• Posters

July Van Sessions with BRUE, The Proper Way, Cory Mon
The first Friday of each month is reserved for the First Friday Art Stroll in downtown Ogden, and among all the offerings, for music lovers there's the Banyan Collectives Van Sessions. The Van Sessions take place in The Monarch, Ogden's multi-use event center that houses much of the arts and entertainment sector in the area. Van Sessions is a live-audience podcast that invites artists from both nearby and far away into the Banyan Collective's "Tan Van'' for every First Friday Art Stroll, and this upcoming lineup is reason enough to hit Ogden's streets. Three artists are slated for the evening, starting at 7 p.m. with Cory Mon, who will set the scene for Ogden's The Proper Way at 8 p.m. The latter act is perfectly matched with another Northern Utah music pillar—but this time he'll be performing in a slightly different alignment than usual. Sammy Brue, in an apparent rebrand, will be performing at 9 p.m. with what appears to be his new project, BRUE. Alluding to leaving his label recently on social media, it seems Brue is reinventing himself in BRUE and the two bandmates that round out the trio. BRUE has been teasing new music all spring, so this is a great chance to see the new tunes of Sammy Brue at what looks like a pivotal time in the young artist's near-life-long career. First Friday Art Stroll starts at 6 p.m., and the Van Session is free to attend.

For the Fourth of July Freaks
While fireworks shows may not be a guarantee—given our somewhat hot, dry, and dangerous climate—there are some events you can scooch over to enjoy drinks, eats, sun burns and a blur of red, white and blue-clad bodies. The Blocks will be hosting their 4th of July Celebration at The Gateway, which will of course feature all the fixings of a traditional summer fling like yard games, face painting, art and contests, but for the purposes of music-seekers, a karaoke stage, DJs and bands throughout the day of Sunday, July 4. Festivities start at 5 p.m. and those who want to ride around the area can get $1 GREENbike Rides that are good between July 3 - July 7. For those more northerly, there's Riverton Town Days, which kicked off at the end of June, but for the Fourth of July weekend reveler, things kick off July 1 with a carnival and car show, and with Saturday tacking on a parade, movie night and the first music of the weekend on the Riverton City Park stage by way of Joe Friday. On Saturday, full swing celebration ensues (since the Fourth of July is on a Sunday this year, folks) and among all the other revelry, music will be coming from the stage at various points throughout the day. Acts include Standard Deviation Band at 12:30 p.m., The Ravens Band at 2 p.m., Southern Punch Band at 4 p.m., Waiting for James Band at 6 p.m., Matt Newman at 7:30 p.m. and Wildwood featuring Chad Truman at 8:30 p.m. Now that's a summer shindig. Visit rivertonutah.gov/towndays/index.php for more details.

• Becca Hofmann

Telluride Meltdown's Newest Album Powder Day
Though it's now July, for fans of Utah's greatest (if scant these days) snow on Earth, a good powder day is always somewhere on the back of their mind. So, for the snowboarder or skier who just can't stop pining after their favorite time of year this summer, give a listen to local band Telluride Meltdown's latest album, Powder Day, released June 4. The eight-track album does indeed start with stoked ruminations on a blessed powder day, starting off with a sound clip of a Winter Storm Warning, and rounded out by Red Hot Chili Peppers-style spitting about hitting the driveway, strippin' that ice away and getting on one's way up the canyon. Other notables on the album include "Floating Down the River," which isn't as restful as the title suggests, rather marching along as a hodge-podge nod to classical movements, building and building. There's also the timely, funny track called "Dogs Be Lovin' covid," which is about a dog who's very glad to have their owner home, because they've "never got so much action behind these ears." "Sweet Lily Zombie Eyes" is the most rockin' track on the album, complete with gritty, crushing guitar lines and even a slightly psychedelic breakdown into spaciness before it picks back up into the crazed energy of those zombie eyes. That same kind of psych-rock inclination is also present on the closer, "An Open Road," which is a pretty grand track to close out an album with such range, from the tongue-in-cheek moments to those with rollicking spirit. Listen to the album on Spotify.

Heartbreaker Revives 2010s Indie Dance Music
While older generations may reminisce fondly about hair metal or stadium concerts or seeing Nirvana in a basement in Seattle before they were famous, millennials are approaching the age where we have our own things to reminisce about. For example, many are probably in the process of realizing that the blog-era indie rock we grew up on is now of the past, and also maybe not as underground nowadays as it felt at first click-of-the-Tumblr-link. Enter Heartbreaker, a new dance party at The Urban Lounge premiering July 3, featuring the sounds of the early 2010s. Even a sleepyhead could probably guess which artists are going to be spun from the DJ deck—Passion Pit, for one. Otherwise, folks can look forward to d-a-n-c-e-ing to Justice, catching some liztomania from Phoenix, feeling the electric feel of MGMT, and maybe even walking on a dream while listening to Empire of the Sun. If you don't get these puns, this dance party is not for you. Other favorites of the 2010s who'll be spun include Hot Chip, Chromeo, The Killers, MSTRKRFT, Foals, Rüfüs Du Sol, Classixx, Miike Snow, Cvrches, Daft Punk, Bloc Party, Rac, Peter, Bjorn & John, The Rapture and many more. While some of these debuted a little earlier in the millennium, they're all still the soundtrack of any millennial's early years, whether those were years of adolescence or young adulthood. Doors are late at 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 3, and tickets are a whopping $5 at theurbanloungeslc.com. Go forth, and dance yrself clean.

• Sydney Takeshta

Lindsey Stirling at USANA Amphitheatre
While she has fans all over the world, Lindsey Stirling certainly has enough Utah fans to grant her some measure of Utah music royalty status. Stirling errs more on the side of "famous pop artists who happen to be Mormon" than the other way around, and that's truly probably more the reason for her fanship here in Utah. Her blending of violin with sweeping pop inclinations and her grand, spectacular performances have made her beloved the world over, but she's made herself known elsewhere, too, through appearances on America's Got Talent, competing on Dancing With the Stars and in co-writing a New York Times bestseller with her sister in the book The Only Pirate at the Party. Stirling returns to Utah soon with fresh new songs, too, while touring her latest album, Artemis, released in 2019, the fifth in her acclaimed discography. The 35-date tour for Artemis will find Stirling stopping in at the USANA Amphitheatre on July 10, with support from electro-pop artist Kiesza. Tickets for the show range from $29 to $199. VIP packages include interactive activities curated by Stirling, immersive experiences showcasing memorabilia and costumes from past tours and more, with pricing for those packages ranging from $189 to $469. Visit lindseystirling.com/tour for details and ticket links.