So
let’s say you find yourself in Salt Lake City for an extended period
of time with money to burn. What’s an average Joe like you to do in order to
find some excitement? Well, stay indoors, for one thing, ’cause I’ve heard
it’s pretty damn cold in SLC. But let’s say you’re brave enough to
venture out and check out some local bands. You can always just pick a bar
or club that doesn’t look like you’ll get your throat cut once inside and
hope it’s Goa Trance Night or an Evening of Post-Graduate Poetry. Or you
could be the smart shopper and pick up this pretty damn lavish three-disc
set of Utah bands from the fine minds at SLUG, an SLC-based
alternative monthly that’s decided to celebrate its fifteen years of
publishing by releasing this Whitman’s Sampler of fifty-plus tunes from
local acts. Judging from the fifty-plus tunes included here, Salt Lake City
sounds like it might be Fun City for SG readers, as about two-thirds
of the songs are hard-boiled, oil-soaked dirtrock – if you’ve got
Supercharger, Electric Frankenstein and Zeke running in
your veins, you’ll get what you need from Red Bennies, Thunderfist,
Chinese Stars, The Killpatricks (who hand out a speedfreak
beatdown to the Motor City Madman on “Ted Nugent”), Le Force
(best song title in the set: “We May Belong To You, But Our Souls
Belong to Satan”), JW Blackout (second best title: “Whisky,
Weed and Wild, Wild Women”) and the Cronies, all of whom
sound as bloodthirsty and itching for street action as a gaggle of drunks
locked in a basement for one long winter. There’s a smattering of metal here
and there (doomy storm-rider rock from Then Blood and apocalypse now
slash-and-burn from Dead in the Womb), and a whole lotta stuff that
probably won’t interest you (folky duos, hip-hop, even some math-heavy
electronica), but for a homegrown comp, this is a remarkably heavy and
enjoyable set. I don’t know if I’m ready to relocate to SLC after hearing
Death by Salt, but it’s a safe bet that I wouldn’t be bored there.
_______________________________________________________
So
let’s say you find yourself in Salt Lake City for an extended period
of time with money to burn. What’s an average Joe like you to do in order to
find some excitement? Well, stay indoors, for one thing, ’cause I’ve heard
it’s pretty damn cold in SLC. But let’s say you’re brave enough to
venture out and check out some local bands. You can always just pick a bar
or club that doesn’t look like you’ll get your throat cut once inside and
hope it’s Goa Trance Night or an Evening of Post-Graduate Poetry. Or you
could be the smart shopper and pick up this pretty damn lavish three-disc
set of Utah bands from the fine minds at SLUG, an SLC-based
alternative monthly that’s decided to celebrate its fifteen years of
publishing by releasing this Whitman’s Sampler of fifty-plus tunes from
local acts. Judging from the fifty-plus tunes included here, Salt Lake City
sounds like it might be Fun City for SG readers, as about two-thirds
of the songs are hard-boiled, oil-soaked dirtrock – if you’ve got
Supercharger, Electric Frankenstein and Zeke running in
your veins, you’ll get what you need from Red Bennies, Thunderfist,
Chinese Stars, The Killpatricks (who hand out a speedfreak
beatdown to the Motor City Madman on “Ted Nugent”), Le Force
(best song title in the set: “We May Belong To You, But Our Souls
Belong to Satan”), JW Blackout (second best title: “Whisky,
Weed and Wild, Wild Women”) and the Cronies, all of whom
sound as bloodthirsty and itching for street action as a gaggle of drunks
locked in a basement for one long winter. There’s a smattering of metal here
and there (doomy storm-rider rock from Then Blood and apocalypse now
slash-and-burn from Dead in the Womb), and a whole lotta stuff that
probably won’t interest you (folky duos, hip-hop, even some math-heavy
electronica), but for a homegrown comp, this is a remarkably heavy and
enjoyable set. I don’t know if I’m ready to relocate to SLC after hearing
Death by Salt, but it’s a safe bet that I wouldn’t be bored there.