Sinthesis Movement 4:6 Raincloud Records Street: 10.31 Sinthesis = Deep Puddle Dynamics + Red Hot Chili Peppers The vibrant underground hip-hop scenes of the east and west coasts have slowly permeated into the North American interior, sadly Utah has yet to learn from its Midwestern contemporaries how to foster an inclusive hip-hop community. Sinthesis is
Skellum Boxelders Self-Released Street: 05.28 Skellum = Infected Mushroom + Beats Antique Although a few of the songs on the album sound as if Zelda magically appeared in a rave, it is very well made and has a smooth, experimental electronic sound. The details in songs like “Covert Operations” and “Moments” make the album
Spell Talk Rough Self-Released Street: 09.26.12 Spell Talk = Black Keys + De Stijl–era White Stripes It’s too bad Spell Talk broke up following this release, because their down n’ dirty rock n’ roll went straight for the guts and would’ve won a “vintage sound” contest any day. Rough has a distinguished, antique sound that’s
Steve Comeau, a community-involved Canadian transplant, launches us to Starbass with a great collection of futuristic, danceable dubstep tracks. … read more
The album opens with the bass-heavy “Epic,” a song that took a moment to grow on me. What I initially took to be butt-rock vocals were in fact Lee Ving–styled yells and croons. “Different Circles” has the same aspects of Ving-meets-Danzig vocals. … read more
It is really wonderful to hear some new work from Skyler Hitchcox, the guiding light behind Silver Antlers. To the uninitiated, Silver Antlers is heavily ritualized pop music that explores the endless possibilities of dreamy, shoegazy drone that seeks to communicate with something bigger than ourselves inside ourselves. … read more
Sometimes good things come in twos, and the second release by local self-proclaimed “stoner rock” duo Spörk—the embodiment of synthetic, petroleum-based fast-food flatware—the musical equivalent of what passes for “journalism” in frontman Bill Frost’s television-addicted, sarcasm-singed, tube-top addled mind… … read more
Despite being personally convinced that most people try to make electronic music just to be able to say they do—if I hear “Hi, I’m a DJ” one more time I may scream—there are exceptions when someone can legitimately produce something worth listening to a few times, which is the case here. … read more
Sonder is a great improvement on Sights’ still pretty great debut EP, Mammoth. From a pure songwriting perspective, I think these guys are catching up with Eons (R.I.P.) in the race for who can put out the best post-hardcore music in Salt Lake. … read more
Now here’s a couple of good, old-fashioned leftist punk rock releases, by local band the Socialists. You might want to call this group more of a “collective.” They are true to their beliefs enough that they include “Praise Boss,” with lyrics by the Australian IWW from the early 1900s and “This Little Scab” with lyrics by the Chicago IWW and Local 329 SEIU. … read more
Robyn Cage = (Florence + the Machine) + Lana Del Rey – Fiona Apple … read more
Selja Sini = Cate Le Bon + Rilo Kiley … read more
