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: Various Artists
This compilation is the first release from Bass Machine Music, a Salt Lake-based record label run by local DJ and producer Jon Rappaport. What it lacks in length it makes up for in pure power—the songs are heavy, in-your-face innovations of the bass/house realm. The compilation kicks off with a collaboration between SLC local Nate Holland and French producer Heblank: a bass-driven, R&B powerhouse track that continues to delight me after hundreds of plays. … read more
Local Reviews: The Summer Storm
The Summer Storm is the kind of outfit that possibly would’ve thrived quite decently in the late ’80s and might’ve even gotten a listen by Steve Albini, but repetitious guitar tones with spoken word in lieu of sung melodies has never been common. … read more
Local Reviews: S.L.F.M.
Utah musician S.L.F.M. (A.K.A. Jessica Davis) has something unique. The music of a girl who sings with a distorted mic and plays with a distorted ukulele The Kissing Game may be an acquired taste. … read more
Local Reviews: The Plastic Furs
With a sly and energetic style, The Plastic Furs display a musical repertoire that spans the distance between dark, sexy psychedelia and supercharged rock tunes. The band’s punchy drone sensibility meshes well with Brian Mink’s hazy guitar reverberating through their washed-out tone. … read more
Local Reviews: Pat Briggs and the T-Birds
This album reminds me of the best band you heard at a college party in the late ’90s and could never remember the name of—but I mean that in the best way. The instrumentation is softer rock, all shining guitars and thoughtful and adept rhythm-section backups. … read more
Local Reviews: The Mooks
Before hearing it, I thought that the title track of this latest Mooks release might be a Spice Girls cover—these are SLC’s foremost purveyors of all things pop-punk and cuteness, after all—but that is not the case (though that probably would’ve been pretty cool, too). … read more
Local Reviews: Lady Murasaki
Had I not seen this band in person, I never would have guessed these soulful vocals came from a 6’ Japanese woman commanding the mic with a classic Gretch in hand. But this poppy five-piece rock group really isn’t anything they appear to be, and that’s a really good thing. … read more
Local Reviews: Israel West
My only real complaint with this album by local hip hop artist Israel West is how hard the vocals are to hear on some of the best songs. They often sound like they were recorded in a shower, or from down a hallway and the beats totally overwhelm them. … read more
Local Reviews: Huldra
Clocking in at nearly 45 minutes, this might be the longest EP I’ve ever heard—but I’m totally okay with that. Huldra’s sound is firmly cemented in the spacey, weighty grounds of post-metal where ISIS and Neurosis trod before them, their songs building and crashing over striking keyboard passages, and punctuated by bellowing howls. … read more
Local Reviews: Gravetown
Logan’s Gravetown could be considered “the new(er) guys” in Utah’s metal breeding grounds. For a demo, the production of the five tracks here is better than a good chunk of material I’ve come across that actually had album producers and mixers. Gravetown dish up some devious death n’ thrash with the intent to respect the elder metal gods as well as bust the heads of “noobs.” … read more