BY JAMIE GADETTE

Salt Lake City's Twilight Concert Series is like Brooklyn's McCarren Park with an ice rink in lieu of swimming pool and vendors hawking more than just burgers and wieners. Free and open to the public, Twilight gives local residents a rare intimate glimpse at the type of artists that might otherwise skip over Utah's underrated live music circuit. Salt Lake City Arts Council organizers recently branched out from past blues, bluegrass, and jam band standards to include more indie rock, pop and hip-hop acts including Yo La Tengo, Calexico, The Fiery Furnaces, Andrew Bird, De La Soul, The Roots and The Knux. Canada's Andrew Whiteman appeared last year with his Cuban-fueled project Apostle of Hustle and returned to the outdoor stage August 21 with longtime group Broken Social Scene. The Montreal collective's rotating lineup currently includes Whiteman, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Sam Goldberg and Leon Kingstone. Land of Talk's Elizabeth Powell recently hopped on board to take over female vocal duties on the Something For All Of Us tour, a role she finds both thrilling and daunting. Onstage, Powell bounced around like a kid on Christmas morning, adding her own touch to songs like "7/4 (Shoreline)" without burying Feist's original flavor, and prior to the show she relayed the difficulty in channeling Leslie Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Milan:  "These aren't straight up pop songs or something from the radio. It's like trying to appropriate something that's completely unique."

First came Brooklyn's Big Sleep, a trio whose schizophrenic performance fell flat when they opened their mouths. Starting off the evening with a balls-to-the-wall rock instrumental, TBS slowed to a painful grind with vocals in the key of milquetoast indie rock. Clinging to an erratic pendulum of heavy-hitting jams to weaker numbers, they elicited cheers and glazed over expressions. Even the band members seemed to enjoy themselves more when locked in a solid metal groove.

Broken Social Scene appeared after a 30 minute interlude, launching into a rousing version of "KC Accidental" and a quick roll call before leading the crowd in a synchronized echo of "Stars and Sons" handclaps. Unlike most of this year's Twilight shows, the packed audience actually toned it down a notch (100-degree heat + alcohol + free admission = angry idiots looking for a fight), crowd surfing just once before Drew jokingly called out the perpetrators: "What is it, '86 here?"  He then preached to the choir about the importance of voting and how our country is responsible for the past hellacious eight years. Sorry, dude. We want the good ol boy outta here as much as you do.

The remaining set covered a balanced swatch of hits off Broken Social Scene and You Forgot It In People, including "Cause=Time" and "Fire Eye'd Boy," plus solo material by Kevin Drew ("Fucked Up Kid") and Brendan Canning. They closed out the warm summer night with the steamy "Lover's Spit," a raw, moving encore that captivated even the loudest attendees.

Later that evening, Broken Social Scene left the venue to dance with locals at a nearby bar featuring Ted Dancin, an eclectic DJ night. Watching the scruffy Canadians get crunk to James Brown, T.Rex and Biggie Smalls was surreal, to say the least. Who says white men can't jump?