Ho-hum, it’s been a slow week around here. I keep falling asleep all over myself. I was about to engage permanent hibernation until I realized — holy crap! — dd/mm/yyyy is playing in Iowa City on Saturday night! Bringing together elements of noise, math-rock, and sweet irresistible pop, dd/mm/yyyy (day - month - year) is an outfit from Toronto. They’ve been tearing it up on summer tour, playing side by side such wonderful weirdos as Videohippos and Crystal Castles. They come through the Picador this Saturday on the tail-end of their travels. Their sound is all energy and their songs are all craft, well-conceived ear-bending nuggets. They recall that killer Iowa City duo Foul Tip although their sound is much fuller with their five-man lineup. And it’s totally appropriate that they’re sharing the bill with Iowa City rock stars, Birth Rites.
Mannix! plays at the Mill tonight in honor of bass player / tom-thumper Sarah Mannix’s birthday. She can’t be more than 18 but this party sure is gonna be adult. In fact it’s going to be a circus, a rock n’ roll circus. Remember way back in the ’60s when the Stones got all self-indulgent and tried to rock some star-studded circus antics via electric guitars? Well it’s back. Mannix!, some of Iowa City’s best garage-iest rockers, channel the raw energy of the Gossip. They share the stage with rock n’ roll heartbreakers and tasty songcrafters, the Puritanicals. Brooklyn hipsters, Renminbi, open up with their funky, almost mathy blend of indie rock. The party starts at 9PM. Bring costumes and wear your cred on your sleeves. Or just pump down some Jaeger shots with the bar staff. It’ll be good, for sure the best thing happening in Iowa City tonight, that is if you are into good times and rock n’ roll.
So with the reservoir officially crested it appears we’re on the way to recovery, and it looks like it’s going to be lengthy. That being said, it is summer (officially as of Friday!), and we’d be remiss if we let record flood conditions get in the way of our merrymaking. Summertime means all sorts of things, like baseball and fireworks and hot dogs on the grill and stuff, and it certainly means that you’ve no excuse to be out enjoying yourself in the company of good music and friends. Remember when it was so cold that you’re favorite band in the world could have been playing and you still might have looked out side and said, “Fuck it.”? Well that time is over now. Don’t take it for granted. Stay dry. And for the record, I did not know that the water skiing squirrel was named Twiggy. They say you learn something new every day, and that just may be true.
Thursday All-Star Benefit for United Way Flood Relief Fund / The Mill / 7pm / Donation is encouraged
How could you not make it out for this show featuring a great many of Iowa City’s most popular and prolific musicians. This is undoubtedly an evening that defies musical genre, and should be a great evening of music and people coming together to support a very present and justifiable need - we don’t need to say anymore than everything that’s been said about the plight of many, not just in Iowa City, but in much of Eastern and Central Iowa. Come out in the face of the flood, have some beers, and kick back to enjoy some music knowing that you’re making a difference in the hippest way. Public Property, David Zollo, Samuel Locke-Ward, Shame Train, the Red Smear, the Burning Halos, Cellar Door, Nate Basinger, and Dustin Busch will all perform. Damn!
Friday
The Cotton Jones Basket Ride w. Bad Flirt, Chrash / The Picador / 9pm
It’s been almost a year since the last time Page France, aka Michael Nau rolled through town, but a lot can change in a year - Nau recently announced that he’d be putting the Page France moniker on the back burner (perhaps for good) to focus on another project called the Cotton Jones Basket Ride. Friday they’ll be playing new songs from a trio of EPs and a forthcoming record, Paranoid Cocoon, which may or may not be out sometime this year on Quite Scientific. Montreal girl pop outfit Bad Flirt and Davenport’s Chrash open.
Saturday Mission Creek Presents: The Waybacks w. The Pines / The Mill / 9pm / $10
We are pumped to be welcoming back the Pines for a show supporting San Francisco’s bluegrass fiends the Waybacks. They represent a musically tight explosion of chops, but their penchant for tale-telling defies any “jam-grass” categorization you might be tempted to give them. The Pines return from Minneapolis to their home state bearing their darkly inventive take on roots music that’s both well schooled and aware of present trends.
Tilly and the Wall have released their third album, O, on Team Love Records. A few months back we offered you a preview of the song “Cacophony,” but now that the CD is out the official first single is “Pot Kettle Black,” and you can download it below. The exuberance of Tilly’s live performances has always seemed a bit lost on record yet “Pot Kettle Black” comes really close to capturing that live energy. This is a fucking rock song, what with that White Stripes guitar riff and vocals sounding more vicious than anything they’ve done before. It’s as if singer Kianna Alarid channeled her inner Karen O to make this track happen. It’s a snotty take on hipster shit-talking that sees the Omaha quintet stepping fully into the spotlight they’ve long lingered on the edge of. Download below (and props to KRUI Blog for dropping this first.)
Nothing like waking up to good news, especially when it involves my personal hometown hero Greg Gillis. I pre-ordered Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals album sometime back in 2007, only to wait and wait as the thing was delayed until, well, right now. The mysterious and legendary head of the Illegal Art label, Philo Pharnsworth, sent us pre-order nerds an email that the album can now be snatched in delicious mp3 320 kbps format. Even if you didn’t pre-order, the album is available Radiohead-style (read: “free!”) from the Illegal Art website. Jump on it.
With each release Gillis smooths out his style, from the IDM leanings of his sophmore effort Unstoppable (2004), to the club-friendly mash-ups of Night Ripper (2006), to the even more refined mix of the new Feed The Animals. Here the music seems more like an exceptional mix tape than the genre-pushing collage that thrust Gillis into the limelight, aligning him closer to Mission Creek alums The Hood Internet, or other ‘net DJ stars like Siik or Certified Bananas. [This is especially true due to the short shelf-life of music like this and it’s popularity. I mean, I understand that Gillis essentially had to include R. Kelly’s “I’m a Flirt,” but the Hood Internet version is already the definitive interpretation.]
That’s not to say that the music itself isn’t awesome; these are guaranteed ass-shakers that will have every music geek in the world laughing out loud AND singing along. Additionally, I’m only 80% through my first listen, it’s 10 am, and I haven’t had breakfast yet. So judge for yourself with the sample below. As you’ll soon hear, you can expect everything from AIR to Dexy’s Midnight Runners to Tag Team to Busta Rhymes to Lil’ Wayne, with a little Tom Petty thrown in for good measure. I’ll let you do your own careful listening.
Today’s featured Daytrotter session comes courtesy of Dri, our favorite Lawrence, KS songstress who released her lovely debut, Smoke Rings, last year on Range Life Records. Smoke Rings has been on heavy rotation for me since it came out, so to hear these reworked versions from the intimate Daytrotter vaults is totally a treat. I saw her show at Huckleberry’s the night that she did the session, if you remember, and it marked one of the first (if not the first, I can’t remember) times that these songs ditched the iPod backing track in lieu of a full band. The session itself features three cuts from that album and a cover of a Brazilian band called Spectrum. The added bonus here is that album opener “Two Are One,” done as a solo take, happens to be one of the best Daytrotter session songs I’ve ever heard. I admit that I have not listened to every single one, but I’ve heard a lot and this just blows me away with how rich and warm it sounds. Click the link below to download the songs for free. Non-Iowans will be able to catch Dri on a leg of Conor Oberst’s solo tour with his Mystic River Band in July in support of his forthcoming solo record.
Dri on tour with Conor Oberst:
Jul 29 - Richard’s on Richards - Vancouver, British Columbia
Jul 30 - Neumo’s - Seattle, Washington
Jul 31 - Midtown Ballroom - Bend, Oregon
Aug 1 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
Aug 2 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
Aug 3 - Rio Theatre - Santa Cruz, California
Aug 5 - Troubadour - West Hollywood, California
It’s a strange time in Iowa City (to say the least) but by no means does that mean that the rock has to stop. Wednesday night at the Picador is the most immediate evidence of this we could find, with a show featuring one of our favorite Iowa bands, the Envy Corps, who haven’t been in town for a minute but have been keeping busy. Rumor has it they’re commencing work on the follow-up to Dwell, which is out in the UK on Mercury Records. As such, they don’t have any major touring plans right now but do have a smattering of Iowa appearances this summer, including Wednesday night at the Picador with some other pretty killer bands.
Javelins hail from Detroit and feature Matt Rickle and Julian Wettlin of presently on-hiatus Thunderbirds Are Now! Javelins are touring to support their newest record, Heavy Meadows, which is slated to come out July 1 via Suburban Sprawl. This tour takes them through the end of this week, and then they’ll hook up with Colour Revolt in July for a tour that conveniently features them back at the Picador for a just-announced hot show with Apples in Stereo and Ames’ The Poison Control Center. Get to know them now and be sure not to miss their return on what’s sure to be one of the summer’s most memorable shows.
Headlining band Diesto represent something of an anomaly on a mostly pop bill as the most metal band of the night. This band from Portland probably belonged on last week’s killer Russian Circles bill, but we’ll take them here as a welcome dose of thrashing riffs from their new record Isle of Marauder, which is currently available from Exigent Records. Exigent have made all of their artists’ albums available for streaming, so head here and give Isle of Marauder a listen.
Lastly, we’re happy to have openers Pomegranates on the bill. Last month they delivered their fabulous new album Everything Is Alive via Lujo Records, who also happened to put out one of our favorite records of 2007 - Baby Teeth’s The Simp. Everything Is Alive has drawn comparisons to early Modest Mouse, but I confess that I’m barely hearing it. Rather, I think Pomegranates are deserving of some hybrid comparison of Built to Spill and Tilly - complex pop but not in the heavy handed way, and hella exuberant. The quartet hails from Cincinnati but sounds like California.
Wye Oak is playing at the Mill this Sunday and we hope it will be your ultimate weekend close-out. For those of you on total summer vacation cruise control, this show is just further proof that the weekend never ends - Sunday is the new Thursday, or something like that. Joining them will be the locally legendary Poison Control Center, recent Thrill Jockey signees Pontiak, and San Francisco sunshine pop aficionados the Botticellis.
Wye Oak are a duo from indie rock town-of-the-moment Baltimore whose 2007 debut record If Children just saw reissue from the peerless folks at Merge Records on April 8 (Pitchfork review). The collection of songs - eleven, to be precise - unravels like a finely woven fabric that suggests the work of a much larger group of musicians. If Children is a true work of studio art with seemingly infinite layers of instrumentation backing the slow, reverb-bathed alto of Jenn Wasner. Similarly, Wye Oak prove over and over both on record and live that they can be uncompromisingly loud (see: “Please Concrete”) - so much so, that once again one must question the ability of these two players to conjure up so much sound. The not-so-subtle parts are far outweighed by the subtle parts however, and that’s largely what makes these songs work. They exist in the middle of the Venn diagram where acoustic meets shoegaze, in a place I can only call electric slow folk. The songs themselves are largely reminiscent of some amalgamation of Beach House meets Neva Dinova - nostalgic, wistful, vividly imaginitive: “If children were wishes, my mother spent hers on impossible things / My brother was money, my sister was love, and I was world peace / My brother he spent it, my sister pregnant and all that I’m worth / Will only come true where there are no more of us left on this earth.” You can chew on that while you wait for Sunday’s show - in the meantime, download the track below and visit their download page for 4 more.
All music posted here is for evaluation purposes only. If you are an artist or a label who would like to see your music taken down, send an email to craigeley [at] gmail [dot] com, and we'll happily do it.
Ho-hum, it’s been a slow week around here. I keep falling asleep all over myself. I was about to engage permanent hibernation until I realized — holy crap! — dd/mm/yyyy is playing in Iowa City on Saturday night! Bringing together elements of noise, math-rock, and sweet irresistible pop, dd/mm/yyyy (day - month - year) is an outfit from Toronto. They’ve been tearing it up on summer tour, playing side by side such wonderful weirdos as Videohippos and Crystal Castles. They come through the Picador this Saturday on the tail-end of their travels. Their sound is all energy and their songs are all craft, well-conceived ear-bending nuggets. They recall that killer Iowa City duo Foul Tip although their sound is much fuller with their five-man lineup. And it’s totally appropriate that they’re sharing the bill with Iowa City rock stars, Birth Rites.
Mannix! plays at the Mill tonight in honor of bass player / tom-thumper Sarah Mannix’s birthday. She can’t be more than 18 but this party sure is gonna be adult. In fact it’s going to be a circus, a rock n’ roll circus. Remember way back in the ’60s when the Stones got all self-indulgent and tried to rock some star-studded circus antics via electric guitars? Well it’s back. Mannix!, some of Iowa City’s best garage-iest rockers, channel the raw energy of the Gossip. They share the stage with rock n’ roll heartbreakers and tasty songcrafters, the Puritanicals. Brooklyn hipsters, Renminbi, open up with their funky, almost mathy blend of indie rock. The party starts at 9PM. Bring costumes and wear your cred on your sleeves. Or just pump down some Jaeger shots with the bar staff. It’ll be good, for sure the best thing happening in Iowa City tonight, that is if you are into good times and rock n’ roll.
So with the reservoir officially crested it appears we’re on the way to recovery, and it looks like it’s going to be lengthy. That being said, it is summer (officially as of Friday!), and we’d be remiss if we let record flood conditions get in the way of our merrymaking. Summertime means all sorts of things, like baseball and fireworks and hot dogs on the grill and stuff, and it certainly means that you’ve no excuse to be out enjoying yourself in the company of good music and friends. Remember when it was so cold that you’re favorite band in the world could have been playing and you still might have looked out side and said, “Fuck it.”? Well that time is over now. Don’t take it for granted. Stay dry. And for the record, I did not know that the water skiing squirrel was named Twiggy. They say you learn something new every day, and that just may be true.
Tilly and the Wall have released their third album, O, on Team Love Records. A few months back 
Nothing like waking up to good news, especially when it involves my personal hometown hero Greg Gillis. I pre-ordered Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals album sometime back in 2007, only to wait and wait as the thing was delayed until, well, right now. The mysterious and legendary head of the Illegal Art label, Philo Pharnsworth, sent us pre-order nerds an email that the album can now be snatched in delicious mp3 320 kbps format. Even if you didn’t pre-order, the album is available Radiohead-style (read: “free!”) from the 
Today’s featured 
It’s a strange time in Iowa City (to say the least) but by no means does that mean that the rock has to stop. Wednesday night at the Picador is the most immediate evidence of this we could find, with a show featuring one of our favorite Iowa bands, 
