Heavy Revelations by Dope Walker The lineup of Dope Walker is an unlikely cross-section of members from Minnesota and Iowa: Aaron “Lazerbeak” Mader from the Twin Cities hip-hop collective Doomtree; Lee County, Iowa folk mainstay William Elliot Whitmore; Mike Schulte from Iowa juggernaut The Pork Tornadoes; Joel Anderson from ft (The Shadow Government); Jeff Allen, […]
Album reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Keenan Crow — ‘Ambient Anachronism’ EP
Ambient Anachronisms by Keenan Crow Ambient Anachronism is the first solo EP by Des Moines-based musician and activist Keenan Crow, perhaps best known as the director of policy and advocacy at One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization. In other words, you can assume Crow has a front-row seat to the special kind of buffoonery […]
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Album Review: Run Dog — ‘The Big Room EP’
The Big Room by Run Dog Joel Sires slides into my DMs, “You gotta check this band out. Run Dog from CF. Unreal. So fully realized.” High praise from someone I consider to be one of Eastern Iowa’s great songwriters. I wasted no time checking out the quartet, who released their debut four-song EP The […]
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Album Review: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati — ‘Plain Angels’
Plain Angels by Anthony Worden Anthony Worden makes music that an archivist of 20th century music would make. His early albums were heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground. Since then, he’s branched out. On Plain Angels, he writes songs as winsome and pleasing to the ear as Badfinger and Matthew Sweet. The album title itself […]
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Album Review: Stephanie Catlett — ‘Face the Terrain’
Face the Terrain by Stephanie Catlett Being tasked to write an album review can be fraught with emotions, but the opening slide guitar of Stephanie Catlett’s new EP, Face the Terrain, sold me immediately. The warm tones of the opening track are beautiful and evoke all of the ’70s-by-way-of-the-’90s alt country/indie I loved in college. […]
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Album Review: Swampland Jewels — ‘Swampland Jewels’
The Swampland Jewels by The Swampland Jewels Swampland Jewels, led by Iowa City music veteran Nate Basinger, is a band that’s found its niche, combining music from Louisiana’s musical tradition with a mélange of jazz, country and roots rock. The Jewels also represent the hard-to-define terroir of Iowa music, a “why not?” sense of musical […]
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Album Review: Katie and the Honky Tonks — ‘Two-Steppin’ in the Shower’
Two Steppin in the Shower by Katie and the Honky Tonks You only need to watch Cedar Falls band Katie and the Honky Tonks cover Loretta Lynn’s 1973 smash “Rated X” to understand the rich and influential legacy of women in country music on which they stand. (Luckily, you can: Gallagher Bluedorn has an archive […]
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Album Review: Strangers of Necessity — ‘Vibe Theory’
Mission Creek Festival: Strangers of Necessity/Anthony Worden/Armand Hammer, Gabe’s, Iowa City, Friday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m., $65-215 Vibe Theory by Strangers Of Necessity I miss ’90s hip hop. A lot. And that’s no dig against today; I just miss that sound. Lucky for me, and you too, Strangers of Necessity have us covered. Their […]
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Album Review: Mr. Softheart — ‘Magdalene in Crisis’
Magdalene In Crisis by Mr. Softheart Somewhere in the search engine results for “magnolia,” there is one of many paintings titled exactly that. It’s just a JPG of the original by Martin Johnson Heade, but thanks to the click-to-zoom functionality on slam.org, you can get close enough to see the wrinkles in the white paint. […]
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Album Review: diistancing — ‘this love ain’t a film’
this love ain't a film by diistancing For the last couple of years, Iowa City’s James Hirsch has been releasing music under the name diistancing. His latest, releasing on good old Saint Valentine’s Day, is this love ain’t a film. Featuring seven slow-burning, melancholic love/breakup songs, this diistancing release is stripped-down and raw, incorporating elements […]
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Album Review: GOLDBLUMS — ‘Bless Me for the Get Better’
Bless Me for the Get Better by GOLDBLUMS Over the last few years, the Des Moines-based group GOLDBLUMS have recorded with a wide sonic palette, including elements of garage punk, noise pop, and even some stoner sludge metal into their music. On their latest, Bless Me for the Get Better, they present six tracks full […]
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Album Review: Bellyard — ‘Bellyard’
BELLYARD by BELLYARD Iowa music is nothing if not eclectic. Put a track by early ’90s prog-punkers Fetal Pig side-by-side with something spawned in the late ’90s by genre-less ramblers Why Make Clocks, for example. You’d be forgiven for not being aware that both acts were fronted by Des Moines’ Sump Pump Records maestro Dan […]
