LIVE: Music Picks, Feb. 2-8 | Music Picks | Salt Lake City Weekly

LIVE: Music Picks, Feb. 2-8 

Jake Shimabukuro, Pepper, Intra-Venus & the Cosmonauts and more

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THURSDAY 2.2
Jake Shimabukuro

They say there's no such thing as overnight success. However, Jake Shimabukuro proves the exception. Despite his modest following in Japan, the 40-year-old ukulele virtuoso was virtually unknown to the rest of the world until a YouTube clip of him performing the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" garnered 12 million views and suddenly made him an internet sensation, as well as an international star. "It singlehandedly changed my life," the affable fourth-generation Hawaiian of Japanese descent said in a 2016 interview. "It started a touring career that's taken me all over the world. Even today, people come up to me and tell me they saw that YouTube clip. I feel very lucky." Luck? Yet with all the accolades from fans, pundits and fellow musicians, along with comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis due to his imagination and ingenuity, it's clearly talent, not luck, that made the difference. Ten years after his viral outbreak, Shimabukuro is making waves with his own compositions, as well as his ace covers of Adele, Queen and Leonard Cohen tunes. (Lee Zimmerman) Peery's Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden, 7:30 p.m., $20, egyptiantheaterogden.com

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THURSDAY 2.2
Pepper, Less Than Jake, Kash'd Out, Red City Radio

Ladies, you won't want to miss Pepper this month at The Complex. As easy on the eyes as the ears, these Hawaiian gentlemen play a spicy kinda dub rock. Hot lyrics, smooth vocals and solid but unobtrusive reggae-themed instrumentation create a smooth backdrop for straight-up tropical bliss that always scratches the itch. But in case that's not your jam, the second band has the rest of your bases covered. Less Than Jake, out of Gainesville, Fla., remain actively writing and touring after 20 lively years of blending the shades of genre between ska-punk and punk-metal. For this prolific quintet, every new album is an exploration in style, but their recent partnership with Pure Noise Records yielded Sound the Alarm, and the newly released single "Whatever the Weather" suggests they've come full circle, joining their recent success in pop punk with their classic ska brass. Joining them are Kash'd Out and Red City Radio. (Lyndi Perry) The Complex, 536 W. 100 South, 6:30 p.m. (doors), $24, thecomplexslc.com

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FRIDAY 2.3
Intra-Venus & the Cosmonauts, Pleasure Avalanche

If you're in a local band and get David J—that David J, the goth rock legend who co-founded Bauhaus and Love & Rockets—to produce and play on your record, and tap your band to open his SLC shows, you're doing something right. Or you have money. Or both. Since Forgotten Stars is full of super dope, extra druggy, fuckin' sweet goth-rock jams where Wall of Voodoo eats Flesh for Lulu at the feet of The Lords of the New Church that I can't stop listening to, and they have a bunch of other great tunes on Bandcamp (and the liner notes mention a Kickstarter campaign), let's say they're not rich boys but the real deal. The posters for this gig say the band, which self-identifies as "psychedelic post-punk spaceglam," plays music from Forgotten Stars as well as "a set of new music," so let's hope that means there's an imminent new record. Or at least plenty more shows on the schedule, because (wouldn't you know it) I have plans tonight. Pleasure Avalanche, who I can only guess kneels at the sticky-sludgy altar of The Birthday Party because they're ghosts online, open. Wait a sec ... What if Intra-Venus went all IndieGoGo on Nick Cave? Nah, it couldn't be. (Randy Harward) ABG's, 190 W. Center St., Provo, 9 p.m., $6, abgsbar.com

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SATURDAY 2.4
Winter Rock Reggae Festival

Reggae is an aural mood elevator, especially in the winter. What would you call that drug? Irie-zac? Rastabrex? All-Natural Ital? Jahbuprofen? Obeahzol? Seriously, when you're feeling low, you can swallow pills (no, not those kind), sit under sun lamps, vary your routine—but why not just ride the riddims? It's impossible to stay down in the dumps when everybody's smiling, the emphasis is on the upbeat and someone's passing around a nice fat copy of the Holy Piby (King Jimmy Cliff Version—we don' go fuh dat O.A.R. translation, tanks). Really, though. The Winter Rock Reggae Festival is recommended for the treatment of seasonal-affective disorder. Ask your doctor for a prescription or hop online for a free sample of Iration, Tribal Seeds, Raging Fyah, RDGLDGRN, Protoje, The Expanders, Natali Rize & Notis, Tribe of I or Jah9. Don't call your doctor if you begin to experience euphoria, lightheadedness, panic attacks, extreme hunger or hallucinations. You're just super high. (RH) Infinity Event Center, 26 E. 600 South, 5 p.m., $35 in advance, $40 day of show, infinityeventcenter.com

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SATURDAY 2.4
Cherry Glazerr, Slow Hollows

A Los Angeles-based trio with a salacious moniker, Cherry Glazerr is led by 20-year-old Clementine Creevy, who can make white bread and cold cuts hot. Incredulous? Check out the video of their jangly ethereal single, "Told You I'd Be With the Guys," from their Secretly Canadian debut, Apocalipstick and see for yourself. She's also kinda scary while playing a stabby, bizarro Red Riding Hood in the video for the dark daytime nightmare "Nurse Ratched," which is also kinda sexy—if you tend to go for psychos. But if you're only in it for the music, she's into Syd Barrett and they opened for Redd Kross. If that doesn't get your music nerd motor purrin', nothin' will. (RH) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $12, kilbycourt.com

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WEDNESDAY 2.8
Lydia Loveless, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Angelica Garcia

At 26, Lydia Loveless is already that rare combination—an artist who reveres tradition while conveying her own singular insurgent sound, a seamless blend of roots, country, pop and punk. That's not surprising, considering the diverse group of musicians she cites as prime influences—Loretta Lynn, Stevie Nicks, Hank 3 and The Replacements among them. Loveless not only is uncompromising but feisty, and ever since signing to the upstart Americana label Bloodshot, she's had the artistic freedom to make music that delivers on her own terms. Consequently, her songs are flush with fits and fury, emotion and outrage, all conveyed in ways that eschew pomp and pretense. Her latest album, Real, sums things up succinctly. "Who are you, really, at the end of the day?" Loveless says on her website. "Real is my sort of love letter to that realization—that my existence was just as valid as any other." Opening band Slim Cessna's Auto Club—are equally adept at defying description, even as they strive for Americana authenticity. Theirs is goth-like noir that's rugged, robust, reverent and irreverent all at the same time. Angelica Garcia opens. (LZ) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8 p.m., $15 in advance, $17 day of show, 21+, theurbanloungeslc.com

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WEDNESDAY 2.8
Seratones, Queenadilla

With spacious arrangements, jangly, reverb-drenched lead guitars and soulful, passionate female vocals, Seratones is doing something right on the debut album, Get Gone (Fat Possum). Bordering on familiar rock tropes but never falling into a generic sound, it's no wonder these Shreveport, La., rockers are gaining international attention, even following their U.S. tour dates with stops through France and Germany. Having captured the ears of major media outlets (Rolling Stone, NPR Music, The New York Times) for their creative mix of gospel sounds, garage punk and Southern rock, Seratones are poised to explode. This could be your last chance to see them at a venue as intimate as Kilby Court. Known for hot riffs and explosive live performances, Orem's Queenadilla is the perfect opening act. (LP) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $12, kilbycourt.com

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Lee Zimmerman

Lee Zimmerman

Bio:
An accomplished writer, blogger and reviewer, Zimmerman contributes to several local and national publications, including No Depression, Paste, Relix and Goldmine. The music obsessive says he owns too many albums to count and numerous instruments he’s yet to learn.

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