You are browsing the archives of 2008 July.

Aww, hell! Everything’s sore, right? I know, I haven’t worked some of those muscles since about this time last year… That must mean it’s time to pack up every last scrap of your life and schlep that shit ‘cross town. Like everyone in Iowa City, we here at mission freak look forward to moving like [...]

Brand New, regardless of how you feel about them, elite hipster, are notable inasmuch as they’ve consistently tried to reinvent themselves from album to album, generally motivated by a desire to rise above the largely generic lump sum of pop-punk that they’re frequently pooled with. Tonight the band’s enigmatic frontman Jesse Lacey plays the Picador [...]

It’s been kind of slow around the Mission Creek collective lately. Folks have been in / out of town, studying for tests, and working for the man. Nevertheless, we’ve got some big news for the month of August: Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia has invited Mission Creek to curate some stages at this year’s annual New [...]

It feels like a long minute, or two, since we’ve heard any rumblings from one of Iowa City’s finest DIY venues, The Cave of Spirits. Well that long minute is over. Tonight, primary spirit Shawn Reed (member of Wet Hair) is instigating a whole ton of noise. You might remember a while [...]

In case you missed it, Iowa City’s own Caleb Engstrom was featured last Friday on Daytrotter. There’s not a whole lot to report here - we’ve extensively lauded both Caleb and Daytrotter on this space, so you’re better off just going to the site and downloading the tracks. Every Daytrotter session is intimate and unique, [...]

It’s deep summer. Friends are coming and going. Family vacations are at an all-time high. Gas is absurd and beer is cheap. And, of course: Chicago’s synth-pop heroes, Roommate, roll into town on Saturday night. The receivers of much praise from various music sites, Roommate constructs songs from airy keyboard atmospheres, achieving both an otherworldly [...]

Here it is, your weekend guide. If it looks suspiciously skewed toward the Picador, well folks, that’s just where the action is this weekend. If you feel like you’re having Picador overload on the dance floor or upstairs, remember you can always kick it on their super-rad outside patio. Summer doesn’t last forever so take [...]

Beach balls, contact highs, and oh yeah, music.
Photos: John C. Schlotfelt
From the hint of a Woodstock-esque mud-gasm on Saturday to the oppressive sun and 80+ temps on the sabbath, Pitchfork Media’s 2008 installment of its annual music festival had a little bit of everything this time ’round. But amidst the logo laden beach [...]

Hands down, one of the best shows we’ve taken in lately - this year, even - was June’s Yellow Swans Iowa City farewell show. Not just because the Swans put on an awe inspiring course on the steady, grinding build of noise, but also because of the other bands supplementing the Portland, OR duo. Wet [...]

Dear Reader,
Alas, it seems that the summer doldrums are upon us. Or rather, things ’round here have taken a turn for the busier since last we communicated. Things come up, you know? Be it this, that, or another thing, we’ve really fallen off in the last week and we apologize. So without further ado, we [...]