Local Albums: April 2010 – Sad Iron Music is the musical persona of Jason Lewis, originally from West Virginia, but living now in Iowa City and attending the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He was in the alt-country band Star City that a few years back achieved some prominence, accompanied, unfortunately, by little financial success. After turning […]
Album reviews
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Ben Schmidt: Silt
Local Albums: March 2010 – Ben Schmidt is a guy who writes songs and plays guitar, which in Iowa City, means he has to work pretty hard to stand out from the crowd. Schmidt’s singing is precisely pitched and without ornament. His songwriting has a pleasant, relaxed accessibility. His guitar playing is accomplished, but Schmidt’s […]
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Surf Zombies: Something Weird
Local Albums: April 2010 – Being of a certain age, and having been a kid in 1960s California, surf music is totemic to me. From listening to my uncle’s Beach Boys records on a blonde-tolex-covered suitcase record player, to hearing “Wipeout” played by every garage band on my walk home from Booksin Elementary in San […]
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The Woes – Heaven Knows
John Schlotfelt reviews “Heaven Knows,” by The Woes, who will visit the Mill this Saturday night to play with Shame Train and The Lonelyhearts
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Album Review: Petit Mal
Petit Mal Bless Your Little Heart Public Schools Records www.myspace.com/petitmal Petit Mal’s latest, Bless Your Little Heart, is a collection of 10 scrappy tunes following in the footsteps of fellow Iowa alt-rockers House of Large Sizes. The saccharine sweetness of the album’s title is almost nowhere to be found. If you want Care Bears and […]
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Album Review: The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers I and Love and You Sony Records http://www.theavettbrothers.com/ North Carolina’s The Avett Brothers have always had a few too many ideas for their own good. The band’s 6th studio album, I and Love and You, fits into the lose framework of Americana, but within those confines the brothers Avett are all over […]
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Album Review: Public Property – Work to Do
Recorded in the famed Anchor Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, Public Property’s new album features some big-name contemporary reggae musicians like Toots Hibbert from Toots and the Maytals–who is playing with the band for their July 2 CD release show in Des Moines’ People’s bar–Ticklah from Dub Side of the Moon,and Elliot Martin, the lead singer from John Brown’s Body. The album also features a solo from Jake Shimabukuro, a man known as the world’s best ukulele player.
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Album Review: Noble Octopus | Noble Octopus
The Noble Octopus The Noble Octopus The Noble Octopus was started by Eric Rohn and friends at Grinnell College before moving to Iowa City. With the emphasis on clean guitar sounds and low-key vocals they recall the softer side of Yo La Tengo. The Steve Reich-esque looped guitar piece “Droplets and Isolations” immediately had me […]
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Album Review: Bowerbirds | Upper Air
Bowerbirds Upper Air Dead Ocean www.myspace.com/bowerbirds The sophomore release from North Carolina’s Bowerbirds opens simply and unassumingly with an acoustic guitar and the voice of lead singer Phil Moore. Upper Air isn’t making a grand statement, nor is it declaring a grand departure from the group’s debut Hymns for a Dark Horse, it is quietly calling […]
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The White Tornado: Album Review
The White Tornado Seek Shelter www.white2rnado.com The White Tornado is keyboardist Bill Peterson, who’s been playing shows around Iowa City for some time. Seek Shelter, his debut record, showcases his facility with the piano and organ, not to mention his puckish sense of humor. Stylistically he’s not stuck in any one genre for long, but two […]
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Album Review: Porno Galactica – MixTape Vol. 1
Before Metallica and Napster ever butted heads, people used to venture
out and by their music on something called compact discs. Then, came
the era of the download. Now, artists like Porno Galactica can spread
their music without having to busk out on the pavement. Porno
Galactica, consists of Don and Phil Rabalais. They have made their
first release, Mixtape Vol. 1 directly available to anyone with an
internet connection and a computer. The release doesn’t sound like
anything you’d expect from Fairfield, Iowa.
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Album Review: N.A.S.A. – Spirit of Apollo
In the late 1990s, a new phenomena proliferated through commercial hip hop. Deejays began releasing albums overloaded with guest vocals and uninspired tunes. If you were a fan of rap music it was hard to escape this constant barrage of “exclusive” albums. Most were 15 tracks too long and you could tell every emcee was more concerned about the paycheck than the rhymes.
