“You said you didn’t want love. You said that you didn’t want nothing. I don’t think it matters at all,” wistfully recites Joytrip’s Michael Schodin on “Taken Aback,” the infectious opening song of the band’s debut EP, Mr. Time and the Joyful Ploys. Schodin, Joytrip’s vocalist and guitarist, describes the band’s sound as “road trip […]
Album reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Early Girl — ‘Lovers Out to Pasture’
Lovers Out to Pasture by Early Girl On their Bandcamp page, Iowa City trio Early Girl proudly proclaim to be “bringing queer aesthetics back to pop rock.” The gritty opening riff of “Green Eyes” telegraphs this plainly, immediately invoking the shimmy bop of the B-52’s iconic “Private Idaho.” But Early Girl builds on the influence […]
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Album Review: Subatlantic — ‘Say It Again’
Say It Again by Subatlantic Quad Cities band Subatlantic’s new album Say It Again opens with a sparsely arranged synth/guitar/vocal thematic overture titled “Fate” asking, “What would you say if we tried today? / What would you say if we died today?” Every word counts, and we’re measured by how we use them. “Fate” acts […]
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Album Review: 24thankyou — ‘Everything I Was, Burning Slow’
Everything I Was, Burning Slow by 24thankyou The bedrooms in old, rented houses from Fairchild to South Lucas are held together by paint — layers upon layers of beiges and grays that do the semester’s tenants the courtesy of covering up mold colonies and mysterious stains. If those bedroom walls could talk through those layers […]
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Album Review: Elizabeth Moen — ‘For Arthur’
For Arthur by Elizabeth Moen The teenaged Arthur Russell left Oskaloosa in 1968. He was a musical prodigy (cello and piano), a hippie vagabond and a spiritual seeker. He moved to a Buddhist commune in San Francisco, passed his high school equivalency, then became Allen Ginsberg’s accompanist and perhaps lover. Five years later, he hopped […]
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Album Review: Sam Locke Ward — ‘Thrift Store Gtr Gold’
Thrift Store Gtr Gold by Samuel Locke Ward “Everything that they ever warned us about, all the sad things, all the bad things, all of those things, they are coming. They are all coming to pass.” So singeth Samuel Locke Ward, master of minimalism, grim jester and bard of Iowa in the unhinged 2020s. In […]
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Album Review: Miss Christine — ‘Bittersweet’
Bittersweet by Miss Christine Christine Moad, who records under the moniker Miss Christine, gave themself an unenviable task: to take the dumpster fire of the last three years and turn it into music. Their latest album Bittersweet released in June, and in both its construction and its resultant music, this is a pandemic album through […]
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Album Review: Widow7 — ‘Our New Doomsday’
There were a handful of years when I had a strange fixation on the post-grunge band Breaking Benjamin. Strange only because my general taste would grow to bend toward alternative and folk music, though a selection of Breaking Benjamin songs have never gone out of rotation for me. I’d never quite pinned down what drew […]
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Album Review: Chill Mac — ‘None Chiller’
None Chiller by Chill Mac The moment you press play on “Heart & Soul,” the first track of None Chiller, Dom Russell (performing as Chill Mac) establishes himself as more than just a rapper. “This is deeper than rap, I got a story to tell,” he says. Mac paints pictures of his past, and expresses […]
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Album Review: Jeff Stagg — ‘Basement Views’
Jeff Stagg · Quiet Day Within 10 seconds of hitting play on Jeff Stagg’s Basement Views I had to double check that I hadn’t hit play on a Todd Snider album. While Stagg is more lyrically agnostic than Snider, thematic overlaps make it clear they have at least some of the same thoughts in […]
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Album Review: Kelsie James — ‘Songs About Daisies’
Songs About Daisies by Kelsie James Not many teenagers can say they’ve already made a dent in their career bucket list. But since performing at a music festival for thousands of people and releasing her five-song EP, 16-year-old Urbandale musician Kelsie James has bagged two of her goals. James played Des Moines’ 80/35 last summer, […]
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Album Review: HomeBrewed — ‘Devil In My Soul’
If you are planning a fundraiser in the CRANDIC area and are thinking about just putting on a Spotify playlist and calling it a day, please don’t. Ask HomeBrewed to play instead. HomeBrewed describes themselves as a “fun filled, mixed generational group, playing bluesy rock and roll and rockabilly.” The band performs primarily at benefit […]
