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Album Review: Unknown Component – Arbitrary Ambiguity
Unknown Component Arbitrary Ambiguity unknowncomponent.com Keith Lynch (a.k.a. Unknown Component) doesn’t have a band—he produces his music at home and plays all the parts. He uses a group name,...
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Album Review: Cuticle – Mind Holding Pattern
Cuticle Mind Holding Pattern notnotfun.com Techno originated in Belleville, Mich., and was invented by middle-class black teenagers with ties to Detroit. Techno brought together the influences of...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Milk Duct Tape – Styrofoam Tombstone
Styrofoam Tombstone by Milk Duct Tape Milk duct tape Styrofoam Tombstone milkducttape.bandcamp.com KFMH (99 Plus!) out of Muscatine was the default radio station for a lot of Iowa blue-collar rockers...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Angle – Definitive Bedtime Stories
Definitive Bedtime Stories by Angle angle Definitive Bedtime Stories angle1.bandcamp.com It is gratifying to follow the music of someone like Angle over a long period. This writer has known him for 15...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Gayla Drake – Aunt G and the Stone City Nephews
Aunt G & the Stone City Nephews by Gayla Drake, John Waite, Jake Niederhauser, Jim Leland, Dustin Busch, Pete Becker Gayla Drake Aunt G and the Stone City Nephews gayladrake.bandcamp.com Gayla...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Coolzey and Soce the Elemental Wizard – Coolsay EP
Coolzey and Soce the Elemental Wizard Coolsay EP coolzey.bandcamp.com Coolsay by Coolzey and Soce the Elemental WizardCoolzey (aka Zack Lint) is a hip-hop all-arounder; he produces most of his own...
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Celebrate 15 years of Solar Cathedral this Friday with DJ Matt Rissi and...
DJ Matt Rissi celebrates 15 years of Solar Cathedral this weekend. — photo by Hazin Solar Cathedral 15 Year Anniversary Hawkeye Downs Speedway and Expo Center — Friday, May 15 at 8:30 p.m. Throughout...
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Old Thrashers Reunion: When goodbye sounds like Oi! Oi! Oi!
This will be the eighth and final Old Thrashers Reunion. illustration by Joseph Heuermann Old Thrashers VIII The Final Chapter! w. Human Error, Soviet Dissonance and Stiff Legged Sheep 10 S. Gilbert...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Sweet Chariot – 1985
1985 by Sweet Chariot Sweet Chariot 1985 sweetchariotic.bandcamp.com Welcome to Iowa Meta-Rock City, home of Sweet Chariot, whose new album 1985—like Nigel Tufnel’s custom amplifiers in Spinal Tap—goes...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Maiden Mars – The Other Side
The Other Side by Maiden Mars Maiden Mars The Other Side maidenmars.bandcamp.com Iowa City bands swap members, and the members swap instruments. Case in point: Maiden Mars, which boasts Lipstick...
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Album Review: Jeff Miguel – Perserverance
Jeff Miguel Perseverance jeffmiguel.com Saxophonist Jeff Miguel is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa jazz studies program, which has in recent years spawned bands like Euforquestra and...
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Album Review: Uranium Club – Human Exploration
Uranium Club makes ambiguously disturbing lyrics stick with their frantic, savage rock and roll attack. —image via Uranium Club Uranium Club Human Exploration (Lumpy Records)...
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Equal Before the Law
And they say Virginia is for lovers. Pfft. —image via University of Iowa Press In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal across all 50 states. Less than 20 years ago, a...
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Revisiting Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’
Howard Zinn in his graduate school years — image via Howard Zinn Howard Zinn’s most famous book, A People’s History of the United States, was first published in 1980. Zinn intended it to be an overview...
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Album Review: ‘The Chymical Wedding of Brooks Strause’
image via Brooks Strause Iowa City attracts songwriters; you might even say it creates them. The “Class of 1970,” which includes Dave Moore, Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey, set the template: rooted in...
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Essay: Jukebox Horrors at the Kozy Inn
See, also: Old Time Rock and Roll — photo by Drriss & Marrionn For almost a year I worked after school to save at a Cedar Rapids semi-fine dining institution, the Kozy Inn on First Avenue. I was a...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Ills – Fuck this planet
The Ills Fuck This Planet theillsrock.bandcamp.com Erika Ebola, Danny Dysentery, Molly Marburg, Tommy Tinnitus, Stella Salmonella; I think I’m sensing a theme here. This is definitely punk...
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Album Review: Dana T’s ‘tiny mind MASSIVE soul’
Listen to more music by Dana T at danatelsrow.bandcamp.com. DANA T tiny mind MASSIVE soul www.danatelsrow.com Popular music is a tug of war between artistic and commercial concerns, and at the center...
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Album Review: Cedar County Cobras – Delta Avenue Juke Joint
Cedar County Cobras Delta Avenue Juke Joint www.facebook.com/CedarCountyCobras Cedar County, Iowa is home of West Branch, Springdale, Clarence, Lowden and the Cedar County Cobras. Their debut album’s...
View ArticleAlbum review: Jim Viner’s Incredible B3 Band – Comango!
Jim Viner’s Incredible B3 Band Comango! jimvinersincredibleb3band.bandcamp.com Comango! by Jim Viner's Incredible B3 BandJim Viner’s Iowa City music resumé goes back a ways, at least to the 1990s, in...
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