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: The Lionelle
Musically, The Lionelle could easily exist as a simple vehicle for Tate Law’s strange but drop-dead affecting voice. Law’s vocals, if you haven’t heard them, sound like a mix between a collapsed-lung Tim Kasher and an emotionally attached Johnny Whitney. … read more
Local Reviews: Joseph (The Voluptuary) Smith
The most striking thing about this record, straight off the bat, is that the all-black plastic CD case has a small castle (temple?) adorned with a sparkly mushroom placed on the middle of the cover—that’s three-dimensionally, sticking out about three inches! … read more
Local Reviews: Exer Ovu
Exer Ovu, the acoustic music project of Derek Griffith, uniquely combines the energy of acoustic punk with the flamboyance of freak folk. Griffith has an expressive voice that he uses mostly to good effect, notably on opener “You’re Making Me Nervous,” a minute-long blast of hoarse four-chord punk. … read more
Local Reviews: Data Booty
I have listened to this tape over 1000 times now, no joke. There is something about booty house music that is so refreshing in a world of music where everyone takes themselves so seriously. MSSV Music has probably the best lineup of artists testing out new musical paths right now, and they offer free mixtapes from their site regularly. … read more
Local reviews: Chris DeVito
Opening track “No Sense of Rhythm” starts this album off promisingly with propulsive drums and taut New Wave guitar, culminating in an arena-era Police-esque chorus. Considering Chris DeVito learned drums to record this album, it’s impressive how percussion-centered the album is. … read more
Local Reviews: Books about UFOs
People say that Books about UFOs is a garage group, and the band cites 13th Floor Elevators as an influence, but they couldn’t sound less psychedelic if they tried. If you go into this expecting to hear anything even close to The Sonics or The Reigning Sound, you’ll be pretty dissatisfied. … read more
Local Reviews: Bears On Parade
I am supposed to avoid vague, nonsensical descriptions when writing a review, but this album is slightly vague and nonsensical, so fuck it. This album is like a swim through a cave of glitter followed by that slimy feeling you get after showering in soft water. … read more
Local Reviews: Trenton McKean
Ah, the lonely life of a session musician. You make an album like The Many Shades listenable, but you will never be mentioned beyond the liner notes. I am truly sorry. Along with the expert musicianship Trenton McKean has at his employ, The Many Shades has quite a few nice things going for it. … read more
Local Reviews: Spell Talk
It must be tough being a southern rock band from northern Utah, but Spell Talk has it down. I haven’t been able to see these guys live since guitarist Dylan Roe joined the band, and this definitely isn’t how I remembered them sounding. … read more
Local Reviews: Sayde Price
Sayde Price’s debut album is something of a revelation. Price’s skeletal folk songs aren’t revelatory in the sense of ground breaking musically or topically, but rather in the way a voice and a guitar still sound impossibly intimate and personal after the genre has been done to death. … read more