Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Iowa City songbird Elizabeth Moen releases a dreamy cover of avant-pop singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston’s 1985 call to action love song “True Love Will Find You in the End.”
Iowa City music
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Commanders — Stones, Stooges and Spacemen
Although Iowa City band Commanders is already revving up some new tunes with a new bassist, their 2017 release Stones, Stooges and Spacemen is well overdue for attention in this space. With its brash title, the album invokes some of the greatest acts in ’60s and ’70s rock and roll and then evokes them throughout with a heavy dose of what Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and David Bowie had most in common: strut.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City’s John Hopkins graduated from Gabe’s to become one of metal’s most renowned sound engineers
For the past decade, legendary Iowa City citizen John Hopkins has been living on the road as a highly sought-after front-of-house tour sound engineer for some of the heaviest and most beloved sludge and stoner metal bands in the galaxy: the Melvins, Corrosion of Conformity, High on Fire, Orange Goblin, Weedeater, Neurosis, Boris, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Alabama Thunderpussy, Municipal Waste, Buzzov•en and others.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Samuel Locke Ward — Radio Icarus Noise Buffet
We’re now over 50 albums deep into the career of Iowa City’s home-studio legend Samuel Locke Ward. He is, as they say, prolific. But the scale of his output wouldn’t be much more than a gimmick if not for the fact that he has maintained an almost unbroken string of high quality across his entire massive catalog.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Exclusive track: Elizabeth Moen and her band cover ‘I Put a Spell on You’
Elizabeth Moen and her bandmates — Justin LeDuc, Blake Shaw and Dan Padley — were out at Flat Black Studios earlier this month, recording tracks for their second LP, which they expect to release next spring. In between takes, they decided to have a little Halloween fun with the classic 1956 track “I Put a Spell on You.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Ion premiers a new video shot at the Englert ahead of a weekend of shows
Ion, of the Iowa City rap group the AWTHNTKTS, released a new video this week. “Roses,” like his previous video for “Love/Smokes,” was filmed in and around Iowa City, primarily at the historic Englert Theatre.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Exclusive track: CCR’s ‘Lodi’ covered by Brian Johannesen with David Zollo & The Body Electric
Shortly after their move outside of Iowa City in 2015, Flat Black Studios began recording a series of covers of well-known songs. Initially, the recordings were meant to hone the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Studio Visit: Inside Iowa City’s Preucil School of Music (video)
For over 40 years, Doris Preucil has taught the Suzuki method to budding artists, establishing a tradition of top musicians coming out of Iowa City.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Exclusive track: Will Whitmore and friends cover ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ by The Cars
When Flat Black Studios moved from Iowa City to its new rural location outside of town in 2015, the new studio’s first recording session was meant to dial in the room’s acoustics, and celebrate all the hard work so many local musicians had put in to make the place what it is…
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Features, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Iowa City rockstars Younger bring new material to Mission Creek
For a band that was originally conceived as a goof, Younger has rapidly transformed into one of Iowa City’s best rock bands — exploding with energy, intricate arrangements, barbed lyrics and catchy hooks.
“We had talked about playing together for a long time,” drummer Sarah Mannix recalled. “I don’t think that we honestly believed it was going to be an actual band. I think we just got together more as a joke.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A-list: Girls Rock! camp bolsters confidence, showcases top local bands
Local bands take the stage at Trumpet Blossom on Feb. 25 at 6:45 p.m. to raise money for Girls Rock! Iowa City, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that teaches female, gender non-conforming […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Maiden Voyage: Collective of Iowa City musicians celebrates the local rebirth of revered NYC recording studio with salute to David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’
Closed since March 2016, the famed Magic Shop recording studio in NYC (where David Bowie recorded his final works) has recently been carefully rebuilt piece by piece and reborn as […]
