Live Music Picks: December 21-27 

• Patrick Jewett

THURSDAY 12/21
Slow Hollows, Raener, Besando
Listening to Atelophobia, you hear Austin Feinstein's voice and words and think of a 20-something college graduate, not the 17-year-old kid he was when the album was written. Two years later, with the L.A. quartet's new album Romantic (Danger Collective, 2016), the confusion persists. If the kid's not older and educated, you wonder how he's spent his life so far. He told VICE that he discovered a passion for music on his own, that he's been writing and recording since age 13 and that the artists that shape him today include power popsmith Jon Brion, gloom purveyor Elliott Smith and The Velvet Underground. Where does a kid come by those influences on his own? Even with streaming access, what made him seek them out and add them to his queue? More importantly, where do the very adult sentiments in his songs come from? Who's he been hanging around with? The answers, or at least clues, lie in the songs, which sound like all of the above influences, plus a New York boho band like The Strokes frolicking in ocean spray while Feinstein observes pensively, making notes in his Moleskin. (Randy Harward) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $10, all ages, kilbycourt.com

• Via MANNHEIMSTEAMROLLER.COM

FRIDAY-SATURDAY 12/22-23
Mannheim Steamroller
OK, children, gather around the fire. Not too close—we can't have another accident like last year. I've already told you about many of the luxuries we didn't have when I was your age, like low-flow toilets and fidget spinners. Well, shut up and listen while I affect an elderly wheeze and tell you how, back in my day, we didn't have the Trans-Siberian Orchestra or Twisted Sister Christmas albums. We had to listen to geezers like Bing Crosby or Canada's darling, Anne Murray, or our own thin, pitchy voices in compulsory school Christmas programs where we had to wear our Sunday best on a Tuesday—consarn it! If we wanted something exotic, we had only José Feliciano and his "Felix Nasty-dad" or that damned Coke jingle. Then came a hero: Mannheim Steamroller's Chip Davis, dual-wielding synthesizers like a boss and electrifying all those pulseless holiday standards, turning "Carol of the Bells"—which you youngsters know as "Ding, Fries Are Done"—into something out of The Terminator. It was, you might say ironically, refreshing to have these fresh, futuristic reboots of all those songs that department stores rained on our heads like so much water torture. Anyway, I forgot what I was talking about. Go to bed so I can eat your dry-ass cookies and wrap your crap. (Randy Harward) Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 3:30 & 8 p.m., $40-$85, all ages, live-at-the-eccles.com

SATURDAY 12/23
Bandemonium
Diabolical Records is one of the biggest supporters of the local music scene, hosting in-store performances that often include some pretty impressive touring bands. One of the store's most popular events is the semiannual Bandemonium, where anyone—regardless of musical ability—can fullfill their desire to play in a band. Participants' names are drawn randomly to form four- or five-member groups that have two weeks to write and rehearse enough music to fill a 10-15 minute set. Bandemonium, which is entering its fourth year, skipped its usual summertime date, but returns on the eve of the eve of the Plump One breaking into your house again. Five freshly minted bands comprised of local music veterans and some folks who've barely touched an instrument before, and who might have been strangers until playing together, will find friendship and maybe even creative alchemy in the most magical time of the year. This, while we wallflowers have a blast listening to the results. (Brian Staker) Diabolical Records, 238 S. Edison St., 6 p.m., free, all ages, facebook.com/diabolicalslc

• Quinn Starr

Friendsmas Eve Xmas Party, feat. Racist Kramer, I'm a Monster!, Fail to Follow, Galagher and more
The holiday season is usually thought of as a heartwarming time—unless you don't have anyone special to spend it with, or anywhere to go. Local hardcore punk band Racist Kramer has taken it upon themselves to remedy that situation, at least for those in the local punk rock scene. For six years now, their Punk Rock Xmas has gathered together a handful of combos and their acolytes who like their musical entertainment loud, fast and as sardonic as their band names. This year, noise-mongers such as I'm a Monster!, Fail to Follow, Galagher, Matt Chiodo, James Peterson and CJ Coop join RK to ring in the holiday and leave some ears ringing as well. This music verges on the rapid and rancorous, as well as at times melodic, but let's not go quite so far as to say it's the poppy side of punk. Covers of some old punk chestnuts blend in with these musicians' originals, and the mix might be enough to make you forget the seasonal blues, the chilly weather and bad air at least for a while, spent inside the welcoming doors of The Urban Lounge. These bands' humor can rankle, but they are good-hearted: Last year's event raised $1,400 for The Road Home, and this year's beneficiary is the United Way. (BS) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8 p.m., free, 21+, theurbanloungeslc.com

• Dan Kazinski

TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY 12/26-28
The Prince Experience
It might seem like the Prince tribute acts are coming out of the woodwork since his passing in 2016, but guys like Gabriel Sanchez have been doing it for a while—since 2002, in Sanchez' case. That's pretty amazing considering how Prince tried to keep his intellectual property on lockdown for so long. Now there are a few reputable tributes to the Purple One, all of them decent but none of them perfect—which is sad, since Prince was notorious for demanding perfection from his backing musicians. But as you can see, now that he's gone, nobody's really worried about that. His fans are uploading all of their clips; his heirs are cashing in with reissues; his two best-known backing bands, The Revolution and the New Power Generation, are playing his music on tour; and Sanchez et. al. are doing their best to recreate and perpetuate the Prince experience. Sanchez focuses on Purple Rain, playing the album in its entirety, but also pulls in Morris Day and Jerome impersonators for all those great songs by The Time, and even includes Sheila E.'s "The Glamorous Life" in the sets. And while some of his band tries to look the part (the drummer and keyboard players gamely cop Bobby Z.'s and Dr. Fink's looks), others don't bother, which detracts from the experience. Sanchez, however, for the most part looks and sounds just right. You can tell it's not Prince, but the beautiful ones don't always match the picture. (RH) The Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main, Park City, 8 p.m., $34-$55, all ages, egyptiantheatrecompany.org