I'm With You by William Elliott Whitmore William Elliott Whitmore has been described as a folk punk country banjo soul singer, and his new album I’m With You (out Oct. 17 on Bloodshot Records) is a fine example of all of those things. The album, Whitmore’s eighth, and his newest collection of original work since […]
Album Reviews
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Album Review: Matthew Grimm — ‘Dumpster-Fire Days’
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been holding a lot inside the last several months. I spent most of June crying every day, but I can’t remember the last time I cried since. I’ve been angry and numb and unwilling to hope. Unwilling to feel. Dumpster-Fire Days, the new album from former Iowa Citian […]
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Album Review: Johnnie Cluney — Love Is Law
Love is Law by Johnnie Cluney Johnnie Cluney’s album Love Is Law includes two sound montages titled “New Years Prayer,” made up of pitch-shifting snippets of instruments, including a chord organ and random percussion. On cassette (clearly the way Cluney would prefer the album be experienced) these are something of an amuse bouche for each […]
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Album Review: Vanek/Yager — ‘Ghost Actions’
Ghost Actions by Gabi Vanek & Will Yager What can you do during quarantine, when nothing you read or hear seems to suit the mood that hovers around the margins of panic? Something like this. What happens when ASMR stops working, and you need to give a voice to the strange background anxiety that bubbles […]
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Album Review: Hairless Monk — ‘Monolith’
Carved by the Sea, B-Sides from the Depths by Hairless Monk Even before the great quarantine of 2020 started, Jacob Willenborg, under the guise of Hairless Monk, was being highly productive. Since 2015 he has performed, recorded, mixed and mastered five EPs all while maintaining a full-time job and drumming for Cedar Rapids punk band […]
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Album Review: The Aircraft — ‘Dust is Dust’
Dust is Dust by The Aircraft The Aircraft, a three-piece band from Sioux Center, Iowa released their first full length album, Dust is Dust, on May 15. The indie-rock debut features a set of songs that summon a summertime spirit, ranging from earnest, higher-tempo songs that would sound quite excellent blasting on a stereo while […]
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Album Review: Greenlake — ‘Best Years’
Best Years by Greenlake On the inaugural World Art Day on April 15 this year, UNESCO tweeted, “In times of crisis, we need culture to make us resilient, give us hope, remind us that we are not alone.” Through the bad series of events in 2020, artists and art have been there to shine a […]
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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 […]
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Album Review: Dante Powell — ‘The Squirrels Get Fat’
Comedian Dante Powell presents the Midwestern life in a hilarious and delightfully new way on his debut album The Squirrels Get Fat. Powell has lived in Iowa since 2012, after moving from Louisiana for a relationship that didn’t last long once he arrived in the Hawkeye State. Much of The Squirrels Get Fat is about […]
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Album Review: Paul Cary — ‘Raven’
Paul Cary makes raggedy, broken music. His guitar sounds are dirty, distorted and low-fi. Drummer Johnathan Crawford sounds like he’s banging on a briefcase. Cary’s nasal voice puts the mixer in the red, surrounding every accented syllable with a cloud of fuzz. “Snake In the Grass,” the opening track on his 2020 release, Raven, drips […]
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Album Review: Jordan Sellergren — ‘Sweet, Bitter Tears’
Jordan Sellergren, local songstress and woman about town [Ed. note: and Little Village art director], has a new record out, titled Sweet, Bitter Tears. And I’m fairly certain that it’s the album we all need right now. It opens with “Get in the Woodshed,” which explores the idea of lacking time — or desire — […]
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Album Review: TWINS — ‘Dream On’
Dream On by TWINS The four years leading up to the latest album from Cedar Falls band TWINS, Dream On, could be summarized in this line from track two, “Hearts”: “Well, I was playin’ around ’til you came to town…” Singer and songwriter Joel Sires told me in a chat, “I’d exhausted the type of […]
