The Saintanne is an interesting hodgepodge of styles and a rarity in the Utah scene. Their performance at a recent Localized at Urban Lounge was more thematic than musically engaging, which isn’t a bad thing. … read more
Local Reviews: Spell Talk
Salt Lake City seems like the last place anyone would expect to hear tunes like Spell Talk’s most recent LP, but this combination of minimal, mellow blues and psychedelic haziness feels like a hot summer day in the valley. Punctuated by Jared Phelps’ half-shouted singing, Touch It! sounds like it was recorded in a concrete basement, with every tremulous note aching out of Andrew Milne’s tortured guitar bouncing off the walls in a strange, hypnotic fashion. … read more
Local Reviews: Young Mindz
With The Milky Blaze, Young Mindz aren’t saying anything that wasn’t said 15 years ago. The opening track, “Young Mindz,” features monotonous letter-for-letter chanting of the group name, lyrics about hyping the crowd, dissing other rappers and the usual self-promoting themes. … read more
Local Reviews: Parallax
Mediums and Messages was originally released on CD in 2006, shortly after the tragic death of Parallax vocalist Blake Donner. Five years later, the band is reissuing the album on vinyl and playing one final show in Provo (with Jeff Jensen, who filled in on vocals for a year following Donner’s passing) before laying Parallax to rest. … read more
Local Reviews: The Numbs & Linus Stubbs
What could be better than veterans in their element? This collaborative effort from scene-defining artists The Numbs and seasoned beatsmith Linus Stubbs has it all. The beats are rich, full of classic soul and Motown-sounding samples. Stubbs can make simple boom-bap into a dusty funk soundtrack, tight and gritty at the same time. The lyrics are what you’d expect for a group of emcees who’ve been trading mics for over a decade. … read more
Goldmine: Collector’s Curse
Bad news: Your grandma’s dead. Good news: You’ve inherited box after box of her dusty old LPs! Score! You’ve seen the vinyl displays at the front of Urban Outfitters and Barnes & Noble, so you know that vinyl is a hot commodity—Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin reissues are big business. … read more
SLUG Holiday Comix – April 2016
April 17 is Bat Appreciation Day … … read more
Take the Brown Acid: An Interview with Daniel Hall & Lance Barresi
Barresi and Hall are both Los Angeles–based DJs and record shop owners who’ve been big fans of psychedelic rock throughout the course of their friendship. However, the idea to start the Brown Acid series came from a shared interest in discovering rare vinyl. … read more
Localized: Swell Merchants
The trio has been rising quickly in the past few months, dropping roughly 20 singles on SoundCloud and a demo project (aptly named Demo) before actually putting an official album into their discography. “Last year, we picked up the pace,” says Nico. … read more
Creature Feature: Living Plastic with Kenneth Leon
Kenneth Leon is a multi-faceted artist best known for his imaginative visual photography and performance art. His Barbie photography has immersed him in a community of doll lovers and, in that world, he is in total control. … read more
Moonsorrow: Age of the Gods
Moonsorrow—self-described as “heathen metal”—released a new album, Jumalten Aika (“Age of the Gods”) on April 1. … read more
Discogs: Virtual Vinyl Meeting Place
Over the past decade or so, varying degrees of music collectors worldwide have seemingly begun to defect from large online retailers like eBay and Amazon in favor of “smaller,” more intimate online stores. The most popular, and quite possibly the fastest-growing, is Discogs. … read more