After meeting at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Rainbow Kitten Surprise (RKS to fans) has gone from recording music in their dorm rooms to becoming a festival favorite. In 2022, they are embarking on their first national tour […]
Rolling Stone recently recognized eight indie venue owners for their determination to support burgeoning artists and help “secure the future of live independent music.” One of the owners featured is Tobi Parks. Parks opened xBk Live, a 250-capacity venue in […]
It can be a dicey affair when an artist who operates in traditional songcraft decides to experiment. They risk alienating some of their audience, while the new audience segment they attract may not appreciate the existing back catalog of their […]
There’s more altruism in music than the notoriously exclusive and abusive mainstream industry would have you believe. Station 1 Records in Des Moines is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designed to not only record local minority and underrepresented artists but to serve […]
Des Moines quartet Traffic Death is back with their third full-length release, Judas Curse Of The Iron Sabbath, due out next month on Sump Pump records. You can check out a review of the full album online or in our […]
“Sometimes, it’s real beef or real grudges that need to be settled on stage,” $ANTHI said of the rap battles he’s been part of over the past two decades. “Sometimes rappers get called out, egos clash, shade is thrown. Some […]
The lineup for the 80/35 Music Festival was announced on Tuesday morning, and the downtown Des Moines event is expanding for its 12th year. The ticketed area for the two-day festival — Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13 — will now have two ticketed stages, featuring such top-name performers as Portugal. The Man, Elle King and Liz Phair. […]
If you’re familiar with Ryan Stier’s work, it’s probably from regular plays of the theme music for the Iowa Public Radio shows River To River and Talk Of Iowa that his band the River Monks composed. That band enjoyed acclaim particularly for their 2014 album Home Is The House. […]
Let me start out by saying that it brings me so much joy that we have, here in Iowa, a label like Sump Pump Records, that continually releases top-notch metal records. They’re no one-trick pony; they release other genres all the time, including many albums that have been reviewed positively on this page. But someone there knows their heavy music, and I always feel a little rush of joy whenever I open an email or a package from Sump Pump, because I know it’s going to contain something kickass.
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Creature Comforts, the 2017 sophomore effort from Des Moines three-piece Pets With Human Names, is a tight, solid, confident rock and roll album. The band — Alex Nickeson, Andrew Pierson and Benton Schoenrock — recorded the 10 tracks at Flat Black Studios for a driven, polished disc that will make you want to throw it on repeat.
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