Infiltrating the Mainstream: An Interview with The Black Angels

Infiltrating the Mainstream: An Interview with The Black Angels
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It’s a Friday night in Austin, Texas and The Black Angels are wowing a huge crowd with a reverb-heavy set at Cedar St. Courtyard during SXSW 2011. The lights are turned down to a low red glow and people dance as if they’ve been possessed by some sort of rock n’ roll demon. Lead singer Alex Maas appears to be in a meditative trance as he belts out lyrics to songs from the group’s most recent release, Phosphene Dream. … read more

Cooked With Love: The Black Lips Release Arabia Mountain

Cooked With Love: The Black Lips Release Arabia Mountain
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It was a windy afternoon in Austin, Texas during SXSW when I found myself sitting poolside at a swanky hotel with Cole Alexander and Ian Saint Pé of Black Lips in a cabana that was clearly marked as being reserved for someone else. “We like to come in and improvise. See, this was reserved,” Alexander says as he picks up the sign. “This was reserved for us.” … read more

Precision Builds with Pangea Speed

Precision Builds with Pangea Speed
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“I have this bad habit of never being satisfied. I’ll always look at a project and think that I can do it better.” Andy Carter is a perfectionist. When you consider that he is the owner of his own custom motorcycle and parts company, Pangea Speed, and one of the major organizers behind the second annual Salt Flat Social, this quality, which he refers to as either an “evolution or a sickness—depending on the day,” is exactly what you’d hope to find. … read more

National CD Reviews – July 2011

National CD Reviews – July 2011
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New releases from Black Lips, Crystal Stilts, Dox, Explosions In the Sky, Friendly Fires, Iceage, Jello Biafra, Los Vigilantes, Set Your Goals, Sol Invictus, Thurston Moore. Tyler the Creator and many, many more are reviewed.
… read more

CLC Artist: Tiffany Blue

CLC Artist: Tiffany Blue
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Like any girl, Tiffany Blue wanted a variety of options to hang from her stretched lobes, but at approximately $100 per pair, it just didn’t seem realistic. She created her first pair of polymer clay earrings in the fall of 2009 after she became disappointed by the high prices of jewelry for stretched ears in local stores. Her designs run the gamut from simple spirals to decadent dangles that curl in and out in a dizzying manner. … read more

Destroying Crowds One Bass Drum at a Time: An Interview with Bass Drum of Death

Destroying Crowds One Bass Drum at a Time: An Interview...
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Bass Drum of Death’s debut LP buzzes with lo-fi guitars, heavy drumbeats and a loose garage rock style.  The album has such a cohesive sound that it’s hard to believe a relatively new band released it and that it was recorded in such a DIY fashion. The mastermind behind the project, John Barrett, played every instrument, wrote every song and recorded the entire thing solo. … read more

Life as a Happy Neurotic: The John Waters Interview

Life as a Happy Neurotic: The John Waters Interview
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On October 13, in celebration of the Utah Film Center’s 10th anniversary, the legendary Pope of Filth, John Waters, will entertain audiences at Salt Lake City’s Rose Wagner Theater. No stranger to Utah—traveling to the state for Sundance Film Festival, special screenings of his films at Tower Theater and once to record the soundtrack for his film Serial Mom—this time Waters will present his one-man show, This Filthy World. … read more

Localized 9

Localized 9
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On Friday, Nov. 18, head down to the Urban Lounge to check out the spaced out, experimental Pretty Worms, the drug-dazed, dirty rock n’ roll of Dark Seas and opener The Rose Phantom. As always, a mere $5 gets you in. … read more

Best of CMJ 2011

Best of CMJ 2011
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In some ways, CMJ Music Marathon is similar to the athletic competition that it shares a name with. Five days of non-stop music requires endurance—a good set of earplugs helps, too. There are a plethora of day parties, industry panels and nighttime showcases crammed into these five days. It’s utterly impossible to experience everything that you want and equally as difficult not to wear yourself down with days that can span from 12 p.m. to as late as 4 or 5 in the morning. … read more

Top 5: Spindrift

Top 5: Spindrift
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When Spindrift played Urban in November 2010, they opted to play a set of songs off of their then-unreleased album, Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1. The songs seemed moodier and spookier than their earlier work, but just as sexy. When the albums was released, my initial impressions of what I had heard were confirmed. Spindrift’s Classic Soundtracks unfolds much like the name suggests it would—a soundtrack to some long-forgotten, dusty spaghetti western. … read more