Music has done a number on Luke Tweedy. He was a record store guy with a uniquely acerbic bedside manner. He taught himself electronics and audio engineering and built his recording studio, Flat Black, from scratch. He’s documented (in first-rate commercial recordings) adventurous music from Iowa and beyond. He founded the infamous ft(The Shadow Government), […]
Album Reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Pictoria Vark — ‘The Parts I Dread’
The Parts I Dread by Pictoria Vark Nobody sounds like Pictoria Vark. She’s a classic punk balladeer and veritable witch of the North. Her melodies are cool and ethereal. It’s the lyrics that are warm, and when she sings, her voice is naked: wholly unadulterated and unpretentious. Carrie Brownstein would be a fan if she […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Album Review: Ahzia — ‘Welcome to Nowhere’
Iowa does such a great job at spewing out iconic, idealist and illuminous inspiration. Ahzia, a Quad Cities native, established his tone for the year with the release of his latest project, 2021’s Welcome to Nowhere, released in December. He’s an Iowa favorite who has even snagged a spot at the upcoming 2022 Mission Creek […]
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Album Review: Death Bag — ‘Stoopgoblin Suite — Live at Trumpet Blossom Cafe’
Stoopgoblin Suite – Live at Trumpet Blossom Cafe by Death Bag In Death Bag, Chris Wiersema (half of the ambient doom duo Lwa) plays electronics gizmos and Gabi Vanek, a veteran performer in the experimental live music scene who has grown up in the shadows of the University of Iowa School of Music, plays live […]
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Album Review: Dan Tedesco — ‘Morning Bells’
It can be a dicey affair when an artist who operates in traditional songcraft decides to experiment. They risk alienating some of their audience, while the new audience segment they attract may not appreciate the existing back catalog of their more “standard” fare. Dan Tedesco’s excellent new EP, Morning Bells, manages to navigate this territory […]
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Album Review: Zap Tura — ‘Adaptasia’
Adaptasia by Zap Tura With every surge of the pandemic, a soundtrack emerges. Cyclical soundtracks, in fact. First, warm, optimistic fear foists celebrity covers of “Imagine” onto us all. Then, months of winter mark dour observations as people spend time with themselves looking at the brash remains that they all share. Rinse, repeat, release until […]
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Album Review: James Tutson — ‘Still’
James Tutson did not get any chairs to turn with his blind audition performance on The Voice in March of this year. But those who have heard the Iowa City musician — live or on record — know that his sometimes sweet and sometimes raw vocal tone and thoughtfully creative lyrics have the ability to […]
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Album Review: Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us — (self-titled EP)
Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us by Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us When Gabi Vanek announced on Facebook that the catch-all Ox Cart project would be formalized into a new Iowa City experimental music label, the skies opened and angels sang. Well, not technically. But I might have […]
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Album Review: Anthony Worden & the Illiterati — ‘How Could We Lose When We’re So Sincere?’
How Could We Lose When We're So Sincere? by Anthony Worden and the Illiterati In 1968, the Turtles released the album The Turtles Present the Battle Of The Bands, a cartoonish concept album that yielded the hit “Caroline.” Every song on the album was by a different invented group, each with its own style. Anthony […]
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Album Review: Dead Ensign — ‘Q: What Else Is There To Do?’
Q: What Else Is There To Do? by DEAD ENSIGN The first five seconds of Dead Ensign’s Q: What Else Is There To Do? give me a powerful sense of foreboding I haven’t felt from a piece of music since Thom Yorke’s Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film). “Can you feel it?” the vocalist […]
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Album Review: MAAAZE — ‘MAAAZE Vol. I’ EP
Some in Iowa City might recognize Dan Miller as a fixture at Gabe’s Oasis, hosting open mic nights every Tuesday with house band Next Door Four, as well as having played for the last several years in his group Doc Miller. Others might recognize him as the videographer from the live music series No Touching […]
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Album Review: Jim Swim — ‘New Tattoo’ EP
New Tattoo by Jim Swim Jim Swim is not new to the Iowa hip-hop scene. He performs all over the state, but during the day he teaches middle school kids about the importance of learning grammar and proper English. It is only natural he would take his verbal skills to the microphone. His latest release, […]
