Last week saw a slew of new singles, fresh videos and premiering music projects from local artists. Is it the spirit of spring? Artists capitalizing on the build-up to festival season? Whatever the reason, it’s left a lot to catch up on. Let’s round it up!
Anthony Worden
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Illiterati Fest brings Iowa City’s ‘miniature music scenes’ together for a cause
In pretty much all artistic endeavors there is some consideration for the rule of threes. As in, do something just once and it could very well be a one-and-done situation. Do it twice and perhaps the two will exist as a pair. But do something three times? Well, then you got yourself a series. Iowa […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
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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Video premiere: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati, “That Don’t Make Me Feel Good”
Ahead of what promises to be a slow burn of a show to warm a chilly February night (tonight, Friday, Feb. 25 at Gabe’s), Iowa City’s Anthony Worden and the Illiterati dropped a new video yesterday morning that’s all sludge and precision and genre-bending chewy goodness. This live recording of “That Don’t Make Me Feel […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Anthony Worden & the Illiterati — ‘How Could We Lose When We’re So Sincere?’
How Could We Lose When We're So Sincere? by Anthony Worden and the Illiterati In 1968, the Turtles released the album The Turtles Present the Battle Of The Bands, a cartoonish concept album that yielded the hit “Caroline.” Every song on the album was by a different invented group, each with its own style. Anthony […]
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Track premiere: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati, ‘Sad Stories’
I remember being at a Feed Me Weird Things show in Chris Wiersema’s back yard. Anthony Worden showed up, fashionably late, wearing a black-and-white polka dot shirt and huge round sunglasses. He looked like he was auditioning to be in the background of a D.A. Pennebaker’s Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back. I saw him […]
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Video premiere: Anthony Worden, ”Til I Die’
Iowa City experimental pop maven Anthony Worden is concerned about the lack of concern for COVID-19 conditions in eastern Iowa. “I understand that people need to be out there and continue with a semblance of life but to disregard the seriousness of this thing is a little reprehensible in my opinion,” he said in an […]
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Art in the time of COVID-19: Anthony Worden
This series, Art in the time of COVID-19, highlights musicians and artists in eastern Iowa whose life and work have been upended by the spread of the novel coronavirus in the state. If you would like to recommend someone to be featured in this space, please reach out to Little Village. Anthony Worden, Guitarist Anthony […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati — ‘Voilá’
Voilá by Anthony Worden and the Illiterati Voilá, the latest from Iowa City band Anthony Worden and the Illiterati, is a record both timeless and out of time, drawing inspiration from an earlier era when bands focused not just on songwriting but creating an album as a full artistic statement. Voilá clearly has two distinct […]
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Video premiere: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati, ‘The Slightest Notion’
From the opening shot of a vintage Webcor cassette recorder, you know that vintage is the vibe Anthony Worden is going for in the video for “The Slightest Notion.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Elly Hofmaier’s rising tide: the UI senior and Elly H. and the Sexy Boys frontwoman on her burgeoning career
Since the school year and her musical career started, Elly H. and the Sexy Boys have supported Minneapolis-based Sister Species and Iowa-grown acts like Katie Sin, LAV.ISH, and Dana T. Hofmaier is also an alum of Circular Sessions, a music series based in Des Moines that focuses on the symbiotic relationship between music and cinematography.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Anthony Worden — Slouching Towards Tomorrow
AJ Worden’s Slouching Towards Tomorrow is inescapably tied to musical touchstones of the ’60s and ’70s, particularly Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. It is wrong to say that his music is derivative of those influences, even as the listener can’t escape noticing them. Like Borges’ poet Menard, his project is a fresh creation in a new context; instead of 1965 New York, Worden lives in 2018 Iowa.
