You are browsing the archives of 2008 September.

From the “How did we miss this?” department: Longtime Mission Freak favorites These United States are moving into dangerously prolific territory with their second full-length this year, which dropped last Tuesday via United Interests. Crimes is something of a liberation for Jesse Elliot and company, who toiled behind production of their debut, A Picture [...]

You may have noticed (save Charles Berry at Homecoming), this semester has been devoid of Scope productions at the University of Iowa.  Well that pesky flood put Scope’s primary venue — The IMU — out of commission til at least the Winter, and that’s a hopeful estimate. So in lieu of the IMU, Scope [...]

Yesterday, the insomniacs over at Night People put up two more samples for upcoming releases from the prolific DIY label.  The newest additions to a heavy roster of Fall previews are two excerpts from the new album by Madison, WI duo, Peaking Lights (which you may have heard or heard of already).
“All the Good Songs,” [...]

Oh man, we love us some Wye Oak ’round here (evidence of our love found here and here).  And what’s not to love?  Especially with the approach of Autumn, the duo’s warm, lush harmonies seem further imbued with the sepia and earth tones we wrap ourselves in as the leaves begin to fall. And [...]

Iowa City bleeds literature. This town is packed with poets, novelists, and essayists out of its ears. Walk downtown, bump into three people and at least one of them is a writer. Go into the Foxhead and all of them are writers. And it’s not just the writers living here: several authors come into Iowa [...]

Friday night is truly packed with events worthy of your attention. Between Chuck Berry rocking for homecoming weekend (with Rooney…?) and Will Whitmore doing his thing at the Picador alongside Dave Zollo, that’s enough just to get you busy. But, the hottest action takes place at the Mill Friday night as we welcome Brooklyn’s High [...]

RUN: Ponytail’s in town.
Thursday
Deb Olin Unferth (Reading) / Gerber Lounge in EPB / 530PM / FREE
As we mentioned earlier, you’d better get your literary rocks off with McSweeney’s Press superstar Deb Olin Unferth who reads on campus later this afternoon. If you’re into slightly experimental and entirely humorous fiction then be there for sure. A [...]

Holy McSweeeney’s Party! Deb Olin Unferth, author of the short-short stories collection Minor Robberies and the brand new novel Vacation, rolls into Iowa City Thursday afternoon to give a reading. Unferth’s experimental and humorous fiction is a fresh descent into the well-worn topics of navigating failing relationships and looking for meaning in life. The fabulist [...]

You may recall the Blacks from their earth-shattering performance opening for Cursive at the Mill last April. If not, that’s really, terribly unfortunate, but you can still grab two new free (!) tunes from the SF/NY trio over at RCRD LBL. Tiger Songs is a two-song download only EP featuring totally new, previously unreleased tracks [...]

I know it wasn’t too long ago that we told you of the goings on from (I think it’s safe to say) the current musical crush of the missionfreak staff, but she’s so darn prolific.  Just the other day a new track titled “A Day at the Races” popped up on her myspace page.  And [...]