Feb 14, 2013

  Video of the BYU Harlem Shake. Dozens of Brigham Young University students gathered and organized in the lobby of the Wilkinson Center Thursday afternoon in a mass orchestrated dance called the Harlem Shake. This dance, which has taken both the YouTube world and the Provo world by storm, demands that the participants adhere to a formulaic 30-second...

Jan 18, 2013

The electronic, synthy sound of Polytype is refreshing in the Provo music scene otherwise supersaturated with folk bands. Their soon-to-be-released 10-track debut album, Basic//Complex, is trippy, transcendental and mystical. The band’s namesake comes from the band’s desire to use technology to create shapes that can be heard. The songs’ mathematical...

Jan 3, 2013

2012 has left the nation divided musically just as it has socially and politically. On one side, we are left with the debris of the absurd excess of the plastic post-apocalyptic pop world. On the other, the inflated pretensions of the indie-folk-rock scene. In my consideration for the top 10 albums of 2012, I chose to search for the outliers—the cries of...

Dec 4, 2012

Fans gathered at Muse Music Cafe last Saturday to wave glow sticks and dance around to Provo’s only nine-member pop band that wears grey suits, dress shirts and suspenders to each of their shows: The Strike. This funk-pop band with its jazzy undertones and random moments of rock ‘n’ roll is a breath of fresh air when compared to the singer/songwriter bands...

Nov 12, 2012

In an age where pre-pubescent teenagers and gender-confused pop divas dominate radio play, more bands frequently choose to trade quality for popularity in order to appeal to the “mainstream” audience. In spite of mounting pressures from record companies and lofty expectations plaguing today’s musicians, two bands stand out as the proverbial wheat among the...

Oct 13, 2012

The Provo-native band Book on Tape Worm lulled audiences this Saturday into a meditative silence in their first-ever album release concert. The set list, which was divided into “acts,” perfectly mirrored the song list featured in the album entitled All the World’s a Stage. The album title, though an overused Shakespeare quote, excels in meaning and...

Sep 26, 2012

The American indie zeitgeist has smiled favorably upon the Provo music scene in recent years. Several bands birthed in the old Mormon college town are on the receiving end of solid record deals and increasing notoriety. It’s these bands that are always welcomed with open arms by enthusiastic local crowds when they make return appearances to Provo. On September...

Sep 25, 2012

The sexual revolution of the early 1970s is sinking further and further into the ether of kitschy 21st century pop culture representation. As this happens, perhaps the most serialized, and in turn least accurately remembered component of early 1970s counterculture, is the Glam Rock movement. Though pioneered by a fairly diverse group of art rock dignitaries that...