Music
SLUG Magazine’s collection of reviews covering the latest and greatest of Utah-based music, covering all varieties of genre, style and type.
Local Reviews: Dirty Uncle Davey
Dirty Uncle Davey is all you could expect from a synth-based noise band, long droney tracks of feedback and mysterious sounding tones meandering through dimensionless matter. What is great about this release and most really good noise music is that it steps into your subconscious and plays a few tricks on you, the biggest being that of time confusion. … read more
Local Reviews: Die Monster Die
Die Monster Die has truly become a staple of Salt Lake’s underground scene. They play on a fairly regular basis and release a record every now and then. Their metal-laden horror punk is fun and creepy, but they’ve never really stepped above the regular horror punk sludge that inhabits the music collection of anyone who wishes there were more Misfits’ records. … read more
Local Reviews: Ben Johnson
Oh my! I don’t know what I was expecting with this CD … actually, I thought it was going to be second-rate, diluted folk music; something about the calligraphy font on the front cover. But the album opens up with a big, classy, big band-era sounding rock extravaganza and goes on from there to 40s and 50s crooner hits with “fun” pschedelia thrown in (think Flaming Lips, not Jefferson Airplane). … read more
Local Reviews: Auto-Pirates
A local band making the decision to utilize what sounds like Russian lyrics on an opening track= balls. Some members of the Utah community would be miffed if an intro track didn’t have some entirely English reference to how much they love God and/or how much they love their country. … read more
Local Reviews: Team Mom
I was not prepared to be so pleasantly surprised. This album is darn good. With a surge in the indie-pop scene as of late, Team Mom is a welcome addition, bringing new-age alternative with a twist of ’60s folky electric guitar and swing-jazz drums. … read more
Local Reviews: Salt Town Greasers
I can’t tell if these folks are trying to create an eclectic sound or if they just can’t make up their minds up on what to play. Country, punk, psycho and rockabilly all find their way into the mix, but with little thought as to how to play these genres well. … read more
Local Reviews: Purr Bats
Anyone who’s ever picked up an album by Purr Bats knows the sort of insanity they’re getting into, but for those unfamiliar, let me try to explain: imagine a much more twisted version of Devo, blending a folk-western style into a techno-rock hybrid. … read more
Local Reviews: My Own Time
From the ashes of Oxido Republica come My Own Time, a very different machine than Oxido. The obvious highlight of this five-track demo is Karla “Agony” Olivia’s vocals. There is a great amount of energy behind her lyrics, and it just feels like she is singing from her own pain, when nowadays many female singers scream just because they can. … read more
Local Reviews: Jeremy Spence
Anyone touting a press kit that hints they sounds like Coldplay better be packing a lot of heat to back it up. Unfortunately, after listening through this album three times, I couldn’t even hear a hint of Chris Martin, let alone any trace of a Euro-pop influence. … read more
Local Reviews: The Devil Whale
The Devil Whale gets my vote for the best serenading band in Utah. I can already see girls and boys getting weak at the knees. This is one of those bands that can appeal to everyone because the music is so personal. … read more