Buzz Blog

"Friday night and I need a fight/ My motorcycle and a switchblade knife/ Handful of grease in my hair feels right/ But what I need to make me tight are Girls, Girls, Girls!"

That's right. Tonight kicks off with live, fully-clothed Girls, straight out of San Francisco.

When the band's vocalist Christopher Owens sings, “But I don’t want to die,” drawing out the last, fatal word to the bottom of an emotional well, his tone implies death might be a fine solution to his earthly agony. He maintains a delightfully gloomy-Gus tone throughout the group's critically acclaimed album—simply titled Album — occasionally busting through the clouds, like a pinch to a waking nightmare. The result is '50s-era heartsick melodies with ’70s-era punk sensibility. Find out why Girls’ debut landed on so many Best of ’09 lists tonight starting with a free, all-ages in-store at Slowtrain followed by a 21 gig at Urban Lounge (241 S. 500 East).

Hellhole Ratrace - Girls

Be sure to plan accordingly so you can also catch live, fully-clothed City Weekly Music Awards action, too! Tolchock Trio, The Naked Eyes and Plastic Furs play Bar Deluxe, Linus Stubbs, Nolens Volens and Mindstate headline Circle Lounge, and Glade and Libbie Linton will blow you away softly with their songs at Woodshed. Tomorrow night, the mighty Eagle Twin return from a European tour to perform with fellow nominees Separation of Self and Gaza at Burt’s Tiki Lounge (there will be LOUD ... maybe a little blood). Musclehawk and Uzi & Ari will start a dance party at Bar Deluxe. Complete lineup info this way.

Also on Saturday ... Few bands merit two exclamation points hugging their name, but Salt Lake City’s iAndale! are beloved by Russia’s favorite band, Mumiy Troll—plus, I used to stalk them and I don’t stalk just anyone (would if I could but … tick tock). Since their inception, the local rockers have trapped us in a stranglehold, baby, with punk-flavored ditties as sweet and potent as spiked punch. They’ve kept us hanging on the telephone, too, waiting for a follow-up to their 2008 Pseudo Recordings debut. Turns out, the wait is over—almost. Tonight, iAndale! officially will release “Sucker,” the first single off their forthcoming sophomore LP. The song does not disappoint, with catchy hooks, handclaps(!), lyrical zings (“the more you push the more I give, the more I start to think I should get you lost with the meanest stuff I’ve got”) and Neil Sedaka-worthy wordless vocalizations (on paper not much to write home about, but when those “ah ah ah ah ahs ah ah”s land on the ears …). Celebrate good music tonight with opening talent Terrence Warburton on DJ duties and Nikki Densley’s comedy revue. Take home a download and a lollipop. Willie’s Lounge, 1716 S. Main, 9:30 p.m.

On Sunday, spend the first half of the night with Kate MacLeod at First Unitarian Church, then hit up Ted Dancin at Urban Lounge. They just bought a sweet projector to pair red-hot images with their red-hot jams. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!