Show Reviews
One Way System with Mass Terror, All Systems Fail, Desolate,...
For most of Salt Lake City, Monday night was a cold, wet and somewhat snowy night—one last night (hopefully) for hot cocoa, sweaters and watching that Magic School Bus box set you mom got you in December. Those of us foolishly brave enough to venture out to the Salt Haus got a quite the treat. Hosted by the Pyrate Punx SLC, the bands Discoid A, Desolate, All Systems Fail, Mass Terror and One Way System played quite the show. … read more
Insight with Døne, Cool Your Jets @ The Shred Shed...
Insight hadn’t played a single show since they broke up in September of 1990, and there were probably only a handful of people in the crowd that ever got the opportunity to see them live. They made sure to show everyone what they’d missed with a tight and incredibly fun set at The Shred Shed. … read more
SpaceGhostPurrp @ Kilby Court 04.05 with Raider Klan, DopeThought
I’m a Purrp fan not for his hip hop roots, but for his connection to a somewhat dissimilar genre—goth. The boundaries between any genres can be overcome in our post-Internet lives—witch house, a basic blend of goth, R&B and hip hop, is paving the way for such genre experimentation. Witchy is an apt description of Purrp’s music. … read more
Jeff Mangum @ The Depot 04.04
Neutral Milk Hotel’s story has long ago been folded into the tapestry of indie rock legend—a songwriter with a burning vocabulary makes one beautifully haunting collection of song and memory that’s instantly called perfection, then recluses himself and dissociates from its fame, perhaps crushed with the silly fear of never writing anything one-hundredth as good. … read more
Ivan & Alyosha with Fort Atlantic, L’anarchiste @ Kilby Court...
Interestingly enough, Ivan & Alyosha got their name from a Dostoevsky novel, which initially made me think they were all about bleak introspection on the darkness of the human soul. On the contrary, they’re very skilled at cranking out catchy melodies with sincere vocals—not stuff I usually associate with Dostoevsky. … 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
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
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
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
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