Dan Boeckner is one of indie rock’s hardest working songwriters and performers. He was a founding member of Montreal-based Wolf Parade and helped lead that band through a fruitful career that yielded three impressive albums before disbanding last year. He also co-founded the synth, drum machine outfit Handsome Furs with his wife and put out three great records before that project also disbanded in 2012.
Iowa City live music
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Your guide to Mission Creek: Thursday
I imagine most people who got their Mission Creek on last night are moving pretty slowly this morning. I know my brain seems to be on a dysfunctional autopilot after a late night of two great shows at Gabe’s and The Yacht Club, but I’ll happily forge ahead with Day three!
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Overheard at Mission Creek: Part one
Overheard at Mission Creek is a selected list of Tweets-from-last-night. Each day we’ll take you through a collection of some of the things Iowa City folks have been Tweeting about the festival. Let’s begin!
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Interview with White Lung’s Mish Way
“I was in some really bad bands … not serious bands, one with my ex-boyfriend. So, I was playing guitar and kept thinking, ‘I really want to start my own band.’”
Posted inAlbum Reviews, Arts & Entertainment
Album Review: The Men from…BEYOND! – Surf Solaris
My first exposure to the L.A. punk scene was through the soundtrack to the 1984 movie Repo Man. This scene would be documented much more extensively in the movie The Decline of Western Civilization, but there is some overlap. I watched Repo Man when it aired sometime in the 80’s on late night USA Network when I was in my early teens and it opened a whole world up to me–junk culture, beer swilling angry punks and aliens. The soundtrack has the amazing Iggy Pop theme song and bands like The Plugz, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, Fear and Suicidal Tendencies.
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Live Music Preview: 3/25 through 4/3
The Mission Creek Festival will soon be upon us, and Iowa City is holding its collective breath until it finally arrives. While Mission Creek’s main entrée is music (with healthy portions of literature and culinary arts), I won’t spend too much time explaining the festival here. That being said, much of this issue’s noteworthy live music doesn’t hit us until the fest starts on April 1.
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Slip Silo says farewell
Since forming in 2008, electric jazz group Slip Silo has played well over a hundred shows around Iowa City and across the Midwest.
Even if you’ve never had a chance to see them perform, it’s likely that you’ve stumbled upon a flyer or two if you’ve spent any time outdoors in the last half-decade. These flyers, these shows have all been part of Iowa City’s local music landscape for longer than most bands can boast, and tomorrow night at The Mill, Slip Silo will bring this four-piece legacy to a close with one final show.
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Mac DeMarco playing tonight at The Mill
Although events in Iowa City have slowed considerably in light of student spring break, The Mill is looking out for our entertainment needs with an excellent lineup tonight. Montreal-based artist Mac DeMarco will be playing alongside Calvin Love and Naomi Punk.
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On The Beat: Old school’s back in session
By the time that you are reading this column, the annual Mission Creek Festival will be less than a month away, a sign that spring is beginning to rear its head and musicians are getting back on the road. This is a benefit to everyone and means that many artists with a wide variety of backgrounds and approaches to music will be making visits over the coming weeks.
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Show Preview: Valgeir Sigurðsson playing Englert Theatre on March 13
Valgeir Sigurðsson is an Icelandic composer, musician, producer and studio engineer. A lot of Americans will, like me, see his last name and think ‘Sigur Rós’ but that is probably one of the few Icelandic bands he hasn’t worked with. He has collaborated with Björk extensively, beginning with the Selmasongs, her album of songs for the soundtrack of the movie Dancer In The Dark.
Posted inAlbum Reviews, Arts & Entertainment
Album Review: Omens – Omens EP/No Dawn Casette
Metal never really did it for me. So much of it centered on contrived attitude and image. Growing up I was in the orchestra and AP English, and the metal fans were in Shop classes. While the gearhead kids were buying Sabbath and AC/DC, I was buying Coltrane and Kraftwerk. But a curious thing happened to my perception of metal, influenced by listening to industrial and noisier electronic music like noisecore and gabber: I started hearing what made all the metalheads so happy.
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Mission Creek Festival Spotlight: Exitmusic
NYC-based duo Exitmusic will play Gabe’s on Saturday, April 6. The group’s songs of lost romance and haunting loneliness hit upon common themes, but singer Aleksa Palladino’s wavering vocals build tension and longing in a way that feels neither forced nor melodramatic. Together, the two musicians (Aleska Palladino and Devon Church) feature a strong theatrical style full of restrained guitar and subtle keyboard lines.
