SXSW 2013: Icona Pop @ Lustre Pearl – Dickies and Filter Magazine Party 03.14

SXSW 2013: Icona Pop @ Lustre Pearl – Dickies and...
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Holy shit, I have been to a lot of parties and seen a lot of shows, but I don’t think I have ever experienced one exactly like this. Within the first three songs, Icon Pop had  put every single girl in the house into an excited estrogen-fuled frenzy.  This must be what Katy Perry shows are like, except the music was fucking awesome and the audience wasn’t  dressed up in stupid blue wigs. Every dude in the place looked scared. … read more

SXSW 2013: Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band @ Austin City Limits Moody Theatre – Daptone Records Super Soul Revue 03.14

SXSW 2013: Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band @...
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I first heard about Charles Bradley after he played The State Room in SLC last year. SLUG’s former managing editor, Jeanette Moses, came in the office the next day exclaiming about his show the night before. For the next week, everywhere I went I ran into friends speaking about the Charles Bradley show. When I saw he was playing SXSW, I knew I couldn’t miss him. … read more

SXSW 2013: Mikal Cronin @ The Perish – Merge Records Showcase 03.14

SXSW 2013: Mikal Cronin @ The Perish – Merge Records...
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I knew Mikal Cronin had played with Ty Segall and recently inked a deal with Merge Records, but I had yet to check out his music. When I saw he was playing SXSW, I added him to my list. The crowd drank up Mikal Cronin like he was the last beer of the night. Lots of NPR types and 40-something industry people crowed the front of the stage, acting like they were in college again. … read more

SXSW 2013: Austra @ Elysium – Moog/Switched On Showcase 03.16

SXSW 2013: Austra @ Elysium – Moog/Switched On Showcase 03.16
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Austra and their roadies took forever to set up (almost an hour)! They apathetically wandered around the stage while the audience waited patiently. Just as it looked like they were going to start, front woman Katie Stelmanis announced that drummer Maya Postepski, had lost her cymbals and that they couldn’t start until she found them. Seriously, how drunk do you have to be to you lose your drum symbols? … read more

SXSW 2013: The Soft Moon @ Elysium – Moog/Switched On Showcase 03.16

SXSW 2013: The Soft Moon @ Elysium – Moog/Switched On...
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The Soft Moon is a post-punk three-piece form San Francisco with Krautrock subtleties. Their stage presence was cool—lots of smoke, darkness and a few laser lights to round it out. The show was fantastic aside form vocalist Luis Vasquez’s numerous vocal screams, emulating Robert Smith. The first couple were coo,l but the yowls became predicable by the fourth song. … read more

DBS III Announcement

DBS III Announcement
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On December 21 and 22 2007, We at SLUG Magazine will give you Death by Salt Vol. 3, the first compilation of Salt Lake City bands to be produced on vinyl in several decades, and the third installment in our Death By Salt compilation series.  … read more

Top 5: S.L.F.M

Top 5: S.L.F.M
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S.L.F.M.’s Jessica Davis may have scored the opening slot for Sonic Youth’s SLC tour in September, but busking on Broadway‘s street corner during Gallery Stroll or jamming-out at house parties are the gigs she really likes to play. Davis also likes secrets, mysteries and disguises—topics that inspire her lyrics and motivate her to sometimes wear the moustache of an English gentleman. … read more

Top 5: The No-Nation Orchestra

Top 5: The No-Nation Orchestra
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The No-Nation Orchestra originally began as a solo project for Stephen Chai, demoing songs in his bedroom and copiously rewriting lyrics until finally (after several years) the work was ready to be introduced to friends Josh Dickson, Weston Wulle and Mike Sasich. The core members of No-Nation formed, and the four began spending time in Sasich’s recording studio polishing their own version of an afrobeat sound. The end result is The No-Nation Orchestra’s More More More EP. … read more

Top 5: Eagle Twin

Top 5: Eagle Twin
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The fable of the crow continues in this year’s release, The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale. Guitarist and vocalist Gentry Densely is a master storyteller, guiding listeners through his dark, mythical narrative with low, throaty vocals. On some tracks, he sings the part of the narrator, while in others, he sings in first person, detailing Crow’s battle against the sun and Crow’s metamorphosis into a snake … read more

Top 5: Pharmakon

Top 5: Pharmakon
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Margaret Chardiet crafts industrial noise music under the project name Pharmakon. Over the past few years, she has slowly built a name for herself (and her friends) in an isolated music bunker located in the Far Rockaway, NYC. Chardiet’s work is intended to be experienced live, but for those of us who have not had this opportunity, the Abandon EP is a substitution.  … read more