There are plenty of record stores with considerable cultural cachet. Amoeba Music in Los Angeles has made a place for itself as a multi-media juggernaut…
Mission Creek Festival
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Interview: Matthew Israel on how the Art Genome Project is making the world of art more comprehensible
Matthew Israel, art historian, author and director of The Art Genome Project, will be giving the closing talk for the first-ever Mission Creek Tech + Innovation…
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Show review: Philip Glass and Oneohtrix Point Never
At the Englert Theatre during Oneohtrix (oh-nay-ah-tricks) Point Never’s performance, I was standing by the back wall, where apparently all the bass goes after passing through the volume of air in the theater. Though the sound system used was not that loud, if you stood where I stood, the bass was a whole body experience without obscuring the detail of the sounds in the higher register. I saw a dimly lit stage with one man illuminated by a laptop screen and dim blue lights. What I heard was dislocated ambience punctuated with synthetic thunderclaps.
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Mission Creek plan of attack: Friday
I feel a bit like a Mission Creek failure today because I only managed to complete two thirds of Thursday’s plan. After the Little Village/Slow Collision Press reading at Trumpet Blossom last night, I found myself faced with three very tempting options: 1.) S. Cary at the Mill, 2.) Dessa at Gabes, or 3.) falling […]
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Mission Creek show report: April 1-2
Having a Mission Creek pass is like having a two pound box of chocolates. You can get sated early, but you keep eating because it’s just so good! My number one tip for Mission Creeksters is to pace yourself, and don’t try to see everything. Take your time and soak it all in.
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The sound of her voice: Laurie Anderson in Iowa City
Starting Mission Creek 2014 with Laurie Anderson was simultaneously comforting and unsettling, not unlike her body of work. I attended a discussion she had with MFA students Tuesday on-stage at the Englert Theatre, prior to her lecture that evening. My experience with her performances made her a tall person, inhabited by large ideas. But she’s […]
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Interview: of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes discusses his new band and the influences behind his latest LP
With 12 studio albums in less than two decades, of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes could easily be named one of the hardest-working musicians in the…
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Mission Creek plan of attack: Thursday
“This is just easy listening for the jaded class.” Truer words have likely never been spoken during a Wolf Eyes set, which was simultaneously stimulating and energy depleting, like a body confusingly processing uppers and downers at the same time. However, being able to catch both Taser Island and Wolf Eyes was a welcomed and […]
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The Mission Creek Bookshelf: What every living room is missing, but only one living room will have
Each spring, the Mission Creek Festival brings diverse thinkers and makers to Iowa City for a weeklong exchange of ideas and hospitality. In this spirit, Little…
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Tonight at Gabe’s: Two psych-folk legends team up for a night of beautiful weirdness
New Bums is a new project by two of the strangest, yet most talented, folk musicians to emerge in the past decade. Ben Chasny (best known for his…
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Mission Creek plan of attack: Wednesday
The first night of Mission Creek was no joke. It was full of Jenny Hval’s sweet sounds at The Mill, awkward and unnecessary hugs following the Laurie Anderson lecture at The Englert, and lines, lines, lines at Gabes to both get in for Warpaint and then — because I was too successful at staying hydrated […]
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These Hopeless Savages: Locally produced film premieres Thursday at FilmScene
Iowa City has been buzzing with debate over the university turning down a major filming opportunity. Regardless of whether HBO cameras will be appearing…
