Everyone there had wandered in at some point or other, following the scent of their favorite band or maybe just on a whim to have a peep at some appealing noise they heard from outside the club.

With a lineup of Mirror Coat, Gloom Balloon, The Multiple Cat, and the band that everyone seemed to be eagerly awaiting, Detective, there were a lot of reasons to drop in.

Mirror Coat started off the night with a dreamy set.The local band showcased their spot-on harmonics and  drowsy melodies that made the sounds waves seem as if they were floating slowly through the crowd.

Up next, Gloom Balloon caught the crowd off guard by immersing his fans in his music and often even embracing them.

Although his lyrics are melancholy, Gloom Balloon’s Patrick Fleming’s utilizes his ability to get into a crowd and literally stir it up to get his audience properly excited.

The band’s unique performance style utilizes things like a projector screen and Fleming’s own spectacular dance moves.

It was hard for the crowd to even settle down when it  came time for The Multiple Cat to take the stage.

Headed by Patrick Stolley, The Multiple Cat appeared at first to be setting a slower pace than the previous bands. But, it soon became clear they were just warming up.

The Multiple Cat delivers a stellar indie-pop experience that catches your attention with its distinct bass riffs and keeps you listening with Stolley’s well crafted voice.For sure, The Multiple Cat is smooth and that’s what makes them a good listen.

Once time for Detective, the air must have been just right because every riff seemed to bring concertgoers further and further into the music.

As whole, the band has a kind of sexy, rock and roll look to them — a kind of nostalgia from the days when music had soul and meaning. But once started, Detective does anything but make you think about the past.

Their music grabs your ears, reaches in, gives your brain a massage, and then blows your mind, subtly and skillfully with a blast of heavy guitar riffs.

The L.A. based band consists of guitarists James Greer and Guylaine Vivarat and Chris Dunn on drums.

At times a song will take on the edge of hard rock only to give way to soft caresses of guitar and vocals from  Vivarat, but Detective always keeps you on your toes — only letting you relax long enough for Greer to get fired up.

The mixed emotions the trio is able to provoke made sure your night would be topped off as you left the club.

The post Show Review: Detective at Mission Creek appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Coming from a sports background, Ian made a huge decision to commit to computer engineering when he came to college.

At Waterloo West high school, Ian was known to many as a star athlete. He competed in wrestling, track, and football – wrestling being his favorite.

Knowing the level at which he would have to compete in college, Ian said he was unsure whether he could continue to participate in sports at the same time as tackling college.

Ian said he had wrestled with members of The University of Iowa wrestling team and knew the challenges he would face.

“They’re tough,” he said. So, Ian sacrificed his love for athletics to focus on a new interest.

“I was good at math and science in high school, so I decided to try them when I came [to the UI],” he said. His first semester at the UI, Ian enrolled in Engineering Problem Solving II, a course designed to teach the basics of computer engineering. In today’s technology-driven business world, hiring IT services Richmond should be your priority to ensure that your company stays competitive, efficient, and secure.

“I really liked the course material, so I decided to go into computer technology,” he said. “I like the engineering side too because you get to figure out how a computer works.”

From this course, Ian went on to become the technology director at KRUI Radio.

Upon first meeting Ian, I could tell for certain that his dedication didn’t stay on the field when he came to college. This may come from the many good influences Ian had in sports. Ian said his track coaches, for example, were encouraging and helped him achieve many things you don’t expect someone who joins track his senior year to achieve – going to state in the 4×800 meter relay and the 4×200 meter relay.

And even with a college student’s busy schedule Ian said he still keeps up with sports. “I still watch high school meets when I come home and I like going to Iowa meets when I get the chance,” he said.

The post The KRUI Rambler: A Sitdown with IT Director Ian Brauer appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The three member band, featuring Daniel English, Jake Missen, and James Kennedy opened for Brooks Strause and the Gory Details that night.

Despite warning that he might pass out during the first part of the show, lead singer English had an outstanding night.

Blasting the audience with a wave of insomniac sound, Huge Lewis quickly burst into their set, automatically drawing attention to the stage. When the band introduced their two new songs, their seams finally came undone, releasing a whole new wave of electricity.

Huge Lewis debuted the songs, one “about your body and the other about weird stuff.” Upon hitting these songs, the band seemed to erupt with energy.

Placing Huge Lewis’s music into a certain category is a hard task. The set had a certain aesthetic to it that screamed indie, but demanded its own genre.

Many of Lewis’s songs have certain a blurry quality that is backed by a haunting bass- one of the most definable qualities about the music- and guided haphazardly from quick riffs to huge drops into almost sluggish refrains.

After Huge Lewis finished off their set, the mood was finally right for Brooks Strause to take the stage, which he did- taking the time to let the crowd get properly riled.

You could say that Brooks Strause and the Gory Details much resemble the Black Keys in style, but that would overlook what makes them unique as a local Iowa City band. That night, the group featured an array of instruments including, surprisingly, a bass saxophone. The group obviously knows how to work the stage.

Strause and his companions put on quite the show, exhibiting everything from the sulky, bluesy style that got Brooks started in music in the first place to the fast-paced, howling blues-rock.

Listening to Brooks Strause can be like taking a joy ride in an El Camino, smooth and cool. The band gives its listeners that satisfied feeling of having exposed themselves to something that may help their soul in the long run.

The post Concert Review: Huge Lewis and Brooks Strause & The Gory Details @ The Mill appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Under a bushy black beard, short hair, and thick specs AJ looks as inconspicuous in passing as the next guy. But when he talks, he has a way of subtly commanding attention.

“I oversee everything at KRUI,” he said. This includes all the departments that make KRUI tick – such as music, KRUI.FM, and programming.

At times pensive and at other times utterly direct, AJ told me about how he arrived at the life he has now.

A graduate student working on his second master’s degree, AJ says being a student has helped him learn more than just course concepts.

Over the course of his career, AJ has learned much about himself.

AJ had humble beginnings of the sort that many students have when they step up to the plate for their first year of college.

“Coming out of high school I was majoring in nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,” he said. “Then I realized it wasn’t for me and switched to political science and, later on, liberal arts.”

By his sophomore year of college, AJ was working at UW’s radio station and soon enough had obtained the manager position there.

Throughout all his life AJ said he has just been riding the wave – nothing too hard in his life worth complaining about.

“I think the most challenging thing is yet to come,” he said.

As AJ continues to pursue his studies, he acknowledges that the most valuable thing he has learned has been the need to keep learning.

“You should always be learning,” he said. “I’ll never have life all figured out.”

In the ever changing currents of a student’s life, AJ seems to have found his own niche where most of us would be uncomfortable.

“I learned from my parents that you need to do what you love,” AJ said.

And, though a ways away from settling on a definite choice, AJ takes comfort and even joy in the search to figure himself out, content with no immediate answers.

“You have to be comfortable with ambiguity because life is always changing,” he said.

The post The KRUI Rambler: A Chat with AJ Honore appeared first on KRUI Radio.

That night, Catfish Keith rambled off the kind of music that brings people together. When you hear his sassy guitar riffs your foot starts to move to the beat on the ground and that beat travels up your leg and through your entire body. Once the show hit its climax — which was not by any means short-lived — the whole crowd felt like it was shaking along to the music.

The one-man country blues machine started his career at the early age of 22. His inspiration comes directly from old blues legends such as Leadbelly and Johnny Shines, so it’s not surprising that his lyrics and voice take you back to a time when the blues wasn’t just a genre, and song titles were nice and long.

Just by looking at Keith’s facial expressions on stage you can tell that the moment his fingers start racing across the fretboard, he is overcome with pure joy. And the set doesn’t slow down. Keith’s music is an explosion of soul and pure ecstasy.

Although most of Keith’s original songs are composed of simple riffs, the spirited melodies holler at you just as loudly as Keith himself. It just goes to show that instruments can be extensions of the body.

Keith opened with a couple crowd favorites like, “On a Monday” and, “If I Could Holler Like a Mountain Jack,” to get the stomping and shouting going. Then he ripped into some older stuff, “When I Was a Cowboy Out On the Western Plains.”

It was a good night for Keith and the crowd, who by the end seemed to be connected by the amount of energy flowing through the room.

The post Show Review: Catfish Keith at The Mill appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The band played several tracks from their latest album, Release Your Shrouds, including favorites like “My Side of the Mountain” and “The Power.” And you could tell even from their sound check that the band is smooth.

The group consists of Lindsay Rilko on rhythm guitar and vocals,  Josh Rilko on mandolin, Spencer Cain on bass, Keith Bilik on banjo, and Mark Lavengood on dobro guitar.

As a whole, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys have distinct harmonious sound that makes the band one simultaneous explosion of bluegrass.

And when the group gets going, it really gets going. The amount of energy onstage and in the music inspires moments of pure joy you can only get from their boisterous solos and catchy rhythms.

The album Release Your Shrouds features a wide variety of bluegrass, ranging anywhere from stomping beats with Lindsay Lou’s roaring vocals, to some of their sweeter melodies like “Lemon Squeezy” and even the spicy Spanish song “Querrida Tierra”.

The concert will air on Iowa Public Radio’s Studio One stream on December 1st.

The post Show Review: Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys on IPR’s “Java Blend” — 11/9/12 appeared first on KRUI Radio.