Show Reviews
Buffalo Killers @ Kilby Court 05.28 with The North Valley
The Gabbard brothers were in town the other night, with the percussion accompaniments of Joseph Sebaali, presenting Buffalo Killers to the wonderful world of Utah. The SXSW darlings rocked the night away with local openers The North Valley and properly kicked the summer off with the warm fuzzy glow of rock tunes. … read more
The Naked and Famous @ The Depot 05.26 with Strange...
Powers leaned into the microphone and said, “Did you think we could leave without playing ‘Young Blood’?!” as Xayalith said, “We just like teasing you!”—I knew it! … read more
Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival 2014
Punk Rock Bowling invites the positivity of the punk community, allowing everyone and anyone to see bands that they can knock off their bucket list. This festival invites a vast and diverse array of people influenced by this subculture. One can see skinheads, rockers, crust punks and of course the spiky hair punk rockers that make up the popular novelty postcards. … read more
tUnE-yArDs @ Urban Lounge 05.27 with Sylvan Esso
Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs can do it all. She loops vocal harmonies and noises on the spot, drums and plays an electric ukulele. The latter instrument is unique, but it’s nothing compared to her strongest instrument—her voice. … read more
One Sorted Affair: An Intimate Evening with David J
A sleepy suburb in Utah County, somewhere south of Provo, is not where one would expect to encounter one of the great gothfathers. And yet there we were on a strangely muggy Friday evening—40 or 50 folks folks, mostly middle-aged and bearing the unmistakable marks left by a youth spent (but not misspent) pursuing music on the left of the dial, along with a few kids wearing t-shirts for reunion tours of bands that formed when I was their age, sitting ringed on the tasteful beige carpet around David J Haskins. … read more
Haim @ The Depot 05.22 with Tennis
The Haim sisters take their usual layout—Danielle in the center, Alana to the audience’s left and Este to their right—which I imagine they’ve been holding down since their childhood days, back when they played with their mom and dad as Rockinhaim. … read more
Kishi Bashi @ Urban Lounge 05.23
When I arrived at Urban Lounge at 8:30 Friday night, thinking the show would start at 9—there was still a line outside and another show going on inside! This meant that the show started at the old 10pm time, which kinda sucked, but it’s got to be a good thing if we’re getting so many bands wanting to play in Salt Lake that Urban has to double-book, right?
… read more
Rodriguez @ The Depot 05.20
Being able to finish a film with an iPhone app was the MacGyver move that Malik Bendjelloul had to pull in order to finish his Oscar-winning project. Searching for Sugar Man is a documentary film about Sixto Rodriguez. The Detroit-born psychedelic folk singer has enjoyed a recent revival in popularity thanks to the film. While some believe that the documentary film does not tell the whole truth, I believe Searching for Sugar Man was a great showcase for his music, which is what ultimately brought me to The Depot on a Tuesday night. … read more
The Soft White Sixties @ Bar Deluxe 05.20 With Breakers,...
Despite a venue mix-up on my part, I still managed to arrive at Bar Deluxe about 45 minutes before the opening band went on. Bar Deluxe’s tattered and torn aesthetic seemed to match perfectly with opening band Breakers’ distorted surf-punk sound. Mastering a sound check would be in their best interest, as it proved difficult to translate most of their songs, except when they were screaming—literally screaming. … read more
Perfect Pussy @ Kilby Court 05.20 With Potty Mouth, Fossil...
“Whoa dude, did you see that?” I hadn’t been to a show at Kilby Court in a while, and this is what I hear from the handful of fashionable high school kids in reaction to local goth cuties Fossil Arms, as if they’ve dropped down secretly from the grey skies of some distant British storm cell. … read more