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 Review: Quiet Colors – Self-titled demo
Quiet Colors Self-titled demo Quiet Colors = Circa Survive + Armor for Sleep Quiet Colors comes off like an Equal Visions band with their melodic-emo-with-punk-overtones mix. The music’s cloudy-darkish, but behind it the sun is bursting out orange and glorious, and the big reverby guitars make golden rainbows. Um. Not golden showers. Armor for Sleep
Local Review: Toob Top Shakur – Live Demo
Toob Top Shakur Live Demo Toob Top Shakur = Circle Jerks + Sonic Youth Convincing old-school punk rock post-2000 never sounded so 1982. Toob Top Shakur from Fort Collins is as wild and dangerous as Michael Jackson let loose on the set of Romper Room when the TV cameras aren’t running. Or maybe when they
Local Review: Thrashcorps – Self-Titled
Thrashcorps Self-titled Thrashcorps = Danzig + Apocalypse Theater + Carnaval + Ichi the Killer There’s something really untamed, scary, twisted and sick about Thrashcorps’ (formerly Absinthe) brutal take on the world, and I don’t scare easily, señors. Lo-fi metal combines with hard rock to make a crusty, blistery, bubbly poison potion that will fry your
Local Review: Eliza Wren – Selections in Time
Eliza Wren Selections in Time EW = Radiohead + (Fiery Furnaces – total bizarrity) + Tom Waits As melancholy and complex as scarcity musicianship can muster, Eliza Wren ‘s (new to SLC from Austin) compositions seem good for sleeping, but great for strange dreaming too. SLUG’s own RMP describes her as “a gruff angel of
Local Review: Gigi Love – Turning to Gold
Gigi Love Turning to Gold Gigi Love = Gina French + Lucinda Williams + Sheryl Crow You know, it’s always nice when people write old-fashioned handwritten notes. Thanks, Gigi. Bittersweet alt-country goes down smooth as warm buttered rum, or better yet, buttered rum Lifesavers. Everything on this album is so perfectly written, executed and produced
Local Review: Tragic Black – The Sixx Premonitions
Tragic Black The Sixx Premonitions Tragic Black = Cinema Strange + The Cadavers Sociopolitical death rock never tasted so good. Tragic Black is back with this six-song EP, recorded at Arrogant Hipster Studios, which is tighter, crisper and boasts more cohesive production than Articulate Lacerations. The songwriting has also progressed a lot; the guitar riffs
Local Review: The Wolfs – Lights Out +4
The Wolfs Lights Out +4 PseudoRecordings The Wolfs = Iggy & the Stooges + The Germs The Wolfs remind you of all the tough, grimy reasons you fell in love with rock n’ roll and/or punk—and it didn’t have anything to do with romance, money, status or fashion. “The Baroness” is my favorite track on
Local Review: Yaotl Mictlan – Self-titled demo
Yaotl Mictlan Self-titled demo Yaotl Mictlan = Mayhem + Mexico Yaotl Mictlan deliver black metal with a primal, South American heart, what Rene Gomez, lead singer, calls “pre-Colombian metal.” The opening track, “Decendiendo al Xibalba” starts with the sound of wood flutes, beads shaking, and what sounds like the deep yelling of an immense crowd.
Local Review: Gaza – East
Gaza East Exigent Records Gaza = Soilent Green + Today Is The Day + Eyehategod + Pushing Up Daisies Probably unfairly lumped in with many of the metalcore bands coming out these days, Gaza are unique and don’t deserve such categorization. Elements of raging, pissed hardcore are evident, but with a very kick-ass mix of
Local Review: Circuit Surgeon – Self-Titled
Circuit Surgeon Self-Titled Self-released Circuit Surgeon = Skinny Puppy + Noise Unit + Twilight Transmissions + Download Ever wondered what happened to Skinny Puppy? They broke up and reformed as Circuit Surgeon! OK, not really, but this disc sounds like it! This two-man industrial brain surgeon has so much going on in each song that