“After like two years of rejections,” Dessa wrote on Twitter in early 2021, “my short story just got accepted into a literary magazine, and I am about to order the fuck out of some takeout.” The acclaimed rapper, singer and […]
On a magical summer evening in 1986, after a fiery performance by the Cult, the sun refused to set. The band’s shows radiated a mystical quality that could realign heavenly bodies, though this anomaly of nature occurred because Finland’s Provinssirock […]
Abomination, the new album from Iowa metal outfit Rehtek, contains all the ingredients for a pummeling musical feast. Chunky guitar riffage — check. Gut-rumbling bass — check. Double-time kick drums at speed-metal velocities — check. Growling, howling vocals — double-check. […]
“At the Old Threshers Reunion this summer, you’re going to come across some old pumps, tractors and hay balers, and there’ll be too-cute nanny goats and freckled girls in pigtails,” said musician David Murray, summing up the annual festival in […]
“One thing that people maybe don’t know about Canada is that the places above and below the border are similar to each other,” said Rollie Pemberton, a Canadian MC who performs as Cadence Weapon. “I live in Toronto now, and […]
“I went to Catholic school in Des Moines, and I guess my way of rebelling was to be a total snob about records,” said Good Morning Midnight frontman Charlie Cacciatore. “Some people are in debate and others play tennis, and […]
When I mentioned that I was interviewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing to Matt Griffin, a Ph.D. student in my Communication Studies department, he recounted a moment that encapsulates her wide-ranging work that spans everything from poetry, comics and academic publishing […]
Schäffer the Darklord, a.k.a. STD, is a 47-year-old rapper who’d probably have a few words to say to his 20-something self if he had access to a time machine. “I feel like I made an impulsive decision to adopt the […]
Lauren Haldeman isn’t a mere double-threat, or even a run-of-the-mill triple-threat. No, Iowa City’s resident polymath has more tricks up her sleeve than I can count on both hands and a few spare toes. Working across mediums and forms — […]
Art Cullen’s storied career in journalism began when he was a young man stumbling his way through school. “I flunked accounting,” he said, “and realized the only requirement to get into the journalism program at the College of St. Thomas […]
In one memorable scene from the Woodstock documentary, young music fans and counterculture kids are introduced to yoga poses and breathing exercises in a field, and the 1969 festival kicked off with a speech by a renowned spiritual teacher and […]
“Sometimes, it’s real beef or real grudges that need to be settled on stage,” $ANTHI said of the rap battles he’s been part of over the past two decades. “Sometimes rappers get called out, egos clash, shade is thrown. Some […]
