Album Review: Caterwaulla
Caterwaulla Self-Titled facebook.com/caterwaulla Since I was born in 1957, my life corresponds approximately to the life-span of rock and roll. In that 55-plus years, there have been times when rock has seemed to be tired and played out. But there’s always some snotty group of kids who come along and beat it back into shape....
Album Reviews: Slip Silo – Monsoons / Koplant No – Transit EP
Slip Silo and Koplant No are two local groups which share two members (Brian Lewis on trumpet, keyboards and laptop, Drew Morton on bass, synth and vocals) with adjacent releases. This invites a classic English Final “Contrast and Compare” review. Firstly, Slip Silo (also starring Matt Logan on vocals and guitar and Justin Leduc...
Show Preview: Musical Charis @ Uptown Bill’s Tuesday April 17
WHO: Musical Charis WHERE: Uptown Bills’s 730 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City, IA 52240 WHEN: 7PM Tuesday April 17th, 2012 Uptown Bill’s is an Iowa City music venue that doesn’t get the same coverage as the bars in town that feature live music. But UB’s deserves special mention because it’s much more than a place...
Album Review: Exposed Fiction
Exposed Fiction Exposed Fiction www.exposedfiction.com Exposed Fiction’s self-titled debut album arrived at my house with a big crack through the middle. It’s romantic to imagine the music is that powerful, but it’s more likely the Postal Service or our intrepid publisher Mr. Steele broke it accidentally before dropping it off. No matter. You can listen...
Album Review: The Twelve Canons – Volume 4: Sacrifice
The Twelve Canons Volume 4: Sacrifice thetwelvecanons.bandcamp.com The Twelve Canons is currently singer/songwriter Jim Durocher and multi-instrumentalist Justin Norman. Volume 4: Sacrifice came with a note from Norman that mentioned “FYI it was recorded in a mental institute.” Jim Durocher’s personal demons are no secret around Iowa City, but it’s not my place to air...
Show Preview: Koplant No and Slip Silo – April 14 at the Blue Moose
This Saturday at the Blue Moose Taphouse, two bands who are joined at the head (i.e. overlapping personnel) will be having a CD release party, for the new Slip Silo CD. If you aren’t familiar with these guys, they’re mostly graduates of the University of Iowa Jazz program. Like other alumni (I’m looking at you,...
Inside the Canarium
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a poet. I carried around a notebook, went to readings, bought poetry books, took poetry classes. What was hard was actually writing poems. One day in class, Marvin Bell said something that took a while to sink in, “Poets write poetry because that’s what they do, they...
Live Recordings of Rhys Chatham/Rene Hell/Solid Attitude @ Gabes 3-27-2012
Adrianne Behning’s photographs of this show are here. A performance of Guitar Trio by Rhys Chatham is always a stunning, overwhelming, transcendent thing to experience. The composition itself is a schematic set of instructions for 3 or more guitarists, a process that Chatham directs from the stage as he plays himself. It has been his...
Album Review: Imperfekt – Tunes For Improvement
Imperfekt Tunes For Improvement MicHandRecordings.com Imperfekt is a hip-hop MC that produces his own beats. Though locally there are several examples—Rahlan Kay and Coolzey come to mind—it isn’t a common thing. MCs and producers tend to specialize, but in the decidedly un-hip-hop environment of Iowa, perhaps these guys feel like they’re on their own and...
Album Review: Human Aftertaste – Black Toad
Human Aftertaste Black Toad humanaftertaste.com DC Comics introduced us to Bizarro World, the cubical world where everything is the opposite of our world. The Bizarro aesthetic code was “Us love ugliness!” Human Aftertaste would, I guess, be the Bizarro Bieber. They’ve gone through various incarnations through the past several years but there’s a consistent commitment...
An Horse @ Blue Moose March 11th 7:30 PM : Show Preview
An Horse is the rock duo of Kate Cooper (singer/guitarist) and Damon Cox (drummer/singer), who began their partnership as co-workers at a Brisbane, Australia record store. That might be why their songs display such carefully craft and stay away from gimmickry. They come close to what Truman Capote described as the goal of his writing:...
Album Review: Thomas Comerford – Archive + Spiral
Thomas Comerford Archive + Spiral www.thomascomerford.bandcamp.com As the principal singer and songwriter in the band Kaspar Hauser, Thomas Comerford has built a reputation for his inventive take on roots rock. Archive + Spiral is less rocking and more country, with a vibe more living room than rock club. Comerford’s slightly nasal baritone recalls Lou Reed...
RIP Kevin Olish
Kevin Olish died suddenly this weekend. How suddenly? I saw him working at the New Pioneer Co-Op on Saturday. He died Sunday afternoon. You might not know his last name, but if you shopped at the Co-Op, you knew Kevin Olish. He was the chatty guy who wanted to talk with you way more than...
What's The Matter With Stephen Bloom?
Little Village readers following the ongoing controversy about Professor Stephen Bloom’s article about Iowa in the Atlantic may have noticed the lack of direct response from us. Thomas Dean made a glancing mention of it in his essay about the complicated feelings he has about his hometown Rockford, Illinois. Mostly, we thought that there wasn’t...
Album Review: Lady Killaz – Dynamic Duo
Lady KillAZ is Lyssa and Klymaxx, two young women who reside in Cedar Rapids, and Dynamic Duo is their debut mix tape. Since I’m a middle-aged white guy my taste in hip hop runs to the classics from the ‘80s and newer ‘conscious’ rap. Lady KillAZ on the other hand are ghetto and proud. They...
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