Yearn 2 Cleanse by Penny Peach Perhaps you’ve read to be cautious when finishing off a peach — that the pit contains trace amounts of cyanide. While not quite true (it contains a compound that the enzymes in your gut turn into the poison), it’s close enough that one should probably refrain from crunching on […]
Local album reviews
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Sun Centauri — ‘Flux4D’
When Alyx Rush declares, “I need my space,” in the first atmospheric gasps of Flux4D, it would be easy to assume the aforementioned space only speaks to normal human conflict, bound entirely to Earth. Certainly, in a literal sense, each song is about the push and pull dilemma of whether to be entangled in the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Album Review: Pit Lord — ‘Massive Grilling Capacity’
There is a persistent conflict in heavy metal: that of silliness versus profound seriousness. Extreme metal sees the most self-serious, philosophical bands win critical favor and masked bands are, again, taking the top of the charts. The most complex and challenging musicians in the metal sphere are still prone to wearing corpse paint, writing songs […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Joytrip — ‘Leaving State’
Leaving things never has a natural conclusion. Leaving things means unresolved relationships, passion projects and bucket lists. And maybe, just maybe, that place, or person, or thing left behind is incomplete now. Maybe, the feeling is mutual. And maybe indie folk band Joytrip is leaving state, like their album title suggests, or maybe they are […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: GooD Cal-El — ‘Buried Talents’
Buried Talents by GooD Cal-El Spirituality in hip hop comes in many forms, far from the image of clean language and repackaged praise music the idea conjures in my brain. Killah Priest, Brother Ali, Lupe Fiasco, Yasiin Bey, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole have all spit religious bars over beats while balancing […]
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Album Review: The Shining Realm — ‘Talismandala’
Talismandala by Shining Realm “Welcome to the Hallucination we call Home,” beckons a calm, steady voice in its echoes and layers of slithering percussion and Eastern-influenced stringed instrument tapestries. Where is home? Well, at least for these 40-odd minutes, that home is the Shining Realm — both an Iowa psychedelic supergroup and a state of […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Lady Revel — ‘Slow Burn’
Lady Revel has matured but will never grow old. With their sophomore album Slow Burn, the self-proclaimed Midwestern indie rock band trades the open-hearted urgency of their 2023 debut for something wiser, softer and more emotionally nuanced. It’s the kind of record that doesn’t ask for attention but earns it, layer by layer. With 11 […]
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Album Review: Brother Trucker — ‘Live at Octopus’
You can’t talk about the history of music in Iowa without mentioning the seminal (and sadly defunct) grassroots record label Trailer Records, started by Iowa City musician David Zollo. Recently on the Iowa Music Archive Series, Zollo shared the genesis of the label. “…[Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey, Radislav Lorkovic and I] wanted something more funky […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Wolfskill & the Wild — ‘Feral Heart’
Take Me As I Am by Wolfskill & The Wild It may seem counterintuitive to first notice and bask in the silence of an album, when music is quite literally about the sound created. But something genius unfurls from the quiet as Wolfskill & the Wild’s Feral Heart comes into view. A good 10-second fade-in […]
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Album Review: Andrew Hoyt — ‘Kind of Paradise’
Sun-drenched hooks and sunscreen-slathered horn sections are not very Iowa. But for Andrew Hoyt and his latest EP, Kind of Paradise, bottling sunshine is the point, whether charting heartbreak or relationship blissdom. A born and raised Iowan, Hoyt blends his Midwest sensibility with the polish of his Nashville collaborators and a Hawaiian influence to make […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Abbie Sawyer — ‘Persimmon’
Persimmon by Abbie Sawyer Sitting and listening to Abbie Sawyer’s Persimmon was a blissful experience. It feels like frolicking on the first warm day of spring after a dreadful winter — fresh and bright, delightful despite the memory of the lingering cold. With 12 soul-stirring songs, the album blossoms with tenderness. It’s the kind of […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Cory Peak — ‘Computer Image’
Computer Image by Cory Peak Cory Peak has to be one of Iowa’s most adventurous artists. Probably best known as the bassist for the grindcore/emoviolence powerhouse that is Closet Witch, Peak recently produced beats and did animation for the Iowa hip-hop project Negus Lamé. On top of all of that, Peak has been at work […]
