Iowa City Song Project maximumamesrecords.com As a teenager hungry for a scene larger than the veritable cultural island of Bellevue, IA, at night I would arrange and rearrange my radio antenna to try to capture KUNI to get a glimpse of the world of music around me, which included bands from Iowa City. It […]
Album reviews
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Album Review: Tallgrass – God, Sin, Whiskey and Women
Tallgrass God, Sin, Whiskey and Women facebook.com/Tallgrassband I hate country music. Sort of. If you drive around Iowa with just FM radio in your car, you hear a lot of what they call “country music” and that music is to the real music of the country folk of the United States what the Matterhorn […]
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Album Review: Unknown Component – Blood v. Electricity
Unknown Component Blood v. Electricity www.unknowncomponent.com Keith Lynch, the man behind Unknown Component, may cringe when I draw an easy comparison between his latest release and the work of Radiohead, but I make the comparison lovingly and without claims of derivativeness. Unknown Component has all the elements in place for a great alternative rock album: […]
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Album Review: Samuel Locke Ward – Double Nightmare
Samuel Locke Ward Double Nightmare samuellockeward.bandcamp.com I was introduced to the insanity of “Big Lizard In My Backyard” by The Dead Milkmen sometime in the 80’s. The irreverent, usually scatological humor and unpolished performances on the album seemed to have dislodged the chromosome that would have prevented me from being able to enjoy the hometaping […]
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Album Review: D.O.P.E. Clique – Blunt Force Trauma
D.O.P.E. Clique Blunt Force Trauma Iowa hip hop has an identity problem. As an urban phenomenon that has gone worldwide, the further it gets from big city African American culture, the harder practitioners need to work to find an authentic way to both stay true to the roots, and to represent their own experiences. D.O.P.E. […]
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Album Review: Hott – Guaranteed to Destroy
Hott Guaranteed to Destroy www.hottguaranteedtodestroy.com Few bands have made such an immediate splash as Hott has in the Iowa City music scene. Partly it came from the participation of longtime Iowa City musicians Action Man (Ed Nehring) and Big Daddy (Kylie Buddin). Those guys were charter members of the punk/hardcore scene that exploded in IC […]
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Album Review: Tuff Jerks – Self-titled
Tuff Jerks Self-titled http://tuffjerks.bandcamp.com/ Listening to the new record from Tuff Jerks makes me really want a Miller High Life. While I fully respect the sawdust tang of Pabst Blue Ribbon, it fails to fill me me with the same schmaltz Miller High Life does. I view High Life as the ideal beer for dancing […]
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Album Review: Dave Olson – No October
Dave Olson No October daveolsonmusic.com “What’s that place that she came from? A little town a couple miles from where the plane of Buddy Holly went down.” – Dave Olson, on “Buddy Holly” “Buddy Holly” with its Clear Lake reference wraps up No October—the latest album from Dave Olson, a Twin Cities-transplanted former Iowa Citian. […]
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Album Review: Alexis Stevens – Self-titled
Alexis Stevens Self-titled alexisstevens.bandcamp.com Alexis Stevens’ sophomore album is almost endlessly poignant. Stevens’ self-titled album has turned my daily commute into a bittersweet epic whose only disappointment is when work comes into view and the dream of a road trip ends as I punch the clock. There’s a reason I smell the Atlantic Ocean during […]
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Album Review: Rahlan Kay – Relationships: A Sucka 4 Luv Story
Rahlan Kay Relationships: A Sucka 4 Luv Story reverbnation.com/rahlankay Beginning sometime in the late 90s, a loose confederation of Hip Hop MCs, producers and DJs began meeting Monday evenings at Vince Woolums’ (founder of the Rotation party crew) home. It came to be known as the Iowa City Beats & Rhymes Society. It was the […]
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Album Review: Bermuda Report – Bittersweet
Bermuda Report Bittersweet facebook.com/bermudareport When I reviewed their debut EP last year, I said that Bermuda Report easily evoked a vacation in the tropics with their jazzy tropicalia-influenced pop. For Bermuda Report’s debut full-length album, Bittersweet, the tiki bar is closed, the vacation is over and singer Abby Sawyer is unpacking her baggage—emotional baggage. The […]
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Album Review: Awful Purdies – Hiatus
Awful Purdies Hiatus www.awfulpurdies.com The women of the Awful Purdies combine many years of musical experience, compounded by six years of playing shows together. They all sing, play and write, staying close to the modern folk music vernacular. What gets me about the Awful Purdies is that they come together and create something seamless and […]
