The Diplomats of Solid Sound are back with a new slab of soul! The line-up has changed a little since 2010’s fantastic What Goes Around Comes Around, but the core of the band is still Doug Roberson on guitar; Nate “Count” Basinger, who flew up from Austin to provide his signature Hammond B3 and piano; and Eddie McKinley on sax. […]
There is a long-standing tradition in jazz of performing pop standards, and those songs became kind of a lingua franca for jazz musicians. Iowa City jazz bassist and vocalist Blake Shaw — whose latest album, it happened., is a collection of standards — explained the tradition […]
Crystal City’s first two albums — ‘Change’ (2014) and ‘Bartenderly’ (2017) — drew from Paul Westerberg’s playbook. They shared his penchant for ramshackle punk and glistening, soaring pop — the electric and acoustic, the sad and hopeful. […]
Halfloves’ new single, “A Little Lie,” was released March 15. The video premieres here today. “A Little Lie” is also the first single from the Halfloves’ as-yet-untitled second album, due out later this year. […]
Listening to the debut album from Cedar Falls band Hex Girls, I’m reminded of the time before punk broke in the ’70s. Bands like the Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders’ band the Heartbreakers took ’60s garage rock and psychedelia mixed in attitude and energy (and speed and alcohol) and spilled it on the dirty stages […]
Des Moines band Brother Trucker is an honest-to-goodness Iowa institution. Since 2000, the band has toured extensively, bringing their roots rock and country to avid fans in bars throughout the Midwest. Their Iowa pedigree was established when they signed on as one of the original bands on Dave Zollo’s seminal Trailer Records, where they released […]
David Huckfelt took advantage of a break in touring with the Pines to become the artist-in-residence at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. The writing he did in solitude there formed the basis for his first solo album, Stranger Angels. The close proximity of nature during Huckfelt’s residency informs the record. The first single, and […]
Holy White Hounds Say It With Your Mouth www.holywhitehounds.com Des Moines band Holy White Hounds are back with their second album. Say It With Your Mouth picks up where their 2016 album, Sparkle Sparkle, left off. Producer Brandon Darner, who produced that first record, is back at the helm as producer. Darner’s ability to make […]
Quad Cities band Chrash followed 2016’s ‘Things My Friends’ Say with a surprise release coinciding with the Nov. 6 primaries. Titled ‘2017 The Music,’ the album attempts to capture the year following the 2016 elections.
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Just in time for the midterm elections, Quad Cities trio Chrash have released their politically-charged sixth album titled ‘2017 The Music.’ In support of that, they are going to be performing the album in its entirety at Rozz-Tox on Tuesday, Nov. 6. […]
As I write this, it has been one year since the passing of one of America’s greatest songwriters, Tom Petty. It’s appropriate, then, that I’m writing a review of another “songwriter’s songwriter.” And, like Petty, Kevin Gordon’s formative years were spent in the American South. […]
Most reviews and interviews with Gordon mention that he spent time attending the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa in the late ’80s getting his Masters in Poetry. But during this time he was also performing his music around eastern Iowa. […]
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