[Just Keep Swimming], the latest EP from Des Moines rapper xco$mox (pronounced cosmo) pulls you in almost instantly and rolls right into the end credits so fast, it takes you a moment to realize it’s already over. With a runtime of just over nine minutes spread over five songs, I had to immediately replay the […]
Album Reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Lady Igraine — ‘Unum’
The freshly imagined Unum starts and ends in essentially the same way. The soundscape for opening track “Tempest” fades in with one note like it’s revving up for a chorus of guitars, while closing track “A Thousand Armies,” after exploding into one last instrumental jam break, has its final guitar chord prolonged, slowed down and fading.
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Album Review: Ion Alexakis — ‘Broken Glass’ EP
It’s crazy to think that hip hop is 50 years old. It’s global, ubiquitous. Including in Iowa. Ion Alexakis — though much younger than hip hop — has been active musically in Iowa City for years, working as a producer, singer and emcee. His day job as production supervisor at the Englert is a perfect […]
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Album Review: James Tutson — ‘Fool for You’
Recorded at Golden Bear Studios in Des Moines in the fall of 2023 and produced, engineered and mixed by Bryan Vanderpool, Fool of You features 11 originals by Tutson who handles lead vocals and guitar.
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Album Review: Buz Owen — ‘Sleep’
There are 12 drawings on the cover of Buz Owen’s most recent album, Sleep. There’s a bunny-eared television. A crucifix. An elephant. The images make up a visual tracklist for the album’s songs, music that draws from backyard bluegrass, folk and even Uncle Tupelo-era alt-country.
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Album Review: Wax Cannon — ‘Teeth’
TEETH by Wax Cannon In Eliza Gilkyson’s “Solitary Singer,” she croons, “He sings his best when nobody’s listening.” Wax Cannon reminds me of that song. A housepainter (David Murray) and a hospital pharmacy worker (Jay Miller) have been making music together for a quarter century, to no particular acclaim, except from their friends in the […]
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Album Review: Salt Fox — ‘Miss You, Kyle/Love Ya, Boys!’
In January 2024, the Cedar Falls indie pop trio Salt Fox found themselves heading to Texas for a gig. Right before departing, Kyle, a friend of a friend that the band had never met, showed up to be the roadie for the trip and became the inspiration for the title of the band’s new album. […]
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Album Review: Early Girl — ‘Do I Even Cross Your Mind?’
If every song is a sort of conceptual collage of sound, with its layered instruments and vocal harmonies, then Early Girl’s EP Do I Even Cross Your Mind? feels like both an auditory and physical collage. It’s a lovingly flipped-through scrapbook of grunge and throwback, capturing the grittiness of hand-cut paper, rough ripped edges and even a smattering of glitter.
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Album Review: Running Man — ‘Running Man’
Quad Cities’ Running Man are the local antithesis to aging out. These guys have been steady putting work into the QC DIY scene, playing in bands like Meth & Goats, Lord Green, Tambourine, The Multiple Cat, Mondo Drag and more.
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Album Review: Curtis Taylor — ‘Taylor Made’
For those unfamiliar, Curtis Taylor is an award-winning trumpeter and recording artist. He is also Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa School of Music. The fact that a talent like this resides in our community is worth celebrating.
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Album Review: Dickie — ‘Headful of Hiss’ EP
Headful of Hiss By Dickie In April 2023, Dick Prall brought a string quartet to CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids. Billed as Dickie and the Cask Strength Quartet, the evening was a setlist of stringed versions of songs from Prall’s career to that point. Towards the end of the evening, he announced that he wanted […]
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Album Review: Teller Bank$ — ‘The Pride & Glory’
Denver-born and Des Moines-based emcee Teller Bank$ brandishes a bit of verbal gunplay at the tail end of The Pride & Glory, the latest collaborative album with producer Ed Glorious, that reminded me of the movie John Wick.
