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Kilby Block Party SLC: 3 bands you CANNOT MISS in the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

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The Kilby Block Party SLC will be May 12-14. Details here on the top bands!

The organizers behind the Kilby Block Party SLC have knocked a home run with a lineup next year that will rival some of the best in the country. And right here in the 801! With bigger names come a bigger venue. The Utah State Fairpark at 10th West will host the event May 12-14, 2023. Here are some FAQs on the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup.

HEY HEY STOP! Are you looking for the **2024** LINEUP?!! Click here for band reviews!

How do you get tickets and which bands do you prioritize? Read on, and listen to songs by the 3 bands you need to put at the top of your list. They may not be at the top of the bill, so keep reading and listening below!

Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

Pavement tops the list of headliners playing at Kilby's 2023 block party

Maybe you’ve seen the headliners, a Who’s Who of indie rock stardom. In somewhat deliberate order:

  • Pavement. Started playing their reunion tour this year after 12 years on the sideline. It has been 30 years since Slanted and Enchanted put Pavement on the map as one of the 90’s arch indie influencers.
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The comeback kids of 2022, with their bracing single “Spitting off the Edge of the World.” Cool It Down is the YYYs first record in almost a decade. Already topping many Best Of lists in 2022.
  • The Strokes. Remember when The Strokes were going to save rock ‘n roll in 2001 (did it need saving?!) with This Is It? It is a genuinely legendary album but reviews of this year’s live appearances are mixed. New album rumored.

Bookmark this page for Kilby’s daily schedule of headliners:

Additionally, as a testament to the strength of the show (and perhaps their eroding legacy), The Pixies get second billing. Along with Brooklyn stalwarts Parquet Courts and San Francisco’s Deerhoof, you can’t go wrong with any of these decisions.

3 bands you CANNOT MISS in the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

Beyond the headliners and these rock legends, though, which bands should be at the top of your list?!

Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels WUT?! Yes, they're coming to the Kilby Block Party SLC

First, if you weren’t already planning your Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup around Run the Jewels WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!

Their four releases are modern classics, RTJ4 booming as the outraged soundtrack of the 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd. Remember, too, the songs on RTJ4 are still relatively fresh material for El-P and Killer Mike. Because of the Corona, they’ve only been playing them live for a year.

Last fall, Run the Jewels announced a version of RTJ4 interpreted through Latin American artists. Needed? Eh. Good marketing? These guys are the masters. And MAYBE, just maybe, Run the Jewels 5 will drop just before the Kilby Block Party SLC.

“Goonies -vs- ET” from RTJ4 by Run the Jewels

Buy your preferred RTJ-themed IPA or coffee from Run the Jewels website.

Here is one of the top acts at the Kilby Block Party you may not know. Listen to him here!

Japanese Breakfast

Do I take my daughter to see Japanese Breakfast as part of the Kilby Court Block Party lineup? Probably not, but I wish she would go!

Second, don’t be dissuaded by the Grammy buzz around Michelle Zauner and Japanese Breakfast. There is so much to like about 2021’s Jubilee. Zauner earns every indie pop hook on Jubilee, and they emerge in the most delightful and unexpected ways. Her arrangements, like on opener “Paprika,” bubble with joy.

This is one I tried to convince my Swiftie daughter to listen to, and with some success. I’m always trying to brainwash her with alternative music and “Tactics” is now a regular on her Spotify playlist. Parenting success!

Buy the son or daughter in your life a Japanese Breakfast tote or “Be Sweet” hat.

The Walkmen

The Walkmen are reunited, and playing at Kilby Block Party 4

Third, besides RTJ and Pavement, I’m probably most excited to finally see The Walkmen, and you should be, too! Hamilton Leithauser and company recently reunited after nine years working on solo projects. I have waxed poetic before about 2010’s Lisbon, and the raspy, soaring vocals on “Angela Surf City.”


The Walkmen will be a treat, so start on their back catalogue right away. I’m also hoping Leithauser plays from his 2020 solo release The Loves of My Life.

Here’s how to get tickets to the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

The full Kilby Court Block Party lineup. Coming May 12-14

Finally, ticket costs for the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup are…not insignificant.

Single day tickets haven’t gone on sale yet. But if you have the wallet for it, 3-day passes, VIP passes and super-ultra-crazy VIP passes are now on sale here.

The basic 3-day pass is $234. For premium seating and access to a private bar, you can buy a VIP pass for $328. And if you want onto the premium viewing platform with Jon Huntsman*, access to private food trucks and the VIP bar, you’ll need $432 for the weekend.

Kilby says several bands, including a major supporting act, haven’t been announced for the Kilby Block Party SLC yet. They invite you to watch their Instagram page for updates. Also, I didn’t even get to Cuco, who almost made my list of Must See’s but honestly I need to get to bed at decent time. More to come!

*Author’s embellishment

Completely freak out your neighbors with Hagop Tchaparian

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The October debut Bolts by Hagop Tchaparian is a triumph of world music

If you don’t know what a dhol drum is, you’ll definitely want to buy one after sitting through Bolts by Hagop Tchaparian. Tchaparian has married searing house music and ethnic Armenian field recordings throughout Bolts. But he doesn’t use the delirious dhol highs as a crutch. The whole is more subdued than the parts, and it is a marvel of music-making.

Tchaparian has lived two or three lives.

A musician, a tour manager for Hot Chip, a producer…all after growing up with his family in London as an exile from Turkey. The British-Armenian producer also spent years capturing field recordings from Armenian musicians and buskers playing Arabic instruments in return trips to his father’s Anjar on the border of Lebanon and Syria.

These lifetimes came together in the tapestry that is Bolts. Here is the September single from Hagop Tchaparian, “Right to Riot.” Warn your neighbors and play at very high decibals.

As mentioned, Bolts isn’t a front-to-back frenzy of Arabic techno beats. It is a love letter to the Armenian culture that his exiled father refused to let the family forget, and a remarkable debut.

Buy it today at Bandcamp.

Ride on tour: Dates announced! Plus listen here to new shoegaze acts who could open!

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Ride on tour with The Charlatans! Check tour dates here + new shoegaze bands that could open. This image from London, 2019

UPDATE Monday 9:15 AM: Dates for Ride on tour here!

Here is the announcement for dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates. These are US and Canada big city performances starting in six weeks:

  • January 30 New York City
  • January 31 Brooklyn
  • February 2 Boston
  • February 3 Montreal
  • February 4 Toronto
  • February 5 Detroit
  • February 7 Chicago
  • February 8 Madison
  • February 9 Minneapolis
  • February 11 Denver
  • February 13 Vancouver
  • February 14 Seattle
  • February 15 Portland
  • February 17 San Francisco
  • February 18 Los Angeles

Here is the post to Ride’s Facebook page from an hour or so ago.

Dates for Ride on tour announced on Facebook! Charlatans tour dates are the same, they are co-headlining

With Ride on tour in 2023, it’s all fair game so let’s get right to it.

And KEEP READING — we’ll explore some new, gazey bands on the scene who could join the tour.

Bands opening Ride tour dates right now

Dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans next year! Moaning Lisa is supporting Ride right now in Australia

Melbourne’s Moaning Lisa are scheduled to open for Ride’s Australia dates. Moaning Lisa is pretty straightforward indie rock. Here is the opener on last year’s debut album, Something Like This But Not Like This. I haven’t spent much time with ML.

Here is the first single from Something Like This, “Something.”

Buy from Moaning Lisa at Bandcamp.

Similarly, in Perth, Ride tour dates are getting support from local 5-piece The Deenys. The Deenys are living the dream, already opening for The Charlatans this year. They’re obscure enough that if you don’t narrow your search correctly it literally brings up a list of Denny’s restaurants in Perth.

If you want The Deenys, and not Denny’s, this is what they sound like.

Shoegazers WE WANT opening for Ride tour dates!

First, a quick reality check.

The shoegaze genre isn’t exactly producing dozens of breakout acts right now. We have some terrific, gothy bands this year like Just Mustard. But they’re not going to show up in Salt Lake City (please God please) or San Francisco supporting Ride and The Charlatans tour dates.

Here are a few up-and-comers and, by the way, WHO AM I MISSING? Would love to know.

Healees

Healees are a standout new shoegaze band from Paris, France that could support Ride with The Charlatans tour dates

Okay, can we get more serious for a moment? Hidden Bay Records’ Healees have been on my Best Of list all year.

I can still remember wandering around a grocery store this spring listening to their self-titled EP in June and wondering, how am the only person swooning over this gazey band?! Healees, based in Paris, are probably synched most closely with the Ride’s 1990 sound from Nowhere on the aching cut “The Garden.”

Also, have a listen to the blistering “Jaguarundi” from the same EP. What exactly is a Jaguarundi, anyway? You won’t care after listening to Healees‘ shimmering, 4 minute jam that would be an incredible introduction, just before Andy Bell and Mark Gardener take the stage.

Buy Healees super strong debut at Bandcamp.

Downward

Tulsa, Oklahoma's Downward could crush it as an opening act for Ride in 2023

Downward is admittedly a band I only discovered for the first time tonight. Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Downward is currently touring in support of their February Brass Tacks EP. Sometimes 90’s indie, at other times right in a gazey bullseye…”Ugly Bug” is about as perfect an opener for Ride as I can imagine — or maybe Catherine Wheel?!

Listen to the variety of sounds on Downward’s Brass Tacks EP.

LAUNDER

LAUNDER is a super dream pop act out of Los Angeles. Could be a great warm-up for Ride on tour in 2023?

In my experience, a lot of bands described as shoegaze are in actuality loud dream pop. Google “shoegaze” all you want, mostly you’re getting metal or dream pop.

LAUNDER falls in this gap. This year’s Happening is super but it’s not gazey at all, whatever you read. The working name of LA’s John Cudlip, LAUNDER is in the same shoegaze zipcode on “Intake,” but it’s pretty atypical of the rest of the dream pop album.

This is a really nice album, an agitated dream pop record. Check it out!

Mo Dotti

Mo Dotti from Los Angeles could be a great opener for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates

Hat tip to The Noise Made by People, who flagged LA’s Mo Dotti for me. Their March EP Guided Imagery falls somewhere between dream and gaze, and I have no dispute with where they land! I love to imagine a really crunchy, aggressive version of “Come on Music” before Ride hits the stage.

And here is “Loser Smile,” the opening track on Guided Imagery, with some My Bloody Valentine energy.

Ride on tour to promote re-release of Nowhere and Going Blank Again

Ride's first two albums and four EP's reissued by Wichita Recordings

It’s already been a year for Ride.

On November 4, Wichita Recordings re-issued 1990’s legendary Nowhere and 1992’s Going Blank Again, along with a collection of their first four EP’s. I only have the Today Forever EP, so I’ll be buying 4 EP’s at the band’s website. Next week, Ride begins an Australia and New Zealand tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nowhere:

  • Nov 29 Adelaide, Australia
  • Nov 30      Melbourne, Australia
  • Dec 1        Sydney, Australia
  • Dec 2        Woolloongabba, Australia
  • Dec 4        Fremantle, Australia
  • Dec 6        Auckland, New Zealand
  • Dec 16      Athens, Greece
  • Dec 18      Paris, France (Les Inrocks festival)
Ride tour dates and Charlatans tour dates announced today!

One way or the other, let’s get Ride to Salt Lake for the #goingblankagain30 tour — and a ten-minute version of “OX4” please!

Morrissey concerts canceled in Salt Lake and Denver. It may be because of the greatest snow on Earth

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Morrissey concerts canceled in Salt Lake City and Denver

At this very moment, Salt Lake fans should have been drowning in pretentious, self-absorbed Moz vocals. But before that could happen Morrissey concerts in Salt Lake City and Denver left hundreds of fans in the lurch. A few possible reasons why, all stretching the bounds of credibility!

Ailing Morrissey concerts canceled in Salt Lake City and Denver

First, here is how it came down earlier today. It’s just too damn cold outside, so Morrissey concerts in Salt Lake City and Denver were canceled with little notice.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ClRp4ILuSnb/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Next, Morrissey concerts were canceled in Denver were canceled. We have a pattern, Houston.

Morrissey bags frigid Los Angeles!

Finally, a bit of context.

The Smiths’ founder and indie legend has canceled more than one show for the sniffles. Here is a thread ten days ago about abandoned Morrissey concerts at an outdoor venue in 50 degree weather. The World’s Greatest Lyricist warned the crowd at LA’s Greek Theater right up front that it was drafty, then disappeared after nine songs.

He leaves it to his minions to announce the bad news.

For now we have the promise that the Morrissey will make good on the Salt Lake appearance. But after he 86’d this week’s shows, you can judge how likely he will be able to fulfill the remainder of this year’s cold weather dates.

  • Nov 25 Minneapolis, MN – Fillmore Minneapolis Tickets, StubHub
  • Nov 26 Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Theater Tickets, StubHub
  • Nov 28 Washington, DC – The Anthem Tickets, StubHub
  • Nov 30 Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre Tickets, StubHub
  • Dec 1 Newark, NJ – New Jersey Performing Arts Center Tickets, StubHub
  • Dec 3 Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia Tickets, StubHub
  • Dec 4 Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway Tickets, StubHu

Let’s hope the rest of the tour goes off without a hitch!

There are a lot of bands similar to REM – but only The Wends got in a fight with Radiohead

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The world has no shortage of bands similar to REM. But The Wends got in a fight with Radiohead

I like to envision The Wends, those cutie-patootie Italian grad school-looking kids, trading cease-and-desist nastygrams with Radiohead. It devolves into a tense battle for ownership of the name, The Smile. Until this unwelcome legal drama, the Italian band formerly known as Smile had been happy since 2020 to channel Michael Stipe and Peter Buck. After all, there are so many bands similar to REM, albeit not many from Turin, Italy. But now they’re in deep.

Thom Yorke’s high-falutin’ Manhattan lawyers are papering Smile until they break under the pressure of Harvard-educated trademark attorneys. They finally agree to change their name, paving the way for Yorke’s new side project. Plenipotentiaries for each band meet in a non-descript French café in Châlons-en-Champagne to sign the deal over muttered insults.

In truth, there’s not a ton of evidence for that drama in the public record, and The Wends are entirely too affable looking for confrontation. They may have just wanted to avoid being swallowed in an ocean of Google searches for Yorke’s The Smile and opted for a new moniker. Still, they continue to use the cheeky e-mail username thenameofthisbandissmile. It was also the title of their October 2020 debut and it remains the web address for their band website.

Who knows, maybe they had a dance fight.

Yes there are a lot of bands similar to REM – but listen to The Wends in this outrageous Husker Dü stomper

The Wends new EP is It's Here Where You Fall

Much of The Wends It’s Here Where You Fall EP released last month is a straight-up tribute to Athens, Georgia. That doesn’t detract at all from the punch of lead track “What A Heart is For.” It is a jangle werewolf, half-REM and half-Bob Mould.

On other cuts, vocalist Michele Sarda seems almost to impersonate Michael Stipe. This might be a bother if the tunes weren’t so dang good.

Whither do The Wends wander from here?

The Wends are one of many bands similar to REM. But the Turin, Italy disciples got in a fight with Radiohead. The Wends' original name was Smile

We’ll let posterity decide what happened behind the scenes of the titanic struggle for the Smile trademark. Whatever the outcome, you should buy The Wends latest EP. Support a fictional legal defense fund that may or may not exist. I was on the fence about paying for the full EP, but I’m purchasing the It’s Here Where You Fall EP tonight to support the underdogs of rock!

“The Neverland of Spoken Things” – The alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

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The Black Watch write an alternative Christmas song that's not about Christmas
The Black Watch write an alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

You know you’ve found a band with a great sense of humor when their Best Of retrospective is called “31 Years of Obscurity.” And a band leader with high touch, when you get a personal e-mail thanking you for your purchase. After three plus decades, John Andrew Fredrick and The Black Watch released The Neverland of Spoken Things EP in September. The gentle shoegaze and shimmering guitars perfectly complement Fredrick’s rich baritone. Darrin at Janglepophub likens title track “Neverland” to The Lightning Seeds. That’s actually an astute catch that escaped me. However I think it gets closer to the mark when you hear “Neverland” as the alternative Christmas song that isn’t about Baby Jesus at all.

Who is this Black Watch you speak of?

Fredrick hatched The Black Watch in one of my favorite American cities, Santa Barbara, CA. Since those humble beginnings in 1987-88, Fredrick has produced dozens of releases, including this year’s Neverland EP.

The EP’s three tracks kick off with the remarkable title track. “Neverland” launches as a perfectly gazey and gauzy pop gem before evoking a subtle disco underscore of strings like a Jeff Lynne composition. And from that bridge: A triumphant piccolo trumpet that cannot NOT have Mannheim Steamroller as some small inspiration.

I hope you find the same delight in “The Neverland of Spoken Things!”

I made these observations entirely to myself. Then last weekend, while picking up my 17-year-old daughter from her job, she jumps in the car while I’m listening to “Neverland.” With zero prompting or telekinetic ability that I am currently aware of she asked, “Are you listening to Christmas music?” Thus, the genesis of this post was born, like that babe in a manger on a starry night 2022 years ago.

“The Neverland of Spoken Things” – The alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

So much more on The Black Watch’s Neverland

Enough silliness about my alternative Christmas song. The Black Watch fills out the Neverland EP with the driving “Precious Little” and, finally, “Living Backwards.”

Listen to an alternative Christmas song that's not about Christmas on The Neverland of Spoken Things EP

“Precious Little” rides a binary guitar line on the strength of Fredrick’s vocals; he is almost crooning here, at times sounding not unlike Morrissey. You can’t say enough about his presence and confidence. Like “Neverland,” “Precious Little” is also a marvel of arrangement. From the opening guitar line, it effortlessly introduces gentle, legato harmonies and a singing guitar solo.

I think you’ll hear that same progressive song structure in “Precious Little.”

Download your copy of The Neverland of Spoken Things EP + top moments of the 35 year catalogue of LA’s The Black Watch at Bandcamp.

November indie music: Vote for these songs!

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Tampered ballot evidence

Was democracy REALLY on the ballot, or was it some diabolical plot to trap us in political season until Christmas? Never you mind…I have just the tonic to wake you up from this political fugue state. Here is a bunch of terrific November indie music you can read about and listen to all in one convenient, non-partisan package.

Let’s do this!

“Ricochet” – Preoccupations (Arrangements)

November indie music: Preoccupations

It is an indisputable law of physics that rock and roll suffers from a lack of drum solos. At what time have you ever heard someone rage on the kit and thought, “well that was loud and excessive.” NEVER, that’s when, because drum solos are self-justifying. They don’t need your permission.

Calgary’s Preoccupations, née Viet Cong, released Arrangements in September. It includes a mad percussive walkaway on the shimmering “Ricochet,” not unlike Terry Chambers violent hammering on XTC’s “Travels In Nihilon.”

Buy Arrangements from Bandcamp.

Click to listen to more of my favorite songs from earlier this year…

Top indie songs of 2022: soundtrack of summer! (Volume 1)

All things considered, summer 2022 is still miles ahead of 2020. No corona…just a divided country, peak anxiety and climate change. Good times! So, for the balance of July and the torpid month of August, here are some of my top indie songs of 2022 to bump until Labor Day.…

“Carl Sagan” – Torres Satélite (Mundos y Estrellas)

November indie music: Mundos y Estrellas

How could I let more than 2 or 3 weeks go by without another love letter to Spanish-language indie pop?!

I haven’t tracked down a ton of information about Spain’s Torres Satélite. Their latest, Mundos y Estrellas has been on my “Must Buy” list since I heard it last month. At the least, here is a review of 2020’s La Ventana Discreta when Torres Satélite first popped onto the scene with the Discos de Kirlian label. And who needs much more background? Everything you need to know is wrapped inside the 2 minutes and 52 seconds of pop bliss that is “Carl Sagan.”

Download Mundos y Estrellas and follow Discos de Kirlian today!

“The Sir Tommy Shovell” – Robyn Hitchcock (Shufflemania!)

Robyn Hitchcock Nashville

A couple of things about Robyn Hitchcock.

First, he is British rock royalty. Robyn isn’t David Bowie but he is absolutely an extension of the same conversation. Why haven’t I heard of him, then?” you ask. Fair question. He came of age in the late 70’s leading The Soft Boys, whom you also haven’t heard of. I honestly can’t recall if I’ve actually bought the Soft Boys‘ Underwater Moonlight, so I guess we’re all in the same boat. Suffice it to say, 22 albums later, REM and bunch of other musicians you enjoy today grew up listening to his eccentric catalogue.

Second, I had the occasion to meet and be gently accosted by the legend. Hitchcock, Billy Bragg and REM played NPR’s “Mountain Stage” in 1991. I don’t have a super clear memory of seeing REM that day, so I don’t recall if I was manhandled by Hitchcock after that show or a later concert. But the story goes like this: I was holding and possibly reading from a textbook at an afterparty. Hitchcock grabbed the book from me and began reciting from it and embarrassing me/secretly delighting me. Also I will never forget looking up at him, he must be seven feet tall.

Shufflemania! came out about three weeks ago and includes this delightful song you need to hear today, “The Sir Tommy Shovell.”

Add Shufflemania! to your Robyn Hitchock collection today.

Side Note: The sometimes enigmatic Billy Bragg

Finally, have you forgotten where you know the name Billy Bragg? He revises the lyrics of “The Great Leap Forward” about every two years, not always to great effect. The shared humanity is in the audience sing-a-long with the chorus. Here is the post-performance of “Leap Forward” on Mountain Stage in 1991 after the national broadcast has ended. Michael Stipe makes a cameo.

“Ships in the Night” – Anthony D’Amato (At First There Was Nothing)

November indie music: Anthony D'Amato

Let’s stay on this Mountain Stage theme, shall we?

Two weeks ago, Anthony D’Amato released At First There Was Nothing. D’Amato had moved from New York to Utah to record his fifth album with Joshua James. He appeared on Mountain Stage in October, where I got to see him in an after-show performance at Charleston’s Empty Glass pub.

At First There Was Nothing is a collection of disparate styles from folk to soft rock and, a little strangely, 70’s Blue Oyster Cult-style AOR. Here is D’Amato at his strongest, in the straight-forward American folk tradition of “Ships in the Night.”

Recorded at American Fork’s own Willamette Mountain, you can buy At First There Was Nothing here.

“Neon Memories” – Death’s Dynamic Shroud (Darklife)

Computer AI

We’re still following a thread here, even if it isn’t obvious. I picked up on Death’s Dynamic Shroud out of Los Angeles as a recommendation from the kids at my college radio station in October. Kids these days.

I didn’t get all the way with September’s Darklife, but enjoyed the warm harmonies and Panda Bear theater-of-the-mind of “Neon Memories.”

November indie music for all ages!

Get your copy of Darklife from Death’s Dynamic Shroud!

“(Herman’s) House” – Special Interest (Endure)

November indie music: Special Interest

We’re at that point of the night where I could just keep going and going. Need to bring this home.

What November indie music post would be complete without a review of the first week of blog buzz about Special Interest?! The New Orleans group has earned band-of-the-moment status with the terrific no-wave Endure. They’re like an angry B-52’s but with darker, roiling political statements. Original single “(Herman’s) House” tells the story of Black Panther Herman Wallace, who died three days after decades of solitary confinement for a crime he claimed he did not commit.

If it only sounds like house music (pun intended, sorry not sorry), don’t be deceived. “(Herman’s) House” is an angry song for angry times.

Get Endure today from Rough Trade.

“Greatest Hits” – Jockstrap (I Love You, Jennifer B)

Dark eyeliner tips

Yes, I understand this band decided to name itself Jockstrap. I need to write an entire post on awful band names. But suspend disbelief for this delight.

London’s Jockstrap are Taylor Skye and violinist Georgia Ellery, who have been putting out music since 2018. Ellery in particular keeps busy. Besides finishing art school, she also performs with Black Country, New Road and Goat Girl.

Their full-length debut is I Love You, Jennifer B, on which Ellery layers sung and whispered PG-13 lyrics over the top of a fairly complex concoction of ambience, EDM, and jazz. If challenging, it is more accessible than the neurotic, halting beats of earlier Jockstrap experiments like 2018’s “Charlotte.”

Standouts for me are “Greatest Hits” and first single “Glasgow.”

Buy I Love You, Jennifer B at Bandcamp.

“Dressed in Black” – Ezra Furman (All of Us in Flames)

November indie music: Ezra Furman

How about some wistful American glam rock as a closer?

“Dressed in Black” by Ezra Furman has all of the things you want from a girl group condensed into a torchlit piano ballad. Her August album All of Us in Flames is a slow burn but gets better with each spin. Furman has been at this for 15 years, but at least not on my personal radar. Furman reached greater audiences as she expanded from her solo work to the soundtrack for Sex Education on Netflix.

Here is “Dressed in Black,” and the 50’s love songs it updates in such a muscular and confident way. Love this.

You can still buy Furman’s music bundled with merch at her website!

The election is still going, and so is a great month of November indie music

delicate arch utah

The Republic will survive and at the end of this long year you’ll want to appreciate the best she has to offer. Spend a little money, love your kids and listen to the best music mankind has ever produced. It gets better year after year, if you only have the patience to find it.

November indie music is just the latest chapter….maybe we’ll do this again before the new year and another election cycle!

The band Cheekface is oddly amazing

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Something is working when you listen to a song and can’t decide if it is cringey and insufferable or the best thing you’ve heard all year. LA’s Cheekface (latest nominee for worst band name) come fast and furious with mathy, new wave hooks, nonsensical oh-so-meta lyrics and power punk hooks you just. cannot. ignore.

This fall, the kids at my college radio station, U92 at West Virginia University, were heralding Cheekface as one of their favorites of the year. It was the first time I had heard of the band. I wanted to hate them, but I kind of love them.

Here’s why.

No amount of cheese can hide the hooks

Perhaps 2022’s surprise of the year, Too Much to Ask, the third album by the band Cheekface, barrels out of the gates with 1 minute and 25 seconds of total dork fury on “When Life Hands You Problems.” Your car is now a party palace.

If you missed it, Greg Katz lovably laconic stoner lyrics include the word “problemade.”

Life hands you problems, make problemade.
Life hands you wages, minimum wage;
The popcorn ceiling, the great divide.
If you think this sucks would you keep it to yourself?
You must be thinking of something else.

Where have you heard the Cheekface sound before? I have answers

The band Cheekface features Amanda Tannen's drawing of her dog Stubbs on Too Much to Ask

For a few moments, enjoy the cover art of Too Much to Ask. My personal nominee for 2022’s Best Cover Art, the album’s cute little terrier (Shih Tzu?) was drawn by band member Amanda Tannen. Not only is the picture endearing, I think it inadvertently points to some of the band’s musical lineage.

The drawing and free-hand lettering on Too Much to Ask and 2019’s Therapy Island remind me of the art common to Seattle’s BOAT. Going further back, you can start a through-line with Seattle indie forefathers The Young Fresh Fellows, who influenced BOAT and They Might Be Giants, essentially birthing Weezer. And that brings us to Cheekface.

“I Feel So Weird” is a more angular version of the YFF’s “Amy Grant.” Another difference? There is simply no way to bury Katz earworm harmony inside “Weird.” He’s an over-achiever, and out-Weezer’s even the most euphoric Weezer hooks on the resolve of “weeee-ird.”

The band Cheekface is odd and amazing

I could talk myself into getting excited about a Cheekface show. Unfortunately 2023 dates started in San Diego, Las Vegas and Reno in January…jump Salt Lake City…and conclude in Denver in April. So close–this could still happen!

Until then, buy the eccentric, insanely catchy album Too Much to Ask, full of deliberate non sequiturs and little linear sense. Or get a Cheekface T or mini basketball hoop!

I’m holding out hope for a Salt Lake Show. Cheekface brings all of the joy, which we value too little in 2022.

Alvvays in Salt Lake City: Show Review

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Alvvays in Salt Lake City on Tuesday October 18

Alvvays in Salt Lake City played a bang-up show Tuesday. Toronto’s rising stars played songs from their 2014 self-titled debut and more heavily from 2017’s Anti-Socialites and their acclaimed Blue Rev, released less than two weeks ago. The supremely assured performance is everything fans both old and new at SLC’s The Depot could have wanted.

Alvvays’ Rankin and O’Hanley enthrall

First, Molly Rankin looked every bit a college graduate student in black pants, a short-sleeve top and the the piercing, blue eyes of Siberian Husky. She confidently belted out 70 minutes of Alvvays’ best arrangements Tuesday. Rankin alternated the spotlight at times with guitarist Alec O’Hanley, who orchestrated the shoegaze overtones on “Pharmacist” and a couple of RAWK GOD breakouts, notably the showstopper bridge on “Many Mirrors.” The hour plus set was tight and confident, the sound of a band come into its own.

What is Alvvays, exactly?!

Its funny reading around to see how Alvvays is described, with very little agreement. Fuzzy guitars, yes. A bit of surf, sure. Dream pop, I gueessss. But Alvvays is also one of those bands that gets crunchier live, which is exactly what I love. At the same time, Rankin on stage still digs into the pathos and emotion of “Easy On Your Own,” “Party Police” and “Belinda Says.”

Second, a note about how Alvvays defies convention. At times Tuesday they dabbled in a bit of psychedelia, demonstrated their new range in electronics on “Very Online Guy” and showed off the sheer bubblegum delight of “Adult Diversions.” Here is that 2014 studio version:

Alvvays execute like consummate rock pros

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Critically, Alvvays possess the intangible and truly priceless gift of woah-woah lyrics, exquisitely on display Tuesday on songs like “Undertow” from Anti-Socialites. At times, Alvvays wrapped their live songs in a punky, perfectly curt dead stop. At other times, they indulged in an atmospheric, languid jam that still held the crowd’s rapt attention as on the delightful extended end to “Tom Verlaine.”

Alvvays in Salt Lake City a true pop joy

Finally, the standouts on Tuesday included not just current singles, “Earthquake” and “Easy On Your Own,” but perhaps inevitably their signature “Archie, Marry Me” from Alvvays’ debut. It carried no less punch, no less pleading, no less an exquisite picture of young love.

During the summer, take me sailing out on the Atlantic.
I won’t set my sights on other seas, there is no need to panic.
So honey take me by the hand and we can sign some papers.
Forget the invitations, floral arrangements and bread makers.

Hey, hey, marry me, Archie
Hey, hey, marry me, Archie

Buy your copy of Blue Rev and some Alvvays merch from Polyvinyl. Photos of Tuesday’s show follow + tour dates as Alvvays in Salt Lake City moves further west.

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Avayys' Kerri MacLellan, Sheridan Riley and Abbey Blackwell

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays played Salt Lake City on October 18

Always in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays tour dates:

  • 10/19 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory $
  • 10/20 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom $
  • 10/21 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre $
  • 10/22 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre $
  • 10/24 – Arcata, CA @ Arcata Theatre Lounge $
  • 10/26 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
  • 10/27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
  • 10/28 – Pomona, CA – Glass House $ [Just Added)
  • 10/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern $
  • 10/30 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park $ [SOLD OUT]
  • 11/02 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater $
  • 11/04 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall – Downstairs $
  • 11/05 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory $
  • 11/07 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse $
  • 11/08 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works $
  • 11/09 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel $
  • 11/11 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club $ [SOLD OUT]
  • 11/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall $
  • 11/15 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall $
  • 11/16 – New York, NY @ Kings Theater $
  • 11/18 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner $

Blue Rev album: I vvill Alvvays love you

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Molly Rankin and Alvvays play tour on the Blue Rev album in SLC on October 18. Stream several of the best tracks from the Blue Rev album here

Alvvays has released the hottest album of the fall just days before their visit to Salt Lake City. As Zion welcomes Alvvays, a few things you should know about the Blue Rev album, their third. It is a gauzy, absolute pop delight. Not overthought, not overwrought. Recorded live to tape, with a bit of gussying up after-the-fact. It’s sensational, beyond what was previewed in their July single “The Pharmacist.”

Let’s have a look shall vvee?

Blue Rev album has a little of everything

Even album opener and first single “The Pharmacist” feels like a pop song cross-bred with distorted guitar. But the solo itself is simple, clean, perfectly lovely. My early favorite on the Blue Rev album is “Easy On Your Own,” which starts with some noisy dream pop — and then out comes the delightful and too-short pop chorus of the year:

“If you don’t like it, well
Say it’s over, well…
Weekends alone.
Does it get easier on your own?
Does it get easier on your own?“

Treat yourself to three minutes of “Easy On Your Own.”

Mocking, rocking, clever Blue Rev album

Most of the songs on Blue Rev are two to three minutes long. Some songs as short as a minute and change, like a Ramones ditty. Mad props for any band that casts its antagonist boyfriend as Tom Verlaine of Television on the aptly titled “Tom Verlaine.”

That when you walk away.
It’s gonna be for good.
You were my Tom Verlaine,
Just sitting on the hood.”

But also on “Very Online Guy,” Alvvays shows their sardonic humor on the Blue Rev album. It inverts the traditional influencer criticisms and targets the perfect Insta male. Another mashup in less than 2.5 minutes…80’s wave, power pop and a blithe disco walkaway!

How did I not alvvays love Alvvays?

Alvvays' gauzy pop Blue Rev Album is tremendous. Listen to multiple Blue Rev cuts here

I have specific memories of listening to Alvvays’ self-titled debut in 2014. It was good. I mean, GOOD. Not life-changing…I didn’t sit around wondering when I would get my hands on the next Alvvays album.

Boy did they make the leap! The Blue Rev album is a marvel of effortless songwriting across genres. Everything works, across all 14 tracks. Need some post-punk? (Alright, EVERYTHING is basically post-punk.) How about “Pomeranian Spinster?”

…or when gauzy pop turns to power pop on “Belinda Says.” It is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, despite the darker material. I repeatedly stop and listen when Molly Rankin sings about a girl “moving to the country,” having her baby and starting a new life.

It is beautiful and sad and everything music should be.

The Blue Rev album: So many reasons you vvil love Alvvays too!

The Blue Rev album is that rare collection that presents a little bubblegum but rewards with more and deeper listens. I can’t recommend highly enough buying Blue Rev, nor recommend enough that you capture the chance to see Rankin and company live next Tuesday at SLC’s The Depot.

You vvill alvvays remember this night!