Lee Ranaldo has a lot of history with ‘loud music’ fans, beginning with his 30-odd years as a member of Sonic Youth. Starting in the downtown New York No Wave…
Kent Williams
Posted inCommunity/News
Democracy When?
When I got up this morning, the news on TV was about a possible deal in Washington between the President and the Republicans in Congress. Which is good news … maybe? At some point there will be a deal struck to keep the United States government from curling up and dying. I confident I won’t […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Dylan Ettinger and Goldendust – Split 7″
This two-song single, the first release on new Atlanta lable DKA, feature’s Iowa City’s Goldendust and Bloomington Indiana’s Dylan Ettinger. As with nearly all music on the outskirts of popular music, these songs are a re-imagining of a musical style from the past—in this case, 1980s darkwave synth pop. Both Ettinger and Goldendust favor big analog synth sounds and archaic drum machine rhythms; there’s no sound in either song that departs from a musical palette available 30 years ago.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Nic Arp – Tiny Wings
It’s hard to define an Iowa sound exactly, but Nic Arp has it, inexactly: not quite country music, but folksy; not exactly rock & roll, but with the occasional snarly electric guitar line. I hear echoes of 1970s Iowa folk artists like Bonnie Koloc and Freeman and Lange, but Arp has an unusual voice, with some of Elvis Costello’s timbral quirks–he goes from growly to nasal in two syllables.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Reviews: Silk Duck – Self-titled EP
Justin Cox and Jeff Ryon, once and possibly future members of the Iowa City hip-hop group Bad Fathers, are back in Iowa after a few years out in Los Angeles doing their best to hit it big. Silk Duck is their reaction to the self-promotional treadmill that trying to break into the big time can be. This EP–free to download on Sound Cloud–was an outlet for the lyrical impulses that didn’t fit the over-the-top punk hip hop of Bad Fathers.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Dan Bee – Coffee and other Caffeinated Delights
Dan Bee is the solo project of Dan Bobek, the guitarist for Raw Mojo. Unabashedly devoted to 1970s-style hard rock, Raw Mojo has been gigging around Iowa City…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: The Blendours – Drama Queen EP
The Blendours’ Trevor Treiber is a contemporary and West High classmate of Lipstick Homicide, and the one time I met him he was hanging with Rachel and Kate at Gabe’s. So, it’s no surprise that there’s a strong affinity between The Blendours and Lipstick Homicide when it comes to songwriting: They both write songs that are short, sweet and infectious. The Blendours songs on this EP are performed simply with acoustic instruments. Still, there’s a lot of pure punk rock energy even with a single guitar and no band.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Dustin Busch – Down Home
Down Home is Dustin Busch’s first solo album in a long time (he was 15-years-old when he made his first), and showcases his slide guitar and country blues. In most people’s hands—at least people who weren’t born 100 years ago, poor and black in Mississippi—this is a recipe for embarrassing tedium. Yet Busch combines a complete mastery of the technique and style of blues, as well as a relaxed, nothing-to-prove attitude to make serious music that never takes itself too seriously.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Curt Oren – Is Anyone and The Elder (far right) Explains a Navigation Chart
Curt Oren is a saxophonist who plays his own solo compositions. You have to admire him for that even before you hear what he does.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Lipstick Homicide – Out Utero
It’s hard for me not to think of Lipstick Homicide as kids; they’re contemporaries of my children. I first heard them when they were barely old enough to drive, and now they’re all grown up, actual 20-somethings. Throughout that time they’ve been remarkably consistent—they play melodic punk rock.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Limbs – Diverted Urges
I was a little worried by the first song (past the trippy intro) “Roll Like Down,” because it had such a late-90s Matchbox 20/Smashmouth/Sugar Ray sound to it. I could do an entire review-length rant on how much I hate that kind of thing. But there’s more to Limbs than the tunes they heard in mom’s car when they were kids. They also manage to avoid the other godforsaken musical monster of the ‘90s: rap rock. MC and singer Ty James has the rap thing down, but these guys have cooked up something stranger and more interesting.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: King of the Tramps – Wicked Mountain
Before receiving a review copy of Wicked Mountain I hadn’t even heard of King Of The Tramps’ hometown, Auburn, Iowa. It’s apparently a ‘suburb’ of Carroll, Iowa, which is to say it must be vanishingly small–the sort of Iowa town that barely exists and keeps getting smaller. Completely irrelevant to this review, but it’s worth visiting www.auburniowa.net, whose homepage is dominated by a slideshow of a town completely devoid of human habitation. The town motto should be “Auburn: Park Wherever You Like.” It’s a place where you make your own entertainment or go quietly mad.
