Slut River Off White slutriver.bandcamp.com On Off White, Slut River is Joe Ross (also of The Tanks), Mickey Shaw and Matt Fenner (of Solid Attitude) and Anna McDermott. If you’ve been going to local shows you’ve seen the Slut-Riverenes in many different bands over the past few years, but in Slut River they seem to […]
Album reviews
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Album Review: The Tanks- Epic Loads
The Tanks Epic Loads thetanks.bandcamp.com The Tanks third long-player, Epic Loads, finds the noise-rock trio settling into a groove with a new drummer, Joe Ross, and refining the more assured approach of their previous album, The heart of Epic Loads’ lineup may be the strongest set of songs the trio’s ever committed to wax. It […]
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Album Review: We Shave – Cuts
We Shave Cuts (Sangre Libre Records) soundcloud.com/weshave We Shave make pretty pop for music nerds. Their latest EP, Cuts, was recorded in a time-space rift where blue-eyed soul, garage rock, kraut rock and hints of no-wave get along like old friends at the bar. But the real secret to We Shave isn’t the genre splicing. […]
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Album Review: Noble Octopus – Like An Island
Noble Octopus Like An Island virb.com/nobleoctopus Since I’ve been writing music reviews for over a decade, I get to hear more than one album from some musicians. In 2009 I reviewed Noble Octopus’ self-titled debut and said of it “The weakest link on the album is the singing. It can be perfect for the material, […]
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Album Review: Colloquialisms – Nothing Remarkable
Colloquialisms Nothing Remarkable colloquialisms.bandcamp.com You may know the man behind Colloquialisms, Joe McNertney, if you shop at the New Pioneer Food Co-op, as the beardy guy behind the meat counter. He’s also Eric Rohn’s collaborator in Noble Octopus, and the two albums share similar silk-screened recycled cardboard covers. But despite some similar gestures, Colloquialisms is […]
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Album Review: Aseethe – Reverent Burden
Aseethe Reverent Burden www.aseethecreation.com With its debut full-length, Reverent Burden, Iowa City drone metal outfit Aseethe finally has enough wax to stretch out and show their stuff. The album is comprised of two mysterious, side-long pieces on a vinyl, without track titles or even clearly marked a or b sides. Aseethe opens the longer of […]
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Album Review: Caterwaulla
Caterwaulla Self-Titled facebook.com/caterwaulla Since I was born in 1957, my life corresponds approximately to the life-span of rock and roll.  In that 55-plus years, there have been times when rock has seemed to be tired and played out. But there’s always some snotty group of kids who come along and beat it back into shape. […]
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Album Review: Tom Garland – Leash Your Kids
Tom Garland Leash Your Kids tomgarlandcomedy.com Tom Garland is no stranger to the Iowa City comedic scene. Emcee of the Yacht Club’s weekly comedy night, One Night Stand, the stand-up performer and touring comic has fully embraced and helped expand on what Iowa City has to offer up-and-coming comics. Garland has opened for such acts […]
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Album Review: Surf Zombies – Lust for Rust
Surf Zombies Lust For Rust facebook.com/surfzombiesband My dad tells a story about seeing the seminal surf-rock band The Ventures at the Melody Mill Ballroom outside of Dubuque in the early 1960s. He happened upon a comb on the sink in the bathroom left by the band. He picked it up and shortly after sold […]
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Album Review/Interview: Oberhofer – Time Capsules II
Brad Oberhofer| 7:00pm | Yacht C lub | $8 | 19+ Even though Brad Oberhofer makes sweeping swathes of ornate, indie-pop, he hardly comes off as the dramatic frontman–with heart stitched on sleeve–he presents on his debut LP, Time Capsules II. Oberhofer spoke fairly quietly, at a measured pace when we talked in mid February. The Novocaine from the […]
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Album Review: Kelly Pardekooper – Yonder
An oft-quoted rule-of-thumb for writers is “write what you know.” Great written works are usually imbued with a strong sense of place derived from the writer’s ability to pull that little bit of themselves in–people, places, conversations, situations. Kelly Pardekooper lived in Iowa most of his life and recorded five albums of Grade-A Iowa Americana. […]
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Album Review: The Pines – Dark So Gold
I’ve been a dedicated follower of former-Iowa City band The Pines since their first album came out on Dave Zollo’s late record label, Trailer Records, in 2004. Benson Ramsey and David Huckfelt have since recorded three albums for Red House Records—a label with a famous affinity for the Iowa City folk and blues scene. Each […]
