Sun-drenched hooks and sunscreen-slathered horn sections are not very Iowa. But for Andrew Hoyt and his latest EP, Kind of Paradise, bottling sunshine is the point, whether charting heartbreak or relationship blissdom. A born and raised Iowan, Hoyt blends his Midwest sensibility with the polish of his Nashville collaborators and a Hawaiian influence to make […]
Elisabeth Oster
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Dizzy Bridges — ‘Spot the Pattern’
Spot the pattern by Dizzy bridges Dizzy Bridges’ new album is holistic, with hidden themes and lyrical depth to decode. Up for the challenge and armed only with the hint “Spoon-meets-Carlo Rovelli,” I enveloped myself in the poetry and existential questions of this Iowa-based art-rock quartet. Starting with patterns within my grasp — separate from […]
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.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
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: KL!NG — ‘5 SONG SWEETIE PIE!’ EP
During the last gasps of August, KL!NG’s first EP came into the world, grew legs, and personified itself into a fun house. Think buckets of neon green paint, a ball pit, a wall-to-wall mirrored metallic bathroom and a projector dedicated to running continuous episodes of Twin Peaks.
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Album Review: Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops — ‘Live at the Lift’
Equal parts sweat and excitement hang thick in the air after a full day of performances at the 80/35 music fest. It’s July 8, 2023, and it’s Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops’ festival afterparty at The LiFt in Des Moines.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Swallowing a tooth, and other ways local poets ‘harness a feeling’ in short films at Refocus
“It is October. Everything is overturning,” writes Hannah Bonner in her debut book of poetry, Another Woman. “I pack a suitcase to get through October and drive to the shore with a video camera,” begins the poem “Video Footage” in Julia Anna Morrison’s Long Exposure, her first book of poems. It is October. And with […]
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Album Review: Fishbait — ‘Fishbait’
For many, fishing brings to mind a whole lot of casting, sitting and waiting — a favorite of grandpas and teenagers alike. But for Fishbait, fishing is gnarly, bloody, sewage-filled and above all, slimy. That’s the general message of their self-titled (and fittingly fish-themed) debut album: Bodies of water, whether bathtub or ocean, are forces […]
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Ahzia Hester is still rendering
It is hard to say where someone will find Iowa City-based artist Ahzia Hester on any given day. Maybe he’s opening for GZA at the Englert Theatre, or Cautious Clay at the Iowa Memorial Union. He might be at Gabe’s, performing his own songs and DJing the artists that influenced them, all over the same […]
