Jeff Stagg · Quiet Day Within 10 seconds of hitting play on Jeff Stagg’s Basement Views I had to double check that I hadn’t hit play on a Todd Snider album. While Stagg is more lyrically agnostic than Snider, thematic overlaps make it clear they have at least some of the same thoughts in […]
Album Reviews
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Album Review: Kelsie James — ‘Songs About Daisies’
Songs About Daisies by Kelsie James Not many teenagers can say they’ve already made a dent in their career bucket list. But since performing at a music festival for thousands of people and releasing her five-song EP, 16-year-old Urbandale musician Kelsie James has bagged two of her goals. James played Des Moines’ 80/35 last summer, […]
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Album Review: HomeBrewed — ‘Devil In My Soul’
If you are planning a fundraiser in the CRANDIC area and are thinking about just putting on a Spotify playlist and calling it a day, please don’t. Ask HomeBrewed to play instead. HomeBrewed describes themselves as a “fun filled, mixed generational group, playing bluesy rock and roll and rockabilly.” The band performs primarily at benefit […]
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Album Review: EleanorGrace — ‘Dream About A Cowboy’
On her debut album Dream About a Cowboy, there’s a quiet strength to EleanorGrace’s voice, like Reba McEntire and Billie Eilish had a baby that’s singing through Taylor Swift’s Fearless. At only 19 years old, EleanorGrace (EG) has created a work of art with influences spanning decades and genres. The album opener, “Daydreams,” is an […]
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Album Review: The Ruralists — ‘Trying’
Trying by The Ruralists “I pray to the saints,” begins the Ruralists’ “pandemic album,” Trying. Then, later, with the strained tension of drawn out tones and stretched-then-resolving chords, album opener “HereNow” continues, “And I wait/on the word/on the whisper never heard/though I listen with all my might.” The northwestern Iowa band includes several members who […]
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Album Review: Histo — ‘JGDC’
JGDC by histo A near-fatal lung infection gave multi-instrumentalist Donald Curtis a sense of urgency to follow his passions for music and form Histo, according to the band’s bio. The prefix “histo” medically refers to body tissue, but it also can mean “structure” or “set upright” (as in a histogram bar chart) — either of […]
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Album Review: Bella Moss — ‘Midwestern Daydreams’
Debut albums are always about moving boxes, and Bella Moss’ debut album Midwestern Daydreams is full of them. Throughout, this seven-song set feels like a “summer’s surely over” album delivered here at the blustery start of spring. “Change” is the not-so-secret word in these songs, and Bella Moss sings about loves losing their effect and […]
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Album Review: Byrn D. Paul — ‘The Great Vehicle’
The Great Vehicle by Byrn D Paul Byrn D. Paul is one of those musicians on a wavelength entirely their own. He plays guitar, cello, violin, oud, koto, pedal steel guitar and modular synthesizer on The Great Vehicle. On previous releases he positively shreds on the guitar, but this latest album is not about virtuosity. […]
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Album Review: Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward — ‘Happy Hearts’
Happy Hearts by Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward Cross-country collaborations with punk-rock legends are nothing new for Sam Locke Ward. His glorious work with Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, etc.) under the SLW cc Watt moniker has been covered in this publication before. At the same time those albums were unleashed on an unsuspecting public, […]
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Album Review: Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops — ‘Manic Fever’
Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops – Manic Fever by Greg Wheeler & The Poly Mall Cops You didn’t realize you were waiting for this moment. But I promise you, you were. Later this month, on March 24, just a couple weeks ahead of their appearance at Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival, Des Moines […]
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Album Review: Ramin Roshandel & Jean-François Charles — ‘Jamshid Jam’
Jamshid Jam by Ramin Roshandel & Jean-Francois Charles Since the 1960s, it seems the University of Iowa School of Music has loosened up about what is allowed and appropriate music for which one can get a Ph.d. Composition — in a good way. There’s always been a raffish, crusty side to the department going back […]
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Album Review: Sylvee & the Sea — ‘The Less I Needed the Better I Felt’
The Less I Needed the Better I Felt by Pieta Brown Pieta Brown says time she spent in Tucson and the friends she made there sparked a music career. These friendships continue to this day as she works with AZ legends like Howe Gelb from Giant Sand and Joey Burns and John Convertino from Calexico. […]
