Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Deponia are reviewed. … read more
Mike Brown’s Monthly Dirt: My Bucket List
Whenever there is a prediction that the world is ending, I think about my bucket list—otherwise known as “some shit I want to do before I die.” While researching for this article, I decided to put my actual list on paper and hang it up with some check marks. I realized then that my bucket list is relatively short, which could mean one of two things: I’m either extremely unambitious or extremely content. … read more
Book Reviews – October 2012
America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom by Meghan McCain & Michael Ian Black, Bury Me In Smoke by Megan Kennedy and If You Can’t Make It Here, Get Out by Jane Potter and G. E. Feldman are reviewed. … read more
Movie Reviews – October 2012
The Ambassador, Excision, Goats, Shut Up and Play the Hits and V/H/S are reviewed. … read more
National Music Reviews – October 2012
New and recent releases from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Between The Buried & Me, Cat Power, Deerhoof, Dinosaur Jr., Enslaved, Lavatory, NOFX, Sea Wolf, Slug Guts and many more are reviewed. … read more
Local Reviews: John-Ross Boyce and His Troubles
Deliciously raw and gritty, Black Shuck/Old Crow is a really great album—a sort of stoner-gypsy-folk-rock mash-up. Wailing guitar riffs and rich, flowing vocals define the 14-song collection and, while the moods and tempos do vary, the album maintains a pretty consistent blues-based vibe that plucks at your heart-strings—kinda even tugs on your skin a little. … read more
Local Reviews: Matthew and The Hope
Matthew and The Hope wasn’t my kind of jam. Matthew claims to sound like Joshua James or Ray LaMontague, but I see his vocal styles as akin to back-of-the-throat singers from neo-grunge (think Scott Stapp or Gavin Rossdale). That being said, Matthew Bashaw has solid vocal skills, but the man needs someone to back him up if he is going to pull off the alternative country sound. … read more
Local Reviews: Michael Gross and The Statuettes
With a perfectly titled album, this rock outfit sonically takes you somewhere warm on the coast. Thanks to their mostly feel-good rhythms, electric guitar riffs and arena-style vocals, this is one of Salt Lake’s most widely appealing bands. … read more
Worshiping A Place to Bury Strangers
“We don’t try to be loud at all, we just play at a volume that feels good to us,” says Oliver Ackermann of New York noise-rockers A Place To Bury Strangers. Ackermann supplies the reverb-saturated baritone vocals to the group, who have been labeled as the “loudest band in New York” by various music critics since their formation in 2003. Over time, the label of loudness has become a bit of a nuisance for the band. “We play music, and I don’t think music should really be described.” … read more
Localized – Top Dead Celebrity, Døne and Despite Despair
Saturday, Nov. 10, you’d better be thankful you live in a land where Zion’s rock n’ roll forefathers worked their asses off to give you the shows you have today. Localized will feature two of Uncle Andy Patterson’s outfits, Top Dead Celebrity and Døne, oozing heavy gravy all over you turkeys at Urban. Openers Despite Despair will prep the big kids’ table with some electric-knife hardcore to kick off a raucous night of rock for you 21-plus music junkies for a small morsel of $5. … read more
Brown vs. Brown
Nate and Jordan Brown are a pair of identical twin skate rats hailing from Kaysville, Utah. Initially, when putting together this piece, I had fantasies of taking them out shredding and making them do the same tricks at the same time. But, even though they look alike and talk alike, and at times, they even walk alike, they actually have different skate styles. Nate takes his power to big shit, and it’s safe to say that Jordan is a bit more of a tech rail killer. … read more
The Ghosts of Hardcore Past
In 2004, hardcore blew up. Once that started happening, Blake Foard, member of bands such as Aftermath of a Trainwreck and Skeiff D’Bargg, and longtime show promoter, saw an opportunity to give a little something back to the community through the hardcore scene he loved. “Hardcore, to me, is helping out the people who matter most,” says Foard. That’s when the annual Sub For Santa show was born. … read more
