Yearn 2 Cleanse by Penny Peach Perhaps you’ve read to be cautious when finishing off a peach — that the pit contains trace amounts of cyanide. While not quite true […]
Album Reviews
Book Review: ‘Soft Ceremonies’
Pitched with the concept “if A24 made horror in the days of shot-on-video,” indie press Filthy Loot’s horror collection Soft Ceremonies absolutely hits its marks. For the uninitiated, A24 is […]
Album Review: Sun Centauri — ‘Flux4D’
When Alyx Rush declares, “I need my space,” in the first atmospheric gasps of Flux4D, it would be easy to assume the aforementioned space only speaks to normal human conflict, […]
Album Review: Pit Lord — ‘Massive Grilling Capacity’
There is a persistent conflict in heavy metal: that of silliness versus profound seriousness. Extreme metal sees the most self-serious, philosophical bands win critical favor and masked bands are, again, […]
Album Review: Joytrip — ‘Leaving State’
Leaving things never has a natural conclusion. Leaving things means unresolved relationships, passion projects and bucket lists. And maybe, just maybe, that place, or person, or thing left behind is […]
Album Review: GooD Cal-El — ‘Buried Talents’
Buried Talents by GooD Cal-El Spirituality in hip hop comes in many forms, far from the image of clean language and repackaged praise music the idea conjures in my brain. […]
Album Review: The Shining Realm — ‘Talismandala’
Talismandala by Shining Realm “Welcome to the Hallucination we call Home,” beckons a calm, steady voice in its echoes and layers of slithering percussion and Eastern-influenced stringed instrument tapestries. Where […]
Album Review: Lady Revel — ‘Slow Burn’
Lady Revel has matured but will never grow old. With their sophomore album Slow Burn, the self-proclaimed Midwestern indie rock band trades the open-hearted urgency of their 2023 debut for […]
Album Review: Brother Trucker — ‘Live at Octopus’
You can’t talk about the history of music in Iowa without mentioning the seminal (and sadly defunct) grassroots record label Trailer Records, started by Iowa City musician David Zollo. Recently […]
Album Review: Wolfskill & the Wild — ‘Feral Heart’
Take Me As I Am by Wolfskill & The Wild It may seem counterintuitive to first notice and bask in the silence of an album, when music is quite literally […]
Album Review: Andrew Hoyt — ‘Kind of Paradise’
Sun-drenched hooks and sunscreen-slathered horn sections are not very Iowa. But for Andrew Hoyt and his latest EP, Kind of Paradise, bottling sunshine is the point, whether charting heartbreak or […]
Album Review: Abbie Sawyer — ‘Persimmon’
Persimmon by Abbie Sawyer Sitting and listening to Abbie Sawyer’s Persimmon was a blissful experience. It feels like frolicking on the first warm day of spring after a dreadful winter […]

