Top 5
Top 5: Hundred Waters
Following the subtly intricate formula of their first album, Hundred Waters’ new release continues with the same airy splendor, but with more refinement. The musical foundation of this album perfectly represents 2014, a year of revitalization and self-discovery, by sounding neither senescent nor ahead of its time, but flawlessly fit into the fringes of current music. … read more
Top 5: Necrophagia
The legacy of horror, terror and old-school death metal that is Wellsville, Ohio’s Necrophagia keeps getting better and better. Their seventh release, WhiteWorm Cathedral, is sure to open up the seven seals of Hell and unleash the apocalypse in the form of aural destruction and mental imagery assaults. Necrophagia incorporate an almost obsessive love for horror films which, in addition to the band’s own ideas and interpretations of those horrors, have always made for fun listening. … read more
Top 5: Pink Mountaintops
Get Back received mixed reviews across the board—some reviewers lauded the album as a rock n’ roll tour de force (Mojo, PopMatters) and others expressed wishy-washy reactions (Paste, Pitchfork). Most seemed, to some extent, to decry the sixth track, “North Hollywood Microwaves” because Annie Hardy (Giant Drag) raps about the joys of cum, declaring “I am a slut!” amid her blithe confessions of bestiality with donkeys and bears (because men no longer satisfy her). The prank worked. … read more
SLUG Mag’s Top 5 Albums of 2014
Every December, SLUG Magazine sounds the rallying call and gathers the staff’s lists of Top 5 albums from the year. In the next few pages, find a wide range of genres, artists and records that were of note for 2014—with a few other Top 5 beats like video games, comics and movies peppered throughout. … read more
Movie Reviews
Well, 2014 has been one hell of a quick year. The fact that I’ve been seeing my breath in the air blows my mind! As a film lover and geek, it’s amazing to watch Marvel and DC/Warner Bros. duke it out with movies scheduled so far out that I’ll be 37 years old when I see Avengers: Infinity War – Part II. … read more
Top 5: Dirty Provo Vol. 1
It seems like Provo’s music scene has been constantly pregnant for the past decade—steadily giving birth to glistening, new indie-rock babes. Jacob Hall recognized this when he moved from Salt Lake City to Provo last May (his cousins offered him a free place to stay). Hall had just emerged from a failed relationship and was taken aback by the community’s support of Provo’s weird yet incredible music scene. … read more
Top 5: Big Wild Wings
Big Wild Wings decided to buck the trends hard by combining a kickass drummer in Chris Soper with a master synth-player in Tyler Hummel, topping it off with the captivating Lyndsi Austin as their lead vocalist on bass. Within the last year, the trio have become the alt/indie band to see in SLC, capping everything off with their debut full-length album, Speaking In Cursive, which came out in November. … read more
Top 5: Ered Wethrin
Just like the epic themes of fantasy and esoteric mysticism that inspired Ered Wethrin’s lyrics, Tides of War takes its time unfolding a vast and enchanting audial world. From the Glen Cook–inspired “Bloody Annals and Brooding Skies” to the Steven Erikson tribute in “Requiem for the Fallen,” Sven Smith’s solo recordings recall the stoic and battle-hardened tales of lesser-known fantasy realms. … read more
Top 5: Foster Body
Foster Body’s debut album, Landscapes, which was released on cassette and digitally in March, captures the Salt Lake City–based, punk combo at a brilliant moment of process—merging strong aesthetic sentiment and live performance practice into a compelling vision for contemporary noise-punk. With eight tracks lashing across the album’s 20-minute duration, Landscapes is a quick yet thrilling listen. … read more
Top 5: Horseback
Jenks Miller, the father behind Horseback’s latest album, Piedmont Apocrypha, has again created a twined nest of experimental sound by combining a base of seething feedback and altering levels of oozing drone. The album as a whole lifts up the listener in a cradle to help see Miller’s vision of music as a single, fluid entity with this nongenre specific album. … read more