Artist and emcee Royce Barnett is ready to close out this chaotic trip round the sun with an appropriately explosive event: an extra special two-day edition of THE FESTIVAL SHOW. Better known as Crunk Chocolate of podcast Stuck in The Middle, Barnett launched THE FESTIVAL SHOW series in late 2019. At the time, the program’s […]
Articles by Melanie Hanson
Album Review: Giallows — ‘Enochian Power Ballads’ and ‘Placer’

Enochian Power Ballads by giallows Adam Wesconsin and Devin Alexander of Giallows have been making music together for much of their lives. In fact, in the first 10 seconds of Enochian Power Ballads, the groggy riffs and tentative tapping will instantly transport longtime fans back in time to Peabody’s, the bygone Quad City coffeehouse and […]
Artist profile: QC lamp lover Mike Steele

With his recent multimedia avant-garde ode to light fixtures, experimental artist Mike Steele demonstrates the potential of creative constraints and a renaissance of absurdism. Eastern Iowa and other QC live music fans already know Steele as the human giant who has introduced bands at Codfish Hollow, the Rust Belt, RIBCo and other staples of the […]
Album Review: Condor & Jaybird — ‘The Glory’

A full-bodied chord progression, disguised as a bridge (where the other shoe just never drops) closes out Condor & Jaybird’s latest album, and it marks the end of an era: the completion of a trilogy six years in the making. First there was The Kingdom, then The Power — now, The Glory is the climax […]
Album Review: Aubs. — ‘Sensei of Syllables’
Album Review: Dark Family — ‘Holiness’
Album Review: Pollinators — ‘Return Home’

At first listen, Pollinators’ new album, Return Home (out Oct. 4) seems to be from an era that never existed, but should have. It’s a version of the 1990s where Jer Bear got healthy and the swing revival never happened. Energizing guitar riffs make you want to lace up your Docs and jam. It sounds like Weezer before and after their pop makeover […]
A town full of motivated doers on a mission: Mapping the QC scene in a post-Daytrotter landscape
Get plugged in to Benjamin Fawks’ Outlet series at Rozz-Tox

An Outlet performance is an experience, says curator Benjamin Fawks. It’s not just a concert, and audiences aren’t just going to be entertained. Japanese master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, performing on Sunday, April 7, is definitively innovative as he tests the limits of his homemade bows and gongs. His genre is typically labeled “jazz,” but what he does is beyond labels. […]