Lambchop, the musical collective anchored in the vocals and musical genius of Kurt Wagner, will be playing their first show in Iowa City on March 23 at The Mill. The show is set to start at 8 p.m., with House and Land serving as openers. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door.
Daniel Boscaljon
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Features
A-List: The undefinable Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird’s discography is a compelling set of intricately arranged songs that have no obvious cognates in the contemporary musical scene. Having studied violin, Bird also plays guitar, sings and whistles his way through a set of songs that make excellent use of loops due to his intricate and impeccable timing. His songs are worth studying in advance of a performance, as each provides a dizzying set of dense, clever lyrics that are occasionally lost in the rapturous soaring of the violin.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: BiRDMAN LiVE offers Antonio Sanchez’s grounded, in-the-moment musical reactions
Birdman Live, which came to the Englert Theatre on March 1, features Antonio Sanchez playing drums to the movie Birdman — which makes sense, as he was the composer and performer for the score, which is one of the only scores to feature drums. Before the movie, Sanchez offered a short biographical account of his […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Porchburner and Split Lip Rayfield transcend gimmicks for an excellent live performance at Gabe’s
The lineup for Gabe’s on Friday night, Feb. 24 featured two bands that I had long wanted to watch but had been prevented from seeing. For the past ten years I had heard nothing but excellent reviews of Split Lip Rayfield, featuring the kind of confused generic descriptions (“country punk,” “badass bluegrass”) that generally denotes […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Davina and the Vagabonds celebrate life at The Mill
Davina and the Vagabonds are a quintet (drums, bass, trombone, trumpet, piano/ukulele) from the Twin Cities, who visited The Mill on Sunday, Feb. 12 at the end of a brief Midwest tour squeezed between trips on the coasts, preceding a 30-day stint in Europe. The ensemble was dressed in black and white, a formal look […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Photos and Review: Postmodern Jukebox offers a tight two hour performance
Introduced with a brief musical flourish from the six musicians — drum, string bass, piano, trombone, clarinet/saxophone and guitar/banjo — the host of the mid-week (Jan. 25) Postmodern Jukebox show at the Englert (and also one of five vocalists) quickly clarified the nature of the performance with humor and aplomb: We would go back in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Aesop Rock’s flawless delivery enthralled fans at the Blue Moose
I walked into the Blue Moose on Monday toward the end of Sandman’s set, listening to him close with what sounded like a prayer before prefacing the onset of Aesop Rock, whom he compared to Mozart as the pinnacle of creativity in the twenty-first century. Although I had never attended a rap performance before, I […]
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Moon Hooch brings an odd timewarp to Gabe’s Iowa City
I was first introduced to Moon Hooch through their album Red Sky, released this summer, and was so enthralled by the experience of being gripped by each song that it required a few listens to realize that the entire band consisted of two saxophones and a drummer. Hearing that they were set to play Gabe’s, […]
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Last week’s Larkin Poe show brought a contemplative engagement to Iowa City
Larkin Poe, two sisters (Rebecca and Megan Lovell) out of Atlanta, decided to use their night off from serving as Elvis Costello’s opening band to play The Mill last Wednesday, Oct. 5. As I suspected, they’re better live than their albums, which highlight their technical prowess at their most refined, would represent. Because they currently […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Shovels and Rope provide Iowa City with an experience of radical intimacy
Shovels and Rope is a duo comprised of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, who married only after recording and releasing an album together. Their performances forefront this relationship by revealing a peculiar form of intimacy — one that is afforded by distance. During their set at the Englert on Monday, Oct. 3, they seemed […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Interview: Fiddle player Gaelynn Lea talks orchestra, advocacy and connecting to humanity
Gaelynn Lea The Mill — Sunday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. Gaelynn Lea, a fiddle player hailing from Duluth, MN, burst onto the national scene by winning NPR’s 2016 Tiny Desk Music Contest. She will perform at The Mill at 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 (tickets $8–10), and will speak the next morning at Systems […]
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Mouths 12: Fleeing
“Mouths” is a fiction story presented in installments. This is the final chapter; read from the beginning, starting here. Mouths XII: Fleeing I don’t hear the bullet pass by me. It doesn’t hit Sheila. He must have aimed at my back. The mouths must have gotten it. I smile. This is good to know. But […]
