Authors: Ryan Hall
The Book Arts Program: Technology Doesn’t Die, It Becomes Art
Walking into the Book Arts Program is like traveling into a decades old newspaper printing plant. Gigantic letterpresses and nipping presses dominate the front room where students and community members engage in the centuries-old process of inking large rollers to apply fresh ink on a poster, or tightening the clamp on a nipping press to bind a book. … read more
Envy: No Borders
Japanese post-hardcore giants Envy create brutally dense soundscapes that skirt the edge between hardcore and post-rock, and cut across language barriers. Their fifth album solidifies their full musical evolution into a peerless band incorporating the speed, intensity and emotional contact of hardcore and the expansiveness of post-rock. I spoke to lead singer Tetsuya Fukagawa about the how to express hope in heavy music and how to convey emotion without language being a factor. … read more
Top 5: Baths
When Cerulean came out on Anticon earlier this year, critics were quick to lump the 21-year-old Californian’s debut into the burgeoning (and largely made up) chillwave microgenre. Baths took offense to this—it is easy to see why. Instead of being ostensibly effects-driven and wrapped under a gauze of lo-fi consumer electronics, Cerulean is all beats. Crisp, sparkling, low-end rumbling beats are looped with such complexity that they are easy to lose in the shuffle. … read more
Cinema Franca: Salt Lake City Film Center�s Quest to Bring...
The Salt Lake City Film Center is committed to “building community through the power of film.” They do this by exposing Salt Lake City to films that it would rarely get to see any other way. The SLFC accomplishes this by screening films that have little or no theatrical distribution. Most of these screenings are free and are designed to bring Salt Lake City’s various populations into conversation with one another by showing films from a variety of voices. … read more
Velour
Years ago, traveling to Provo to see a touring band would have seemed unthinkable. When Corey Fox opened Velour, however, that all began to change. Fox began the all-ages venue almost five years ago with little more than a dream and some elbow grease. Fox’s hard work has paid huge dividends for Provo’s surprisingly diverse musical community by providing a cultural hub deep in the heart of Utah County. … read more
Copper Palate Press
A little more than a year old, Copper Palate Press has quickly gained a reputation for housing the vanguard of Salt Lake City’s burgeoning art scene by throwing killer screen printing parties and being an unmissable stop on any Gallery Stroll. More than this, however, the CPP communal philosophy is responsible for providing the ever-expanding collective with a black hole-like gravitational pull for all those fascinated with SLC’s art scene. … read more
Modern Man’s Hustle: The Devil Whale Redefines Success
It would seem that The Devil Whale are a successful band. Their popular debut album was recently followed up with an even more popular EP. They are embarking on a nationwide tour before their second album comes out in May. They have been chosen as a showcase artist at the nation’s largest live music festival, SXSW. However, in today’s world of instant exposure via social networking and careerist music bloggers, does exposure necessarily mean the same thing as success? … read more
Sympathy for the Recording Industry: Midnight Records
Founded in 2008 and located in the back of the Utah Arts Alliance on 127 S. Main Street, Midnight Records has beaten the odds by flourishing and growing in this incredibly volatile time of transition in the music industry. Midnight charges a flat, $75 rate per song, which includes mixing, mastering and a CD, or a $45 hourly rate, which includes mastering. The flat-rate pricing allows a more relaxed and interactive recording environment. … read more
Local Reviews: The American Shakes
Releasing an album in the wake of such a popular local band is going to invite some comparisons to the latter’s work. Brent Dreiling, former pedal steel/steel guitar slinger for Band of Annuals (R.I.P), expands on the classic Americana of B.O.A by steering his alt-country intonations into sugary, ‘70s AM radio hits instead of the dive bar balladeering of his previous band. … read more
Local Reviews: Seven Feathers Rainwater
15 Apple Magicians is the album I always knew Salt Lake City was capable of producing. Aside from being the zeitgeist-capturing masterpiece of all things happening within the burgeoning “New Weird Utah” collective in the past few years, 15 Apple Magicians delivers on every promise hinted at by the insane talent of the Moondial Tape family. … read more
Farther, Creepier: Spoek Mathambo and South African House
Before the idea of moving to Africa was even a thing, my love affair with Johannesburg musician/rapper Spoek Mathambo was moving beyond crush-level. There was something about Spoek’s 2010 debut, Mshini Wam, that seethed with an unplaceable “Otherness” that we Westerners can only associate with Africa. Like a funhouse mirror, the distortions of Western musical output came back to us only to highlight our deep-seated insecurities. … read more
Local Review: Mooninite/RS2090
Side A, Mooninite’s side, treads lightly in familiar ambient territory, owing much to the sampled instrumentation of Boards of Canada and the swirling arpeggios fancied by fellow compatriot OK Ikumi. The beats are slightly off, staggering with a seasick lurch. RS2090’s side is all absurdist rhythm patterns, pitch-shifted lecture notes, squiggly synths, bottom-scraping low-end and an angular, almost geometric approach to composition. … read more
