Music
Top 5: Spindrift
When Spindrift played Urban in November 2010, they opted to play a set of songs off of their then-unreleased album, Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1. The songs seemed moodier and spookier than their earlier work, but just as sexy. When the albums was released, my initial impressions of what I had heard were confirmed. Spindrift’s Classic Soundtracks unfolds much like the name suggests it would—a soundtrack to some long-forgotten, dusty spaghetti western. … read more
Top 5: Satan’s Host
After twenty-four years away from the group, original vocalist Leviathan Thisiren (aka Harry Conklin of Jag Panzer) rejoined Satan’s Host in 2010, which spawned an album filled with the best evil and nasty heavy-metal ferocity released this year. The combination of black/thrash/death metal with a classic heavy metal-styled vocalist pushed Satan’s Host out of the realm of mediocrity and into the realm of pure awesome evil metal. … read more
Top 5: PJ Harvey
I spent weeks buried behind my headphones listening to Harvey’s every word within the horrifyingly beautiful socio-political battle she created. When I came up for air, I had two words to describe this piece of work: bloody brilliant. Studying the anti-war poems of Harold Pinter and dedicating two years perfecting her writing of the lyrics, she paints disturbingly vivid images of conflict, war, death and grief over a backdrop of buoyant folk-pop melodies. … read more
Top 5: The No-Nation Orchestra
The No-Nation Orchestra originally began as a solo project for Stephen Chai, demoing songs in his bedroom and copiously rewriting lyrics until finally (after several years) the work was ready to be introduced to friends Josh Dickson, Weston Wulle and Mike Sasich. The core members of No-Nation formed, and the four began spending time in Sasich’s recording studio polishing their own version of an afrobeat sound. The end result is The No-Nation Orchestra’s More More More EP. … read more
Top 5: Mr. Gnome
It’s hard to believe this album is the product of a duo rather than a full band, but having seen them live, I can testify that Cleveland-based singer/guitarist Nicole Barille and drummer/pianist Sam Meister are the only two musicians behind mr. Gnome—and with a box of pedals and a heap of talent, they’ve figured out how to execute their layered chaos on the road … read more
Top 5: Cold Cave
In 2003, if you would’ve told me that the singer from American Nightmare would eventually break edge, move to San Diego, do a metric ton of coke and write dance tunes for Pitchfork kids to off themselves to, I would’ve cried and then moshed you into a traffic median. No lie … but times change, edges dull and we realize that our Livejournal pages amount to little more than incoherent blathering. … read more
The Opiates- Hollywood Under The Knife & Rainy Days and...
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
National CD Reviews – November 2011
New and recent releases from Coliseum, David Lynch, Dum Dum Girls, Hella, John Doe, Mike Patton, Owen, Russian Circles, Skinny Puppy, This is Hell, Tori Amos, Tycho, Zola Jesus, and many more are reviewed. … read more
Carphax Files @ Metro Bar
Around 100 local members of the Salt Lake industrial scene poured into the glitzy Club Metro on Wednesday night for a free, one-hour long performance by COP International artist Carphax Files, and they were not disappointed. Carphax Files is an explosion of unholy rage at the political machine, but underpinned by a sensitivity to the plight of the people. A new Carphax Files t-shirt declares that they are the 99%. … read more
Neon Indian @ Urban Lounge
We walked in the cool evening taking sips from a vitamin water bottle filled with cheap wine. We killed the last few drops as we hit the door of the already packed Urban Lounge to catch the most talked about show of October. Everyone bouncing and smiling as we were swallowed up by the sea of people on the floor. The mass of bodies was moving to the crests and troughs of a wave of sound from some kind of future island in the sun. … read more