December 2012
Top 5: Atom Age
The second full-length album from this Berkeley, Calif. quintet blows the doors right open with “Dig the Future,” blistering with punk rock fury and garage rock swagger. Brendan Frye’s sax is easily the standout element of The Atom Age’s sound, as he gives an extra gallon of rocket fuel to the band’s already frantically fast numbers , but is an equally effective attitude enhancer in slower songs. … read more
Top 5: Baby Ghosts
Baby Ghosts are one of those surprise bands who were kind of overlooked when they arrived in 2010, but slowly grew on audiences as they got around and played all-ages gigs in Provo and Salt Lake City. The aggressive pop-punk rockers are one of those groups that, quite frankly, we may not deserve yet in the music scene. … read more
Top 5: Crystal Castles
Ethan Kath begins with a heart-heavy siren—your chest caves as your ears ache to understand what is coming. You feel yourself stepping onto a spaceship, and, before you know it, you are counting down, beat by beat, three, two, one … blastoff. Vocalist Alice Glass’s signature, scathing voice yells, “I am the plague,” and you succumb to the darkness that they breathe. … read more
Top 5: Eagle Twin
The fable of the crow continues in this year’s release, The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale. Guitarist and vocalist Gentry Densely is a master storyteller, guiding listeners through his dark, mythical narrative with low, throaty vocals. On some tracks, he sings the part of the narrator, while in others, he sings in first person, detailing Crow’s battle against the sun and Crow’s metamorphosis into a snake … read more
Local Reviews: Euphoria Again
Euphoria Again is a minimalistic indie folk group whose music is comparable to a large, abstract art piece: It’s aesthetically engaging from afar, but observing it closer doesn’t bring any additional gratification. … read more
Top 5: Evoken
“I will diminish those centuries and persecute those with quiet desperation,” bleeds a grumbled death roar from the title track off Evoken’s fifth album. Not only do the gloomy lyrics set the tone of the album with the starting song, but the music does as well. Atra Mors’ biggest success as an album is its gutsy equality of atmospheric, obliterating doom and brain-stem-carving memorability. … read more
Top 5: Japandroids
Celebration Rock is the musical equivalent of getting shitfaced with your friends and talking about past successes or ex-girlfriends, ending the night with drunken optimism about the future. Somewhere between post-rock and pop-punk, they are never trying too hard to be cool—it all seems genuine. … read more
Turn Off the TV, Turn On the GV!
Welcome to GigViz, the live-streaming “virtual venue,” bringing the show to your screen in real time! There is no better birthplace than SLC, home to a thriving music and art scene. Sean Cochrane, the founder of GigViz, began formulating the project a little under a year ago. It was an invitation from a friend in Santa Monica to see a live show that ignited this mission. … read more
SLUG Holiday Comix – December 2012
Local artist Robin Banks helps us get into the true spirit of the holiday season in this installment of SLUG Holiday Comix. … read more
Top 5: Purity Ring
Shrines is a beautiful contradiction of icy, synthetic start-and-stops created by Corin Roddick, and the sugar-dipped ghost vocals of Megan James dissecting through the cold mass of chimes with awkward, gut-wrenching lyrics. Though the choppy hip hop beats, dubstep wobbles and breathy witch house elements initially draw the listener in with exterior superficiality, a few more close listens reveal a poetic push-and-pull between the instrumentals and songwriting that beg for deconstruction. … read more
Top 5: White Lung
Where much new punk music is conflated with hardcore, stoner metal, indie, folk or pop-punk, White Lung have managed to pick up where mid-aughts bands left off, to push a straight-up punk sound into a different realm without interlacing their tunes with conventions from other genres on their sophomore release, Sorry. … read more
Photo Feature: Parker Duke
Often overlooked is the Private Investigator skillset that snowboarders (and skateboarders) develop to put themselves in the dangerous situations they often find themselves in. The Salt Lake Public Library, for example, is pretty much the Disneyland of spots in this town, but it can also be compared to Fort Knox for its security. … read more
