It’s easy, if you live in Iowa City, to look upon Ames with pity larded with contempt. You’re conditioned to cringe at yellow and red. You hear “Ames” and immediately think “thick-necked Ag majors.” You don’t much like the men of Iowa State either. Which of course is unfair, and Strong Like Bear’s Seeking Ghosts […]
Album Reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: The Box Flowers – Trophies
Sometimes I can’t make heads or tails of an album, and it’s a good thing. Those can be the albums that stretch your whole idea of what’s aesthetically satisfying about music. Then there’s Trophies by The Box Flower, known to his mom as Daniel Weston Payne. I can tell he’s an artist because the CD […]
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Album Review: Natalie Brown – Violin Crossings
Natalie Brown is an Eastern Iowa music staple–playing violin/fiddle in a number of notable bands in the area including The Trollies, with Nikki Lunden, The Mayflies and with local guitar legend Craig Erickson in their latest jamband Planet Pluto. She is classically-trained and holds a degree in violin performance, a master’s in music education and […]
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Album Review: The Lonelyhearts/Caleb Engstrom – Winter Club Split
The Lonelyhearts/Caleb Engstrom Winter Club Split Mission Creek Records A split single is usually a 7” record, but this is a CD whose music wouldn’t fit on a 7” and a CD…wait for it…only has one side. But Mission Creek Records is thinking conceptually. A split as a way for two bands/artists to–as they say […]
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Album Review: Dave Beck – Stranger Homes
Dave Beck Stranger Homes www.davebeckmusic.com Dave Beck grew up in Iowa and when he lived in IC he worked at Mickey’s, so I won’t hold his current residence in Brooklyn against him. He’s in good company; Brooklyn’s lousy with Iowa expats. And to the extent there’s a serious acoustic singer-songwriter scene in NYC, Beck is […]
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Album Review: Katharine Ruestow – Self-titled
You might be familiar with Katharine Ruestow as one of the Diplomettes–the female vocal duo that fronts the Iowa City Soul and R&B group The Diplomats of Solid Sound–or as part of Iowa City band New Beat Society, which gigged around town in 2005 and 2006 and released one EP, Bare Essentials. Ruestow’s self-titled solo […]
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Album Review: The Uniphonics – Crawl
One of the most unfortunate legacies of the 90s was Rap Rock. Guitars and rhymes together don’t have to suck but it seems like those bands were trying hard to do just that. Thankfully the Uniphonics have gone another direction, mixing rhymes with funk. What could be more natural, since hip-hop was built on beats […]
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Album Review – 85 Decibel Monks: Reel-to-Real
85 Decibel Monks is the production team of Iowa City hip-hip producers Tack-Fu, The Chaircrusher and drumk. Reel-to-Real is their latest release and the third under this name since 2000. To make the album, Tack sorted through a sizable archive of work amassed over fourteen years. Still, consumed in one sitting, the collection of tracks is surprisingly even.
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Album Review – Diplomats of Solid Sound: What Goes Around Comes Around
The Iowa City purveyors of retro rhythm and blues are back with a new slab of wax–their fifth since 2001 and their second since they added those sassy sirens of soul, The Diplomettes (lead vocalists Sarah Cram and Katharine Ruestow).
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Album Reviews: Paul Cary — Ghost of a Man
Paul Cary’s nasal squall of a voice–familiar to fans of his former Iowa City band The Horrors–is irresistibly rough. And on Ghost Of A Man, the vintage microphones and elderly spring reverbs turn his voice into something that exists out of time. It’s as though he was the guy who got thrown out of Sun Studios in the ‘50s for smoking up in the bathroom.
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Album Review – The Beggarmen: A Soft Day
Iowa City has a deep tradition of acoustic folk music, of which the Beggarmen are proud members. They specialize in Irish folk music, but in addition to playing traditional tunes they write their own songs in the tradition. Their musicianship on A Soft Day is impressive, all the more so for being completely relaxed.
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Album Review: Let's Whisper – Keep A Secret?
Dana and Colin make up Let’s Whisper. They have released a teaser EP with some material that points to the future. It is a splendid piece of listening, one that will show you what the American indie pop underground is all about in the 2010s.
