River Glen Breitbach’s latest album, As Above, So Below is a 17-track release that loosely mirrors the cycle of life and required him to assemble 150 Iowa musical artists to complete. The sixth song on the album, “Drugs That Choke the Vein,” led the Dubuque-born musician to make a music video that required a more […]
video premiere
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video premiere: Extravision, ‘Every Fear’
Ryan Stier has been making music with his band, Extravision, for roughly a decade now. The five-person group often mixes ambient, psychedelic sounds with folk lyrics and instrumentation. Extravision will appear at Mission Creek 2023 — Iowa City’s annual three-day music and literature festival — on Friday, marking the third time Extravision has played at […]
Posted inStatewide
Video premiere: Halfloves, ‘Hospice’
“Try to imagine what it must be like to go to sleep and never wake up …” — Alan Watts On Halfloves’ first new single since June of 2021’s bouncy “Do U Follow Me,” we find the band exploring their more contemplative side with “Hospice.” Trevor Polk and Jeff Roalson both lost their grandmothers in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Statewide
Track and video premiere: Mr. Softheart, ‘Surface Tension’
It’s all part of the act for Mr. Softheart. That’s because this local three-piece has no regard for the basic building blocks of rock bands. At one of their shows, you’re sure to spy the image of Bambi on a deltoid muscle or the late ’80s linebacker-inspired cut of a Jockey crop top. But what […]
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Video premiere: Hallways of Always, ‘Invisible Light’
Back in the before-times of 2019, Hallways of Always — one of William Elliott Whitmore’s many exploratory side projects, conceived in collaboration with Erase Errata’s Jenny Hoyston — released a new album. Invisible Light, a follow-up to 2010’s Magical Mind (itself an expansion of their original 2006 EP). Now, the album (available on Whitmore’s website) […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video premiere: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati, “That Don’t Make Me Feel Good”
Ahead of what promises to be a slow burn of a show to warm a chilly February night (tonight, Friday, Feb. 25 at Gabe’s), Iowa City’s Anthony Worden and the Illiterati dropped a new video yesterday morning that’s all sludge and precision and genre-bending chewy goodness. This live recording of “That Don’t Make Me Feel […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video premiere: Penny Peach, ‘Laurelz’
Two weeks ago today, Penny Peach (a.k.a. Elly Hofmaier) dropped a debut EP, Brain Gamez, that you won’t want to miss. But I’m not going to steal the thunder from the full review (forthcoming). I’m just here to talk about “Laurelz,” track three on the release, which Little Village is thrilled to premiere the video […]
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Video Premiere: The Hollowmen, “Need It Most”
The music scene in Iowa in the ’80s was vibrant. Inspired by similar regional scenes nationwide, bands across the state were springing from their garages, basements and practice spaces ready to storm the stages of bars and dorms everywhere. The beacon for this movement locally was the ever-present KUNI studios evening music programming, which regularly […]
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Video premiere: Jim Swim, ‘Softee Boy’
Two years ago, LV reviewer Lucas Benson described Jim Swim’s In It With You EP as “a blend of hip hop, Nick Drake bootlegs, a book of poems by Rumi and a cold Arnold Palmer spiked with a little bit of whiskey.” It’s striking that, if you squint, those are all things you can imagine […]
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Video premiere: Anthony Worden, ”Til I Die’
Iowa City experimental pop maven Anthony Worden is concerned about the lack of concern for COVID-19 conditions in eastern Iowa. “I understand that people need to be out there and continue with a semblance of life but to disregard the seriousness of this thing is a little reprehensible in my opinion,” he said in an […]
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Video premiere: Gloom Balloon, ‘Libras Don’t Like To Be Alone (Except Logan)’
Des Moines prog pop outfit Gloom Balloon dropped a new album last month, So Bergman Uses Bach to Get His Point Across, I Feel Like I Have Chosen Rock but at What a Cost, and it’s everything you’d hope for from Patrick Tape Fleming — sweet and sincere; silly and sardonic; and lush as fuck. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video Premiere: The Hex Girls, “Cats With No Teeth (Catch No Mice)”
While live shows are effectively throttled in-person, it has become more important than ever for bands to come up with ways to maintain visibility on their fans’ radar. One such way? By releasing music videos. Once largely considered a necessary evil (albeit a potentially fun and creative one) to help boost album sales, videos are […]
