December 2014
December 2014 Local Music Reviews
Local music reviews for Andy Vigilante, Christopher Alvarado, The Cotton Pinies, Grizzly Spectre, Hel Audio, Herban Empire and New City Sky. … read more
Contributor Limelight: Courtney Blair
Courtney Blair is the brains behind our December “Top 5” cover, and a beloved SLUG alum whose name readers may recognize from her KRCL Saturday show, “Afternoon Delight.” … read more
December 2014 National Music Reviews
National album reviews for Agnes Obel, Alison Moyet, Biull Burr, Co-Pilgrim, Cult Of Youth, David Lunch, Ex Cops, FF, Foo Fighters, Freaky Mind, Haunted Heads, Katie Kate, Loveskills, Marianne Faithfull, Nots, Our Wild America, Pig Destroyer Primus, Sinkane, Thurston Moore, Tetema, WISH, Women’s Hour, The Mytches, Yelle and more. … read more
Pallbearer: Foundations of Burden
“Sorrow and Extinction developed a following pretty quickly, and luckily, we had a lot of people in our corner to help push the new album,” he says. “It sort of came out of the gate pretty hot, surprisingly. None of us really expected that at all.” Despite their sudden popularity, Pallbearer try to focus on their music, not on the publicity. “It’s basically like we do with everything—try to take everything in stride, not have any expectations about what is coming next and just roll with it,” says Pallbearer bassist Joseph D. Rowland. … read more
Christmas Wish List from the Underground: A Collection of Appeals...
Remember when you were young and anxious, desperately propelling yourself up from the tile floor of a shopping mall with your toes just to glimpse the red mess of a man who, according to your sources, planned on hooking it up big time? We remember. That’s why SLUG recently sat down with a handful of members from Utah’s underground music community and asked them some irresponsibly Christian-based questions about what they want for Christmas this year. … read more
Top 5: Pink Mountaintops
Get Back received mixed reviews across the board—some reviewers lauded the album as a rock n’ roll tour de force (Mojo, PopMatters) and others expressed wishy-washy reactions (Paste, Pitchfork). Most seemed, to some extent, to decry the sixth track, “North Hollywood Microwaves” because Annie Hardy (Giant Drag) raps about the joys of cum, declaring “I am a slut!” amid her blithe confessions of bestiality with donkeys and bears (because men no longer satisfy her). The prank worked. … read more
Top 5: Necrophagia
The legacy of horror, terror and old-school death metal that is Wellsville, Ohio’s Necrophagia keeps getting better and better. Their seventh release, WhiteWorm Cathedral, is sure to open up the seven seals of Hell and unleash the apocalypse in the form of aural destruction and mental imagery assaults. Necrophagia incorporate an almost obsessive love for horror films which, in addition to the band’s own ideas and interpretations of those horrors, have always made for fun listening. … read more
Product Reviews
Product reviews for Blue Microphones, CLIF Bar, Crosley, Yantouch, CamelBak, Jaybird, Ultimate Ears and Zippy Dynamics. … read more
Top 5: Hundred Waters
Following the subtly intricate formula of their first album, Hundred Waters’ new release continues with the same airy splendor, but with more refinement. The musical foundation of this album perfectly represents 2014, a year of revitalization and self-discovery, by sounding neither senescent nor ahead of its time, but flawlessly fit into the fringes of current music. … read more
Top 5: Horseback
Jenks Miller, the father behind Horseback’s latest album, Piedmont Apocrypha, has again created a twined nest of experimental sound by combining a base of seething feedback and altering levels of oozing drone. The album as a whole lifts up the listener in a cradle to help see Miller’s vision of music as a single, fluid entity with this nongenre specific album. … read more
SLUG Reviews Television Shows from 2014
Television reviews for Behaving Badly, Cartoon Network Holiday Collection, Edge Of Tomorrow, Hercules, Impractical Jokers, Into The Storm, Jersey Boys, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Poppy Ackroyd, Reno 911! and Tammy. … read more
Top 5: Foster Body
Foster Body’s debut album, Landscapes, which was released on cassette and digitally in March, captures the Salt Lake City–based, punk combo at a brilliant moment of process—merging strong aesthetic sentiment and live performance practice into a compelling vision for contemporary noise-punk. With eight tracks lashing across the album’s 20-minute duration, Landscapes is a quick yet thrilling listen. … read more