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Liz Moen’s origin story, as relayed to me by Luke Tweedy of Flat Black Studios, begins before she recorded a single note. He said she decided to record an album of her own songs, and in short order she was at Flat Black with a band she had just formed. She came to that debut […]
Softee Boy EP by Jim Swim When I first listened to this Jim Swim project, I wasn’t sure if this was all done by one creative or if there were multiple people — a rapper/singer just going over some instrumental tracks. I’ve heard a single or so here and there, but not enough to know […]
UNSEEN DANGER by Ben Driscoll I don’t know if it’s a conscious influence, but the music and moody atmosphere of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks come immediately to mind listening to “Muleville,” the lead-off track on Ben Driscoll’s Unseen Danger. The tremolo guitar is an Angelo Badalamenti favorite, and the cooing backing vocals from Katherine Ruestow […]
Dog Years by Joel Sires To paraphrase the famous Corinthians Bible passage, Joel Sires — songwriter and frontman for Cedar Falls band TWINS — set aside his “childish ways” for the songs on their last album, Dream On, out earlier this year. That new maturity on record is a result of woodshedding new songs at […]
Lungs by MurnauMurnau is a two-piece band from the small town of Morrison, Illinois, just a short ride up I-88 from the Quad Cities. Last year the band rose from the double obscurity of a square little town and an almost decade-long hiatus, releasing a compilation of old recordings (Static) and wasting no time in […]
NEW ROOTS GROW: A Benefit Compilation For The CRANDIC Corridor Derecho Storm Recovery by Money Tapes I didn’t realize how much of what I’ve come to know as the Cedar Rapids area was about the trees. After the Aug. 10 derecho event cost the area an estimated 65% of its tree canopy cover, I have […]
The Mountain Goats (erstwhile Iowan John Darnielle with Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas and Jon Wurster) are indie folk legends of their own design, led largely by Darnielle’s singular and incessant creative churnings. Getting Into Knives, the Mountain Goats’ 19th studio album (and second of 2020) was recorded in less than a week at the beginning […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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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