Illinios John Fever Now Is Not The Way It Is Local Albums: March 2010 – Country Blues can really be a challenge for both performers and listeners. The basic musical gestures ossified into cliché 50 years ago, and it’s rare to find someone who can wring something new out of them. The only way it can work […]
Album Reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Alex Body: Just Say Yes
Alex Body Just Say Yes Self-release Local Albums: March 2010 – Alex Body’s solo debut, Just Say Yes, is a glitchy, lo-fi epic consisting of condemnations of himself and humanity over digital and analog loops and faux pipe organ drones. Just Say Yes takes some time to warm up, but by the third track, “Without […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Coolzey – The Honey
Local Albums: January 2010 – Zachary Lint Aka Coolzey has taken time off from home renovation and starring in zombie movies, to drop another CD of profound silliness. Or silly profundity–I’m not quite sure. Full disclosure: I’ve done some post production and mastering work for Zack in the past. But hey if you want someone […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
The Woes – Heaven Knows
John Schlotfelt reviews “Heaven Knows,” by The Woes, who will visit the Mill this Saturday night to play with Shame Train and The Lonelyhearts
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Autechre "Oversteps"
There are few musicians whose music is as polarizing as Autechre. It would be one thing if they were resolutely in the experimental music camp. The avant-garde have their audience, who embrace abstraction and difficulty, and revel in sound only marginally less random than brownian motion. But Autechre occupies a strange middle ground between the […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Mountains: Choral
CD Reviews: February 2010 – Mountains recorded it’s third release, Choral, in front of a live audience with minimal overdubs added later for effect or layering. And despite the trappings of their genre (ambient), the record feels live, not stately. The Brooklyn-based duo pays attention to the listener, quietly adding elements like a fog descending […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Porch Builder
Porch Builder Tall Tales and Misadventures http://www.myspace.com/porchbuilder When an album begins with a country song about getting arrested for growing marijuana, you know you’re dealing with some Iowa boys who’ve been around the block. These guys have been playing together for 15 years, and on this album, you can hear all those years–they’ll stay in […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Petit Mal
Petit Mal Bless Your Little Heart Public Schools Records www.myspace.com/petitmal Petit Mal’s latest, Bless Your Little Heart, is a collection of 10 scrappy tunes following in the footsteps of fellow Iowa alt-rockers House of Large Sizes. The saccharine sweetness of the album’s title is almost nowhere to be found. If you want Care Bears and […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers I and Love and You Sony Records http://www.theavettbrothers.com/ North Carolina’s The Avett Brothers have always had a few too many ideas for their own good. The band’s 6th studio album, I and Love and You, fits into the lose framework of Americana, but within those confines the brothers Avett are all over […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Public Property – Work to Do
Recorded in the famed Anchor Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, Public Property’s new album features some big-name contemporary reggae musicians like Toots Hibbert from Toots and the Maytals–who is playing with the band for their July 2 CD release show in Des Moines’ People’s bar–Ticklah from Dub Side of the Moon,and Elliot Martin, the lead singer from John Brown’s Body. The album also features a solo from Jake Shimabukuro, a man known as the world’s best ukulele player.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Joe McNertney | Colloquialisms
Joe McNertney Colloquialisms Mr. McNerty is one of Eric Rohm’s collaborators in The Noble Octopus, and like his label mate on the enigmatically named Pelletier Comes Alive! label, McNerty is not a shouter. Â This CD is anchored in the acoustic folk songwriting tradition, but also contains generous helpings of sonic experimentation. Â Some stuff he does […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Noble Octopus | Noble Octopus
The Noble Octopus The Noble Octopus The Noble Octopus was started by Eric Rohn and friends at Grinnell College before moving to Iowa City. With the emphasis on clean guitar sounds and low-key vocals they recall the softer side of Yo La Tengo. The Steve Reich-esque looped guitar piece “Droplets and Isolations” immediately had me […]
