Authors: Alexander Ortega
The World Smolders Within Us: Chelsea Wolfe and True Widow
“A lot of different forest habitats need to burn in order to germinate new life … I think that’s something that’s also reflected in us. We have to go through hard times and painful times in order to learn,” says Chelsea Wolfe in regard to the title and theme of her new album, Pain Is Beauty. … read more
Shred Cred: The Shred Shed’s First Anniversary
If you hit Downtown Salt Lake City near dusk most nights lately, there’s been a bustle that had been long absent from the city center. On 60 E. Exchange Place, The Shred Shed, an all-ages music venue and art gallery, has ignited flurries of color and culture where local and touring underground bands of all genres have sounded off in a space filled with street murals, graffiti and framed visual art. Thursday, Oct. 17, co-owner Jesse Cassar will begin to celebrate the first anniversary of what has already become a site of Salt Lake countercultural lore. … read more
Homegrown Hoppers
Buying a brewpub and hitting a hole in one in golf are each difficult feats—so is winning a million dollars. Hoppers Grill & Brewing Co. owner Jason Hargett has done all three.
Plated In Gold: The Strongest Man at Sundance
Beef (Robert “Meatball” Lorie) and Conan (Paul Chamberlain) are best friends who gracelessly and humorously carry out a Don Quixote and Sancho Panza–style journey in The Strongest Man, a 2015 Sundance film in the “NEXT” section. “I think I have a hard time not putting some comedy in there,” says Kenny Riches, the film’s writer and director.
Top 5: Pink Mountaintops
Get Back received mixed reviews across the board—some reviewers lauded the album as a rock n’ roll tour de force (Mojo, PopMatters) and others expressed wishy-washy reactions (Paste, Pitchfork). Most seemed, to some extent, to decry the sixth track, “North Hollywood Microwaves” because Annie Hardy (Giant Drag) raps about the joys of cum, declaring “I am a slut!” amid her blithe confessions of bestiality with donkeys and bears (because men no longer satisfy her). The prank worked. … read more
Mestizaje en Microcosmos
A December 2013 graduate from the University of Utah in Art History and Latin American Studies, Olmedo-González gravitates toward self-portraiture in fine art. He acknowledges, furthermore, that more pedestrian (nonart) forms of self-portraiture permeate our psyches as digital simulacra via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. … read more
Art | Art and Fashion | LGBTQ+
The Chords are Crushing, a Relapse to Nothing
On March 4, a band called Nothing released Guilty of Everything on Relapse Records. In passing, mention of the label renders associations with brutal extreme metal, but by and large, Nothing are a shoegaze band whose sole sonic metal credentials are, arguably, the sludgy characteristics of some of their riffs on Guilty of Everything. Other than that, frontman Dominic “Nicky” Palermo’s soft, whispery vocals float like clouds over celestially intoned guitar chord progressions and even-keeled beats. “I don’t think it fits at all,” says Palermo. He maintains, however, that, “it doesn’t matter these days.” … read more
Skivenge
I felt compelled to defy the disingenuous liberal attitude that snowboarding connotes for me, but also to redefine skiing as something other than being for older folks, faux, white thugs with saggy ski pants and trust-fund frat babies. Though I know it’s an expensive hobby, I romanticized the days when “ski bums” lived up to their name, and wanted to re-appropriate skis and poles from privileged means for entertainment to weapons of carnage to pillage the ice amid mountainous splendor. … read more
Localized: Yaktooth
Urban Lounge is gonna get weird on Jan. 10. This month’s Localized features headliners Yaktooth, who are prepared to deliver their heavy-rock goulash, and Baby Gurl, a drums/bass two-piece bent on slamming out a grooving assault. Chaotic hardcore openers Die Off will pummel you, starting at 9 p.m. Localized, brought to you by Bohemian Brewery, is just $5 and is hosted by Ischa B. If you’re not 21+, or if you’re sick/immobile, be sure to stream the show at gigviz.com. … read more