This past Friday, March 22, Club Sound was a packed house as they hosted the Suppy Nation Tour featuring Citizen, Tonight Alive and co-headliners The Story So Far and Man Overboard. This all-ages show was packed to the walls with pop-punk heads, leaving the smell of body odor and high school teen angst lingering heavily in the air. … read more
Elias Quartet @ Libby Gardner Hall 03.21
As the chamber concert season approaches a close, I am constantly amazed at what I learn from attending the shows. The Elias Quartet was great at engaging with the audience on Thursday, performing their pieces that captivated me throughout. … read more
A Night at a Swingin’ Utters Show
When a band like Swingin’ Utters comes to town, it’s interesting to see how it turns out for a group that has been around for 20 plus years and has played numerous shows in our fair city. The Utters have had great momentum lately, releasing two full-length records in less than three years, touring regularly and generally putting themselves back on the map after an extended period of rest. I had a chance to speak with guitarist Darius Koski briefly before the show. … read more
Emancipator @ Urban 03.22 with Odezsa, Little People
The intro to “Nevergreen” swirled incandescently out of the speakers. As the beats broke into the body of the song, spotlights flashed a mean color of salmon, and the alternating triangles on the back drop unexpectedly became a projection screen. … read more
Far From Home: Next, The Moon
What do Uganda, snowboarding and Salt Lake City all have in common? The answer to that question has been almost two decades in the making and it all comes back to Brolin Mawejje. … read more
Chant @ The Depot 03.28 with Legion Within, KMFDM
Folks who waited to show up late made a real mistake. Austin, Texas’ two-piece Chant blew both of the following bands out of the water. … read more
Mika @ In the Venue 03.30
Usually when an artist or band opens with your favorite song of theirs, it’s all downhill from there—but, luckily for me, this was a special situation. You see, before this concert, I’d only heard about a third of Mika’s work. Which was basically the reason I’d decided to review the thing in the first place—I’d liked what I’d heard, and I wanted to hear more. So, when Mika opened with “Grace Kelly,” a fun song that’s really just a “fuck you” to record execs, I knew there was a good chance of things improving from that point. … read more
We Could Be Heroes: The Mythology of Monsters and Heroes in Contemporary Art @ Brigham Young University Museum of Art 03.11
Some Salt Lakers steer clear of this quaint college town, Provo, just 45 minutes south of SLC. Personally, I’m drawn to its chaste charm, its cheap food and its kind, conservatively dressed population. Furthermore, the MOA is perhaps my favorite museum in the state, partially because it’s free, partially because it boasts a variety of world-class collections of art. Its exhibits are dynamic as they are diverse. Plus, it has the absolute best gift shop of any museum I’ve ever visited. … read more
The Cave Singers @ Urban Lounge with Pollens
The last time I saw The Cave Singers was at Kilby Court, where they played a show that was both intimate and badass. It’s good to see that they’re moving into larger venues. … read more
Creature Feature: Cartel Chameleon Fenice, Public Trans
Within younger generations, drag culture is at a crossroads; our age is a chameleonic one, and post-Internet, we’re in a remarkable moment of subcultural revival. Cartel and the Bad Kids are bringing their mutant message to Salt Lake’s divided communities, straight and queer. … read more
Merchandise @ Kilby Court 04.03 with Parenthetical Girls, Wet Hair
From a wash of reverb, Merchandise’s lead guitarist Dave Vassalotti strummed the opening chords of an honest pop song called “Time.” Carson Cox’s melancholic croon shone through the band’s wall of sound, peaking at (my favorite Merchandise line), “I’m really just an animal/made with human parts.” … read more
Low @ Velour 03.30
As I found a place in the venue to nest myself before Low started, a projector broadcasted an image of a timer counting down from 10 minutes on the backdrop behind the stage. This concept doubled as a convenience for power smokers and merch collectors. As it reached the final 10 seconds, the crowd began counting down out loud until the timer reached zero. Almost instantly, the lights dimmed and Parker started to play a steady locomotive rhythm, which shoehorned into the first song of the set, “Plastic Cup.” … read more
