Music
Nine Inch Nails @ The Joint, Las Vegas 11.15 with...
After “Copy of A,” NIN played “1,000,000,” “Terrible Lie,” “March of the Pigs” and “Piggy.” These songs flowed like magic, building up more to what I thought was going to be one of NIN’s best concerts I have ever been to. … read more
Steve Aoki’s Aokify America Tour @ The Complex 11.13 with...
After seeing mass amounts of hype on social media and music blogs about how the Aokify America Tour was thrilling concert-goers around the country, I was excited to see a highly-interactive, party-oriented show last night when the mixed bag of artists took their tour to The Complex. … read more
RJD2 @ The Depot 11.15 with Blockhead
RJD2 takes the stage. He has three turntables, a sample pad and a crate full of vinyl. Yes, the original, non-digital vinyl. RJ humbly introduces himself and begins his set with electronic sounds behind a Gang Starr verse. It’s the most OG way to start a party—I look at the balcony on the second floor covered with ladies moving and guys bobbing their heads and waving their arms in the air. The Depot is at its full potential and the audience is just as live as any rap concert as I’ve ever been to. … read more
Good Enough: Less Than Jake See the Light in 2013
“For me, it’s like you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t—you can only write from the heart. There are people that heard our records when they were 16 years old and they heard it a certain way, and no matter what we record now it’s not going to hit them in the same way. All you can do is what comes naturally, and I think that that’s what we achieved with this new record.” … read more
Nova Chamber Music Series: The Latin Quarter and The French...
Once again, the Nova Chamber Series and its director, Jason Hardink, bring new music to the Salt Lake scene with two world premiere pieces and two great French pieces. … read more
The Chamber Music Society: Growing With The Modigliani Quartet
Glancing at the program, I noticed that the ages of the instruments that this quartet were going to play ranged from the newest being a 233-year-old Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin to the oldest being a 423-year-old Luigi Mariani viola. I wondered about the different musicians hands that held and played these fine instruments through the centuries. The quartet would be performing pieces from Haydn, Dohnanyi and Debussy. … read more
Exceptional Shoegaze: Juval Haring of Israel’s Vaadat Charigim
“The idea for the album’s name and glue that sticks the songs together came from stargazing. I thought a lot back then about how there really is no present time. About the paradox of perception that happens when you look up at stars and are actually looking into an image of the past. The album deals with displacements like that one, with the feeling that there is no now.” … read more
Dax Riggs, Red Telephone, Breakers @ Urban Lounge 11.06
Last Wednesday night brought one of, if not the most, anticipated shows of the year for this fearless narrator. Dax Riggs is probably in my Capitoline Triad of music gods, which brings admittedly high expectations for a show. I’ve been to a lot of shows in my life, and you’re always prepared for a disconnect between the wind-blown fantasies in your brain and the reality. However, Wednesday was quite unusual, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t honest about it. … read more
Deerhoof @ Urban Lounge 11.10 with LXMP and Palace of...
Deerhoof are a bundle of paradoxes: both tightly in control in the precision of their playing and seemingly veering out of control like a car with no one behind the wheel into the chaos of oncoming traffic—conventionally rock n’ roll, yet at moments as “out there” as any experimental group. They’re sweet and playful and, at the same time, as brutal as any heavy metal band. … read more
Cold War Kids @ The Depot 11.06
This is the band that created “Sensitive Kid,” so honesty and humility blend in a foot-tapping way that this concert hall could hardly hold; however, The Depot did its best and the former House of Blues sound system thumped pleasantly with tappings and noddings of all sorts. “Bulldozer” is a subtle metaphor for the types of emotions felt in these situations, but hearing it live added a level of hope to being run over completely and the lyrics became real in a way you could only appreciate by closing your eyes. … read more
EDM Pillow Talk: An Interview with Borgore
“I think what makes a good artist is not classifying yourself under one genre. I’ve made a lot of house records and I’m kind of trying to be able to do everything. I think that’s the future. Being a true musician is having no boundaries in art,” says Borgore. … read more
Southern Charm: An Interview with Royal Teeth in Voodooville
Throughout their set, more and more people wander into their performance in search for something a little more refreshing than the press-play-and-go antics provided by Calvin Harris across the park. By the time the band played their closing song, “Wild,” from their debut album Glow, they definitely had quite a few new fans, including myself. I sat down with Royal Teeth for an interview where they gave SLUG the low-down on their current careers, future plans and what it took to get where they are now. … read more
