A long time in the making, the Opiates full-length debut, Hollywood Under The Knife, was worth every single second of wait time. With a world-weary truth—the album’s mostly female protagonists emerge song by song with their faults and weaknesses laid bare for the listener. As the album works its magic and emblazons itself upon the listener’s brain, this ultra-sophisticated concept album triumphs as one of this year’s finest releases. … read more
Wild in the Streets
Peter Baxter, the current president of Slamdance and one of its founders, revealed his latest documentary in a special screening during the Slamdance 2012 festival. Narrated by Sean Bean, Wild in the Streets focuses on the town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England, built along the Henmore River, where the townspeople have been playing a game called Shrovetide for over 1,000 years. … read more
Nova Chamber Series: American Composer Andrew Norman @ Libby Gardner Hall 11.13
Mr. Norman is a nice kid, who, at thirty-two years old, is talented as hell, looks like Kenneth Parcell from 30 Rock, and writes chamber music like it came from outer space. … read more
Hope. You Like Crap.
20 years ago, Shaun Parker made a horrible student film. In Hope. You Like Crap., Parker shows the film in its entirety, talking shit on it and his former pretentious self with amusingly scathing, self-depreciating commentary. … read more
Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake: Doric String Quartet @ Libby Gardner 11.17
The English Chamber Music outfit, the Doric String Quartet, played at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall last Thursday, a program of quartets featuring Beethoven, Korngold and Brahms. … read more
Nova Chamber Series: Contemporary Cold @ Libby Gardner 01.22
The Nova Chamber Music Series concert on Jan. 22 started with Eliot Carter’s Elegy for Viola and Piano, whose humid and sunlit tone of joy swept the dust right out of my eyes. … read more
Napalm Flesh: Keith Merrow Interview
Happy New World Invasion Day to you, darkhearts! (Or if you insist on being traditional, Happy Thanksgiving.) Napalm Flesh is thankful to be bringing you a glorious interview with studio musician Keith Merrow, and thankful that the merciless hordes at YouTube have propelled this incredible songwriter to the status of metal god that he deserves. Also included are exclusive reviews of new releases from Cathedral and Coalesce and this week’s event calendar. … read more
Danland
“I’m in love with the concept of being in love,” says amateur porn producer Dan Leal, aka Porno Dan, in the beginning of this documentary following his unrelenting search for love amid porn conventions and gangbangs. But for co-dependent sex addict Porno Dan, love is hard to come by when sex with hundreds of women is business as usual. … read more
Priory @ Kilby Court 11.21
You gotta hand it to these hipsters. And when I say hipsters, I mean the Portland dwelling, bearded, easy-going, most likely stoned kind. Yes, Priory fits said cliche, but let’s not be too hasty to judge. The dudes of Priory stood out enough amongst the masses to land a tour, hop in a bus and live the musician’s dream. … read more
I Want My Name Back
Roger Paradiso documents the rise and fall of hip hop pioneers Wonder Mike and Master Gee, original members of The Sugarhill Gang, the group responsible for the seminal record “Rapper’s Delight.” After the release of the world’s first commercial hop hop composition, Wonder Mike and Master Gee’s artistic credit and monetary earnings were taken by Sugar Hill Record execs, throwing the two into a 30-year struggle to reclaim their place in hip hop history. … read more
Napalm Flesh: Spellcaster Interview
Welcome to another edition of Napalm Flesh. This week we have an interview with Portland’s Spellcaster, one of the bands spearheading the renaissance of traditional metal in the Pacific Northwest. We also have this week’s event rundown as well as exclusive reviews of the new releases from Animals as Leaders, Czar, Satan’s Host, Sunn 0)), and Vektor. … read more
Kid-Thing
Ten-year-old Annie is an aimless child with an emotionally absent father who lives outside of Austin. Her dad is a goat farmer who spends his time scratching lotto cards, shooting fireworks with his dim-witted friends and competing in demolition derbys. He doesn’t do much parenting. Annie fills her time with a variety of destructive activities such as smashing birthday cakes, hucking dough at cars, paint-balling dead cows and wandering the woods near her home … read more
