The Haps: Will Rock for Food
In February 1852, John Sullivan Dwight, a transcendentalist and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, decided to start a music magazine. In a pamphlet outlining his ideas, he wrote that his journal would cover the developments of “the Musical Movement in our country, of the growing love of deep and genuine music, of the growing consciousness...
The Haps: Counting Down
Seemingly no one hates Counting Crows more than Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard. An oft-cited gem from his 2005 stage-banter album, Relaxation of the Asshole, goes something like this: “I wanna know how the guy from the Counting Crows used to fuck everybody from Friends? How the fuck’d he do it? He’s an ugly...
The Haps: Summer Earcation
In his 1992 book A Sound Education, Canadian composer and theorist Murray Schafer made this observation about contemporary life and listening: “As people have moved to cities over the past century they have developed a preference for close-up sounds..."
The Haps: F’n A, It’s May!
On May 1, 1965, at an annual celebration in Prague, Allen Ginsberg was crowned the King of May. The tradition of May Day and its royalty was founded back in who-knows-when for reasons of who-knows-what (pagans or something), but on this particular May Day, ’60s counterculture and communist oppression met head-on. After Ginsberg was paraded...
The Haps: It's Raining Shows
In Langston Hughes' 1921 poem “April Rain Song,” the thing that everyone hates about April--its big problem--is instead turned into a point of celebration, ending with the lines, “The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night / And I love the rain.” This point was totally lost on Billie Myers, who...
DeVotchKa
Saturday, April 1 – First United Methodist Church – $20 Beyond some of the common descriptors–Balearic-folk, gypsy-punk–Denver’s DeVotchKa is best understood as a theatrical band, a band who makes music that is soaring, moody, orchestral and filled with a kind of yearning that most bands can only hint at. Their first record, 2000’s aptly-titled Supermelodrama,...
The Haps: Great Things, Small Packages
Architecture in Helsinki’s brilliant 2003 debut album, Fingers Crossed, kicks off with a short, Casio and drum machine instrumental called “One Heavy February.” Unlike so many ultimately forgettable album intros (noise pulses, voice mails, carnival barking, string quartets, what have you), the song is a deliciously melodic twee dance number, and at just under a...
The Haps: January 2011
In 1953, a guy named Pat Best wrote a song for his band The Four Tunes, called “I Understand (Just How You Feel)” a Pop/R&B crossover that broke into the top 10 on both charts. The original recording is fine, if a bit basic, but soon the song was covered by a slew of...
The Haps: Hometown Sound
In Everything But The Girl’s “25th December” (one of those great non-Christmas Christmas songs that end up on “indie xmas” mix tapes), Ben Watt sings about the quintessential winter feeling: regret. “I’m thirty and I don’t know nothing no more,” he whines in the way that only British people can whine, thinking about old friends,...
The Haps: Rock
The organization Rock the Vote was founded back in 1992 with the goal of mobilizing young people to exercise their elective franchise, with a PSA campaign involving musicians like Madonna and Michael Stipe telling young folks to get out there. Some 18 years later, the very phrase “rock the vote” has implications for Iowa City’s...
Show Preview: Jay Farrar at The Mill, Nov. 3
Nov. 3 | 8:00 p.m. A founding member of perhaps the most important alt. country band of all time, Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar shared vocal and songwriting duties with future Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy. After the Tupelo split-up, Farrar went on to form the seminal alt. country rockers Son Volt. He continues to be an...
Ticket Giveaway: Kate Nash at The Englert, Nov. 8
Greetings music fans. Here’s the deal. We have two pairs of tickets to see Kate Nash at The Englert next week, and it can be yours if you manage to overcome the grueling challenge we’ve devised. To win the prize, email editor@littlevillagemag.com with “Kate Nash” in the subject line. Winners will be randomly selected out...
The Haps: October’s Bag of Tricks
Best known for Halloween, its costume-and-trickery grand finale, October leaves almost everything to the imagination. The theme of surprise and disguise has also been a trend this year in local music promotion. With the rapidly changing venue scene, including new owners/bookers/venues, a bunch of shows popped up that had people...
Show Preview: Those Darlins with Turbo Fruits – The Mill 9/24
Southern through and through, Those Darlins will bring their own brand of cowpunk through Iowa City on the 24th of September. Easily blending the twangy sounds of the Appalachians with the speed of punk rock and a bit of pop sensibility, Those Darlins are fast, catchy, and write really great...
The Haps: To New Beginnings
August is harvest season, and I don’t mean corn: It’s the annual time of year when we welcome the bountiful student population back to our small city. Whether or not you’ve been away, it’s worth noting that summer vacation has brought a few changes in the music landscape.
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