Authors: Rebecca Vernon
Local Review: Agape – Self-titled EP
Agape Self-titled EP Agape = (ABBA + I Am the World Trade Center + Wesley Willis) x (insert any GSL band here) One might compare Agape to Gold Standard Laboratory Records bands, and yeah, that’d be accurate, but one-man-band Ryan Powers kind of leaves ’em all in the dust if you ask me. (Ask me.)
Local Review: 23 Extacy – Brutal
23 EXTACY BRUTAL Nova One Productions 23 Extacy = Ministry (but darker) + Error (but darker) The first time I got my mitts on old, unreleased and unavailable Red Bennies tracks from the bands’ first four years, it felt like panhandling a gold chunk. Fans of 23 Extacy should feel the same way with the
Local Review: Aaron Cole – Aorotica
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
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
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
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
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
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
“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
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