Rye Rye, DulceSky, OK Go, Dark Star Orchestra, Killbot, Family Force 5, Sweatshop Union
Live: Music Picks Dec. 9-15
By Dan Nailen
Rye Rye
So far, Baltimore rapper and dancer Rye Rye is best known for showing up on other artists’ work, most prominently on that of M.I.A., whom Rye Rye toured with in 2007 when she was barely out of high school. The first artist signed to M.I.A.’s record label, Rye Rye is finally going to see her much-delayed debut album, Go! Pop! Bang!, released in January. Before then, though, she’s touring on her own, including a stop in SLC. W Lounge, 358 S. West Temple, 9 p.m., $6
DulceSky CD Release
Four years might be a lifetime between albums, especially for a local band, but the otherworldly sounds—sometimes bordering on sci-fi effects—that DulceSky fills its sophomore album with make it seem like time well spent. The quartet, led by the Chilean brothers Oliver and Daniel Valenzuela, delves into hard rock and some psychedelia on Invisible Empire, via songs like “Last Warning” or the sweeping “Life As We Knew,” invoking their acknowledged influences that range from The Cure to The Beatles. The recording sounds great, and more than anything, makes one hope DulceSky doesn’t wait another four years before getting back to a recording studio. At their CD release party, the band will be jointed by Plastic Furs and Summerhead. The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 9 p.m., $5
Friday Dec. 10
OK Go
X96 could have done a lot worse in booking a headliner for its Nightmare Before X-mas party (take last year’s headliner, 30 Seconds to Mars. Really, please take them. As far away as possible). OK Go is an infectious crew most famous for its inspired, viral-sensation videos like “Here It Goes Again” and “This Too Shall Pass.” Musically, OK Go deals in power-pop to the nth degree, landing somewhere between the artistry of Flaming Lips and jokiness of Weezer, and that’s not a bad thing if you’re simply looking to have a good time and perhaps boogie down a bit. Joining OK Go on the bill this year is Interparty System, Middle Class Rut and Brogan Kelby. The Complex, 537 W. 100 South, 5:30 p.m., $9.60
Dark Star Orchestra
The Deadheads of the world know Dark Star Orchestra is not your run-of-the-mill tribute band. They’ve been playing together for more than 13 years, doing more than 1,900 shows re-creating entire Dead sets, and they’ve actually performed with five of the real Grateful Dead’s original members along the way. And while DSO recreates Dead sets, they don’t try to replicate every note, instead staying true to the improvisational roots of their heroes. The band’s current jaunt is called “From a City Near You,” and DSO will be playing one of the Dead’s nine Utah shows when it takes the stage. Will it be the 1969 gig from the U’s Union Ballroom, a 12-song show that included “Dark Star”? I doubt it. Perhaps a February 1973 gig from the Salt Palace that included classics like “Mexicali Blues,” “Sugaree,” “Jack Straw” and “Sugar Magnolia”? Maybe. Or DSO might try to put a positive spin on the much-maligned troika of Delta Center shows in February 1995. They won’t tell us which it is until they’re done playing. The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, 8 p.m., $23 advance/$25 day of show
Saturday Dec. 11
Killbot CD Release
Among the many reasons to dig on Salt Lake City metal band Killbot is their boast that “if Satan had an iPod, it would be full of Killbot,” and their self-defining MySpace label of their music: “Healing & Easy Listening/Metal/Thrash.” Originally formed in 2005 from the pieces of other, lesser metal and punk bands, Killbot is finally releasing a follow-up to their debut, Welcome to the Cemetery, and they’re calling it the Horror Movie Themed Album (even though it’s really an EP). Dead Vessel and Brute Force open. The Sugar Shack, 2105 S. Main, 7 p.m., $7
Monday Dec. 13
Family Force 5
Alternative Press knew what it was doing in designing a lineup for its Christmas Pageant tour. The Atlanta-based Family Force 5 are no strangers to making their crunky joke-rap dance tunes bend to the will of the holidays, as evidenced by their own Christmas album released in fall 2009. They’ve covered “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and “My Favorite Things,” and no doubt they’ll be doing their own twisted takes on other holiday “classics” during this gig with Forever The Sickest Kids, Shorelines End and The Never Ending Summer. In The Venue, 579 W. 200 South, 6:30 p.m., $16
Wednesday Dec. 15
Sweatshop Union
Canada: It’s not just about Bryan Adams, Neil Young and Rush anymore. The politically conscious hip-hop collective Sweatshop Union also calls the Great White North home, and they are working the West hard in support of two of their members’ spanking new albums, Pigeon Hole’s Age Like Astronauts and Dirty Circus’ Alive and Well. After nearly a decade together, the buzz around the group is growing louder with each release, and URB magazine called Sweatshop Union one of 100 groups to watch. After headlining a show on Dec. 14 at Ogden’s Brewski’s, they’ll be doing two shows in Salt Lake City in one night. Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $10; The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 10 p.m., $10
Coming Up
Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband (Rose Wagner Center, Dec. 16), Low, Charlie Parr (Kilby Court, Dec. 17), Designer Drugs (Salt Palace, Dec. 18), Tech N9ne (Club Sound, Dec. 19), Satisfaction (Egyptian Theatre, Dec. 26-27), Emmitt Nershi Band (The State Room, Dec. 29), Young Dubliners (Harry O’s, Park City, Dec. 29)
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Dan
Nailen
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