Local Reviews: The CJB

Local Reviews: The CJB
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This is a great easy-listening album. It is exactly what it purports to be:  a positive, uplifting, easy-to-listen-to collection of chilled-out songs. Even the saddest lyrical topics on the album are lightened up by the delivery via charming and harmless reggae-inspired riffs. … read more

Local Reviews: The Direction

Local Reviews: The Direction
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Man, I love chicks who rock. And this chick totally rocks—lead singer Felicia Anderton ties up this package most delightfully, with a vintage voice that is somehow exactly what this rock n’ roll outfit wants.  … read more

Local Reviews: Theta Naught

Local Reviews: Theta Naught
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Omnium Gatherum is Theta Naught’s first full-length album in six years. Given their elastic membership and reliance on improvisation above all else, each release and live show has the capacity to take the prolific post-rock/jazz/classical collective into completely unexpected places.  … read more

Local Reviews: Tupelo Moan

Local Reviews: Tupelo Moan
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The minute this album starts with “Take You Out,” it feels as if it was written in a dive by two guys just jamming out for the hell of it somewhere around the Alabama/Tennessee border. Trying to capture the southern rock feel with a harder edge, Brad McCarley and Jason Roberts pounded out this eight-track trucker-like album in a matter of weeks at McCarley’s own Salt Lake Recording Service. … read more

 
 
Local Reviews: Philosofist

Local Reviews: Philosofist
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Holy bajoley, Batman, this really is a knuckle sandwich. As they hint with their very name, Philosofist deftly combines thoughtful musicianship with execution that gets my body swaying and hand-fists punching. Each track in Obstruction Of Moustache stands by itself as its own work of art, starkly different from its siblings.  … read more

Local Reviews: Bearcats

Local Reviews: Bearcats
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Abandoning prior cred and a full-length album of material, the three remaining members of Atl Atl renamed themselves and pushed out a quick studio recording.  … read more

Local Reviews: Idyll Rigamarole

Local Reviews: Idyll Rigamarole
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It is hard to criticize music by a local “teen-run” record label, but I’ll do my best.  All local artists should take note: Every artist is a local artist where they came from.  That doesn’t mean they should be making records.  With a name that would surely get them kicked out from even busking in Sherwood Forest, Idyll Rigamarole describes their sound as “medieval groove folk” on their Facebook page. … read more

Local Reviews: Illegal Beagle

Local Reviews: Illegal Beagle
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Illegal Beagle get points for incorporating second-wave ska and not exclusively playing third-wave ska, but the songs are grating and the recording is sloppy.  Considering third-wave ska still sounds hopelessly dated, only first-wave ska could have compensated.  … read more

Local Reviews: Mechanical Skies

Local Reviews: Mechanical Skies
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The music itself has a vintage tone: a throwback to the ‘60s and ‘70s, with hints of ‘50s-era pop thrown in by the female vocalist. A distinct homage to bands like Rush and Cream on the instrumentals, with Hank Reese on vox and the addition of Jaylee Amey’s vocals certainly individualizes the sound. … read more

Local Reviews: Replica Mine

Local Reviews: Replica Mine
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It’s always a pleasant surprise to hear good, interesting dark music made locally. While we have plenty of good bands, industrial is rare at best. Sandy-based Adam Harmon, former guitarist and keyboard player for Carphax Files, is the force behind this meandering industrial experiment, a follow-up to $ra, their 2008 5-song EP. … read more