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Orchestra Iowa’s centennial season features Iowa composers and world-class...
Conor Hanick, who grew up in Iowa City, will perform with Orchestra Iowa in November. — Anneliese Varaldiev Lasting 100 years is clearly something for any arts organization to celebrate. “It gives an...
View ArticleLabel Profile: Ox Cart New Music, founded by Gabi Vanek
Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us by Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us Gabi Vanek is the “label boss” of Oxcart New Music, but she isn’t precious about it. She didn’t use the...
View ArticleAlbum Review: BCJsPS —‘Myth Arc’
Myth Arc by BCJsPs BCJsPS Myth Arc is a collection of pieces improvised over two days in Chicago by Brian Penkrot, Justin Comer and Jason Palamara. Myth Arc is more noisy and chaotic than Comer’s last...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Justin K Comer —‘Undustrial Devolution 1 & 2’
Undustrial Devolution I by Emery Clair Comer Hart Taylor Justin K. Comer and his friends who play on Undustrial Devolution 1 & 2 are on the vanguard for free improvisational music in Iowa. That...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Ramin Roshandel & Jean-François Charles —‘Jamshid Jam’
Jamshid Jam by Ramin Roshandel & Jean-Francois Charles Since the 1960s, it seems the University of Iowa School of Music has loosened up about what is allowed and appropriate music for which one can...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Byrn D. Paul —‘The Great Vehicle’
The Great Vehicle by Byrn D Paul Byrn D. Paul is one of those musicians on a wavelength entirely their own. He plays guitar, cello, violin, oud, koto, pedal steel guitar and modular synthesizer on The...
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Essay: RAGBRAI’s one-note music lineup is an insult to riders
Collage by Jordan Sellergren/Little Village This is the 50th anniversary of the RAGBRAI, the yearly summer bike ride from the Missouri to the Mississippi. I remember the first one happened when I was...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Nevāda Nevada —‘Past Life’
Past Life by Nevāda Nevada It isn’t often I review a band that isn’t heavy metal that includes a diacritical mark in its name. This one is there as a pronunciation guide: Neh-Vay-Duh Neh-Vah-Da. It...
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Album Review: William Elliott Whitmore —‘Silently, The Mind Breaks’
If you’ll permit a strained simile, Will Whitmore is like Iowa’s basketball phenom Caitlin Clark. He’s never been anything short of ridiculously excellent, and he makes it look — or sound — easy. I’ve...
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Album Review: Swampland Jewels — ‘Swampland Jewels’
The Swampland Jewels by The Swampland Jewels Swampland Jewels, led by Iowa City music veteran Nate Basinger, is a band that’s found its niche, combining music from Louisiana’s musical tradition with a...
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Album Review: Anthony Worden and the Illiterati — ‘Plain Angels’
Plain Angels by Anthony Worden Anthony Worden makes music that an archivist of 20th century music would make. His early albums were heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground. Since then, he’s...
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Bo Ramsey, Joe and Vicki Price set to make the Ideal Theater feel like the...
Joe & Vicki Price Live @ OctopusYoung musicians tend to dominate the press and public consciousness. The talent and the energy of youth will always be compelling, but if we’re talking about music...
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The importance of being Colleen Ernst
Ernst’s husband Bill Radl holds up an epitaph on the back of her work. — Danforth Johnson/Little VillageColleen Ernst did not blend in, even in 1980s Iowa City. She was imposingly tall, with brightly...
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