacrifice,’” Colby Houghton, owner of Exigent Records says, “I’ve heard nothing but praise outside Utah

Review: The Harry Smith Project Live

Review: The Harry Smith Project Live
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The Harry Smith Project Live Shout Factory Street: 11.07.06 This is one of the most incredible intersections of classic American folk music, passionate, flavorful musicianship and a who’s-who lineup of underground cult heroes ever. The songs featured are selections from the Grammy-award-winning Anthology of American Folk Music (1952), assembled by Harry Smith, groundbrreaking filmmaker and

Review: DARKER BLUES – DAVID RACCUGLIA

Review: DARKER BLUES – DAVID RACCUGLIA
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DARKER BLUES DAVID RACCUGLIA Fat Possum Records  Street: 02.01.03 Fat Possum’s motto is “We’re trying our best,” and I’d say their best is damn good enough. This is a beautifully papered, beautifully bound book with artsy, full-color photographs of the Fat Possum roster of Mississippi’s second generation of original bluesmen with a two-disc label sampler

Review: Cruddy – Lynda Barry

Review: Cruddy – Lynda Barry
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Cruddy follows Roberta from her dysfunctional home life across the Nevada desert to Area 51 with her father on a murder spree. … read more

Pinch Me: SLUG’s Adventures at SXSW 2005

Pinch Me: SLUG’s Adventures at SXSW 2005
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Free BBQ, show highlights, and interview with Billy Idol, Joey Castillo from Queens of the Stone Age and Bad Brad Wheeler from the Legendary Porch Pounders! … read more

Hardcore Realists: Death from Above 1979 Sneer at Glory

Hardcore Realists: Death from Above 1979 Sneer at Glory
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My impression of Canadian two-piece Death from Above 1979 pre-interview was that they don’t suffer a fool. … read more