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Heavy Color, a beat-driven psychedelic music duo founded by Ben Cohen and Sam Woldenberg, makes “world music” by way of Toledo, Ohio. These composer-producers are very careful to distance themselves from that problematic term — world music often treats music made by people outside of a European or American context as exotic culture ripe for […]
For those who view music as a vital necessity like food and shelter, being without Iowa City’s longtime institution the Record Collector leaves a gaping hole in the soul. “A record store isn’t really a record store without customers,” said co-owner Alissa Witzke. “It feels empty and sad, like we’re just a warehouse.” The store […]
Black Belt Eagle Scout was scheduled as part of Mission Creek Festival, which has been postponed. At the Party With My Brown Friends, released last year by Omaha’s Saddle Creek label, is something of an aspirational album title. “I was just trying to think about metaphorical worlds in which I would feel the most safe. […]
Don’t go to a Dandelion Stompers show expecting to just sit there and watch. “Oh, man,” said Dandelion Stompers bandleader Chris Clark. “Dancers really make it a party. We work hard to interact with the audience when they’re sitting down and watching, but once they are up and dancing, it goes to a whole new […]
Seismic social change sometimes starts at a dive bar. In the summer of 1969, a spontaneous uprising that began outside the Stonewall Inn inspired the gay rights movement and eventually transformed the ways we think about gender and sexuality. The University of Iowa is honoring the 50 years that passed since that formative event with a […]
When Sharon Udoh first heard Nina Simone’s music, it was a revelation. “I was struck by our similarities,” said Udoh, who performs under the moniker Counterfeit Madison. “Here was this dark-skinned black woman who was a classically trained pianist, just like me, and with a similar vocal register. My head was spinning.” […]
“I remember first hearing about punk in Newsweek or Time magazine in the summer of 1976, when we were living in Afghanistan,” mused Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson, whose father worked for the U.S. State Department. Nelson was born in 1962 in South Africa and lived in other far-flung places before the family settled in Washington D.C., […]
Walk Through Fire isn’t just a metaphor about perseverance. The title to the 2019 debut full-length from Yola also refers to a life-changing house fire she survived. In 2014, the British singer had been handling a bioethanol burner with a faulty fuel canister that, unbeknownst to her, leaked throughout the room and eventually ignited. […]
David Berman was a kind, sensitive artist with many formidable talents — a poet, cartoonist and musician who was often regarded as the best songwriter of his generation. He died at the age of 52 on Aug. 7, after a lifetime of struggling with depression and addiction. When he agreed to an interview about his upcoming performance in Iowa […]
In the beginning there was the Pub, opening inside a nondescript two-story brick building on East Washington Street in Iowa City, which previously housed ACT, Inc.’s offices, in 1970. The restrooms have been on a steep decline since then, but there have also been many highs, both musical and chemical. […]
X, an original 1977-era punk band, has remained one of my all-time favorites for decades, but I never got to see them until a recent show at the Pageant Theater in St. Louis. It was fitting to watch X in Missouri, the setting for Road House — the craptastic Patrick Swayze vehicle that featured X co-founder (and actor) John Doe. […]
Damon & Naomi’s career arc has all the makings of an indie rock jukebox musical. Think Jersey Boys meets Samuel Beckett, starring bassist Naomi Yang and drummer Damon Krukowski as post-punk New Yorkers who fall in love and become the rhythm section of a beloved band. Success for these children of immigrants turns bittersweet after […]
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