Pentagraham Crackers Live! From the Palace of Payne Chthonic Records Street: 05.31 Pentagraham Crackers = Dan Sartain + The Mr. T Experience The fluid tempo and mood in Live! From the Palace of Payne flow from upbeat in one track, to depressive and longing in another. The genre seems fluid, too, and pinning it down
For their second album, Provo’s Parlor Hawk looked to make a slight departure from the sound of Hoarse & Roaming—their 2010 Northplatte Records release that seemed heavily influenced by producer Joshua James—and dabble a bit more in the rock side of their indie rock/folk genre. … read more
The Unbeatable Sound of Plastic, the second full-length record from Salt Lake’s Pink Lightning, straddles the line that separates gritty blues and ‘70s rock, and fucking breaks everything in between. … read more
It’s not often that a baritone voice sticking to a few sustained notes hooks me. It’s more rare when the band comes from Utah County.
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Happy Valley pop rock is alive and well with the Provo band No Sleep’s self-titled full-length. Guitarist Matthias Hammon’s shimmering, fingerpicked arpeggios dominate the somewhat spare production with the sweet-without-saccharine vocals of Shelby Crawley, who shares vocal duties with Hammon. … read more
Karl Jørgensen, you rat bastard, what have you done with my brain? I have fallen in love with this album and refuse to take it off repeat. … read more
This stuff was groan-inducing the first time I heard it, strolling through Zuccotti Park a few years back. (I think I have a hand signal to show how much I like it, too.) … read more
This getup is a strong example of some good alt-thrash-rock in a well-produced and beautifully packaged full length. They write some sweet guitar solos on tracks like “Awaken the Fire” and “Twenty Seven,” but the strongest song on this album, hands down, is “Farewell.” … read more
It’s a shame that Night Sweats disbanded as early as they did because the music left behind is just so fucking good. … read more
Songs to Forget Me By is rife with songs ripped from the romantic, early ‘00s atmospheric alt-pop camp, which is fine, but I must say I was bored for most of this album. … read more
OK Ikumi Outside Hel Audio Street: 04.30 OK Ikumi = Corduroi + Ethernet Once again, Karl Jørgensen has won over my heart with the ambient sounds of his latest synthesized magnum opus. This time, Outside translated into a more themed, cohesive work than its predecessor 10/13. The collection of sounds weaves an intricate tapestry of
Oxcross Tree and Stone Self-released Street: 04.15 Oxcross = USX + Clutch + Karma To Burn Heavy and extremely loud rockers Oxcross bring forth the riffs. Those riffs flow like the springs and streams of the Wasatch Front, starting as trickles and turning into massive rivers. There’s a familiarity in the styles Oxcross throw down,
