SLUG Contributor Limelight
June 2, 2016
CONTRIBUTOR LIMELIGHT: Alexander Ortega – Editor
Since 2010, Alexander Ortega has risen through SLUG’s ranks, assuming the titles of Contributor Writer, Senior Staff Writer, Copy Editor, Junior Editor, Editorial Assistant, Managing Editor and now Editor. Ortega’s journalistic integrity, dedication to community and passion for mentoring contributors are qualities that will make him a brilliant Editor. Outside of SLUG, Ortega is a gifted musician. He’s currently working in-studio on a debut album for an eponymous project that draws inspiration from the folk music of Tuva. Ortega anticipates returning to the studio this fall with Filth Lords, a punk project that’s lasted five years—a testament to the camaraderie he finds in the project. Keep an eye out for his upcoming performances with both projects this summer. We are honored to have Alexander Ortega, an astute and creative intellectual, lead SLUG into our editorial next chapter.
Articles by contributor
Local Reviews: CastleAxe – Castlemaster
Hark! CastleAxe (formerly Speitre) hath returned with their brand of classic heavy metal, melded with bludgeoning blows of thrash. As the hilt supports the blade, so does Grög’s rhythm guitar with Hölger’s steel-soldered leads in euphonious synchrony … read more
Review: White Suns – Totem
White Suns encapsulate destruction par excellence with Totem. One may first recall works like Jane Doe with opening track “Priest in the Laboratory,” with its contra-time signatures and cacophonous electric-guitar malfunctioning and anti-chords—it’s sporadic, broken movement. … read more
Review: Timber Timbre – Sincerely, Future Pollution
Timber Timbre = Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds + Damaged BugDaft Punk x Stevie Wonder … read more
Review: True Widow – Circumambulation
Compared to As High As the Highest Heavens and from the Center of the Circumference of the Earth, Circumambulation proceeds with sparser guitar and deliberate bass, beginning the slow burner as such with “Creeper.” … read more
Review: Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry of Consciousness
I was pleased to hear that Joel Grind didn’t take Chemistry of Consciousness in the way that Conjure and Command hinted at, which, for me, might have been cultic stoner-thrash, but staunchly returned to volatile, acidic ooze and frantic bloodlust. … read more
Review: The Workhouse – The sky still looks the same
Merely taking this 10″ out of the package is the preamble to its overall aura—a grey sleeve accompanied by a matching, grey lyrics booklet that holds a mini-CDR version; the mini book holds industrial/construction photos and drawings accompanying the lyrics. “The sky still looks the same” opens the release with somber, bare post-punk with a poppy smirk. … read more
Review: The Hunt – The Hunt Begins
Given the “what’s cool” music climate of 2009, this album is visionary: McGandy croons in his lush pogo/post-punk–crossover baritone, almost breaching his voice’s breadth into a holler. “Fifteen Minutes” exhibits rhythmic dynamics that propel the “What have we done to all the young men?!” chorus (which, at least, nods to a street punk gang-vocal motif). … read more
Review: Skeletonwitch – Serpents Unleashed
Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of Forever Abomination, but in my eyes, the band has transcended their sound on this record—the technically modest solo of “Beneath Dead Leaves,” for example, demonstrates Skeletonwitch’s penchant for song construction rather than stereotypical, dick-swingin’ metal guitar solos. … read more
Review: Malportado Kids – Total Cultura
Malportado Kids = (Fea / Piñata Protest) x (Le Tigre√Bikini Kill) … read more
Review: Iceage
Like dying in a dream or Francis Bacon’s paintings, Iceage have delivered a bittersweet roller-coaster stomach lurch with their sophomore release, which drives forward in a disjointed dance with opener “Ecstasy.” … read more
Review: Iron Chic – The Constant One
“Whoas” and subtle vocal harmonies adorn these major-key pop punk songs that elicit emotion in a heartening way, as if Iron Chic’s M.O. was to purge our negative thinking by way of sonic chemotherapy. … read more
Review: Have A Nice Life – The Unnatural World
I’ve never been in a deprivation chamber before, but The Unnatural World renders an audial consciousness for me similar to how I imagine that complete darkness—except for Have A Nice Life flash wet, silver lights of sound. … read more
Local Reviews: Salt Lake Spitfires
Salt Lake Spitfires aptly synthesize thrash guitars and mid-tempo punk rock right off the bat with “Mountain” in the Chaos Baby EP, and pin down exactly what it would be like at a rock n’ roll show in the ’70s. The Spitfires succeed in varying their songs yet retaining their own sonic signature. … read more
Local Review: Cornered By Zombies – Hurry Up and Wait
Finally. Baz Eisenman and Jason Denney are a metal duo of prodigies whose musicianship eats away at your insides, simultaneously vicious and wistful. … read more
Review: Dinos Boys – Last Ones
Dinos Boys = early The Damned x The Boys … read more
Review: All Pigs Must Die – Nothing Violates This Nature
All Pigs Must Die initiate Nothing Violates This Nature with the thrashy “Chaos Arise”—and it does! … read more
Photography-Plus: Brent Courtney, Image Sculptor
Brent Courtney vies for his photos to be “clean, balanced and minimal,” as he puts it. He is a Swiss Army Knife when it comes to the mediums he works in. … read more
Editor’s Picks: 10 Post-Punk Albums from the 2010s that You’ll...
Alexander Ortega felt it necessary to talk about 10 of his favorite post-punk albums that he’s encountered—by and large—through SLUG Magazine this decade. … read more
Book Review: Verge
The stories within Lidia Yuknavitch’s Verge create a subdermal web with motifs of feminism, middle-class imposter syndrome, isolation and more. … read more
Lagerpalooza: Salt Lake’s Lager Effect
Lagerpalooza is Utah’s premier lager homebrew-off, becoming a nationally recognized, lagers-only competition that stimulates the vibrancy of craft lagers. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Acasӑ, My Home
Acasӑ, My Home succeeds as a cinéma verité documentary that offers a compelling case study about the shortcomings of how we live. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Killing of Two Lovers
Really, all of the actors of The Killing of Two Lovers do a great job. The writing, however, keeps its semblances of story low to the ground and linear. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares)
Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) is a harrowing narrative about Magdalena (Mercedes Hernández), who seeks her lost, adolescent son, Jesús (Juan Jesús Varela). … read more
Sundance Film Review: Summer White (Blanco de Verano)
Summer White (Blanco de Verano) doesn’t offer traditional payoffs that we may want or expect as viewers, and it’s certainly better for it. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Kajillionare
Miranda July’s Kajillionaire weaves protagonist Old Dolio Dyne (Evan Rachel Wood) into a life of con artistry and emotional neglect. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Bad Hair
Bad Hair is the kind of film that I think most audiences want to see at Sundance. It’s good, draws from cultural folklore, and pushes boundaries accessibly. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Possessor
Possessor is fucked up. It’s a great Midnight category movie, and let it be known that there is intense body horror and violence. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Okavango – River of Dreams (Director’s Cut)
When it comes to nature documentaries, there’s the Animal Kingdom dimension that also is a measure of success. For this, I needed my trusty nature-doc buddy: Babyface. … read more
Sundance Film Review: La Llorona
La Llorona is a good way to get your fix for a socially aware, supernatural psychological/revenge thriller at Sundance 2020. … read more
Slamdance Film Festival 2020: Close Quarters (Territorio)
Close Quarters is a narrative feature that deconstructs tropes of masculinity—in Mexican society, no less—and instills a gripping sense of unease. … read more
Artes en Español: the Sor Juana Contest for Poetry and...
Artes de México en Utah’s Sor Juana Contest for Poetry and Prose in Spanish is Utah’s statewide contest for literary writing in the language. … read more
Book Review: Our Colony Beyond the City of Ruins
Janalyn Guo’s Our Colony Beyond the City of Ruins is an excellent short-story collection, one I earnestly recommend picking up. … read more
You Can Think Globally and Eat Locally: Zaater & Zayton...
Zaater & Zayton adapts their catering to match customers’ tastes, and cite customer favorites as their grilled meats and staples like falafel. … read more
Dance Fever at Art’s Place: The Dancehall Experience You’ve Been...
On a Saturday night, I felt right at home amid a display of jovial energy at Art’s Place. The presence of inexhaustible dance-lovers sustains the warm—nay, red-hot—atmosphere as the dance partners deftly executing the steps of voluptuous cumbia moves. … read more
SLC Artist Horacio Rodriguez Repurposes Mesoamerican Artifacts with 3D Printing
Horacio Rodriguez’s art looks to take on new meanings and nuances with each new project, each a reflection of our increasingly hybridic world. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love
This documentary explores (some of) his love of Marianne Ihlen, with whom he was in an open relationship for many years and who is thought of as his muse. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Infiltrators
The Infiltrators is the stirring documentary cum dramatization about how members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (NIYA) helped aid in halting various deportations from the U.S. … read more
Sundance Film Review: This Is Not Berlin
This Is Not Berlin celebrates the (sexual and artistic) counter-cultural liberation that this permutation of the punk scene heralded in the ’80s. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sea of Shadows
Sea of Shadows presents the grave, complex problem of illegal fishing in the Sea of Cortez for the endangered fish totoaba. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Sharks
The cinematography, natural lighting and photography in The Sharks is stunning, as it captures lush treescapes and waves crashing against rocks on beaches. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch succeeds in not trying to assail each topic but giving us a panoramic view of how all of these human activities cumulatively affect the planet. … read more
Sundance Film Review: THE WITCH HUNTERS
Though it’s lighthearted, THE WITCH HUNTERS offers a mature conversation about legitimate issues through the lens of young characters. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Abe
Abe is a worthwhile movie that also presents subtle, contextually appropriate educational points about Islam. … read more
Dirty God at Sundance Film Festival 2019 – Scars as...
Dutch director Sacha Polak’s Sundance 2019 film, Dirty God, opens with what almost looks like an alluring red-rock landscape. The up-close shot soon reveals that it’s the acid-scarred skin of lead character Jade, played by Vicky Knight. … read more
Your Next Pair of Jeans Is at The Stockist –...
The Stockist’s selection comprises clothes that will stand the test of time and are worth a small investment, with Freenote Cloth’s Rios among them. … read more
Bohemian: Utah’s Prost!-Modern Brewery
Local lagerhaus Bohemian Brewery has looked to the tradition of what they brand as “old-school brews” simultaneously to innovate and pay homage to their roots. … read more
Review: Brixton – The Hayes & The Heist
I find that I return to Brixton’s products based on both their quality and how sharp they are. There aren’t a ton of flannel shirts that can dress up or down, and there aren’t a lot of beanies whose stylish durability one can immediately observe by looking at the fabric. The Hayes and the Heist exhibit these qualities, respectively, and more. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Private Life
In Sundance premiere Private Life, Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) and Richard (Paul Giamatti) have become obsessed with getting pregnant. … read more
Product Review: Smartwool – Merino 250 Crew
I needed a milder top that was also a bit less woollike in its texture—something that let me forget that I was wearing it, even. The Smartwool Merino 250 Baselayer Crew found its way to me, and it’s an impeccably comfortable base on which to build in a handful of effective ways.
Review: Black Diamond Equipment – Pursuit Ski Shell
The Black Diamond Pursuit Ski Shell continues the stoke that I feel with their product line. Its design features clean lines in a minimalist approach—just the way I like it. Of course, it’s still a ski shell and looks the part, but with some design elements that help it to go beyond a typical outdoor jacket. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Oslo Diaries
In this Sundance World Documentary, The Oslo Diaries recalls a new low in Palestine-Israel relations in 1992. Each nation sent a secret delegation to Oslo, Norway, to negotiate a peace agreement. Surprisingly, they had settled on one. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Of Fathers and Sons
It’s difficult to know even where to start with Sundance’s “World Cinema Documentary” selection Of Fathers and Sons. It’s clear, however, that it’s an incredibly essential film, and it touches on an array of issues. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Time Share (Tiempo Compartido)
Sundance World Drama Selection Time Share (Tiempo Compartido) intrigues with its elusive screenplay, which alternates between the narratives of Pedro and Andrés. … read more
Sundance Film Review: High & Mighty
High & Mighty is a kind of Chicano, stoner-humor amalgam of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Workaholics with a serial dash of Breaking Bad. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Pity
As far as filmmaking goes, there may be something in the water in Greece. Director/screenwriter Babis Makridis’ and screenwriter Efthimis Filippou’s work in Sundance World Drama Pity converses with a similar vernacular to that of fellow Greek Yorgos Lanthimos. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Genesis 2.0
Sundance World Documentary film Genesis 2.0 is beautifully shot. Yakut “Hunters” travel to the isles to dig for mammoth tusks, which they sell with aspirations for riches. Some sell to/for scientific projects while others sell tusks that end up in the hands of artisans. … read more
Review: Fyxation Bicycle Company – Six Fyx
I installed Fyxation’s Six Fyx Conversion Kit onto my Fyxation Eastside bicycle. After about a month and a half of using it, I love it. … read more
Review: KONUS Redan Button Up (Black) and Stern Button Up...
Like most of KONUS’ designs, their new shirts maintain the brand’s emphasis on sleek, street-savvy functionality. … read more
Review: Black Diamond Equipment – Cold Forge Hoody
Black Diamond’s Cold Forge Hoody is the next functionally fashionable item that you need for casual snow sports and for everyday living in cold weather. … read more
Movie Review: Toni Erdmann
Toni Erdmann breaches the bizarre with this funny father-daughter story. Both Hüller and Simonischek deliver spot-on, endearing performances. … read more
Movie Review: Julieta
Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar bases his latest effort, Julieta, on three short stories from Alice Munro’s book Runaway. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Dolores
It takes a certain touch to make a documentary a riveting, standout Sundance film—and Dolores has it, honoring Dolores Huerta’s advocacy for farmers rights. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Carpinteros
Carpinteros tells the story Julián (Jean Jean), who has been admitted into prison for a probationary period while his case goes through court. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Beatriz at Dinner
Selma Hayek delivers a spellbinding performance as Beatriz in Beatriz at Dinner, allowing her to beam with energy and balance amid an aggravating situation. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sueño en Otro Idioma
In Sueño en otro idioma, linguist Martín travels to a rural area of Mexico to record conversations between the last speakers of Zikril. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Workers Cup
Despite their various backgrounds, the men in The Workers Cup share a passion for football, and we feel how much it means to them on a palpable level. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Axolotl Overkill
Axolotl Overkill is a character study of Mifti, a teenage girl who feels disaffected by the life that people her age are supposed to lead. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Family Life
Directors Alicia Scherson and Cristián Jiménez present Family Life as an anxious film: We watch Martín spin his lie to Paz while we become enamored of her. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Dayveon
In the “NEXT” section, Dayveon depicts the frustration of the film’s namesake character, Dayveon, played by Devin Blackmon. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Plastic China
Plastic China features foreman Kun’s plastic-recycling facility. They reside among knolls of plastic waste and veritable mountains of work. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sami Blood
Sundance chose well by including this film in the “Spotlight” section, as Sami Blood continues to delight and does the Sami people justice. … read more
Salt Lake City Staycation
You may be in town for some film festivals, or you may be a born-and-raised, diehard Salt Laker. Either way, you deserve your Salt Lake City staycation. … read more
Local Reviews: Killbot
Killbot’s back with insatiable metal hunger in The Horror E.P. Deavy Metal eases us into the mayhem with a gorgeous classical guitar intro in “Beware the Moon,” which is riddled with howls from a werewolf and the whimpers of victims-to-be. … read more
Local Reviews: Problem Daughter
I’m a little disappointed that it took me this long to find out about this band. Problem Daughter delivers catchy-as-hell punk rock atop major-key chord progressions with fun upbeat instrumental work. What’s interesting is that the actual words that singer Regan Ashton belts out in songs like “Good Friends” aren’t what initially seize our attention, but, rather, his timbre and comfort with his melodies—he demonstrates his vocal skills with a balance of scratchy and melodic singing. … read more
The Geometry of Pheonix & Stagg: Pour-Over Coffee with St....
I’ve long fantasized about making my own pour-overs at home, and St. Anthony Industries piqued my interest as a localized option to make this foray, outfitting me with the Phoenix70, a box of Perfect Paper Filters and a Filibuster Decanter, all of which St. Anthony designs and sells. … read more
Movie Review: Gimme Danger
Director Jim Jarmusch’s Iggy Pop & The Stooges documentary is a straightforward history of the band throughout the film’s two-hour duration—and that’s all it needs to be. … read more
Songs of the Cross: Guillermo Galindo’s Border-Healing Ritual
Creating and playing musical instruments he creates from the U.S.-Mexico border, Guillermo Galindo seeks to cure the “wounds of immigration” and to transition our focus from the politics and numbers to the human beings therein. Bordercantos.com hosts videos of Galindo performing instruments such as the “Piñata de cartuchos,” a metal piñata draped with a net of bullet shells with a core in the shape of a soccer ball. Learn more about his musical creations and social justice in his interview feature. … read more
CONTRIBUTOR LIMELIGHT: Alexander Ortega – Editor
Since 2010, Alexander Ortega has risen through SLUG’s ranks, assuming the titles of Contributor Writer, Senior Staff Writer, Copy Editor, Junior Editor, Editorial Assistant, Managing Editor and now Editor. … read more
Review: The Lobster
The Lobster is an Orwellian black comedy, and Lanthimos’ capacity for dystopia seems boundless. … read more
Local Reviews: Philosofist
Holy bajoley, Batman, this really is a knuckle sandwich. As they hint with their very name, Philosofist deftly combines thoughtful musicianship with execution that gets my body swaying and hand-fists punching. Each track in Obstruction Of Moustache stands by itself as its own work of art, starkly different from its siblings. … read more
Local Reviews: The Hung Ups
(First and foremost, I need to apologize to The Hung Ups for not getting to this album in time: I’ve played with these guys and they’re fucking awesome. Hands down, they deliver pissy-yet-poppy punk rock that’s in your face with no compromises. All these members have been in the Salt Lake/Utah scene for years now, and they really know how to fuck shit up. Sorry guys, have a round on me. On to the review.) The Hung Ups’ self-titled release hearkens back to the simple pop punk stylings of The Descendents with songs dealing with skating, girls and all-American pizza pies. … read more
Local Reviews: The Hang Ups
The Hung Ups are back with their sophomore full-length, and they’re as catchy as ever! DotDB is tight and the guitars cinch each song together with intricate leads such as in “Donkey Lips.” … read more
Local Reviews: Tough Tittie
Tough Tittie are hitting us with a five-song EP plus the entire album Pink Roid Rage all on one disc. From the first track on the Stomach Transplant portion, “The Introducer,” Tough Tittie takes the goofiness of the Weirdos and reformulates it into a bar-band punk style. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Land of the Enlightened
Shot on 16-mm. film, The Land of the Enlightened vibrantly fuses documentary filmmaking with fictive storytelling dynamics. The film illuminates the lifestyles of a handful Afghans amid continued U.S. occupation, and also examines the feelings and tensions of sustained U.S. presence in the country. What’s more, this film treats its viewers to the stunning natural beauty of Afghanistan. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Lobster
In a dystopian future, David must find a partner in 45 days, or else he will be transformed into an animal of his choice. Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster bears witness to the process by which David seeks a mate against this impending consequence. Mind-warping twists abound in this film—The Lobster does not disappoint. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Eyes of My Mother
My mouth was agape for much of The Eyes of My Mother. Borrowing from horror yet far from it, this film by director Nicolas Pesce disturbs the emotions that accompany our love for our family—our mothers, our fathers and our children—with violence and morbidity. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Wild
Dog may be man’s best friend, but Ania’s lover is a wolf. Director Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild shows Ania (Lilith Stangenberg) in a state of apathy toward her surroundings. She puts up with patriarchal men at her office job and must suffer through her sister’s boyfriend who rudely interrupts their video chats. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sky Ladder – The Art of Cai...
Sky Ladder pulled me in with its gorgeous cinematography that beautifully captures the color that Cai uses in his artwork. … read more
Sundance Film Review: My Friend from the Park
My Friend from the Park Sundance Film Festival Director: Ana Katz Directed by Ana Katz, My Friend from the Park shows Liz caring for her infant son, Nicanor, in Argentina. Her husband, Gustavo, is working abroad in Chile on a documentary about a volcano. Nicanor’s pediatrician encourages Liz to take him to the park so
Sundance Film Review: The Lure
I would equate Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s The Lure to Twin Peaks + The Forbidden Zone + Grease + Ministry + Rose McDowell. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Fits
Toni (Royalty Hightower) trains in the boxing gym with the boys in The Fits. She executes more sit-ups than I could dream of doing at this stage in my life—the same with pull-ups. Her jabs look mean. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Plaza de la Soledad
Plaza de la Soledad examines the lives of sex workers in Mexico City. The women that director Maya Goded features in this documentary provide enduring sisterhood for each other amid a lifestyle in which they maintain volition over their own destinies. Each woman speaks for herself about her experience in this insightful film. … read more
Sundance Film Review: First Girl I Loved
Anne finds herself to be attracted to Sasha, a girl on their high school’s softball team. When Anne tries to tell her bestie, Clifton, though, he reveals his feelings for her, which compromise Anne’s simple intention to woo the girl she has a crush on. First Girl I Loved provides alternatively styled narration as to how Anne navigates her desire for Sasha. … read more
Review: Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket
Though the Nano Puff Jacket is lightweight, it insulates par excellence. The warmth I’ve felt wearing this jacket is toasty and comfy by way of its PrimaLoft® insulation—yet it breathes, and I feel nary a drop of sweat if I get my circulation going. … read more
Top 5 Teary-Eyed Power Pop Albums
Power pop packed a punch in 2015, and this list proves it. Whether you’re more excited that Warm Soda’s Symbolic Dream stayed true to form or that Young Guv’s Ripe 4 Luv pushed power pop’s boundaries, this list of power pop albums will bring you tears of joy. … read more
Review: Dawes Audio – Overdrive Pedal
Such a situation demands a good overdrive pedal, and Dawes Audio’s got what the doctor ordered. … read more
Review: Zensah – Invisi Running Socks
Zensah has taken care of me before with their Smart Running Gloves. Now they’ve come back to insulate my little feetsies! … read more
Nico Muhly & The Utah Symphony: Peeking In On A...
To commemorate Abravanel Hall’s 75th anniversary, Utah Symphony Utah Opera commissioned Nico Muhly to write scores for the orchestra to premiere. … read more
Review: Hot Girls Wanted
Hot Girls Wanted principally examines Tressa Silgnero’s (aka Stella May) foray into amateur porn. She is a case study for this documentary, which reveals the competitive reality of the amateur-porn machine that renders 18- and 19-year-old girls starry-eyed once they learn of how much money they can make per scene. … read more
Review: Bitters Lab
Bitters Lab Small Batch Bitters, 4-oz. bottles bitterslab.com Bitters Lab is moving up in the local cocktail ingredients scene, and their bitters add dimension to even the simplest Old Fashioned. Their Aromatic bitters include cherries, and the overall mix exudes almost a lavender scent, but it also tastes sweeter than the good ol’ Angostura. The Charred
Local Reviews: Handicapitalist
Handicapitalist thwacks out an irreverent, blatant style of old-school crust. “Smart Girls” epitomizes the band’s straightforward temperament as vocalist Jake Gatenby scratchily wails, “I only fuck smart girls!” … read more
Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss: The Aches of Sleep
Two years after her breakout album, Pain is Beauty, Chelsea Wolfe has again commanded a confluence of genres to synergize into a new, consuming ebb. … read more
Local Reviews: Starvist
Just as their album art suggests, Starvist saw off rhino horns with Taker Mythology, a fresh gulp of contemporary hardcore. Drummer Chase Cluff is a technical beast in his own right as he seamlessly transitions from technical rolls on his snare and slides into a smooth 6/8 beat with fluffy ride taps in “You Just Don’t Fool Me Twice.” … read more
Local Reviews: Visigoth
Nobody can resist headbanging to Final Spell. Visigoth gets right to the point in “Creature of Desire” as frontman Jake Rogers’ perfect falsetto crescendos into “whoa-oh-oh”s with the aid of the front line, exhibiting vocal prowess akin to Rob Halford. … read more
Local Reviews: Draize Method
Slamming out legit hardcore—literally from the ’80s—Draize Method and their onstage socks n’ sandals represent a bygone era that has come back to haunt us. The band namely hashes out D-beat punk with natural, mid-level vocal aggression and thrashy chugs, such as in “Fear.” They do, however, add an Agent Orange-esque element in “Myself” and “Mantra,” where vocalist Dan Fonoti sings in a ghostlike voice and then breaks into throaty wailing. … read more
Local Reviews: Thunderfist
Since visiting my 8th-grade Career Day class 10 years ago, singer Jeremy Cardenas scream-sings just as viciously as in those initial Thunderfist recordings. But now, I’m more afraid he’ll beat me with an ugly stick, shrieking, “I’m all fucked up tonight!” in “Hit the Bottle Again.” With the addition of the prodigious Matt Miller, Thunderfist’s guitar dynamics are fleshed out in a kaleidoscopic way, balanced so that each guitar complements each other just enough, such as in the riffy “Back Down.” … read more
Local Review: Accidente
With an opening track eye-catchingly titled “Listen Bitch,” Accidente kick off their most recent endeavor with a chunky bass line as frontman Peter Mackowski emits sarcastic, guttural growls that build into a riffy number. … read more
Local Review: Worst Friends
Having recorded this album as a two-piece, (pre bassist Elliot Secrist), Mike Cundick and Jarom Bischoff exhibit their impeccable knack for creating rock songs that are both virtuosic and passionate without lapsing into cheesiness. Opener “Nah Dude” pulsates with a riff that sounds like it is finger-picked, oscillating betwixt the lower and higher strings, which moves in a consistent, choral way, which explodes into erratic strumming. … read more
Sandria Miller Photography @ Tin Angel
As light reflects off of the cheeks of smiling teenagers, a foot plants defiantly in front of the raging crowd. A tattooed snake slithers from the ankle of that foot, up a bare leg, while a black cord coils around a pelvis with short black gym shorts, down and around the calf of the opposite limb. This is Henry Rollins. Sandria Miller has immortalized this moment in a black and white photograph at the Tin Angel Cafe. … read more
SLUG Dia de los Muertos Party @ The Garage 10.29
The moon shone crescent and ghostly this last Saturday, Oct. 29, as costumed bar flies buzzed into The Garage for SLUG’s Day of the Dead party. … read more
Alex and Dylan vs. Comeback Kid @ Club Sound 04.07
SLUG sent two of our best hardcore and punk music writers to the show for a bit of nostalgia, and they returned with broken glasses, scraped noses and the following reviews. … read more
Teen Daze, Beat Connection and White Arrows @ Kilby 07.18
Teen Daze evinces the same sort of tactile relationship with his equipment as does a guitar player as he fiddles with the knobs, a coy simper on his face. … read more
Culture Confidential @ The Rose Wagner, Leona Wagner Black Box...
Aaron Moulton took the limelight (as the most interesting panelist of the evening, in my estimation). Moulton made “An Art Newspaper” called The Naughties that features deliberately stolen art, reframing them as pictures and advertisements to accompany fictional news stories. Moulton blocked most of his contributors’ names to evince a relinquishment of ownership, only allowing people for whom he has the utmost respect to have their name filter through, which I found somewhat hypocritical. Moulton said that he aims for this magazine to be The Onion of the unregulated art world. Moulton was amusingly indignant throughout the discussion, and seemed to be audience critics’ favorite target in a playful way. … read more
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Andrew Jackson Jihad with Future of the Left, Jeff Rosenstock...
The torrents of snow last Friday, Nov. 9, didn’t make an exception for Kilby Court that evening, but that just gave the merch tables for Andrew Jackson Jihad and Jeff Rosenstock more pre-show traffic (Future of the Left was running late on account of the weather). … read more
Arrivals/Departures @ the Rio Gallery 01.18
Friday, Jan. 18, the Rio Grande hosted the opening of loveDANCEmore’s Arrivals/Departures before an audience who was free to migrate from piece to piece at their leisure, whether it be videos of dancers that play on hanging screens or live dance works that the dancers repeated over and over from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. … read more
SXSW 2013: The Geeks @ The Elysium K-Pop Night Out...
I entered The Elysium at dusk. The bar was dark and had great black-lighting. Although the crowd let me down, I was able to look past them and sense the genuineness that The Geeks offer, who got me pumped for the rest of my night. … read more
SXSW 2013: Assacre @ The Metal & Lace Lounge 03.12
Assacre was a motherfucking komodo dragon. As I entered the Metal & Lace venue, he paced to the entrance and looked me square in the eye through goggles and a black shawl-mask. He held his performance across the whole bar rather than the stage, and knelt down to execute thrash-y riffs reminiscent of Slayer. … read more
SXSW 2013: Tegan and Sara @ The Main iHeartRadio Showcase...
I would play guitar for Tegan and Sara. That’s the only instrument I play well, and, really nobody would notice that I was in the band, because, like in their music videos, JUST Tegan and Sara are in the spotlight onstage. They have a retinue of dudes (and they’re DUDES, not chicks) who play guitar, drums, bass or keys, depending on the song—as long as I was just CLOSE to them, I would be happy, really. … read more
SXSW 2013: Café Tacvba @ Stubb’s NPR Music Showcase 03.13
I made my way to the Stubb’s stage, which was in an outside-concert-style scheme. It was nighttime, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to make it through the line in time to see Café Tacvba, as the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s were booked to play next. I made it in with ease, though, and got up front with a packed crowd during their first song, which was a rock n’ roll–ranchera hybrid played to easygoing spiritedness from the front of the audience. … read more
SXSW 2013: Nü Sensae @ Holy Mountain Backward Enabler PR...
I would marry Andrea Lukic. There was just something about her—the same thing I like about Chelsea Wolfe—which makes me think that she would have a nice conversation with me one day over tea, then strangle me in my sleep the next. I like that in a girl. … read more
SXSW 2013: White Lung @ Holy Mountain Enabler PR Showcase
When White Lung played their first song with their sharp melodies and Mish Way’s nonchalant stage presence, the darkness and slight dinginess of the club complemented White Lung’s macabre sound well as a group of photographers at the front snapped and flashed their machines like the band members were stars on some sort of award show in a noir movie. … read more
SXSW 2013: Royal Thunder @ The Dirty Dog Metalsucks Showcase...
Royal Thunder’s set at the Dirty Dog was like sex on the beach. They started out with a couple of their more mellow songs, then they royal thumpered into “Whispering World” to take the rhythm and pace to the next level. Frontwoman Mlny Parsonz really knew how to lure a guy in with soft coos that eventually transformed into full-bodied singing, then growls like a tigress. … read more
SXSW 2013: Death @ TenOak Metrotimes Detroit Blowout Showcase 03.14
It was Death, the protopunk band—one of the (retroactively) driving forces in rock n’ roll history. And they killed it. The remaining Hackney brothers were right on spot in the rhythm section, and they had two guitarists rather than one. As Bobby Hackney said at various times during their set, this was music straight out of 1975, and I felt like I was transported there. … read more
SXSW 2013: Bajofondo @ Auditorium Shores Stage (Lady Bird Lake)...
Bajofondo has a polished sense of how and when to move onstage. At one point, the drummer got a thick beat going, and frontman and guitarist Gustavo Santaolalla heralded his bandmates to get the crowd to start clapping along. As the audience followed suit, the stringed instruments cascaded into a dissonant, bend-sounding synergy of sound. … read more
SXSW 2013: Young Widows @ Red 7 Tone Deaf Touring...
Young Widows exude a chilled-out vibe to their brand of sludgy hardcore. Their music is intense, with frontman Evan Patterson’s guitar riffs chunking out like metal bolts and anvils coming out of a meat grinder, but it’s a sort of pensive aggressiveness, like watching volatile chemicals in science. Young Widows are the type of band whose record you throw on and smoke a J to, even though they are noise-rockers imbued with hardcore. … read more
SXSW 2013: Lemuria @ The Mohawk Indoor 03.15
Sheena Ozella, the frontwoman (guitar and vocals) of Lemuria, is an amazing guitarist—she’s clearly an intelligent person, as her odd chord structuring and deft movement along the neck played out sonically with an almost jazzy character. Her left hand played Tetris with itself and moved from barre 7 chords to tuning while she was singing during a stop. … read more
SXSW 2013: Masked Intruder @ Red 7 Fat Wreck Chords...
You see, Masked Intruder has a dancer, who is a dude dressed up in a cop costume. His job is to run around and rile people up. He accomplishes this by pushing people and moshing with them. Part of his job is to flip people off, too. He flips off as many people as he can at any given moment, on- or offstage. I imagine that Masked Intruder would kidnap me, as they are robbers, and I’d probably get sick and tired of the cop, even though I think he’s cool at the same time. … read more
SXSW 2013: Baptists @ The Scoot Inn 03.16
Baptists have two, concurrent modes: metal face-clocking and riling the crowd into an abrasive disposition. The vocalist bashed into the crowd freely to generate mosh pits that would have otherwise been inaccessible for the band before an audience who found shade from the 3:00-p.m. Texas sun. Baptists thrash with a hardcore punk candor amid their “metal fur-ball convulsions” where their whole body takes on the motion of head banging. … read more
SXSW 2013: Parquet Courts @ The Red 7 03.16
Parquet Courts really put some work in! They subtly rocked out onstage, and though they all take turns with understated punk vocals, they had sweat stains on their clothes by the end of their set. Bassist Sean Yeaton busted out solo bass chording and played with octaves while drummer Max Savage set forth awkward rhythms. They inspired me to do what I would describe as a “crooked dance.” … read more
Sample Tracks @ Sugar Space 04.05
Sugar Space is tucked away on 616 Wilmington Ave. in Sugarhouse, which provides for a sense of stealing away to a small mountain town, and lends her performances an intimate tone. Leah Nelson Del Porto and Cortney McGuire of fivefour kicked off the showcase with their piece, “my space is sometimes yours.” An older piece in their repertoire, “my space is sometimes yours” is honed and polished. The program previewed that the piece was devoid of musical accompaniment, which turned out to be an excellent choice, as the under-the-breath mutterings between Nelson and McGuire proved to be not only entertaining, but underpinned the conceptual content of the piece, which was negotiating space with another person and the shifting boundaries. … read more
MAZZA MEDIA & INDUSTRY DINNER 05.19 @ 9th & 9th...
This past Sunday, Mazza hosted a private event with special dishes not normally found on their menu. Beginning at 6 p.m., the evening was made even more beautiful by the 9th and 9th location’s décor at dusk—Owner Ali Sabbah, I learned, has collected all of the lavish adornment from Lebanon, and even pieced together the elegant liquor cabinet piece by piece. The sun glinting off of the copper pillars created a gorgeous environment to enjoy specialty Middle Eastern food. … read more
DEEP Aerobics with Miguel Gutierrez @ The Rose Wagner Black...
Friday, June 7 at The Rose Wagner Black Box, the people became powerful. Miguel Gutierrez, a dance improv artist from New York, donned the attire of a “reverse, perverse missionary,” wearing his Church uniform backward (amid his dyed-blond fade and beard) to rile up dancers and nondancers alike. His call to duty, as he introduced himself with a Book of Mormon and an American Flag, was to educate those in attendance about Death Emo Electric Protest: DEEP Aerobics, which was curated by loveDANCEmore and SB Dance, and sponsored by—you guessed it—SLUG Magazine. … read more
Art | Art and Fashion | LGBTQ+
TWODOG Wine Summer Solstice Wine Pairing Party @ The Sun...
Sure, some of the initial stages of their business model involve the snobs to the west, but Erickson and the gang are like Robin Hood in the wine game, and they offer their delicious product to us, here, and rep Utah, too. “Everything we do in Utah, we can,” says Erickson. … read more
Daughters of Mudson @ the Rose Wagner Studio Theatre
Last Friday, loveDANCEmore curated the second annual Daughters of Mudson, which was housed by the Studio Theatre of the Rose Wagner. As I entered the space, there was energy about the event’s production that I sensed early on—it was practiced, and it has matured into a something that’s becoming integral to the Salt Lake City art scene … read more
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Hillbilly Herald, Zengrez
If you grow up playing guitar as I did, Guns N’ Roses, and thus Slash, are essential reference points for your musical cultural education. What’s more was that my dad came of age during the height of butt rock, so driving in his Jimmy, I became well acquainted with Appetite for Destruction and GNR’s covers, like “Nice Boys,” which would shape my sense of guitar listening. With that sense of rock tradition, I was stoked to share this experience with my dad. Needless to say, I was MEGA STOKED to see Slash’s stylings on the axe. … read more
Dead Dog Song, Choreographer’s Dream, Puppeteer’s Nightmare @ Ladies’ Literary...
I first saw the nascent dead dog song at loveDANCEmore’s Arrivals/Departures exhibit at the Rio Gallery, where viewers were free to come, watch and leave as they pleased. Anderson has nourished this piece to where it transcends the unicity I saw in the Rio Gallery iteration: She rooted this dance into the Ladies’ Literary Club structure and, once again, has exhibited that dance plays out differently beyond traditional stages. … read more
Metal of the Mountains
I walk into Burt’s Tiki Lounge with Deavy Metal, the wicked bard of Killbot. After cracking open some tall boys and ascertaining that the reason Devin’s hair is so shiny is because he uses Dove, I have one thing on my mind: Deavy Metal Productions Presents S.L.C. METAL Volume #1 – FREE. … read more
Localized – Tolchock Trio, The Broken Spells and S.L.F.M
SLUG’s very own Jessica Davis will celebrate her twenty-first birthday at this month’s Localized with The Broken Spells and her solo project, S.L.F.M. Local favorites Tolchock Trio will kick off the event on September 17 for just $5 at Urban Lounge. … read more
Localized – Reviver, Laughter and Dirty Vespuccis
Come out to Urban Lounge on Saturday, Oct. 9 to rock out with inventive hardcore from Reviver and unearthly stoner metal from Laughter. Dirty Vespuccis will kick it off 10:00 p.m. Kids seats still just five bucks. … read more
Top 5: Acid Tiger
What initially strikes me about Acid Tiger is the unity it exudes between different forces in the world of underground rock music. Since Acid Tiger self-proclaims that they play a “progressive rock/punk hybrid” on their Myspace, but sound akin to stoner metal, they linguistically interrupt a current (and unfortunate) punk criteria, which enables them to act as a sort of cultural black hole where all that has or ever been is free game to be mauled by the tiger. … read more
The Screen as a Campfire: Salt Lake Film Society�s Conversation...
Shortly after I introduce myself to Tori Baker, executive director of the Salt Lake Film Society, she introduces me to the members of the staff. Next, she introduces me to the concessions workers. She familiarizes me with the equipment in the Broadway Centre Cinemas, the SLFS offices and Broadway’s lobby. She introduces me to a space in which I can converse with others about the medium of film and identify the significance of film within our Salt Lake community. … read more
Localized: Speitre
SLUG Magazine celebrates 22 years at this month’s Localized music showcase! When I first lay mine eyes upon the music video for Speitre’s “Eternal Konkwest,” I mused: How many legions of warriors hath Speitre smote in one battle? “It’s hard to say a precise number … There’s so damned many, it’s hard to count,” says Hölger, the band’s lead guitar player. “We can’t say how many, but we can say, ‘It was a lot.’” … read more
Fresh and Solid: The Broship’s National Homie Collective
“It’s comedy, music and art … And good, ol’ fashioned, hard partying. We’re the partiest partiers in Partyland,” says Dreu Damian Hudson. He illuminates one of the core axioms of his party gang, the Broship. This group of men and women has been chugging beers, snapping necks and cashing checks since the early part of the millennium. … read more
Bringing the Brew From Beyond the County Line: Shades of...
The sky’s the limit for Trent Fargher and Alexandra Ortiz de Fargher, owners of Shades of Pale Brewing Company in Park City. They will join Dale Harris, owner of Zion Canyon Brewing Company in Springdale, to circulate their brews throughout Salt Lake County. Through Ortiz and Fargher’s subtle infusion of juniper to their Belgian wits and Harris’ wholesome use of the mineral-rich groundwater of the Virgin River, these breweries seek to employ Utah to command craft brewing. … read more
Dead To Me’s Stampede of the Unscreamed
“There’s all these things that we know about, that we should be talking about, but we’re not,” says Chicken, vocalist and bassist of San Francisco’s Dead To Me. While Dead To Me do touch upon common subjects such as war and homelessness in their songs, their takes on such subject matter aren’t your typical “elephants in the room.” “We’re interested in talking about the things that people shy away from, which are our emotions, our fears, our drives.” … read more
National CD Reviews – July 2011
New releases from Black Lips, Crystal Stilts, Dox, Explosions In the Sky, Friendly Fires, Iceage, Jello Biafra, Los Vigilantes, Set Your Goals, Sol Invictus, Thurston Moore. Tyler the Creator and many, many more are reviewed.
… read more
All Out Ballz Out with Cerebral Ballzy
As Cerebral Ballzy eased into the intro of “On the Run” at Urban Lounge last June, you knew that front man Honor Titus was going to do justice to the Dead Boys back patch on his jean jacket. The normal, grooving, garage rock vibe that Urban usually hosts transmogrifies into a pissed, circle-pit hardcore show as Titus screams, “Catch me if you can! Catch me if you can! I don’t think you can! … read more
Bubblegum Thunderstorm: Spell Talk Crackles and Booms
I barely beat the rain as I roll into an open garage where drummer Sammy Harper of Spell Talk shoots a game of pool on a worn down table. Bassist Jared Phelps shuffles about while guitarist Andrew Milne lounges on a couch next to new member and rhythm guitarist Elle Rasmussen, who quietly smokes a cigarette. The quartet is like a calm set of siblings on another stormy day, but they keep a loud secret in their pockets: a physically engaging album that will have you ready to stomp your feet and holler along with the band’s newborn thunder. … read more
Tooth Fractal Psychedelia: Tyler Densley’s Acid Math
“Growing up Mormon and being straight edge most of my life, I had these weird inklings to do hallucinogens,” says Tyler Densley. “I always, in the back of my mind, thought that I would like to hallucinate—be able to see outside of what I know, be able to see a cartoon in my head.” When Densley followed this desire, he found commonalities between what he liked about American traditional tattooing, his fondness for cartoons and his psychedelic experiences. … read more
Local Reviews: CastleAxe
Hark! CastleAxe (formerly Speitre) hath returned with their brand of classic heavy metal, melded with bludgeoning blows of thrash. As the hilt supports the blade, so does Grög’s rhythm guitar with Hölger’s steel-soldered leads in euphonious synchrony … read more
Cat Power and Nico Turner Live @ The Depot 11.25
It wasn’t utterly packed—just full. Cat Power draws an interestingly eclectic crowd: professors, obligatory hippies, hipsters and maybe a vegan–straight edge kid, too. After the release of her electronica album, Sun, it seemed that there was a yearning for the older, more classic styling of Chan Marshall, and there was no better way to realize that desire than an intimate, seated setting where she would perform solo. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Vanishing Pearls
Vanishing Pearls zones in on the small bayou fishing town of Point à la Hache where catching clam was the chief industry, with protagonist Byron Encalade serving as the representative of bayou fishermen affected by the BP oil spill. Vanishing Pearls analyzes key points at which BP skirted resolution of the problem and reveals BP’s nefarious actions to cheat this small community—and others—out of their due reparations. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Love Steaks
Love Steaks finds the timid and awkward Clemens (Franz Rogowski) starting a new job as a massage therapist and reiki trainee at a luxury hotel in a German-speaking country. While he learns the ropes amid the stringent attitude of the hotel, Lara (Lana Cooper), a blonde host mess who works in the kitchens, begins to crush on him amid her alcoholism, and when he finds her passed out on a beach and massages her gluts, the two initiate a clandestine but reckless romance. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Rover (or Beyond Human: the Venusian Future...
David (Liam Torres) leads a group of five (later four) followers of a cult that is hilariously secretive about their beliefs. They live in an old church with odd symbols drawn on chalkboards and the pews removed, and the film opens as he explains a “vision” to his glum followers: that the mysterious Randall wishes for them to make a movie about him. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Huntington’s Dance
Chris Furbee began video recording his journey back to West Virginia as he caught wind of his mom’s worsening battle with Huntington’s Disease 18 years ago. With the backdrop of his home state’s tradition of independence, the Southern laurels of self reliance dissipate as Furbee watched his grandfather battle Huntington’s as a young child, and now his mother, Rosemary Shockey. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: My Blind Heart
Plain and simple, My Blind Heart is a gorgeous film set in Vienna (spoken in German). Kurt (Christos Haas) lives with a rare condition, Marfan Syndrome, from which he is nearly blind. After he kills his mother, he misbehaves to the point of his caretaker’s frustration while living in a home with others with handicaps, playing the part of both a victim of his disease and troubled kid abreacting to his undesirable situation. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Goldberg & Eisenberg
A single, typical “liberal” computer programmer in Tel-Aviv, named Goldberg (Yitzhak Laor) invests a lot of time meeting women to date online and walking his dog as an extension of his romantic pursuits. Unfortunately for him, he encounters Eisenberg (Yahav Gal), who attempts to make (read: tries to force) Goldberg to be his friend, who demands money and blow jobs from Goldberg—getting under his skin and fomenting dastardly outcomes. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Kinderwald
John (Frank Brückner) and Flora Linden (Emily Behr) are raising their two children, Caspar and Georgie (Leopold and Ludwig Fischer Pasternak) while John works in a coal mine in Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s. (Their names, along with the word “kinder,” are half the lines of the film.) When the two boys go missing, the couple entreats the surrounding community to help find them to no avail, which brings them some unwanted attention. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Crimes Against Humanity
As the previews of Crimes Against Humanity suggest, Lewis (Mike Lopez) is an asshole. The opening scene includes him not so passive-aggressively berating his girlfriend, Brownie (Lyra Hill), for not having a job. Crimes Against Humanity functions as an interesting character study of Lewis and Brownie; of an irreverent prick and an unconfident, pitiful mess, respectively. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: I Play with the Phrase Each Other
I Play with the Phrase Each Other is a film solely consisting of phone calls, filmed solely on cell phones and shown in black and white. Director Jay Alvarez, who plays Sean, has constructed a plot where his character urges Jake (Will Hand) to move to “the city”—Portland—to indulge in the glory of the Bohemian life of 20-somethings. Once Jake arrives, though, Sean’s possessions have been pilfered by a junkie with whom he’s staying, and Jake’s “in” to city life is no longer viable. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Kidnapped for Christ
David is a close-to-4.0 student enrolled in AP classes and an International Baccalaureate Diploma candidate, but once his parents find out that he’s gay, he’s forcibly taken from his home in the early morning and enrolled in Escuela Caribe—a Christian youth correctional school in the Dominican Republic. Here, these born again Evangelicals manipulate biblical doctrine in order to brainwash teens to conform. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Cheatin’
Cheatin’ is a bit bizarre, but entertaining nonetheless. It’s an animated narrative film that tells the troubled love story of Ella and Jake, which has no dialogue, just grunts and squeals from the animated characters. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Little Hope Was Arson
Theo Love’s documentary, Little Hope Was Arson, finds communities in East Texas reacting to the burning of 10 churches. The film follows the logic of law enforcement and community members discovering their churches having been torched, one by one, and the trajectory of the investigation. A central figure of the documentary is Christy McAllister, who received a lead that her brother, Daniel McAllister, was a suspect. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Who Took Johnny?
Who Took Johnny? is a spooky time. This documentary reaches back to 1982, when Johnny Gosch, a West Des Moines, Iowa paper boy, was abducted. Noreen, his mother, has powered on with the search since then up until now. The film initially follows the inaction on part of the local law enforcement to effectively identify Johnny as a missing person (the law used to require 72 hours for the kid to be gone), and initially wrote his disappearance off as him running away until further evidence compounded this assumption. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Rezeta
Rezeta (Rezeta Veliu) is an Albanian (well, Kosovoan) model looking for more opportunities and advancements in her career in México, but, more so, adventure. Once she’s there, she befriends thasher/hesher/metalhead/punker Alex (Roger Mendoza) as a bit of guide for the city she’s in, who also helps her learn español. Rezeta—very much a free spirit—engages in a couple sexual exploits, and eventually tries to drunkenly kiss Alex, much to his surprise and subsequent abashment. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: After Arcadia
After Arcadia is a ’50s-science-fiction-themed short shot in black and white wherein the protagonist’s internal monologue opens with his guilt for having accidentally decimated humanity with a seemingly nuclear invention that he created. He dilapidates in the boredom of solitude in the bunkers in which the film is shot, which spurs him to create a time machine to reverse his misdeed. … read more
Born to Shred: Shred Fest in Fort Duchesne
This past Fourth of July, SLUG Lead Designer Joshua Joye, Managing Editor Alexander Ortega and Junior Editor Genevieve Smith traveled to Ft. Duchesne on the Ute & Ouray Indian Reservation for Shred Fest 2014. Organized and sponsored by the Ute Indian Tribe Center for Alcohol/Substance Abuse Prevention and DJ LA of 90.3 FM Native Voltage Rez Radio, Shred Fest featured six bands, Native and non-Native. … read more
Review: If a Snake Should Bite @ The Ladies Literary...
“This is your Paradise” invokes the jarring chemistry of Nan Goldin or Cindy Sherman photos and makes them move. Utah needs more dance like this. … read more
Finca – 327 E. 200 S. Soft Opening 11.28.14
Finca, a locally sourced Spanish tapas restaurant, has moved from their 1291 S. 1100 E. location to 327 W. 200 S. Upon entering, I was mildly surprised by how pleasantly swanky the new digs are. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Pervert Park
Florida Justice Transition is an adults-only trailer-home community—that’s because it’s a space designed for previously convicted sex offenders reintegrating into society, post-incarceration. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Summer of Sangaile
Set in Lithuania and spoken in Lithuanian, Sangailé (Julija Steponaityté) is a timid, adolescent young woman who marvels at such stunt planes, but she fears heights on account of her vertigo. Austé (Aisté Diržiūté) coaxes her to hang out with her and her friends group; eventually, the two girls become lovers as Austé, an aspiring fashion designer/photographer, threads her way into Sangailé’s heart by making clothes for and taking photos of her. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Amina Profile
The Amina Profile documentary follows Montrealer Sandra Bagaria’s online relationship with Amina Arraf, a lesbian woman from Damascus, Syria, near the onset of the Arab Revolution. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Chorus
Chorus is shot in a dreary black and white that underlines the turmoil with which Irène (Fanny Mallette) and Christophe (Sébastien Ricard) have suffered for 10 years, since the disappearance and presumed death of their son in Quebec. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Things of the Aimless Wanderer
Things of the Aimless Wanderer, a film in the New Frontiers section of Sundance programming, challenges traditional approaches to narrative filmmaking. This drama offers three disjointed accounts of what became of a disappeared black girl in an East/Central African country (likely Rwanda) after she had a fling with a white, American journalist/travel writer—presented as “Working Hypotheses,” each claimed to be based on a “true story.” … read more
Sundance Film Review: Censored Voices
Censored Voices recollects recordings from Israeli soldiers of the Six Days War, originally recorded by Amos Oz. This documentary reveals their true feelings—as opposed to proclamations of national pride—about the pressures of Zionism and the horrors and hypocrisy of war. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Homesick
Homesick is an interesting character study of Charlotte, who must work to forgive her mother and—for lack of better words—grow up by delving into this queerness. It’s an interesting, fun drama that thrives in the discomfort it engenders with Charlotte’s and Henrik’s transgressive love. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Princess
Adar detests going to school amid this flourishing of hormones, but it also becomes increasingly clear that life at home isn’t particularly healthy: Michael plays “games” with Adar that walk the line between fun and, well, downright creepy and molesting. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Station to Station
Station to Station is, essentially, a quilt of footage orchestrated by Director Doug Aitken on a train from the Atlantic to the Pacific over the course of 4,000 miles. Aitken introduced the film before the SLC Library Theatre screening as a synthesis of different artistic mediums that connect in a filmic juncture, which they initially ventured to shape into a traditional documentary but later decided to condense different portions into 61 one-minute segments to convey certain points of the train’s journey. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Wild Tales
Wild Tales comprises short, potentially stand-alone films that explore morbid and/or grave, realistic situational irony and revenge … and it’s fucking hilarious. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Forbidden Room
Ah, this was the Sundance film I was waiting for! If you’ve seen The Saddest Music in the World, then you know what to expect from inveterate experimental filmmakers Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sam Klemke’s Time Machine
Sam Klemke’s Time Machine is an autobiography with guided narration from Director Matthew Bate. It follows Coloradan Sam Klemke from 1977 to 2014 (from about age 20 to 57) as he documents updates on his life on film, which is a middle-class rollercoaster—Klemke deals with existential crises regarding employment, financial security, relationships and weight gain. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Ivy
It draws forth anxiety from the characters and the audience alike to create a tense ambience, which is effective for a drama whose sole setting is a ship (besides a brief montage at the very beginning to contextualize the main characters). Ivy works—it’s an artful film that makes the most of its conceit. It’s stressful to watch, though. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Cloro
Jenny practiced competitive synchronized swimming—her passion—but this dream becomes deferred as she is mired in her erstwhile home once her father falls to extreme depression under the weight of guilt for his wife’s previous death. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Hot Girls Wanted
Hot Girls Wanted principally examines Tressa’s (aka Stella May) foray into amateur porn. She is a case study for this documentary that reveals the competitive reality of the amateur-porn machine that renders 18- and 19-year-old girls starry-eyed once they learn—often via Craigslist—of how much money they can make per scene. … read more
Four Vintages: Red Rock’s Rêve Tasting 05.11
Kicking off American Craft Beer Week on Monday, May 11, Red Rock held a tasting event featuring four vintages of their Rêve, a soured Belgian tripel–style ale. Red Rock first released the much coveted Rêve in November of 2007, and it continually sells out within a matter of days. The gastropub hosted the dinner in their sectioned-off private dining room at their Fashion Place location at 6227 S. State St. … read more
Localized – Filth Lords, ABK and Vena Cava
Urban Lounge is the spot on Friday, Jan. 13 for bona fide rock n’ roll and punk with ABK and Vena Cava. Filth Lords open the 21+ show, and, as always, $5 gets you in. … read more
National CD Reviews – January 2012
New and recent releases from The Cure, The Devil’s Blood, Errors, Kepi Ghoulie, Laura Gibson, Majestic Downfall, Mickey Moonlight, The Slackers, Tim “Love” Lee and many more are reviewed. … read more
God’s Revolver
The weather has been bleak this winter, without much snowfall—just lonely little tumbleweeds bouncing and rolling through the bars and venues that God’s Revolver used to play so frequently. Luckily, God’s Revolver will brandish their six-shooters again, as they will play SLUG’s Blue Dress Birthday Bash on Feb. 17 in full force, with only one little qualm: Singer Reid Rouse says, “I don’t know how this one’s going to go. I hear we’re going to be in dresses.” … read more
Caustic Curators: Red Light Sound’s Five-Year Anniversary
This March, Tia Martinez and Jared Russell will celebrate five years of their label, Red Light Sound. Through trials and adversity, the couple has pressed on to showcase auditory art in limited-edition, analog pressings to generate a sense of the value of the music they help produce. Their purpose is to reclaim music as “more of an art piece in the actual product itself,” as Russell puts it. … read more
Localized – Chainwhip, Handicapitalist and Stark Raving Mad
Saturday, April 14, come get your face electrocuted with wide-ranging, pumping punk from Stark Raving Mad and irreverent ’80s hardcore from Handicapitalist at Urban Lounge. Chainwhip will melt the skin off of your face as they open the show with their screechy hardcore crust. Five bucks, punk as fuck, 21-plus for blood n’ pus. … read more
Local Reviews: Chainwhip
The Salt Lake punk scene’s own Critter fronts Chainwhip with his screechy vocal assault, accompanying a cacophonous mix of thrash and crusty hardcore. As with most demos from a local hardcore band, the lo-fi recording quality stands out at first, but only becomes more and more charming and appropriate as the release claws along. … read more
National Music Reviews – May 2012
New and recent releases from Ane Brun, fIREHOSE, Gift of Gab, Mean Jeans, Saint Vitus, Sleepy Sun, Torche, Zammuto and many more are reviewed. … read more
Suds n’ Studs
For our fifth annual beer issue, SLUG Mag invited local brewers from around the state to take some sultry and playful photos. Seek no further to see which bad boys let it all out and which nice guys still have a secret to share. We suggest you enjoy these sexy n’ sassy shots by cracking open your favorite, local brew that was handcrafted by one of these fine gentlemen while you relax in a bubble bath. … read more
Velo City Bags Speeds into Downtown
Since the inception of Velo City Bags in 2008, owner and creator Nathan Larsen has adorned cyclists and others with handmade, colorful and well built messenger bags and backpacks as they cruise around the city. As his bags have caught on, he made the long-awaited move into his first storefront in downtown Salt Lake in mid-February. I sat down with Larsen in his new shop to pick his brain on the new location and the high-quality goods within. … read more
Beer Match Challenge
You’re a grocery store clerk, and your drunken shoppers have dropped all their beer right before beer o’clock. They want to get checked out lickety-split, and you need to satisfy the customer before the hour strikes. Since they’re too inebriated to function, it’s up to you to get the right beer with the right person out the door. It’s now time for the Beer Match Challenge! … read more
Top 5: White Lung
Where much new punk music is conflated with hardcore, stoner metal, indie, folk or pop-punk, White Lung have managed to pick up where mid-aughts bands left off, to push a straight-up punk sound into a different realm without interlacing their tunes with conventions from other genres on their sophomore release, Sorry. … read more
Localized – Top Dead Celebrity, Døne and Despite Despair
Saturday, Nov. 10, you’d better be thankful you live in a land where Zion’s rock n’ roll forefathers worked their asses off to give you the shows you have today. Localized will feature two of Uncle Andy Patterson’s outfits, Top Dead Celebrity and Døne, oozing heavy gravy all over you turkeys at Urban. Openers Despite Despair will prep the big kids’ table with some electric-knife hardcore to kick off a raucous night of rock for you 21-plus music junkies for a small morsel of $5. … read more
National Music Reviews – August 2012
New and recent releases from Anywhere, Cinema Cinema, Deadly Remains, Diplo, Flaming Lips, Giant Giant Sand, Neneh Cherry & The Thing, Patti Smith, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tankard, Teenage Bottlerocket, YAWN, Whitechapel and many more are reviewed. … read more
Local Reviews: Mr. Richter
I’m all about the classic heavy metal revival. Mr. Richter join the mêlée of Utah’s virtuosic-vocal NWOBHM with their debut, six-song EP, where they find a good portion of their heavy metal niche with elegiac songs including opener “Mr. Richter,” which pounds along at a heavy, steady pace set by drummer Tyler Russell, along with chuggy guitars that blast in and out of dual harmony from both guitarists. … read more
National Music Reviews – July 2012
New and recent releases from A Place to Bury Strangers, Baroness, El-P, Mission of Burma, Nile, Public Image Ltd., Shout Out Out Out Out, The Ty Segall Band, Wintersleep, and many more are reviewed. … read more
All Systems Fail
If the old axiom, “slow and steady wins the race,” rings true, then All Systems Fail have certainly earned the blue ribbon 10 times over, and have given each one to the kids bouncing around house show living rooms and art shop basements. If you’re one of this odd lot who has never experienced All Systems Fail, now is a good time to do so. The band is a time capsule of sorts that belts out their original sound and embodies the ethos of punk times past, but they are also gradually sidling into a slightly updated articulation of All Systems Fail. … read more
Head Room: Comadre Unleashes Comadre
“We write until we feel like we don’t have good ideas anymore,” says Jack Shirley, guitarist of the Bay Area punk band, Comadre. For a band that has put out three previous, full-length albums, splits with Trainwreck and Glasses, five mixtapes, an EP and a self-titled record out Jan. 8 on Vitriol Records, it’s clear that they are nowhere near a drought of creativity. What’s more is that Comadre have underpinned their existence with a tenure of DIY ethics, having self-released all of their releases up until this one on Bloodtown Records. … read more
Bile Oasis: White Lung
White Lung’s Mish Way was running on four hours of sleep. “I just spent the last four days with porn stars in Las Vegas for a story, and I’ve barely slept, so my head is crushed,” she says. In the midst of her freelance journalism career, Way fronts Vancouver’s White Lung, who play fast-paced punk and deliver vitriol, yet incorporate virtuosic musicianship. Way adds grime to the band, and also conjures a squalid sort of glamour. … read more
Music + Beer = Family = The UBC Music Squad
If you’ve never met Utah Brewers Cooperative Business Manager Cindi Robinson, then you have never seen such a passion for local music. From tabling at shows for animal-activism promotion to organizing bake sales for bands to raise money to go on tour, Robinson now continues her superlative enthusiasm for the local music scene on a day-to-day basis at UBC, as she has surrounded herself with notable local musicians by hiring them to work for the brewery. … read more
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Written in Random: Parquet Courts
To me, “songwriting” usually evokes an image of deadbeat longhairs dinkin’ around on their instruments and crushing PBR cans one after the other, as any vestiges of the “creative process” dissipate into trite stereotypes of punk or indie musicians. Parquet Courts, however, generate images of notebooks and struggle. Guitarist and vocalist Austin Brown says, “[Andrew Savage (guitar/vocals) and I] both just write a lot … Through the practice of writing, sometimes, on those good days, I can sit down and a song will come out or a lyric will come out that I can feel inspired by later.” … read more
Smang Lake City Vol. 2: Turquoise Jeep is Riding through
“Lemme smang it, girl, smash it and bang”: If you don’t automatically know where these lyrics come from, you were either born into an anti-technology polygamist family or have parents that solely bought their kids educational toys for Christmas. Turquoise Jeep rolled through to SLC at Kilby last May, and they’re coming back Nov. 17 to Kilby AND Urban. … read more
Mallet Militia: Utah Bike Polo
Once I learned that Utah is home to two regular bike polo clubs, Beehive Bike Polo Club (BBPC) and Ogden Bike Polo Club (OBPC), I became enthralled by YouTube videos of the sport, with bicycle riders coursing across outdoor courts, whacking balls with mallets like how hockey players whack pucks with sticks. … read more
Top 5: Galactic Cannibal
Pist, agitated and frothing at the mouth, We’re Fucked erupts with jovial violence meant as a blueprint for shout-alongs at live punk shows. Reviewers—and the band itself—have dichotomized Galactic Cannibal’s sound as being “pop punk + hardcore,” which skirts that this record is a short, sharp shock of street punk with its catchy gang vocals and major-key progressions coupled with vocalist Peter J Woods’ snarling assault. We’re Fucked, however, transcends these sonic genre conventions … … read more
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
Lines from the Inside of Death By Salt V
SLUG’s Death By Salt V release parties happen June 12 and 13 Urban Lounge and Diabolical Records, respectively. The record features some of the best garage and psych that Utah has to offer, and we reviewed each track of this compilation in the liner notes.
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
Articles by contributor
Dance Fever at Art’s Place: The Dancehall Experience You’ve Been...
On a Saturday night, I felt right at home amid a display of jovial energy at Art’s Place. The presence of inexhaustible dance-lovers sustains the warm—nay, red-hot—atmosphere as the dance partners deftly executing the steps of voluptuous cumbia moves. … read more
The Geometry of Pheonix & Stagg: Pour-Over Coffee with St....
I’ve long fantasized about making my own pour-overs at home, and St. Anthony Industries piqued my interest as a localized option to make this foray, outfitting me with the Phoenix70, a box of Perfect Paper Filters and a Filibuster Decanter, all of which St. Anthony designs and sells. … read more
CONTRIBUTOR LIMELIGHT: Alexander Ortega – Editor
Since 2010, Alexander Ortega has risen through SLUG’s ranks, assuming the titles of Contributor Writer, Senior Staff Writer, Copy Editor, Junior Editor, Editorial Assistant, Managing Editor and now Editor. … read more
Cat Power and Nico Turner Live @ The Depot 11.25
It wasn’t utterly packed—just full. Cat Power draws an interestingly eclectic crowd: professors, obligatory hippies, hipsters and maybe a vegan–straight edge kid, too. After the release of her electronica album, Sun, it seemed that there was a yearning for the older, more classic styling of Chan Marshall, and there was no better way to realize that desire than an intimate, seated setting where she would perform solo. … read more