Authors: Rebecca Vernon
“Your Sweetness Abides”: An Interview with Toy Whisperer Jared Gold
Nationally renowned designer and artist Jared Gold creates a new line of imaginative toys, Sutras of Delight, to reconnect with a childlike sense of wonder. … read more
Local Review: When Cars Crash – All Kinds of Comfortable
WHEN CARS CRASH ALL KINDS OF COMFORTABLE (2002) Hibiscus Zombie When Cars Crash = Jade Tree Records + chutzpah One of the hardest things for me to do when helping out with Death by Salt was having to cut When Cars Crash’s track, “Shattered Smile”, from the comp after finding out it was previously released
Local Review: Yield – Self-titled demo
Yield Self-titled demo Yield = Alice in Chains + Metallica’s “Sanitarium” + Extreme Mid-80s chunka-chunka low-end metal parleys with tender, suicidal Alice-in-Chains ballads touching on themes of mind-rupturing confusion with plenty of guitar-pick’d arpeggios and minor chords (choicest example: “Brainwash”). It’s been done before, but Yield succeeds at a much-traversed genre because they’re completely
Local Review: Yaotl Mictlan – Self-titled demo
Yaotl Mictlan Self-titled demo Yaotl Mictlan = Mayhem + Mexico Yaotl Mictlan deliver black metal with a primal, South American heart, what Rene Gomez, lead singer, calls “pre-Colombian metal.” The opening track, “Decendiendo al Xibalba” starts with the sound of wood flutes, beads shaking, and what sounds like the deep yelling of an immense crowd.
Local Review: Victrola – 5-Song demo
Victrola 5-Song demo Victrola = Mission of Burma + Pinback SLUG got 5-Song Demo by Victrola for a Sabbathon demo in June but it’s so hot I took the liberty of reviewing it anyway. Down-home original indie rock like Dinosaur Jr. blends with a pinch of modern indie-rock jangle like Trail of the Dead, Pinback,
Local Review: Various Artists – If You Do Clean People’s...
Various Artists If You Do Clean People’s Ears Out Vol. 3 Eden’s Watchtower Records Eden’s has trimmed down its trad comp from two songs per artist to one, which means less Eden’s music, but makes it more accessible. DulceSky’s midnight-lush, 80s shoegazer “Media-Luna” opens up Vol. 3, followed by The Child Who Was a
Local Review: Vile Blue Shades – Dark Wizard
Vile Blue Shades Dark Wizard Croakfrog Vile Blue Shades = Do Make Say Think + The Fall + Ralph Steadman Vile Blue Shades, who had a CD release at SLUG HQ during April Gallery Stroll, are in anti-heaven where The Swans float around with The Fall, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Junior Kimbrough, monk-like chanting and
Local Review: Twilight Transmissions – Self-Titled
Twilight Transmissions Self-titled Nova One Twilight Transmissions = 23 Extacy + Philip K. Dick All-instrumental industrial annihilation brought to you by Chris Alvarado of 23 Extacy is all pleasure, no pain. Calculated repetition saturates the drone with sophistication. Everything on TT has been thought out as carefully as a Scrabble championship game, from its
Local Review: Tragic Black – The Sixx Premonitions
Tragic Black The Sixx Premonitions Tragic Black = Cinema Strange + The Cadavers Sociopolitical death rock never tasted so good. Tragic Black is back with this six-song EP, recorded at Arrogant Hipster Studios, which is tighter, crisper and boasts more cohesive production than Articulate Lacerations. The songwriting has also progressed a lot; the guitar riffs
Local Review: Thrashcorps – Self-Titled
Thrashcorps Self-titled Thrashcorps = Danzig + Apocalypse Theater + Carnaval + Ichi the Killer There’s something really untamed, scary, twisted and sick about Thrashcorps’ (formerly Absinthe) brutal take on the world, and I don’t scare easily, señors. Lo-fi metal combines with hard rock to make a crusty, blistery, bubbly poison potion that will fry your