Iowa City bands swap members, and the members swap instruments. Case in point: Maiden Mars, which boasts Lipstick Homicide guitarist Kate Kane on drums. In this band, Alex Skalla and Katie Rosenberger handle the songwriting…
Album reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Mad Monks – The Dark Retreat
Mad Monks The Dark Retreat facebook.com/MadMonks Mention “concept album” and many will picture the recorded excess of bands like The Who, Rush, Styx, Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP — the list is endless. Sometimes it’s done well, but the need to squeeze in an overwrought story oftentimes compromises the overall work. Iowa City band Mad Monks […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Sweet Chariot – 1985
1985 by Sweet Chariot Sweet Chariot 1985 sweetchariotic.bandcamp.com Welcome to Iowa Meta-Rock City, home of Sweet Chariot, whose new album 1985—like Nigel Tufnel’s custom amplifiers in Spinal Tap—goes “one more” than Van Halen’s…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Barry Phipps – The Town
The needle drops on Barry Phipps’ The Town and an uplifting organ crackles and pops, skipping its way through a brief instrumental intro and sighing toward a jolly, aptly titled “Sunny Sunday Afternoon.” It may feel a bit too twee for a spring 2015 release, but it is catchy and beautifully arranged, and repeat listens create an emotional reassurance rooted in a kind of imagined nostalgia; it’s as if a past that can’t be placed is painting a future for us of daily routines carried out with care and civility, and neighbors remembering to love before being left to miss one another.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Reviews: Younger – Self-titled
The self-titled debut by Iowa City trio Younger nicely balances intricate arrangements with more hooks than a box full of fishing tackle. Many of their songs contain verse-chorus-verse-defying breakdowns and changes, though without sounding busy or proggy, like on the album’s lead track, “Street Rat.” Similarly, “Clash” begins with a lilting guitar riff and rumbling bass line that propels the first two verses before switching gears halfway through—slowing the tempo and descending into a spiral of three-part harmonized, interlocking bah-bah-baaaah vocals.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Mirror Coat – Whispers
“Shoegaze” was the genre of a group of late ‘80s and early ‘90s bands primarily from the U.K. who shared a common musical esthetic. Part Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” and part Britpop, the sound was distinguished by its use of layers of effects. The name “shoegaze” came from the observation…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Coolzey and Soce the Elemental Wizard – Coolsay EP
Coolzey (aka Zack Lint) is a hip-hop all-arounder; he produces most of his own beats, he plays every rock instrument and does his own home studio recordings…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Gayla Drake – Aunt G and the Stone City Nephews
Gayla Drake is a veteran Iowa singer/songwriter who put out her first album 20 years ago. Her latest release, Aunt G and the Stone City Nephews, represents…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Angle – Definitive Bedtime Stories
It is gratifying to follow the music of someone like Angle over a long period. This writer has known him for 15 years and lost count of the albums and EPs of his that have been reviewed in Little Village. Angle (aka Jarid Catrenich) has always had a distinctive flow and powerful voice, but his writing has gotten deeper over the years.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Milk Duct Tape – Styrofoam Tombstone
KFMH (99 Plus!) out of Muscatine was the default radio station for a lot of Iowa blue-collar rockers back in the day; it was hippy-dippy enough for Deadheads, hard enough for headbangers and eclectic to a fault. Milk Duct Tape creates the kind of music that would have…
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Ritmocano – Familia
Latin jazz collective Ritmocano is an all-star lineup of the Iowa jazz community, headed by percussionist and one of my former UI instructors, James Dreier. On Familia, Ritmocano’s most recent album, he demonstrates his abilities playing multiple percussive instruments, from the congas often found in Afro-Cuban music, to the Batá drums of West Africa.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Volcano Boys – Self-titled
On paper, Volcano Boys looks like another project from the prolific Jordan Mayland (Jordan Mayland and the Thermal Detonators, Keepers of the Carpet, Nuclear Rodeo, Electronidoll and Tires), who is the principal vocalist and songwriter. But the blending of talent from Wolves in the Attic and Mantis Pincers member Trent Derby (drums, percussion and vocals), Eric Moffitt (guitar) and Tom Reneker (bass), gives Volcano Boys a sound reminiscent of retro-’90s alternative guitar rock.
