For his second in a year-long series of monthly releases, Samuel Locke Ward has dipped back into more familiar territory. After the top-40-skewering electro-pop on his January release, 7 AM New Year’s Day, Locke Ward leans heavily on his trusty acoustic guitar and Casio keyboard for a 16-song collection of weirdo pop-ditties on Panther Puss.
Local album reviews
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Album Review: DJ 500 Benz – Geometrics II
DJ 500 Benz though still in his early 20s has been very active in Iowa hip-hop scene for the past few years, producing beats for a variety of MCs—notably Rahlan Kay’s excellent Relationships from the summer of 2012. Geometrics II is a different sort of thing, comprising tracks that fall under the electro house heading. Electro house has little to do with actual electro or house; it’s the synth heavy dance pop that seems to be swamping the pop charts these days.
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Album Review: Haunter- Perishing Road
The full-length debut, Perishing Road, from Haunter (a.k.a. Kyle Arthur Miller) is ideal for late nights, headphones and staring out at the frozen tundra. Miller’s new collection of ambient compositions rewards those who put in the time, with headphones bundled around the ears. Perishing Road is a feast of guitar drone interplay.
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Album Review: Angle – White Andy
Angle and Coolzey are Iowa hip-hop veterans, but to my knowledge White Andy is their first collaboration. They don’t pussyfoot around; “White Andy” is a character Angle (Jarid Catrenich) uses to take on the issue of hip hop and race in possibly the most ridiculous, over-the-top manner, including appearing in White Face on the cover. “Two white dudes making music for people of all colors,” drawls Coolzey at the end of “Blazee.”
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Album Review: The Blendours – Level 99
The continuing influence of The Ramones’ music on the face of rock years after their breakup is a testament to the idea that simple and direct is the most effective approach to getting to the hearts of youth. Directly or indirectly, any variation of punk rock today owes a debt to the amphetamine-driven sped-up version of ‘60s rock that The Ramones made.
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Album Review: Alex Body – No Event
The title of Alex Body’s sixth release, No Event, is actually an apt description of my first impression of the album. After a string of increasingly better releases, No Event showcases a more confident artist, one willing to re-explore many of the sounds and textures that have comprised previous efforts. But the album is definitely a grower.
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Album Review – Yacht Club 10th Anniversary CD
Has it really been ten years since the Yacht Club opened? Really, the story goes back a few years before that. Owner Scott Kading bought the Yacht Club building and set about recreating his favorite college hang out. Renovating the building was only the first part of his journey.
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Album Review: Eric Pettit & Tim Buhmeyer – We Are In Rome
Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica and Voice. Stop me if you’ve heard this one already. Eric Pettit and Tim Buhmeyer have the folk musician’s most glorious delusion—that they can make something new and unique with the same tools everyone’s been using since forever. Or maybe they have the folk musician’s perfect addiction—it feels so good to play this kind of music that you just can’t stop doing it.
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Album Review – Megan Buick
Megan Buick’s self-titled album feels like the aural equivalent of Jan Svankmajer’s surreal, stop-motion film Alice—a fractured take on the Lewis Carroll classic. Svankmajer’s imaginative recreation of Wonderland constantly treads the fine line between delightfully imaginative and eerily unsettling; Buick’s lo-fi psychedelic folk embraces a similar duality.
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Album Review – East Side Motors
East Side Motors East Side Motors eastsidemotors.bandcamp.com East Side Motors is a Waterloo/Cedar Falls band that is plowing their own row in the field of Midwest Roots Rock. That’s a […]
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Album Review: Blizzard at Sea – Individuation
Blizzard at Sea Individuation blizzardatsea.com “All that I see are the photons, vibrating strings propagating down through the geometry of the higher dimensions. There’s a world that I’m unaware of […]
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Album Review:Gem Jones – Exhaust
Gem Jones Exhaust (Night-People Records) gemjonesia.bandcamp.com The latest EP from Gem Jones, Exhaust, is a brief study in juxtaposition. At only 19 minutes, Jones milks Exhaust for every second; vacillating […]
