When I first hunted down Elizabethan Report on the Internet, I was impressed by the band’s uninhibited and energetic stage presence. Even when I wasn’t sure their sound was really my bag, I knew I’d have a blast at one of their shows. On their five-track EP , the mixture of fast funk, stand-up-and-jump rock and various noise-making devices (think trashcan lids and toy pianos) could have easily yielded a discordant mish-mash. … read more
I will always have a deep admiration for multi-instrument musicians. Sheeprizer is a pretty standard hard rock setup by a man known as Butt Socrates, consisting of basic distorted guitars, drums and no vocals. Therein is my problem. … read more
Hip Hop is not dead in Utah. Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. The crews around here should start paying attention, or at least start buying beats from the laundry list of producers and DJs that The Smash Brothas utilize on their latest release. … read more
I’m no psychologist, but it seems that Josh Waldron may suffer from multiple personality disorder. This album flipflops more times than Cybil. First he thinks he’s in a mariachi band and before you know it, he’s part of the Goo Goo Dolls. I leave the room for one minute, come back, and he’s Garth Brooks. … read more
I enjoy the occasional garage recording as much as the next SLUG staffer, and listening to Kill Everyone Now’s tracks remind me of just why I appreciate most start-out rock bands and their growth that occurs early on. … read more
Now this is a welcome listening experience. SLC’s Blackhole and Portland’s Madraso each offer up one song on this bit of vinyl heaven (the one they sent me was on clear orange wax). Reviewing 7″s kind of sucks because they’re so short, so I’ll keep this review the same. … read more
It seems that everyone and his leather-clad dog in Salt Lake is a “noise band” these days. As you may have experienced, half of these follow the “turn on machines, wave hands around, tweak knobs in an angry fashion, call it a piece of music” aesthetic. … read more
I’ve heard music like this described before as sculpture, and that really seems to fit this release. Though I do not mean a solid, statuesque figure�this is something far more abstract, almost void of shape, yet still symmetrical and meticulously crafted from every imaginable source of raw material. … read more
There’s nothing worse than having to give a local band � which represents you and your local musical community � a bad write-up. Nevertheless, nobody wins when a band continues on, ignorant of their lack of talent. Lewis is the epitome of the-pop punk sound a la Blink 182. Maybe they thought they’d fill the void for all the Blink fans who can’t get over Blink being gone. … read more
This album is nearly 42 minutes long � but feels like 10. Starting off slowly with an almost-tribal melody, Ahspen easily could have been the soundtrack to The Martian Chronicles, because all 42 minutes in this piece are an instrumentation of beautiful bliss that seem to follow an internal storyline. … read more
I once watched a performer maintain a tricky, tempo-swaying drum roll using a stick in one hand and a rubber ball in the other. I was completely mesmerized by the performance, but letdown by the recording and unable to convince any who heard it how magnificent it had been. This is my beef with 90 percent of so-called noise music: you have to see it to appreciate it, otherwise, if you expect anyone to listen, you damned well better make the aural side really interesting. … read more
The opening track “Illuminati” on Top Dead Celebrity’s self-titled album made me hope this would be a dynamic instrumental band, and then right towards the end of the well-laced opening track they speed it up, give it the Kyuss kick and the hammer drops. … read more
