Blog: Time to play b-sides

I think it must have been a compilation CD that came with CMJ Magazine that included a song from the 902s band Grant Lee Buffalo that lured me to purchase Mighty Joe Moon in 1994 or so. The album kicks off with the searing guitars of "Lone Star Song" and proceeds to swing bipolar between sweet folky acoustic and burning electrics all housed in HUGE unabashed reverb like only the 902s could deliver. Needless to say this was exactly what my then 26-year-old self thought was the best thing ever! Playing though [...]

The winter had overstayed its welcome in Eastern Iowa this year and with the frost finally succeeding and the bulbs pushing their greens up in anticipation of flowering, we can finally (hopefully) start looking forward to Spring and Summer and to the recent announcement by Codfish Hollow of the first show in the barn this year! Last year we saw two really amazing events in the Codfish Hollow Barn stage even without an official Daytrotter Barnstormer show. July 4th brought  a mind-melting and body-dehydrating appearance by Counting Crows and their touring Outlaw Roadshow lineup for what [...]

In the list for the Record Store Day 2013 (April 20, 2013) releases I noticed under LP's that there will be a LP + CD release of Spiritoso by Calexico . The notes say that this was originally available only as a vinyl release on tour. While I'm not sure about that, it was part of the special box set release of Algiers - Calexico's most recent album release. Here is what City Slang (Calexico's European label who put out the box set) said about it: Spiritoso [...]

At this point the importance of Miles Davis groundbreaking work on his 1959 release Kind of Blue is well-established. Recorded over two dates in 1959 (March 2nd and April 22nd at Columbia's 30th Street Studio) and featuring the legendary "First Sextet" lineup of  Davis, Julian Adderley, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly/Bill Evans (Kelly was on "Freddie Freeloader"), Paul Chambers and James Cobb. This is the band that Davis started his experimentation with modal jazz and the move away from his hard bop style. Though Kind of Blue is heralded as the pinnacle of modal style, Davis had [...]

John Convertino of Calexico holding the vinyl LP of the new Ancienne Belgique Vol 2 This morning via their Facebook Page , Calexico announced that they will be selling CD's and vinyl of a new tour-only live release titled Anceinne Belgique Vol 2.  Hey Everyone we have a new tour only album for sale. It's a live recording from the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels this past September 2012 featuring new songs off of the album "Algiers" as well as some old songs too. Mixed [...]

The month of January was named after the Roman goddess Janus who had two faces.  Like the goddess, January is the month of the year when we both look back on the previous year that is over as well as ahead to the year coming up. I just posted my favorite releases for 2012 - here is a list of releases that I'm looking forward to in 2013. Mountains - Centralia (January 22) The Brooklyn duo of Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp is back with another [...]

Fender sent out an e-mail blast this week which, among other things, listed some new guitars in their Pawn Shop Line . Most interesting to me was the re-appearance of a Bass VI! I wrote a fairly comprehensive article about the Bass VI back in 2006 ( CLICK HERE ). At the time I was really interested in the Bass VI as a way to bridge my bass playing skills to 6-string. The Bass VI was a premium guitar from Fender which didn't fit in my budget, but I tried out a couple of the Baritone Jaguars that [...]

Pieta Brown is kicking of the 2013 year of shows with a return to CSPS on Friday, January 18th. She's bringing with her The Sawdust Collective which is her regular collaborators Bo Ramsey on guitars and backing vocals and Jon Penner on bass. The last time I saw Pieta at CSPS was during the Acoustic Cafe show in January of last year along with Kelly Joe Phelps and Carrie Rodriguez ( my pictures here ). Since then, both Pieta and Bo contributed songs to the Iowa City Song Project album- a local-artists tribute to the [...]

• englert - Pieta Brown: "Doesn't Take Long"

Here we are again at the end of another year. 2012 was the 6th year of existence for this little blog. Looking back, it's been kind of a year of recovery for me. Lots of fallout from being unemployed in 2011 finally came to rest in 2012 and I'm finally getting into the swing of a new home, job and direction. From a music perspective, for me anyway, 2012 was a year of next-releases from a lot of my favorite bands- possibly signaling some confidence and support for the hard-working and long-touring truly independent bands out there. [...]

2012 was a year marked with vinyl re-releases from the seminal Thrill Jockey catalog in celebration of 20 years- Tortoise, Sea and Cake, Fiery Furnaces, Califone. In among the releases was a a reissue of a record that many consider to be the beginnings of what we know to be the Americana movement today- Feels Like the Third Time by Freakwater . Thrill Jockey reissued Freakwater's 1993 third album (and first for the label) on Record Store Day and in 2013 it celebrates its 20th anniversary. In celebration of this landmark occasion, [...]

No text

Well, it's been a pretty great week for acts at CSPS! The Duncan Sheik show on Thursday night was pretty damn amazing, and I found a couple of acts I want to keep an eye on- that new Alpha Rev album coming out next year will be one that I'm looking forward to. Tonight the big stage at CSPS will be graced by Dick Prall who used to live in Iowa, but now crafts his Brit Pop-influenced Midwestern Rock from the Windy City. He's put out a solid run of pop rock masterpieces since [...]

Duncan Sheik is making a return to Cedar Rapids tomorrow night. He is making a stop in the area as part of the Sunset Sessions Live tour and also in support of the fact that his Tony and Grammy winning musical Spring Awakening is going to be put on by U of I Arts . Sheik is going to speak at the UI Theatre from Noon to 1 and then he's performing at CSPS at 7PM along with Austin band Alpha Rev and New Jersey singer/songwriter Laura Warshauer . [...]

One of the great things about Legion Arts is their annual Landfall Music Festival. They manage to fill their stages some of the best world music acts touring the nation. Back in 2010, I had the opportunity to catch one artist that really captured my heart with her boisterous Latin-infused pop, folk and rock. Ani Cordero has a really colorful history in the music business. In addition to recording a few solo albums as bilingual band Cordero , she has also been a member of Man or Astroman?'s [...]

Anyone who knows Tiff Biehl knows that she is a Democratic Activist of the first order. You might not know it to see her roaming the barn making sure everything is in working order during the magical Daytrotter Barnstormer shows that have taken place at their wonderful live music barn venue called Codfish Hollow just outside Maquoketa, IA. These shows have included bands like Dawes (twice), The Walkmen, Local Natives, Delta Spirit, and many others, culminating in an amazing show with Counting Crows this year on the 4th of July. But, before Tiff [...]

I wasn't expecting a new release from Hiss Golden Messenger so soon after the release of the brilliant Poor Moon . Though I guess it has already almost been a year since it's limited vinyl release on Paradise of Bachelors , but in that year Poor Moon received a reissue of sorts in April as a CD on Thompkins Square giving it the distinction of being one of the few contemporary releases on the label. For the pre-order campaign for Poor Moon , MC Taylor tried [...]

It's difficult to summarize Nellie McKay' s very diverse career. Since the release of her first double album Get Away From Me - which is how I first heard her- she's released four more albums, had a painful breakup with her record label, starred on Broadway, acted in a couple of films, and generally exhibited her resistance to staying in any one place for very long. Irrepressible, unsinkable, unbelievable Nellie McKay. When I saw her in 2008 at The Dakota in Minneapolis with my wife and daughter (where the above picture was [...]

I think Cedar Rapids is getting a little spoiled! Red House Records band The Pines is back at CSPS tonight for the third time since it reopened in 2011!  For the show in February the audience was graced with a surprise guest- Benson Ramsey's dad Bo Ramsey! Whether or not Bo will make a surprise visit again tonight remains to be seen, but either way The Pines are a band not to be missed and the beautifully remodeled [...]

What does one do when Ryan Olson, the mastermind behind the Minneapolis Supergroup Gayngs suggests that you start your own band? Well, if you are Channy Leanagh (née Casselle) formerly of Minneapolis folk band Roma di Luna and one of the vocalists in Gayngs- you take the suggestion and help. Olson took some of the songs that Channy had been writing and added some of his own electronic wizardry- a process similar to how he grew the Gayngs album. Olson then called in some other musicians he had worked with the vision [...]

Since the last time California band Dawes graced a stage in Eastern Iowa in 2010 they've been busy. Last year they released their sophomore album Nothing Is Wrong , got their video for "Time Spent In Los Angeles" added to VH12s Top 20 , tapped as his touring band by Robbie Robertson (and backed him on Letterman !), toured seemingly non-stop around the world both headlining and in support of bands like Mumford & Sons as well as hitting the festival stages at Coachella and Lollapalooza. After being spoiled with a [...]