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: Citizen Fate
Local CDs are always a mixed bag. 95 percent of the time they suck, and once in a while they 100 percent suck. Unfortunately for my ears, Citizen Fate fell immediately into the latter category. … read more
Local Reviews: The .bLARE”
Every unpaid music critic dreams of writing a critical review of a band’s early release that prompts them to make prescribed changes and then go on to great glory. I know this is a mirage, but still …The .bLARE”, let’s chat. Like any first time director, you have a great first act, but have no clue how to follow that up. … read more
Local Reviews: Arsenic Addiction
Any band that has a song titled “Bruce Campbell” is cool with me, even if it’s only a minute long. In all seriousness, Salt Lake City’s Arsenic Addiction leave listeners wanting more instead of less with their EP Requiem of the Fallen. The band plays a nice, modern metal melodic/heavy mix with no damn chugga chugga breakdowns, thank goodness. … read more
Local Reviews: Uni.Verse.All. & Roe
As much as I dislike the whole outerspace trend going on in hip hop, Eat & Run is not half bad. Made up of U.n.i.verse.all and Roe, two local SLC cats, my only real issue with the album is how it doesn’t sound the least bit like two 15-year-old white kids. From the sound of the voice to the rhymes, the only thing sounding age appropriate is the space-man beats they rhyme over. … read more
Local Reviews: Terry Lynn Tschaekofske
Illusions makes me tense. Rather than relaxing to the sounds of a simple guitar, I find myself on edge, waiting for a theme to develop into something compelling. Each song inflicts dutiful repetition, at around 80 beats per minute, with some reverb. … read more
Local Reviews: Small Town Sinners
Small Town Sinners aren’t what you would expect from a local alt country band. Each one of their songs seems to slightly pull at your heart strings and randomly sneak back into your brain when you least expect it. … read more
Local Reviews: Shark Speed
While the pace of most the songs on Shark Speed’s second release, Education EP, have a pace and tonal energy similar to that of the majority of the songs on VH1’s top 20 countdown there is a style about them that gives them an organic genuine vibe. … read more
Local Reviews: Patter Stats
Listen to this album with headphones. Listen to every album with headphones, for that matter. The two guitars harmonize through stereo and you probably won’t notice unless you are plugged in. What is this Beast? Well, this beast balances energy and harmony in a way that not many albums do. … read more
Local Reviews: Ryan Schoeck
Production on this album ends in a place where I wish more music would. Time went into making and producing this record, yes, but it hasn’t been polished to the point that it’s a work of aesthetics. … read more
Local Reviews: Game On
Listening to Game On takes me back to the days before teenage girls stole the words ‘punk rock’ to describe Yellowcard and the All-American Rejects. Playing in the Background is full of songs that, with a bit of work, could sound just like any track on a Fat Music compilation 10 years ago––specifically “Untitled 7” and “Skank If You Got ‘em.” … read more