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: Calico

Local Reviews: Calico
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Oh Calico, how do you infatuate me? Let me recount our days. Just as your opening song begins� silently we grew stronger and my heart beat loud like the ringing of a triangle. Vibrations from your percussion and low keys transcended me into a great high.  … read more

Local Reviews: Ask The Dust

Local Reviews: Ask The Dust
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On the surface, Ask The Dust might appear to be another vanilla-bland rock band playing vanilla bland tunes, but you’d be dead wrong, if you stuck with this assumption.  … read more

Local Reviews: �Andale!

Local Reviews: �Andale!
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After years of teasing and torturing with a single-track acting as the only officially released material, �Andale! have finally released a full-length album. Although the wait was long, the self-titled album lives up to the precedent set by “Hit the Ground,” the track featured on DBS II.  … read more

Local Reviews: 36 Grit Slurry

Local Reviews: 36 Grit Slurry
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This band’s name makes no sense to me, but I give them a big ol’ thumbs up “Welcome to Gotham” style for being creative and whacky.  … read more

Local Reviews: The Tenants of Balthazar’s Castle

Local Reviews: The Tenants of Balthazar’s Castle
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Michael Biggs’ (aka The Tenants of Balthazar’s Castle) music requires patience, but that patience is rewarded with intrigue. Divided into three movements, Biggs starts the set with “Room (Dream),” a fairly grumbling, sometimes explosive, sub-frequency driven mix of oscillated gestures and reedy snippets. … read more

Local Reviews: Some Beasts

Local Reviews: Some Beasts
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A nostalgic tinkering oxf an orchestral kind, this album is bursting with delectable sounds. From tambourines to pots and pans to castanets to delayed acoustic guitars, the music is extremely varied and colorful. The energy that is channeled throughout the album is of such a marvelous kind that it’s almost hard to believe.  … read more

Local Reviews: The Smash Brothas

Local Reviews: The Smash Brothas
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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

Local Reviews: Sheeprizer

Local Reviews: Sheeprizer
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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

Local Reviews: Negative Charge

Local Reviews: Negative Charge
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Although Negative Charge have been together (in some form or another) since 2005, it’s probably a good thing that they waited until now to release their debut album. After opening for many decent punk bands here in SLC (Street Brats, Lower Class Brats, Funeral Dress, GBH, The Casualties, etc.) and a plethora of lineup changes, Negative Charge finally seem to have perfected their sound.  … read more

Local Reviews: Monorchist

Local Reviews: Monorchist
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You have to give respect to Monorchist. This band drops straight-up garage rock that is so unpretentious and unpolished that it sounds like you’re right in the middle of one of their band practices. Hating on it is next to impossible.  … read more