The four-piece experimental rockers out of Provo are known best for their live house shows, complete with lights and fog, turning a regular venue show into an experience. Bands who can pull that off will have an audience no matter where they go, but translating that experience onto a recording rarely works. … read more
Local Reviews: Tough Tittie
Tough Tittie are hitting us with a five-song EP plus the entire album Pink Roid Rage all on one disc. From the first track on the Stomach Transplant portion, “The Introducer,” Tough Tittie takes the goofiness of the Weirdos and reformulates it into a bar-band punk style. … read more
Local Reviews: ZODIAC
Crash-landing in your backyard with proof that Salt Lake is actually in outer space, ZODIAC is here to take revenge for what you did to him in Roswell. That revenge is taking place in your eardrums. … read more
Review: Razer Nabu Watch
At first glance, the Nabu smart watch offers a variety of attractive features. Foremost, the bold design of the watch is undeniably eye-catching. At the very least, it would be impossible for such a watch to go unnoticed, either by others or the watch’s wearing. The point is that the watch constantly reminds the owner that they ought to be exercising, or at least preparing to do so. What appears to be an advantage—the watch’s obstreperousness—soon turns out, however, to be a liability. … read more
Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Curse of Strahd
If you’re in the mood to seriously shake up your D&D group or just want a chance to explore one of the greatest pre-made worlds in the history of the game, Curse of Strahd is your jam, and you owe it to yourself—and your players—to pick it up and give it a try. … read more
Local Reviews: Twisted Axis
If Nickelback and Black Sabbath were forced to combine forces, this is the product of that sad, sad scenario. Twisted Axis has a lot of ’70s rock influences, which is all well and good, but there is also a definite early 2000s radio “rock” music direction they tend to lean toward. The vocals are pretty weak, and there’s no real spark in the music, but I can see how people could like it. … read more
Local Reviews: Ugly Valley Boys
Traditional, American roots and hillbilly are all adjectives that have somewhat permeated into the underbelly of “country music.” With all the negative connotations and pop music associated with the current state of country music, it pains me to call this country. … read more
Local Reviews: Various Artists
I was pleasantly surprised when I popped in Billygoat Database’s Time Capsule compilation, featuring music from VCR5, Nolens Volens and more. Not quite knowing what to expect, I was greeted with some extremely creative and varied techno jams. Each song seems to take you on a whirlwind adventure through a strange and mysterious land that is half Tron and half Lagoon. … read more
Local Reviews: The Weekenders
If you’re going to submit an album or EP to be reviewed, please don’t just burn a CD and throw it in a blank sleeve without a track listing. I have better things to do than look at your fucking MySpace page to match up the five songs you haphazardly sent in. … read more
Leæther Strip: Addressing The Human Elements
On April 2, Claus Larsen and The Zoth Ommog tour will be making a stop at Metro in Salt Lake City, and we could not be more grateful to have him visiting our city. Larsen has been a part of the industrial and underground music community for almost three decades, and is always on the move. … read more
Discussing Mongrels with Stephen Graham Jones
“Mongrels is about a kid, on the run, making his family up as he goes, like Lilo & Stitch kinda stuff” he says. “And for me that was kinda autobiographical until I grew up. … The family in this novel [was] my family.” … read more
The Practice of Suspense and Faith: URTC’s Doubt: A Parable
Suspicion is a feeling universal to humans. It sinks in slowly, starting with a single moment of doubt. Once suspicion arises within us, it is nearly impossible to close our doors to it until we have what we’ve been looking for: the truth. Doubt, written by John Patrick Shanley, throws its audience into the world of suspicion and mystery by setting us into the St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School in The Bronx, New York. … read more
