Handing Off The Egg, the latest EP from TIRES, represents a developing and distilling of the Des Moines band’s sound. The washes of synths added seem trendy and hip in light of the current fascination with ’80s music — and the songs beg to be used as soundtracks. […]
In her interview with the Pants-Off Podcast, Anna Gebhardt discussed the difficulty of coming up with a succinct genre for her band Annalibera. “I was going for a sound that would combine sort of where I came from with what I like to listen to: I like experimental music, I like electronic music, I like classical music and I like rock — you know, like just rock and roll. I came from Nebraska where I grew up listening to my mom’s country music station. So, I was trying to combine all of that into some loud music.” […]
The songs that make up Thomas Comerford’s new album, Blood Moon, weren’t necessarily planned to be an album. His goal following his 2014 album, II, was just to keep writing and recording songs at every opportunity without the pressure of a formal album release. He took the chance to work with Chicago acts such as Tatsu Aoki of experimental jazz group Miyumi Project, Panoramic & True, vocalist Amalea Tshilds and singer/pianist Azita Youssefi among others. Last summer he realized that he had a collection of songs that made sense as an album release. […]
Iowa City band the Lost Tracks is on the cusp of a period of big creative output. Their new album, ‘Capitanos,’ is the first of three releases coming out just this year. […]
Lissie’s 2016 album “My Wild West” centered around being homesick for the Midwest. But now that she’s living here in northeast Iowa on her own “40 acres in the sun” (to quote that album’s “Hero”), she’s apparently having boyfriend issues on her latest, “Castles.” […]
The opening track “Before We Go” on the reunited Koplant No’s new album “Elker” is a compound of skittering synth decay and dripping percussion flitting around a lone trumpet carrying a mournful melody. It’s a track that would fit perfectly on a Jack Lion record — which seems obvious when you consider that fellow Iowa City group Jack Lion shares Brian Lewis Smith on trumpet and Drew Morton on bass.
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Located in what used to be a trophy shop next door to Dick’s Tap, the front door of the Shake Room has had a sign announcing the coming arrival of the performance venue since the end of last year. In the last few months there has been a flurry of activity getting ready for the opening. […]
The band started recording at Magic Barn this week and will continue working on the album throughout the year. This Friday, March 30, Halfloves will be at the Blue Moose. The show kicks off at 8 p.m.; tickets are $10. […]
When long-time Iowa City scene staple Dave Zollo and Lee County troubadour William Elliott Whitmore started performing together a couple years ago as Middle Western with members of Zollo’s band The Body Electric and Chicago guitarist Stevie Doyle, it seemed a natural fit. […]
The early 1970s was a dynamic time for country music. The old guard of ’50s and ’60s country artists started taking a backseat to the rise of artists crossing over with rock and R&B who took over the Top 40: artists like Glen Campbell, Mac Davis, John Denver, Elvis in his post-’68 Comeback period, Jerry Reed and J.J. Cale. […]
If you’re familiar with Ryan Stier’s work, it’s probably from regular plays of the theme music for the Iowa Public Radio shows River To River and Talk Of Iowa that his band the River Monks composed. That band enjoyed acclaim particularly for their 2014 album Home Is The House. […]
Some Night You Will Hear Me Crowing, the debut album from Cedar Rapids trio treesreach, uses the story of Peter Pan as a thread joining the musical squares in a large double album quilt in the form of symphonic interstitial pieces. Taken by themselves, the rock songs are not directly Peter Pan-themed, but they evoke a sense of melancholy similar to Peter Pan’s afterthought.
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