In her own way, Anni Rossi has proven to be more elusive than any of us would ever expect. The wonderful chamber-pop phenom, originally scheduled for a show tonight at the Picador has had to bow out amidst increasing tour fatigue (she has been on the road nonstop for months). She promises to return to [...]

It’s a big night. Heck, it’s a big week. What with five national bands touching down in Iowa City at the Picador, Mill, and Yacht Club over the next three days it’s kind of like we’re experiencing the intense punch of Labor Day Weekend all over again. Thank the heavens it’s an away game on [...]

It’s true: there are a lot of writers in Iowa City. Hell, I’m one of them, caught in the endless black hole of trying to hack-it-out, finish a book, and make even a speck of a name for myself. Why do we come here - to Iowa City — out of all of the places we [...]

A dispatch from our record label: It’s been straight-up crazy time over here at Mission Freak Records. This past week has seen the release of several albums both physically and digitally. If you are interested in checking out the artists that we support there couldn’t be a better time than now to order a CD [...]

Some people can’t deal with music festivals because they hate having to make the tough decisions of choosing between two or three bands that are playing at the same time.  We, however, over here at the Freak love making those decisions and running in between stages to hear several different bands within constrictive time slots. [...]

Des Moines is about to get straight-up wild. Iowa’s biggest and best summer music festival returns for its second year and the theme is “something for everyone”. 80-35 will take place this Friday and Saturday on July 3rd - 4th in downtown Des Moines, IA. The whole shebang goes down in Western Gateway Park (at [...]

There’s so much to say about Deer Tick’s John McCauley: his voice channels the ghosts of the best country singers, the soul of the best rock n’ rollers, and the charm of the best leading men. His Deer Tick project has steadily been turning heads with the release of last year’s War Elephant, an album [...]

Some folks are destined to make beautiful music. Singer / Songwriter Cass McCombs falls into this category. For several years he has steadily been at work, crafting wonderful albums filled with his eclectic ideas and his intimate and haunting voice. His fourth record, Catacombs (via Domino Records) is another quiet masterpiece marked by daring and [...]

This fact bears repeating: Old Panther’s new record is going to be awesome. A couple of us had the pleasure of going up to Future Appletree Too (where the bulk of the record was cut) and listening to some of the tracks. The latter part of the album was done at Flatblack Studios in Iowa [...]

This just hurts. Our favorite Bay Area / NYC garage rockers have broken up! Yes, it’s true: the kings and queen of minimal hooks and maximum sweat have called it a day, reportedly on account of tambourinist / percussionist JDK Blacker wanting to move on to new art projects. All in all, everyone is parting [...]