ICE CREAM Zine Fair (11:00 AM PS1 Close House)

What draws students, writers, artists, and freaks to Iowa City is the longstanding traditions that foster our love of the arts, and our appreciation for making. It’s events like ICE CREAM (the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media) that are one of many facets of local and grassroots cultural celebration. As part of Mission Creek, ICE CREAM is returning once again for the 8th year in a row. 

ICE CREAM aims to supply the community with an outlet to directly support underground and independent artists and micro-pressers. This year, it’s also getting support from local tourist board Think Iowa City and local comic shop Daydreams Comics. 

Though as its acronym implies, ICE CREAM is not only about comics. It’s anything eclectic and alternative. Now, what does that look like? For 2025, ICE CREAM will boast 40 independent artists, offering zines, comics, handmade books, buttons, stickers, prints of their art, and general tchotchkes. It’s all about more wacky stuff, off the beaten path. 

Some out of town artists who will set up booths in the Cloud House include: the Chicago based two-person-team COMA THEORY, providing poetry, transformative work, and more, all fueled by “100% self-indulgence”; and Ann Drew, an illustrator based out of Kansas City, who blends the aesthetics of the mid-century pulp magazines with queer characters and storytelling.  

As for more local artists to expect, the Tree of Liminality and the Art House Collective will offer things such as handmade sketchbooks and typewritten poetry, all made in Newbo City Market in Cedar Rapids. Fatface Press, operated by Poojana Prasanna, an MFA student at Iowa studying Book Arts, will also set up a booth and offer works that blur the line between DIY creations and fine press printing. 

Besides ICE CREAM, zine enjoyers and art freaks will also get down with a few other local operations of different mediums. Snacky Mini Mart will drive their food truck right beside the Close House, offering pan-Asian cuisine and Chinese street food. At the Cloud House next door, the Iowa City Video Zine will put up an open house and installation of local artists’ material.  

In collaboration with Mission Creek fest, Ice Cream’s 8th year event will take place at the Public Space One Close House located on 538 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City. It will run from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with free admission. 

-Harry Ginsberg, Editorial Staff

Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair (12:00 PM Spare Me Bowling Alley)

Mission Creek, known for its musical talents and celebration of the arts, is returning with its literary focused events for this year! One of the highlights is the annual Small Press & Literary Magazine Book Fair. This fair is known for bringing presses of varying sizes, ranging from local University of Iowa undergraduate literary magazines, like Ink Lit Mag, Catharsis Literary Magazine, New Moon Magazine, and Earthwords, to bestseller translated novels. There is something in this fair for everyone.  

Spare Me Bowling Alley is completely transformed, where both floors have stands of different literary magazines and publications. At each stand, books are displayed and available for purchase. Representatives are there to answer any of your questions, explain the mission statements and goals of the press, or just to chat. Attendees are welcome to mill around at their own pace and to spend as much time as they would like. This is a great networking experience for fellow writers and readers, or a great opportunity to expand your reading palette and get exposed to some new work you may not have discovered otherwise. 

-Noa Zapin, Music Staff

Samuel Locke Ward (2:45 PM Trumpet Blossom Cafe)

Samuel Locke Ward wears his love for creating on his sleeve. When he’s not driving a school bus here in town and tending to his wife and two kids, Locke Ward is something of a DIY Darling around these parts. His parents, high-school band teachers, were happy to supply the teenage Locke Ward with keyboards, guitars, horns, and the like to tinker with at home or at school. Back in the 90s, the do-it-yourself ethos of acts like Nirvana were what inspired him to create music in the first place. As he would collect CDs from bands like The Dead Milkmen, he’d eventually learn to jerry rig a children’s cassette tape into a homespun multitrack recorder. 

Hailing from his family’s Ottumwa farm, Locke Ward moved to Iowa City in 2001. Some 24 years later, his Bandcamp profile has become chalk-full of more than 60 records ranging between indie-punk, avant-pop, and garage rock galore. His discography spans both lo-fi and self-produced solo works, and efforts featuring the likes of Half Japanese’s Jad Fair, Joe Jack Talcum of The Dead Milkmen and Mike Watt of Minutemen who he collaborates with under the pseudonym SLW cc Watt. While holding strong to his independent roots, he’s put out albums under the labels Kill Rock Stars, Already Dead, and Unread Records.  

If you try to label his work, you’ll quickly find that it’s hard to cast as wide of a net as possible. Locke Ward’s music is at times experimental, ludicrous, and inherently random. At times, it’s delightfully odd and humorous. At times heartfelt, with passionate tributes to the local scene he loves. At times, he simply makes painfully catchy pop-rock. But no matter what rod you cast from the vast lake that is Samuel Locke Ward’s discography, there’s an infectious love of making that oozes from his creations. 

Besides music, he’s a zine maker whose comic strip Futile Wrath is a regular edition of Little Village’s print magazines. In all his output, each part of the process is uniquely him — from his songwriting, vocals, underground comic storytelling, down to his self-supplied album art and his at-home recording studio. What comes to mind is a sort of technological Frankenstein’s monster, an outdated PC tower full to the brim with sketches of songs-to-be and songs-that-were. All the while, this geriatric Dell computer powers a songwriter’s gear heaven. But as you listen to his music, you’d really want nothing more, wouldn’t you? 

-Harry Ginsberg, Editorial Staff

Slacker (3:45 PM Trumpet Blossom Cafe)

Iowa City’s raucous garage-grunge duo, Slacker, is making waves with their raw energy, electrifying programmed drumbeats, gritty guitar riffs, and gravelly, radio-mic vocals. A fresh force in the Iowa City music scene, they’ve quickly gained attention for their off-kilter sound, magnetic stage presence, and explosive sound. With their self-titled EP celebrating its one-year anniversary shortly before their performance at Mission Creek, this is a set you won’t want to miss. Prepare for a high-voltage performance that promises to leave you buzzing long after the last note. 

-Amanda Moy, Editorial Staff

Sun Centauri (7:00 PM Riverside Theater)

I love Sun Centauri. There, I said it. I mean, what city doesn’t want their own super-duo? Alyx Rush’s exquisite vocals meld perfectly with Jim Swim’s layered production, creating an effortlessly dreamy sun-kissed sound. It’s a brilliantly generative collaboration, and one that keeps gaining creative momentum. I’ve been lucky enough to catch them live across the state, most memorably at Lost Woods Festival in Cedar Falls last September where their futuristic R&B lit up the forest. I recently saw them at The Englert in Iowa City during the city’s Free Week programming, and I was delighted to hear some new material that I’m sure will get another showing at Mission Creek. 

So far, Sun Centauri have released two EPs, 2022’s Fruit to the Knife and 2023’s After the Last Time, alongside a superbly breezy 2024 single, “Two Shots”. For a relatively small body of work, their music is packed with bangers. These include “Fighter Jet” and the infectiously catchy “Right on Time”. In 2023, the duo released an inspired remix of “Gimme Life” from their first EP, which became a stand-out song in their growing repertoire. If you’re in the mood for innovative pop or R&B at Mission Creek, as you should be, look no further than Sun Centauri. On a personal note, seeing Sun Centauri also means I can check out the Riverside Theater as a venue for the first time, which I’m very excited to do. I hope to see you there, bopping at the front of the theatre alongside me on Saturday night. 

-Glenn Houlihan, Editorial Staff

Supersonic Piss (7:30 PM Gabe’s)

Iowa City’s hardcore scene may be the strongest now as it has ever been, but its foundation didn’t come out of nowhere. People have been building the scene for decades. Supersonic Piss is one of those older generational Iowa City bands, being primarily active in the mid 2000s. The members of the band are reuniting together for their Mission Creek performance at Gabe’s. Their inclusion on the festival bill is an interesting homage to Iowa City’s old Mission Freak performances that used to happen around the same time as Mission Creek. That pseudo-festival was put on by local punk bands who felt there wasn’t as much local representation of their scene at the festival proper.

The brand of punk performed by Supersonic Piss is extremely abrasive. Rhythms, riffs, and screeches feel like they just barely make it through the disintegrated threshold of the high gain hiss that persists throughout their songs. The instrumentation style is extremely sludgy and feels like it melts as the songs trudge through, before bursting to life again. It feels like the band is morphing time into their own image. We’ll see how it flows in punk time or festival time, whichever they choose.

-John Glab, Editor-In-Chief

William Elliott Whitmore (8:00 PM Englert Theater)

Iowa’s own William Elliot Whitmore will be gracing the stage of The Englert Theater on Saturday. Whitmore is no stranger to The Englert, with this upcoming Mission Creek set tallying his third time performing at the Iowa City staple venue. His one-man band performance puts you at ease with a welcoming baritone voice, warm Martin acoustic guitar, the occasional banjo, and kick drum rounding out the rest of Whitmore’s unique and charming sound. 

William has been making music since 1999, starting out in the Iowa City punk scene but later leaving the distortion for the folk genre, becoming a songbird for personal tragedy as well as the ever-scarier landscape when you leave the farm. The past 26 years have been filled with lyrics hitting the heart, focusing on the passing of his parents and grandparents. Whitmore used his music to work through the struggle of loss and come out the other side with a more optimistic and hopeful tone, which is reflected in his most recent LP from last year, Silently, The Mind Breaks. This encouraging and buoyant outlook is exactly what you need to listen to as the weather gets warmer and the flowers start to bloom.  

-Logan Melia, Music Staff

Dawn Richard + Spencer Zahn (8:15 PM Riverside Theater)

The collaboration between multimedia artist Dawn Richard and instrumentalist Spencer Zahn is an extraordinary partnership blurring the divides of narrative, sound, and music. Originating from New Orleans, Dawn Richard has traversed the scenes of pop music as a founding member of both Dainty Kane and Diddy’s Dirty Money. She has continued her solo career to self-release six studio albums dancing around and between R&B, jazz, and electronic, pushing boundaries of music and culture at every step. Massachusetts native and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn is a classically trained bassist, who has cultivated a collaborative ethos exploring jazz in ambience to inspire dimensional soundscapes. Together, their partnership does not merely subvert genre, rather they work to create art beyond the idea of conventions. As Richard describes herself, “I am the genre.” 

Their album from last year, Quiet in a World Full of Noise, blends storytelling into a neoclassical ambience, with quiet features from the Budapest Film Orchestra. Richard’s velvet voice echoes poetic narratives between the wefts of Zahn’s orchestral atmosphere, together weaving an arrangement to enrapture listeners into their world. Futurisms intertwine with sound, as intimate lyricism and sparse composition remind us to reflect in the stillness, a reality shaped by restrained silence where quiet can rule. Altogether entrancing, atmospheric, and orchestral, it will be fascinating to experience how Richard and Zahn bring their genre-transcending orchestration together at Riverside Theater this Saturday. 

-Pauly, Music Staff

The Tanks (9:00 PM Gabe’s)

Not your dad’s typical punk band, The Tanks from Dubuque, Iowa and the Midwestern underground scene popularity are taking part in the Mission Creek Festival this year. Since 2004, The Tanks have been putting out heavy tracks with strong political messaging and head-banging good tunes. While their members have come and gone, their sound and image have remained consistent through 11 years of activity. Over those years, they have put out a total of three EPs and four albums, two of which are available on Spotify, and all of which are available on their blog page. Expect plenty of explosive songs, danceable beats, and interesting spoken word vocals during their set at Gabe’s on Saturday. 

-Lee Nienhaus, Editorial Staff

Raekwon (9:45 PM Englert Theater)

Raewkon, one of the most influential artists to ever come out of East Coast hip hop, will be headlining Saturday’s shows with an appearance at The Englert Theater. The Chef is on tour in advance of his upcoming album The Emperor’s New Clothes, which will release later this year. For his show, he will be performing tracks from his iconic ‘90s debut concept album Only Built for Cuban Linx…. Since his string of legendary albums with the Wu Tang Clan, and collaborations with rappers like Mobb Deep, MF Doom, and Rick Ross, he’s remained active in the underground, along with collaborating with numerous artists involved in the Boom Bap revival, including Schoolboy Q, Freddie Gibbs, and Westside Gunn’s collective Griselda. His lyrical narrative and gritty worldbuilding represent the pinnacle of golden age hip hop, and continues to resonate with OGs and new generations alike. 

-Amman Hassan, News Director

Cabeza De Chivo (11:00 PM Gabe’s)

An incessant rhythm drives Cabeza De Chivo, pulling influences from around their city into a surfy psychotropical groove. Hailing from Chicago, Cabeza De Chivo thrives in the culture of their local scene, creating music that reflects the colors of the city. In an interview with South Side Weekly, Los Chivos described their songs as bridging cultures to bring people together into a place of belonging into their shared place of music. Drummer Alex Aguayo notes, “At the end of the day, I hope you find that safe place. I hope you find that place where you feel yourself.” 

Largely instrumental, their psychedelia constantly changes shape between languid and dark, to fuzzy and driving. It never stalls or stales. Full of tempo changes and instrumentals cutting in between each other, they perform with a refreshing vigor. The classic instrumentation of guitars, bass, keys, and drums are disfigured by electronic effects to get that fuzzy ‘60s psychotropical vibe. Their sound pulls inspiration from across Chicago, as cumbia and Jamaican rhythms intermix into something brightly colored and inspired. This band’s grooves are absolutely crazy. Catch their infectious psychedelia at Gabe’s as they close out Mission Creek 2025. The last set of the festival always goes hard. 

-Pauly, Music Staff

The post Mission Creek 2025 Preview: Saturday appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Much of the same was the case when we at KRUI reached out to Cousins ahead of the urika’s bedroom performance at Gabe’s in Iowa City on February 25^th in partnership with SCOPE. He was deliberately aloof and answered questions in a short, vague manner. With this all we have for a mission statement from him is, “I was inspired by love, crime, and Modest Mouse.”

In the absence of information though, there can be ideas for an explanation. It could be a matter of wanting to keep a low profile in the digital age where seemingly any information about you can leak out into the world, even if a lot of that information has already seeped through. This is perhaps why when asked about other artistic projects he was working on outside of urika’s bedroom, he only said, “Personal things just for me.” 

It could also just be another aspect of the art itself. In his music videos for songs on his album Big Smile, Black Mire are several cryptic like images, clipped and spliced together so they’re flashing in even more obscurity. They all are derived from early 2000s inspired visuals with sharply colored backdrops filmed through older grainy digital cameras. The images are often of a suburban type of decay between fields of concrete and tall brown grasses. The same is true with the marketing, using images behind raster lines paired with washed out graphics. About the visuals, Cousins said, “I don’t know if pairs at all. I guess the graphics are washed out because I am. It’s like a Millennial brain rot thing.” 

These degraded digital images do combine with the music to bolster this meticulously crafted persona and presentation. On Big Smile, Black Mire the songs are gritty as the textures are battered in the recording. It’s an effect that Cousins strives for as he writes and records everything himself directly into cracked copies of Ableton. Dreary guitar tones are bit crushed and followed by whispering digital artifacts.  

They form anguished slowcore compositions dragged around by tumbling trip hop beats, a style that has been very popular in indie scenes recently. A track like “Circle Games” adds to this by having strings swell and fade at the song’s breaks. Cousins’ lyrical delivery is dejected and sounds like it’s hissing through tinny cheap speakers. Together it’s all very murky, and listening to it leaves an acidic taste in the mouth. The music of urika’s bedroom gives into notions of a cynical view of the world where anything comfortable or righteous seems to be deteriorating. It’s like it’s dealing with the ramifications of lost hope in sifting through the rot that has been left behind. 

For Tchad Cousins, this isn’t the first time that he’s playing at Gabe’s or coming through Iowa City. He was here about two years ago as the touring bassist for Youth Lagoon on the Heaven is a Junkyard tour. There he looked like he was thrilled to be performing. He said he didn’t remember much from the show, but he did remember exploring a collection of Neil Young pedals at the house he was staying at that night. He’ll stand on stage at Gabe’s again this Tuesday. Behind all the constructed mystery, maybe there something about urika’s bedroom will be revealed. The performance is free for anyone to see. 

The post Show Preview: urika’s bedroom at Gabe’s appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Billy Strings – Highway Prayers

I rarely listen to modern music anymore as I find a lot of it instrumentally bland and lyrically corrupt. So, when my mom played me a few funny songs from Highway Prayers a couple months back, I was hesitant to discover the rest of the album. It was only until a couple months later that I gave this album a chance, to which I was pleasantly surprised! Highway Prayers by Billy Strings is a fantastic display of bluegrass instrumentation, and Billy really shreds on some of these songs, like on “Escanaba” and “Malfunction Junction”. Man, he’s got the fastest fingers around.  

There are some great stories and lyrics here. “Gild the Lily” is a beautifully inspired piece of music that makes me feel like I’m lying on a hill in the summer soaking up some rays. “Catch and Release” is a fun story about getting pulled over on the highway, with a good lesson to boot. There’s a great video on YouTube for the entire album, and I’d highly recommend scooting over there and giving Highway Prayers a listen. 

-Carson Chittick, Music Staff

Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere

For the past few years rock music, and metal in particular, has felt particularly stale. It seems the best riffs ever written have already been played and the best hope for a metal album these days is that it can show great qualities while not being entirely derivative of past masterpieces. However, the album Absolute Elsewhere has given me hope for a better future for metal music. This album is special, and I hope many more people unfamiliar with this band get to experience the most exciting and innovative metal album post-2010.  

What makes Absolute Elsewhere special is the shear amount of artistry on display across its 44-minute runtime and its innate ability to cover new ground that has barely been explored in a largely discovered genre frontier. This album is a melting pot that somehow manages to combine the best parts of electronic music, psychedelic rock, and death metal into a cohesive project. There are electronic passages like in “The Stargate [Tablet II]”, and even a song reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon with “The Message [Tablet II]”. Despite experimenting with various genres, this album’s greatest accomplishment is managing to strongly maintain its identity as a metal album with epic trashing tracks such as “The Stargate [Tablet III]” that go as hard as anything else in the genre.  

To put how awesome this album is in words, listening to Absolute Elsewhere feels like traveling to the outskirts of the galaxy with aliens at light speed. With a larger-than-life sound and immaculate mixing and production, Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is an enjoyable project that combines the song structures of progressive rock and metal in creative ways leading to a completely novel musical experience. 

-Maurice Crawford, Editorial Staff

Cosmo Sheldrake – Eye to the Ear

They tell you to touch grass, but never to make music out of it. That’s the simple mindset shift at the core of Cosmo Sheldrake’s sound. It’s the idea that humans, birds, insects, marine life, fungi, and all manner of other species can collaborate with one another to make art. His newest album, mid-April’s Eye to the Ear, is his reflection on the role that nature plays in his music and his life, with songs about youth, decay, melancholy, greed, and exploration all accompanied by various chirps, hoots, and burbles sourced directly from Earth itself.  

There are 21 tracks on this album, making it impossible for me to talk about them all, so I’ll just shout out a few of my favorites. “Old Ocean” is an homage to the wide and briny sea through a modern political lens. While thanking the ocean for its comfort, he uses his lyrics to rip at climate change deniers saying, “Whether truth or just a story/You can’t pick and choose/Whether blunt or whether thorny/It’s not up to you.” “Flora’s Pond” features sounds collected on a hydrophone from a pond Sheldrake and his wife dug in their backyard. It’s calm and meditative, and the perfect instrumental to break up the album. “Interdimensional” is my favorite song on the album, reminiscent of his past hits like “Rich” and “Come Along”. The richly layered backing track of heavy drums and choral accompaniments from HOWL throws me into a whimsical world that begs for a big adventure. 

I love Eye to the Ear because it feels at once enormous and miniscule. Sure, it encompasses the artist’s entire life — his love for nature, his wife, his musical career — but it is also no bigger than the newts at the bottom of “Flora’s Pond” that contributed their own backing vocals. This album encapsulates the beauty of nature. It is big, but also infinitely small. 

-Bailey Vergara, Music Staff

Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee

This kind of seems like the consensus pick from everybody who takes the music ranking thing too seriously, but it’s towards the top of people’s lists for good reason. 

Diamond Jubilee begins slowly gleaming like the red and orange embers of winter sunlight along the flat horizon of the yellowed dead Manitoba plains. From there, that beauty never ends, instead ruminating outwards into the great beyond. It’s manifested through smooth, warm guitars that sear in the right spaces, shimmering cascading riffs, bass tones transuding through the essence of being, and silky falsettos that whisp in the wind. All this is presented in vintage undertones, like with the springiness in reverb or the cracks that break out when certain parts peak the audio. It shows primarily in the surfy acid pop compositions that align with Patrick Flegel’s ‘60s inspired stage alias Cindy Lee. 

This album is bloated. At two hours and two minutes long, there are some songs that lull. However, these parts are few in the overall runtime, and the glitzy allure of Diamond Jubilee is lingering. It lingers in the pit of the record’s soul that encapsulates the feelings of heartbreak, loneliness, and isolation. It pierces in “Dreams of You” with a wail to the stars. It wallows in “If You Hear Me Crying” asking just for someone to listen and understand. It smolders in “Stone Faces” in a trotting indignance towards everyone’s remissness. It flutters in “Kingdom Come” calling out to the distant emptiness for someone lost that was once so close. It also resides in all the gleaming textures in between.

This loneliness buzzes in the air around as you stare off into the horizon contemplating every person that has come and gone. Drifting around like ghosts in your mind, thinking why it happened and what could’ve been done to have kept it from happening, if anything could have been done at all. It’s those sounds and those sentiments that reside inside you while you listen, wandering through the plains. 

-John Glab, Editor-In-Chief

Dj Smokey, Varg² – Psychological Musical Warfare

Emerging from the bowels of Bandcamp, Dj Smokey and Varg²’s collaborative mixtape Psychological Musical Warfare is a drug addled phantasy of trance, trap, and experimental techno. Willfully wild and unabashedly abrasive, this meeting of minds between Canadian producer and Internet enigma Dj Smokey, and the genre bending Swedish EDM artist and frequent Drain Gang collaborator Varg², results in a collection of tracks that oscillate between the ecstatic and the sardonic.  

It is totally hedonistic, with songs that center on drug abuse and conspiratorial government mind control. These topics are presented like sonic shitposts, but the ambitious production explodes with creativity as it throbs and rapidly accelerates to its own reckless tempo. Populated with voice samples that proclaim “I HATE MUSIC” and lyrics like “I LOVE PRESSED PILLS/BUGS IN MY BRAIN/NUKES ARE LEGAL/I ATE A BUG/I LOVE INSECTS/I LOVE PRESSED PERCS/FENTANYL IS GREAT I HAVE A HORRIBLE HEADACHE,” the mixtape is able to flourish in its own irresponsibility and create an acidic grandeur for itself, reminiscent of some of Memphis rap’s greatest underground stars.  

This mixtape is entirely its own beast as it maneuvers through, and excels at, its own overwhelming aspirations of energetic deep dance music. At six tracks, it is a concise and ominously apocalyptic vision of swag rap and boyish nihilism from some of the Internet’s most idiosyncratic artists. Highlights on this project include “Taste the Poison” and “Fent Party – I Just Escaped Rehab HaHaHa Mega Mix”. 

-Ben Romero, Editorial Staff

Grey Factor – A Peak In the Signal

While the contents of A Peak in the Signal were recorded over 40 years ago, in 2024, these live performance audios were first recovered and compiled this year for the preservation of Grey Factor’s work. Before this, there was very little recording of the band’s short lifespan. The album contains ten songs, with tracks 1-6 featuring all of the original band members, Jeff Jacquin, Joey Cevetello, John Pospisil, and Paul Fontana. These first six tracks come from the archives of the Eldorado Recording Studio dated to April of 1979. The second half extends to include the work of John Cevetello and Anne Burns, with a lack of Paul Fontana who left in 1980 at the time of the second half’s recording. 

The album is a glorious time capsule of eccentric and diverse electronic music. At the time when the band was still around, Grey Factor’s work in electronic music and post punk was pioneering and revolutionary. I couldn’t sacrifice my top spot for album of the year to anything but this incredible find. 

-Lee Nienhaus, Editorial Staff

Hozier – Unreal Unearth: Unending

I took a class during my junior year of college about Quests & Travels in the Middle Ages and one of the texts that we focused on was Dante’s Inferno. Most people didn’t know much about the original text, but we referenced the newly released Hozier album, Unreal Unearth. Building on his own unique brand of soulful lyricism from his self-titled debut, along with his jazz and blues influenced sophomore album Wasteland, Baby!, Unreal Unearth is a triumphant blend of Hozier’s craft as a lyricist and a musician. Since the release of the album, Hozier released Unheard and Unaired in a complete album called Unreal Unearth: Unending. 

Following the Inferno as a framing device for the whole album, Hozier takes the listeners through each layer of Hell. The pairing of the reflective melancholy and the aggressive pop rock of the opening tracks “De Selby (Part 1 & 2)” paints the album as one of contrasts. The beauty of love and transcendent spiritualism splendidly mix in a song like “Francesca” directly referencing the figure from the original text from the perspective of her persistent lover. Aside from the obvious Dante references, there’s many other literary and cultural references, especially to Hozier’s home of Ireland. “Butchered Tongue” and “Empire Now” allude to the tumultuous history between the Irish and the British over their own use of the Irish language, as just one example.  

The tracks outside of the original album are more ‘experimental’ with “Wildflower and Barley” mixing a Latin jazz sound with Hozier’s more earthy roots. Hozier’s #1 song, “Too Sweet” and the recently celebrated “Nobody’s Soldier” bring the loud energy and Hozier’s decorated lyricism to the mainstream. Unreal Unearth: Unending is a spiritual tour de force that allows us to celebrate the harmony and discord that life brings as a journey worth taking.

-Griffin Polley, Editorial Staff

Jamie xx – In Waves

Sleek, sophisticated, and meticulously constructed, English producer Jamie xx delivered another spectacular project this year with In Waves. Released nine years after his Grammy winning solo debut In Colour, the new album triumphantly captures the rich duality of a big night out. Hype and bombast like in “Baddy On The Floor” accompany introspection and yearning as found on “Daffodil”, emphasizing the rich, tangled emotions evoked by the dance floor.  

These contradictions, longing and loss, euphoria and melancholy, often collapse into each other within a song. This unfolds in the album standout “All You Children”, which features The Avalanches and an inspired sample of “Dance Poem” by American poet Nikki Giovanni. “All you children, gather round,” proposes Giovanni over the song’s recurring vocal loop and affective synth chords. “We will dance and we will whirl/We will dance to our own song/We must spin to our own world/Won’t you dance with me?” Giovanni’s spoken word poem offers the album a thesis Jamie xx gratefully grasps and majestically threads: building another, better world through community, comradery, and dance. As the album’s second song urges, “All we’ve got to do is treat each other right.” 

-Glenn Houlihan, Editorial Staff

JPEGMAFIA – I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

I LAY MY LIFE DOWN FOR YOU by rapper and producer extraordinaire JPEGMAFIA lives up to the legacy he has set with his previous albums. As KRUI’s resident Peggy fanboy, I was pumped for this album. He has shown again and again that he is unwilling to conform to typical styles, pushing boundaries in a way that I love. When I first listened to the album and heard the opening track “i scream this in the mirror before i interact with anyone” I knew I was in for a typical Peggy masterclass.  

JPEGMAFIA seamlessly blends rock and rap on tracks such as “Exmilitary” and “vulgar display of power”. The features on the album are also great, with standouts from Vince Staples on “New Black History”, which is over a sample that he himself sampled in the fantastic song “Senorita”, and Denzel Curry on “JPEGULTRA!”.  What I did not expect was the introspective themes that came on the album. It is not that JPEGMAFIA has never been one to be emotional, for example his cover of “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, but he just has never done it so well. Tracks such as “either on or off the drugs” and “i recovered from this” are introspective and discuss relationships, the end of them, and how that has impacted his mental health. All in all, this album was one of the best of the year. 

-Mason Dunn, Programming Director

Lechuga Zafiro – Desde los oídos de un sapo

The Uruguayan electronic musician, Lechuga Zafiro (aka Pablo de Vargas) on Desde los oídos de un sapo delves into the idea of what would it be like to live music as a toad, which he carefully conceives from a wide collection of field recordings that ranges from hits on tree stumps, splashing water, chirping birds, rocks crashing, and a lot more. Those field recordings are then carefully arranged, distorted, and shaped into pieces of electronic music that are rhythmic in nature and exudes Latin American excellency.  

De Vargas made outstanding journeys around the world that allowed him to record in inconspicuous places that in one way or another, only a toad would be interested in. Nevertheless, it presents an innovative way to showcase field recordings rather than raw expressions of a certain location. These are sounds exclusively collected, curated with intention, and presented with other-worldly sound design.  

Water never sounded so good as it does in “Agua de Vidrio” where rain, streams, and splashes are given life in a percussive nature. Metallic hits accentuate the perceived brittleness of these splashes, while we hear the sub frequencies being filled with what I can best describe as tree trunks being hit. The title track can be perceived as an outlier but rather poses as a cinematic piece that places the rest of the work and the concept of the album into context. The chances of being a toad are few, depending on what you believe. There is a probability that it sounds as bleak and dreary as the title track does, and the fact that Lechuga Zafiro was able to conceive that allows the listener to be closer to embodiment of the amphibian more than ever before.

-Andrés Mora Mata, Music Director

MGMT – Loss of Life

Making their Mom+Pop Label debut, psych rock duo Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser attempt to address modernity and mortality by taking their listeners on a gorgeous, almost spiritual journey. Over the course of nearly two decades now, MGMT has continued to develop one of the most interesting and consistently timeless discographies in 21st century pop music. Their latest project Loss of Life represents their most intimate and sonically organic vision to date and is arguably their most impactful. With themes so grand and interconnected it begins to resemble a similar drug induced concept album that attempted to tackle the woes and optimism of their respective contemporary zeitgeist: The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

The album contains a healthy and diverse mix of tracks like the shiny and sunny folk opener “Mother Nature” or the noisy and heavy banger “Bubblegum Dog”. In a statement about the former single, MGMT stated that the track “outlines the archetypical MGMT mythology of one hero attempting to get the other hero to come on the journey that they ‘must’ go on.” French singer and songwriter Rahim Redcar makes an appearance on “Dancing In Babylon”, making it the first feature on one of their official albums. The track sounds like a slick Kate Bush ballad pulled straight from the 80s.  

“People In the Streets” is so sincere and clichéd it makes me cry, and its chorus has been an ear worm that’s invaded the vocabulary of anyone in my vicinity this year. “Nothing Changes” was my runner up for song of the year and serves as an existentialist crescendo that spawns the kind of mental imagery you might see flash before your eyes right before death. The following track “Phradie’s Song” sounds like the soundtrack to a dream with its androgynous and youthful vocals accompanied by jazzy electronic special effects.  

The album’s last track wraps up and summarizes the ultimate point about mortality. By the time of that final song and title track, I’m following every lyric like its gospel. They stick the landing beautifully and wrap up their ultimate point about coming to terms with mortality in a kind of absurdist tradition ending with the line “When the world is born and life is ending, then you learn to love your loss of life/When that moment comes and life is over/Anyone can love, anyone can love.” 

-Amman Hassan, News Director

Mount Eerie – Night Palace

Mount Eerie’s most recent album Night Palace follows a five-year artistic hiatus by Phil Elverum who is also behind the project The Microphones. Perhaps less devastating than his past records, Night Palace revolves between noisy and subdued, both gentle and biting. It feels both removed from the psyche, and altogether aware of the emotions of both the individual and the state of the collective. The lyrics on the record are poetic and deeply personal, all while the accompanying sound glitters and oscillates between moods and colors. Mount Eerie delivers another record of a calming wave of hand strung sound and emotion. It’s an altogether haunting, loving, and gentle catharsis. 

-Pauly, Music Staff

POLO PERKS <3 <3 <3, AyooLii, FearDorian – A Dog’s Chance

For those with their ear to the pulse of the underground hip hop scene, particularly revolving around sample drill and the general sprawling Surf Gang extended universe, it’s likely that you were familiar with at least one of the three artists behind A Dog’s Chance. POLO PERKS <3 <3 <3 is a veteran New York rapper and standard bearer of the sample drill wave with his 2021 release Punk Goes Drill+**. That record is a creative and off the wall project featuring his trademark deep voiced inflections, unique ad-libs, and most of all, blatant and generous sampling of material likely to pique many listeners’ ears. Be it “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, or “Maps” by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the combination of new and old creates a unique and exciting listen.  

AyooLii is a young up and coming representative of the burgeoning Milwaukee low-end, easily differentiating himself on any given track by his high energy screamed vocals, frequently hilarious bars, and explosive bombastic beats. Finally, FearDorian is a young (having yet to turn 18 as of this article’s writing) but prolific and increasingly in demand producer, operating in a similar manner to POLO PERKS <3 <3 <3’s vein of sample drill. Needless to say, the combination of these three artists was entirely unexpected, and represented an unprecedented collaboration between sounds. The result? One of the most exciting projects underground hip-hop has seen this year.  

Combining elements of each artists’ respective style, the result is an explosive mix of prominent sampling bordering on outright covering songs. With jerk percussion consisting of beefy snares, bass, and hand claps akin to xaviersobased, A Dog’s Chance sounds like a marching band performing trap remixes of pop punk songs. It’s an unexpectedly and excitingly fresh hybridization of each style brought to the table with each MC bringing their respective talents in an immensely complimentary manner. Polo’s driving but understated flows fit perfectly into the grooves, and AyooLii’s screams serve as a palette cleanser of sorts, simply delivering ridiculous but impassioned lines.  

Beyond that, each MC is not only in their element, but also demonstrate a clear sense of chemistry. Both Polo and AyooLii shout one another out in their verses, as well as including interspersed field recordings of the three of them seemingly just geeking out about working together. Furthermore, this album also features instrumental contributions from indie staples Current Joys and Teen Suicide, only furthering the colorful chemistry on display. Ultimately, A Dog’s Chance is greater than the sum of its parts. It serves as a reminder that music, and art broadly, is a collaborative effort, and one that can reflect the joy of the makers in its creation. It provides an exciting new path for underground hip-hop to expound upon in the coming years. 

-Evan Raefield, Training Director

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Opus

As his cancer developed into Stage 4, the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto emptied his exemplary creative journey on a recording done for a film directed by his son Neo Sora. Opus, as the word denotes, may not be enough to describe the magnificent pieces of music we have been gifted on this record. Exploring the five decades of music he has let out, Sakamoto reconvenes with pieces from early in his time with Yellow Magic Orchestra on “Tong Poo” to more recently like with “20220302 – sarabande” from his album 12 released in 2023.  

The listening experience is intimate, as Sakamoto’s breath can be heard as he gently plays the evocative notes of his catalog. The piano pedal allows for a closer relationship of the listener to the instrument, opening to Sakamoto’s position as he performs. Sakamoto understands that emotional evocation lacks perfection and is well exemplified by the inclusion of the sounds that only those in the room could hear.  

Personal stand out pieces include “Andata”, from his album Async released in 2017. The incredible ambient and classical piece reworked on piano serves as a staple for this album, making it hard to even go back to its original composition. Lastly, but no less important, is “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”, my favorite non-Christmas Christmas song that serves as the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. It’s a celebration of Sakamoto’s life. Overall, Opus is a wonderful and important piece that is worth your time, over and over and over again.  

-Andrés Mora Mata, Music Director

smiling broadly – for a moment i saw myself as inexorably beautiful

I originally found smiling broadly (fka twinkle park) because Hazel, the creator of these projects, makes YouTube essays about anime and console games. I have always had a deep connection to her music, especially her use of electronic instruments and vocal synthesizers. Everything has this warm fuzziness to it that makes me feel the same way I felt at age 11 looping “Angel with a Shotgun” nightcore.  

This album, for a moment i saw myself as inexorably beautiful, is crazy. Like “I don’t even want to describe it because it will ruin the magic of hearing it for the first time” crazy. Basically, Hatsune Miku just slammed four Monster Energy cans, has now played through all of Cruelty Squad, and probably owns a CD copy of “Wispy, No Mercy” by Citrus. 

-Sidney Bakker, Music Staff

Various Artists – Hosono House Revisited

Released on November 1st under Stones Throw Records, Hosono House Revisited is a celebration of an all-time classic album. It contains 14 tracks worth of covers dedicated to Haruomi Hosono’s influential 1973 record. Hosono released the original Hosono House after his previous band had disbanded, the Beatles inspired HAPPY END, and before he went on to pioneer electronica, forming Yellow Magic Orchestra with comrades Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi later in the ‘70s. In 11 tracks, the folk rock and psychedelia infused Hosono House had greatly influenced his contemporaries and future artists alike. Artists like Mac DeMarco, Jerry Paper, Pearl & the Oysters, Akiko Yano, and Cornelius all contribute renditions from Hosono’s now 51-year-old album. 

“Hosono is my hero, I love all of his music, I am eternally at his every beck and call, it is my honor to be a part of this compilation,” DeMarco says in a Stones Throw blog article. He keeps his cover faithful and his influence in full force during “Boku Wa Chotto”. Sam Gendel performs “My Love is Peach-Colored” as a sonically introspective, intimate English rendition of Hosono’s “Koi Wa Momoiro”. mei ehara’s synthesized makeover of “Jusho Futei Mushoku Tei Shunyu,” hits some shibuya-kei and indie pop cues akin to fellow Japanese outfit Lamp. These tracks and many more bring the original 1973 tracks into a new generation. Hosono House Revisited proves the importance of good, timeless songwriting, no matter the genre, no matter the language. If a tune, or 11 of them, is good people’s ears will follow, even more than 50 years after the fact.

-Harry Ginsberg, Music Staff

Witchz – LIFE

I’ve been a huge Witchz fan since I discovered him on TikTok in 2022, and he’s gone from a small artist I thought I could keep to myself to amassing 1.6 million followers on the platform. He just had his first US tour, is about to have his first European tour, and released his album LIFE this past September. LIFE keeps true to Witchz signature style, with dark electronic instrumentals and hard-hitting lyrics. The music has the right amount of heaviness and is simultaneously something I can lip sync and dance to alone in my room, but also something I can have blasting in my earbuds at work or when I’m trying to write in a coffee shop. 

The songs all have themes revolving around the highs and lows of life where it feels like Witchz bares part of his soul to us. He sings about love, loss, spirituality, and what seems like some veiled references to the media and capitalism. There’s little I love more in music than meaningful and relatable lyrics, and this album achieves all of that with lines like “I create this life with no ceiling in the end/Gotta kill the rage/Coming from inside with no feelings in the end” or in the track “Ashes” with “And I’m fucking stressed/In my eyes, in my bones, in my soul they’re feelin’ less,” and “I feel possessed/Layin’ on the floor in this horror and I need some rest/Motherfucker in my heart did I die?” in the song “Possessed”. The album is packaged with cover art of a double-headed snake, taking on the shape of an infinity sign, which contributes to the overall aesthetic of the album.

-Amanda Moy, Editorial Staff

Other Positive 2024 KRUI Album Reviews

Boldy James – Penalty of Leadership

Bedbug – pack your bags the sun is growing

Kim Gordon – The Collective

Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

Denzel Curry – King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2

They Are Gutting a Body of Water – swanlike

Her New Knife – chrome is lullaby

Two Words – Double Vision

Origami Angel – Feeling Not Found

The post KRUI Staff Favorite Albums of 2024 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Armand Hammer – “Doves“

In the wake of their critically acclaimed 2023 release We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, despite both of their unrepentant proliferation, I don’t think anyone was expecting further work under the Armand Hammer name anytime soon. Both artists, Billy Woods and ELUCID, would likely return to their bustling and increasingly demanding solo careers. However, many listeners found that at the end of February, an 8 minute 45 second song was released. Now, I think that the culture surrounding ‘bonus tracks’ is a general regard for them being throwaways. Songs that didn’t make the final cut tacked onto the end for the fans. That being said, Armand Hammer is no average group, and this is no average bonus track.

In conversation with Armand Hammer, you wouldn’t think it to be the staggering composition it is, with easy humbleness from the two veteran MC’s simply seeing it as business as usual. However, the product is unprecedented. Beginning with an eerie, echoing sample of throat singing buried under a haze of vinyl crackle, the track patiently develops with weary guitar lines, then echoing piano meandering like staircases to nowhere. Then complimented by contemporary blues artist Benjamin Booker’s whispered rasps, the song expands, crackles, and wavers in the cold air. Blasts of harmonic noise appear and decay, stabbing through and then collapsing in on themselves.

When Billy Woods finally appears, he is reticent, yet remorseful from his decrepit hideaway. He easily delivers one of his weightiest and brooding verses from an album of weighty and brooding verses. By the time ELUCID’s echoing vocals enter, the stabs of noise have returned, gathering for a moment behind his harmonies before the entire song begins to fall inwards, accompanied by increasingly panicked cries of “Great day!” “Doves” is undoubtedly a peak in a career of towering achievements and one of the most evocative compositions I have heard in my life.  

-Evan Raefield, Training Director

Charli xcx, Lorde – “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde“

If you haven’t heard of the album brat by Charli xcx it is likely that you have been living under a rock for all of 2024. The electronic dance pop album went viral with its minimalist album cover and unorthodox promotional tactics, essentially revitalizing mainstream pop music. While the album is loaded with hits from front to back, there was one track in particular that stood above the rest of the pack.  

That song was “Girl, so confusing” centered around a tumultuous relationship with another singer. This song highlighted one of the biggest flaws in mainstream music that starts with industry politics and often trickles down into obsessive fanbases. For some unknown reason, there always has to be a particular “it girl” in pop music. Some people would argue that it’s Charli xcx, others will make arguments for stars like Beyonce or Chappell Roan. To a casual fan like myself, it feels strange that an industry rooted in feminism thrives from pitting its biggest stars against one another.  

This is perhaps why the “Girl, so confusing remix featuring lorde” feels like the most monumental moment of pop music in a long time. This remix version of the song not only answers the questions posed by the original, but also adds perspective with Lorde’s stellar guest verse which addresses the toxic effects that industry politics has on artists and subtly pleads for unity amongst women in music. One can only hope this song serves as a turning point where pop stars and labels realize that there is enough money and critical acclaim to support multiple superstars and create an environment where the new norm for artists is to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. 

-Maurice Crawford, Editorial Staff

Cosmo’s Midnight, Franc Moody – “Fantasy“

A match made in nu disco heaven, Australian electronic duo Cosmo’s Midnight teamed up with British dance duo Franc Moody for their groovy single “Fantasy”. Released in February 2024, “Fantasy” continues to be in heavy rotation for me ten months later, making it a clear choice for my song of the year. Why? Well, there’s the sonically perfect opening, with a space laser giving way to funky drums, bass, guitar, and falsettos.

There’s the infectiously flirty chorus: “You’re my all night safari/You keep gettin’ me wild.” Then there’s the perfect instrumental pause for the start of the second chorus: “Joyride,” they harmonize before the instruments kick back in, “we can take it slow/Exhale, unwind, enjoy your time.” The song’s brilliant music video, featuring trains, chain mail, and a bath full of oranges, further exaggerates the carefree vibes. Glossy, upbeat, and above all else danceable, “Fantasy” is the ideal song to blast during a ride at “Cali sunset time.”

-Glenn Houlihan, Editorial Staff

gabby start – “Boys“

I genuinely can’t stop listening to this song. gabby start is an artist that I’ve been a fan of for a while, but something about this one is different. I really like lyrics that are kind of vague, and the only thing I truly know about this song’s content is that it references Interpol and hooking up in a car, and that’s really all I need. The line “I’m obsessed with the boys, but it’s not like that, it’s never been like that,” has rattled around in my brain ever since I heard it.  

“Boys” begins with a slow build up that feels like you’ve stepped into something new. I’m pretty sure gabby start writes all their songs to take place in a fictional world, which adds to that feeling even more. The synths of this song are absolutely insane; sharp, metallic, and peppered with spaceship noises, exactly as music should be. This bass tone could easily be part of a Skrillex song, also exactly how music should be. I’m glad that I live in a world where “future bass” is a term used to refer to music, and that one of those songs references Interpol and hooking up in a car and makes me think about gender a bit too much. 

-Sidney Bakker, Music Staff

Ikkimel – “KETA UND KRAWALL“

Summer 2024 was defined by one hyperpop artist, and that was Ikkimel. I first came across her music at the Euro 2024 Fanzone in Berlin, which was right in front of the Reichstag, on a day when there were no matches being played. Instead of showing games they had musicians playing on a stage. When I walked in, she was performing. Ikkimel had the wooden pallets placed over the muddied ground bouncing with pseudo techno beats and clashing electro synth sounds, all in a magnetic allure. Every single body was moving, caught up in the vivaciousness of her music.  

After one song, it ended. I got there late. What followed was some wannabe Drake style rapper singing in English that sucked all the energy from everyone who then just lingered there listless. The one song I did get to hear from Ikkimel though was “KET UND KRAWALL” that came out ahead of her HAT SIE NICH GESAGT EP, which defined much of the remaining year. Her style is very provocative and assertive, with a patronizing attitude to everything around her, often making fun of macho culture. She has popularity in Germany, but it feels like she belongs as an icon in the global zeitgeist. “KETA UND KRAWALL” will insert life into anything in whatever place it’s played. 

-John Glab, Editor-In-Chief

Joost Klein – “Europapa“

In short, “Europapa” by Joost Klein is an absolute bop. It is the most fun dance tune to come out of this year, but there are bigger reasons why it should be on a list of the best songs of 2024. The song was written in tribute to Joost’s parents, particularly his father, both of whom he had lost by the age of 13. It is also an ode to the European Union, speaking to the freedom of movement and personal experiences Joost has had. 

Europapa was the Netherlands’ submission to the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest which has significant impacts in terms of international relations. However, Joost was unprecedentedly disqualified from Eurovision hours before the final competition due to later dropped allegations from Israel. Europapa was projected to be the winner before Joost was disqualified, and his removal from the contest sparked a massive discussion around Israel being permitted to participate in Eurovision, as well as wider discourse around the genocide in Palestine and Gaza. People protested in person outside the contest, on social media with #FreeJoostKlein, and even inside the contest, booing and singing Europapa over Israeli contestant Eden Golan’s song. 

When asked to think of the best song of 2024, for me it had to be Europapa. Not only is it a fantastic and meaningful song, but it was one of the most politically powerful songs to come out of 2024 that sparked genuine discussion. 

-Amanda Moy, Editorial Staff

Kim Gordon – “BYE BYE“

Sonic Youth vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kim Gordon proves boomers still got juice in them with her genre bending release The Collective. Exploring trap and hip-hop styles through the lens of her industrial noise rock background, she creates a truly novel and badass experience. Specifically, its opening track left me in awe the movement I heard it and continues to stay in rotation.  

Structurally she contrasts huge wailing guitars and walls of sound around her deadpan vocals that feels like she’s seemingly just reading off a to-do list before her upcoming flight, hence the title “BYE BYE”. This track is the definition of hard and the fact an artist in their 70s is dropping mosh worthy bangers to compete with the likes of Death Grips and Soul Glo should serve as some kind of inspiration. 

-Amman Hassan, News Director

Objekt, DjRUM – “Ganzfeld (DjRUM Remix)“

As a way to showcase his new label, the Berlin based producer Objekt calls some of his favorite fellow producers to remix a re-release of one of his most acclaimed tracks, “Ganzfeld”. DjRUM is on the list. The extraordinary musician from the United Kingdom is characterized by his intricate productions and DJing. The resulting track we received can be described as a sonic, dreamlike odyssey, one that begins like any other great story.  

Echoing snares and stunning tambourines follow with an incredible piano progression over the wonderful percussion that characterized the original track by Objekt. The track then falls apart into a chilling half-time percussive section, that then becomes increasingly convoluted and frightening, yet doesn’t lose any of its engaging sound design. The track reassembles, combining those frigid sections with beautiful ones, creating a contrasting image on the story and resolving its conflicts into the finishing string and piano chords that formed the beginning. This remix is a masterpiece of electronic music composition, one that shows complexity and story building like none other.

-Andrés Mora Mata, Music Director

Sabrina Carpenter – “Bed Chem“

While I originally wanted to give my spot for top song to Amyl and the Sniffers’ “Going Somewhere”, I couldn’t let Sabrina Carpenter’s success this year go untalked about. Her album Short n’ Sweet made a difference in my year for the better, especially the song “Bed Chem”. The song’s bright chords and grooves are unforgettable to me. The storytelling ability of the track and its early 2000s R&B influences make this one of the best pop songs of the year, if not the best. There’s just something about “Bed Chem” that is irresistible to dance along to. 

-Lee Nienhaus, Editorial Staff

Tom Cardy – “Transcendental Cha Cha Cha“

On particularly bad days, being asked to dance at the club fills me with a crippling fear of the expansiveness of the universe. It’s then that I listen to this song. Cardy steps out of his usual lane, musical comedy about flipping people off and the seminal 2009 classic film Human Centipede, to deliver this well produced ode to classic cha-cha and existential dread.  

Though he maintains his signature sense of humor, he dials down the funny to turn up the chaos, layering in a dense electro pop backing track with several unique percussive and piano features. His freewheeling lyricism adds to the madness, spinning the listener into an alternate universe where a lone human clubber in an intergalactic discotheque puts aside their existential fear and joins the room in a dance. Optimistic in its dread, “Transcendental Cha Cha Cha” is a certified club banger, club destroyer, club rebuilder, and every other reality in between. 

-Bailey Vergara, Music Staff

Verraco – “Godspeed >“

Once again Verraco, the Colombian who co-founded the label TraTraTrax, appears on my favorite tracks of the year, this time on his residency at Timedance, the UK label lead by Batu. As part of his Breathe… Godspeed EP, that includes tracks that also deserve to be in this list, especially “Sí, idealízame”. “Godspeed >” is an exhilarating piece of music that is made to be heard on large speakers at full volume with a crowd surrounding you.  

The track starts rather minimalistic with a dembow rhythm, and a vocal sample taken out of Dj Babatr’s notebook modified to sound other-worldly. A sliding bass comes in not too long after, teasing the party goer, to then be blown out of proportions with an organ like synth that calls for battle, and percussive elements to bring it all together. Truly a party starter, front to back. 

-Andrés Mora Mata, Music Director

Zookraught – “Red Hot Summer“

For the past few months, I’ve had Red Hot Summer — particularly, the attack of its syncopated main riff — stuck in my head. Released as a single ahead of their debut LP Vida Violet, this track is an all-hands-on-deck effort from each member of the Seattle dance punk trio. Featuring Baylee Harper’s electrifying drumming, Sami Frederick and Steph Jones’ full-force vocals, along with their respective guitar and bass to boot, all give everything in a steamy five minutes.  

The lyrics’ passion infected me with an energy best suited in the basement of a house show, much like the one they played in Iowa City last fall. The switch ups, especially towards the bridge, are to die for, and the chorus alone gives a brilliant payoff. If I died right now and went to punk heaven, Zookraught’s “Red Hot Summer” better be playing in the mosh pit. 

-Harry Ginsberg, Music Staff

The post KRUI Staff Favorite Songs of 2024 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This feeling was incredibly significant when I discovered They Are Gutting a Body of Water for myself. I can’t possibly claim that I was there as a fan starting from the band’s offset. I was a 15-year-old high school sophomore living in Dubuque, Iowa when the album dropped in 2019 with no logical way of knowing what was going on in the underground Philadelphia rock scene at the time. I had first heard the song “eightball” off their album Destiny XL when I was driving to see one of my friends who lived 30 minutes north right along the Mississippi in the late summer of 2022 before I left for college. The noisiness and discordant arpeggio melodies were much to my liking, but the tracks punctual switch-ups were what was so captivating.  

College’s initial great change must’ve made everything too crazy to find time to sit down and listen to things, because the album sat in the back of my mind until I heard “eightball” fade in over some breakbeats in a DJ set. I gave Destiny XL a full listen the next morning and was enraptured by its searing, discordant distortion and blown out, battering riffs with interludes of drum and bass in-between. I saw they were playing a show in Davenport in October but wasn’t able to find anyone with a car or time to go in those early isolated times. I just had to view the photos taken from somebody’s backyard in the following days. 

Not too long after that time I had also been entranced by feeble little horse’s Hayday and all its sparkling energy. It was very healing listening to the buzzing noisy tracks. The record was originally release #008 on the Julia’s War label. Being obsessed with Hayday led me to discover more that revolved around the label, like the Wednesday monthly vlogs and music videos, the Hotline TNT Audio Tree performance in a ski shop, and the “I THINK IT’S OVER” video that followed TAGABOW on tour.  

After the first semester of college in December of 2022, I visited Chicago with my friend who was going to a national composer conference. One night, I didn’t really have much to do, so I just walked around the frozen dark streets in Armour Square and put on Destiny XL. The semi-sprawled grids, highway overpasses towering over otherwise normal city blocks, fluorescent streetlamps staining the cracked concrete white, and dirty tiny snowbanks defined the winter urban environment. It accentuated the atmosphere while walking around with the album’s dark grittiness and sheathing frostiness, fully enveloped in place and time.  

When the cold was too numbing to further bare, and I returned to the place we were staying, I laid in front of my laptop. Its blue glow and the orange lights from outside were the only things that lit up the dark room. I just searched They Are Gutting A Body Of Water and looked through their old webpages and accounts, most of them stylized with appropriated mashed up early 2000s imagery. I came across the band’s SoundCloud which had the recently released lucky styles and FC GORIS EP, along with a bunch of unreleased drum and bass tracks, and somewhat fleshed out riffs. I spent that night just listening through as much as I could, enticed by the treasure trove of music that I found. 

Only a couple months later, this bubble of east coast shoegaze burst to where everyone was rightfully appreciating it. At the time, I felt like I had come across something incredible that was new and unknown since no one else I really knew at the time was talking about it. It was that enthralling feeling of discovery that made the world around me feel exciting and optimistic despite the surrounding chaos at the time. 

In June, TAGABOW released swanlike a collection of loosies from 2020-2023. Most of the tracks on this compilation album come from the band’s SoundCloud page on playlists titled “sc bp excl” and “finger top digital good”. On the first listen through, most of the songs were recognizable. “killfraiser” and the opener “solo gay bowser” stood out as iconic. It still gave this frontier feeling having these songs in a new lens.

swanlike is a very different vibe from Destiny XL or any other TAGABOW release. Some of the tracks do come off like they were just thrown on there, such as “lu tamé” or “voicememmo” but it makes sense since they are all demos in a way. It’s not inherently cohesive, but that’s what you would expect from something referred to as “loosies”. The essence of each track though matches, and that probably comes from their shared origin on a SoundCloud page just made by a guy trying to see what he could get to sound cool. Experimentations out of boredom and making something not boring, making it feel earnest. Maybe it comes from the overall lo-fi fuzzy sound in the instrumentals, the strange ideas that shine through in parts like the middle of “elysian fields”, or the constant switch-ups.  

Of course, along 22 tracks there is a wide range of tones and emotions reflected in swanlike. A song like “clit eastwood” is an all-out rager with a bouncy blasting ending, impossible to quell any excitement. This is along with a plethora of other blistering drum and bass tracks. “beautysleep” and “day of the dead” feels in a way like signature TAGABOW with dragging, chorused acoustic parts and dejected vocals found in gestures been mixed with the drum machine loops and digital sound flairs in the band’s newer material. A lot of these tracks generate a very poignant yearning.

The first listen to swanlike was in a similar situation to the night walk with Destiny XL, just a different time, setting, and context. It was in Berlin just after I had recovered from jet lag and didn’t know what to do yet, so I just walked. I went through different areas in Friedrichshain and Kreuzburg in the early evening golden summer sun that seemed to linger on forever. The aimless drift dragged me along an urban fabric of faux-old ornamental stone buildings, on bridges over worn out metro tracks with vegetation sprouting through, and through ribbons of green space with occasional ruins.  

Again, the environment was accented by the varying sounds in the songs playing. Drudging acoustics often bit crushed in a processor, spacey reverberating drums, windy or pitched up vocals, quick switching samples, digital audio artifacts, and rapid drum brakes define the record. They all wove in with the scenery itself. All of it felt very vibrant and spirited. Even the more exhausted, low-energy moments like on “pacey” felt very grounded, as if there were just an overall acceptance of the way things would be. It has an air of defeatism, but without overbearing anguish.  

This feeling was ever more pervasive when “heavy vegetable” switched on near the end of the record’s runtime. A plucked, saccharine guitar plays throughout most of the track, and the ghostly phases that oscillate throughout the track give a very tender and longing feeling. A lightly hustling drum loop plays underneath in contrast. Everything around was so in touch with me, like it was whirring by my body. In that vivid moment, with that mix of feelings, it was all very lucid. There was a sharp resignation, but with the urge to continue to move along in hope the next thing would be better. On the path of discovery I found in that new place, in that new moment, it was better. 

The post Rediscovery in “swanlike” by They Are Gutting a Body of Water appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Pera called in from Boston ahead of his stand-up comedy performance which will take place at The Englert Theater on June 14^th. In his quaint and humbled tone, he talked about his favorite bands and music, along with his interactions with music scenes, and the friends he has made from them. He also goes into detail about how both comedy and music performances meld well together, and the aspects of performing.  

Interview has been edited for clarity.

Glab: You’ve expressed before that you have an interest in hardcore music, going to shows, and the energy that it provides. How did you first get into hardcore and punk? 

Joe Pera: I do like it, but it’s not like my number one genre. I’m not going to pretend to be a superfan. Basically though, my friend Dan Licata is a bigger fan of that music and would often take me around to shows. You know, he’d ask if I wanted to go, and I’d go to the shows and enjoy the energy. I don’t know, it feels different than the usual stuff I listen to. Most of the hardcore shows I went to were through Dan Licata.  

Even if you’re not as into hardcore as other people, are there any specific bands that you like. 

Dan featured, they’re not super hardcore, but he had the band, and our friends, Washer score his special. I like their music a lot. 

What kind of music do you listen to most of the time? 

All sorts. I listen to a lot of ambient and instrumental stuff. Somebody recommended the new Elori Saxl album, and I’ve been enjoying the song that’s out from that. The Blue of Distance, with clarinet. I enjoyed that very much as well. But yeah, it’s mostly on the mellower side.  

In Iowa, my friend Dan Wriggins is opening for me. He’s in the band Friendship, whose music I like a lot. One of the guys, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, and his label Dear Life Records has another band called Hour that I performed with recently and will be on tour with soon too. They’re kind of instrumental based. They range anywhere from four members to I think like almost ten or more on certain nights. It’s kind of semi-improvised songs of them playing together. It’s got a pretty gentle and beautiful tone that kind of lets the instruments speak. Those are two that I listen to a lot, but yeah, I’m excited to be on tour with Dan Wriggins as well.  

I knew Dan Wriggins a little because he worked at the university here. I really liked his Friendship stuff, and the solo stuff as well. 

Yeah, I’m not sure what he’ll be playing, but I’m excited to watch him as much as I am to do the shows myself. A lot of the time if you bring someone along that you want to watch as well, then it’s like a free show.  

You mentioned Washer before. How did you come to know Kieran and Quigley? 

Shows in Brooklyn. We kind of met through Dan Licata, and then they would come to me and Dan’s regular show and play sometimes. Just bumping into each other in New York. 

Is there an aspect of their music that you like a lot especially? 

Yeah, I really enjoyed their new album. A lot of the energy, but still very melodic in how they do it, which I appreciate. 

How much have you been within the indie scene in Brooklyn, or the East Coast in general, from like the early 2010’s to now? 

Every now and then. Even when I was at school, I’d occasionally get asked to open for or share a bill with a band a lot of times through Dan Licata. It’s always popped up throughout my time in New York. Bands ask me to open for them, it usually goes pretty well. We’ve done shows with everything from independent venues to larger ones. I’ve also opened for Yo La Tengo at their Hannukah shows in New York. That was pretty special.  

It feels like I’ve been able to continue that type of collaboration or make it more formal with the podcast I do, Drifting Off with Joe Pera. I’ll collaborate with a musician that I admire, and then ask them to score the podcast. But yeah, every now and then I’d be asked to open for a band. A lot of the times the contrast between my quiet style and a louder show can be a lot of fun.  

Do you feel like comedy, or at least your style of comedy mixes well with a live music show? 

It seems to have worked in the past, but I don’t know if it will work everywhere. It’s always a little challenging, especially if people don’t know that comedy is happening. A lot of the times, when I’ll be on the bill, like when I did a show at Baby’s Alright in Brooklyn and opened for a few bands a couple weeks ago, people seem to enjoy it. It’s nice, I think the comedy and the music complement each other well, and kind of keeps the momentum of the show going, like I was going up in between the acts. Generally, I think people who like good music like good comedy as well. They have good tastes across the board. 

Do you yourself have good taste? 

Eh, sometimes.  

I feel like from everything you’ve described, I’m pretty much in agreement. I love Washer, and Yo La Tengo is pretty good.  

Mhm. 

One other band that I love is Parquet Courts, I know you’ve collaborated with them before with their Feel Free album visualizer, and you’re in the “Outside” music video filmed at the Knockdown Center.  

Yeah, they had me open for them at their holiday show the year before the album came out. They had me tell some jokes, and that was pretty intimidating since it was such a large room. But the fans I think are comedy fans too. A lot of the musicians like watching comedy, obviously, I can’t generalize, but like Sean Yeaton, the bassist of Parquet Courts, we have some mutual friends, and he’s also a very funny guy. We both had done voices for our animator friend Kieran O’Hare, who did the original “Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep” animation with me. Sean’s friends with him and has done some really good voices, he’s extremely funny himself. That’s how we connected. I guess I mostly know Sean, but he’s a really funny guy, and that’s probably why he has good taste in comedy. Also, I think that a lot of people who go to shows, if they want to see live entertainment, they’ll check out a share of music and comedy shows if they’re out and about in the city. 

In the “Outside” video you had the Christmas tree, what was that about? 

I knew I had to perform for like a thousand people, ready to see a rock show. So, I did some jokes, but also I had fun. It was a holiday show, so I picked up a small Christmas tree on my way to the venue. I tossed it to the crowd, and they crowd surfed this tree, pretty funny. I guess a music crowd would be open for something unusual like that. It’s also something I couldn’t do at a stand-up club. I was just trying to match the energy of the space and the event, and it led to something cool. 

Was that your first time performing to that many people? 

One of the first big performances I did. I had just made my own Christmas special and was tired out. I hadn’t been doing as much standup in the weeks leading up to it. I just remember that night that I was talking to somebody, and then I went out on stage, and it hit me all of a sudden. I don’t remember the exact number, but it felt like at least 500, maybe a thousand. It’s such a big space that I kind of had to brace myself, because it was a pretty large crowd to ask them to pay attention to jokes about New Balances. 

Now would you say it’s a pretty common occurrence to perform to that many people? 

Yeah, I’ve gotten more used to it. We started the last tour where we set some dates at 150-200 people venues, which is what I was doing before, but I guess a lot of people found the TV show during the pandemic when they wanted something relaxing and nice to watch. I guess I didn’t anticipate the crowd, my audience, would grow that much. Now the shows I’m doing in Boston are for a thousand people, and I think the ones in Iowa are about 600-700. 

Yeah, I think The Englert’s at about that capacity. 

Yeah, pretty good size. I don’t know if I’ll fill it, but I’ll do my best. 

I was looking at the ticketing recently, and it seems pretty much almost full. I think the upper balcony has some open spots, but they sold really quickly. 

That’s awesome. I’m very excited. That’s very cool to know. The only time I performed in Iowa before was at the Hinterland Festival, so I haven’t been through recently. You have to go through a place a few times to get an audience. That was a music festival too. I didn’t know how that was going to go. I performed basically the end of the Billy Strings concert, which was the big event of the night.  

Afterwards, I performed for the people who were staying overnight in the camping section. I was nervous about that because it was both an outdoor stage, and everybody was in an energetic mood. It went really well. There were huge clouds of weed smoke floating my way the entire show. The audience gathered around the stage outside and it was pretty special. Definitely had a sigh of relief when it ended, but it was a really fun night, and the crowd turned out to be really great. Like I said, I think people who go to live music shows are open to new stuff. You know, it won’t necessarily go well all the time, but they’ll give you some smart attention at least for a little while, and give you the chance to win them over. 

Do you think that doing comedy sets is pretty similar to how musicians in their sets match the energy of the audience? 

Yeah, it’s not the same for all musicians. I know some of them are adjusting throughout their set. I think I have a little more flexibility as a solo performer. Like if I feel that something’s not working, or I need to do a quick adjustment during the set, or you know throw in the joke that’d hit harder to up the energy. I’ll be able to make adjustments on the fly and change my set completely, or even just talk with the audience in a way that the musician wouldn’t have the luxury to do. I feel like that’s the advantage of doing comedy live over music. There’s also plenty of musicians who adjust. When they’re having a bad show, they can also get stuck when it’s not going well. There’s pros and cons to each. 

It’s all a very receptive activity. 

Mhm. 

Is there anything else you wanted to say? 

Just I’m really looking forward to performing in Iowa again. This time indoors. Dan Wriggins is going to be there, so I think it’ll be another good show with both comedy and music. You know, it’ll feel like a proper night out on the town. 

Anything that people in Iowa City can come to expect at the show? 

It’s all new material, different from my special. It’s all new jokes. It’s at the point of the tour where all the material is new and fresh for me as well. It’s really exciting to see. I think it’s a good show, but there’s some stuff that I’m still figuring out, and I think that’s the most fun time to see a show, when it’s still forming. When you’re not sure how it’s going to go, that’s more fun. 

Tickets to see Joe Pera at The Englert Theater on June 14th are available here.

The post Interview: Joe Pera Goes to Shows with You appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Last year, the first Pokey’s Fest was a wonderful success with an immense communal energy that came from the blossoming punk scene, along with travelers from elsewhere. The entire weekend oscillated between moments in loud, hectic mosh pits, and people chilling with each other in spaces like backyards and sidewalks. The connections between people, along with the constant string of crazy sets made bringing the festival back an obvious choice, just now it only has more. Much of the same scene will be on display this time around. 

Along with a plethora of hardcore bands, Pokey’s Fest this year will also feature many local vendors selling and trading things like zines, food and jewelry. The festival this year is all-encompassing, and perfectly placed for the time of year when the days are longest. Below is a somewhat comprehensive guide to many of the bands playing at the festival, all put together by some of the KRUI staffers. At the bottom of the article is also a schedule with what bands are playing when. Festival tickets will be available to be bought in person. 

Friday

The Mall

Music for punks who dance. From St. Louis, Missouri, The Mall produces tracks shocked with Earth crumbling bass hits and sawing synthlines slicing through the room. It’s entrancing industrial EBM all packaged into an aggressive punk like presentation. Mark Plant screams out vocals as they turn dials and press buttons, all while writhing in front of a dizzying array of lights beaming across the dark room. The whole display drenches everyone into a deep sense of euphoria. Somehow it depicts images of the end of the world, which for us will likely look like a cluttered wreckage of needless, cheap luxury and consumerist waste. Rather than be swept away and disparaged by it, The Mall encourages a celebration of bliss and life before the end of it all in whatever manmade rapture topples onto us. 

-John Glab

Payasa

Hailing from Lake County, Illinois, Payasa is relatively new on the scene, though their style of hardcore punk certainly isn’t. Harrowing poetic lyrics and their upbeat throbbing tempos create a unrivaled auditory experience that will leave the unprepared in the dust, as evidenced by their short but sweet 2022 release, The Haze Begins… One can only wonder if it will emerge once again at Pokey’s Fest.

-Evan Raefield

Prevention

The clichéd idea around hardcore shows, and I guess a hardcore festival, is that they’re dangerous, and that at any moment you could get clocked by someone throwing around flying spin kicks. Most of the time it is not like that. While still very wild and passionate, it’s a very respectful controlled chaos here in Iowa City. Out of every show I’ve been to in this city though, at no point did I think I was going to die more in a pit than when Prevention played at a Valentine’s Day show earlier this year. Something about the Springfield, Illinois band elicits a hidden message, sleeper cell type reaction from people. This will likely be one of the most tumultuous sets of the entire festival. 

-John Glab

Nature Boys

Veteran Kansas City punk outfit Nature Boys have worked to establish themselves in the larger scene of Eastern Iowa, as their profile has steadily grown along with their mosh pits. After working with Dead Broke Records to release their 4th album in 2021, they have introduced the world at large, and World City at large as of Friday, to their down and dirty Southern brand of punk rock.

-Evan Raefield

Sweat FM

Broadcasting on the wavelengths of Chicago’s Sweat FM is the ‘80s style power pop you would come to expect from things like home workout videos. It’s something that you would do that one Mannrobics dance from TF2 to. Even though this music to many people today is seen as gaudy, there’s a distinct energy that comes from that era’s sound that makes it kind of cunty. Dom Rabalais distills that pure essence into their new album you and i, we were born to cry. Among the pristine, suspended synth sounds and glam rock guitars is an infectious catchiness. It’s easy to shout along with these songs as you carry out your electric exercise routine in a would be mosh pit surrounded by everyone else. 

-John Glab

Jack and the Slammers

An exciting new three-slammer, one-Jack act from the depths of Des Moines, Iowa, Jack and the Slammers offer a particularly speedy strain of hardcore, with most songs not quite hitting the two minute mark. In addition, they have a song titled “GOON SQUAD” so you already know the crowd will be slammin’.

-Evan Raefield

Curt Oren

A bit of a change of pace, Curt Oren is an experimental electroacoustic artist and VLC projectionist incorporating genre bending elements such as saxophone to build gargantuan, larger than life compositions. Oren has worked in everything from lo-fi beats to transcendental long form soundscapes. So, one can only wonder what they’ll bring to the table this time around.

-Evan Raefield

God’s Hand

God’s Hand is a surfy punk band from Iowa City. They specialize in fast paced rock music that’s perfect for moshing. All their members are some of the most talented people in the scene and together bring an energy that can’t be replicated. None of their music is online for streaming, so if you want to experience them, you better be here in person. For now though, you can check out some of their previous sets on the Death in the Midwest YouTube channel. God’s Hand will be playing during the first set of the entire festival at Hell on Friday at 5:30 PM. 

-Trent

Bootcamp

Fresh off a 7” EP release and brief tour of the American South, Bootcamp, a hardcore punk rock four-piece and Iowa City scene staple, are back in town and ready to rock it Midwest style for Pokey’s Fest 2. Bootcamp is composed of guitarist Dolly, lead vocalist Juliette, bassist Molly, and drummer Oliver. They bring it fast and hard with killer riffs and belting vocals that demand your attention. Their songs explore ideas ranging from gender identity to corrupted former U.S. politicians, all with a spirit of liberation in mind. I <3 BOOTCAMP! See them perform at Purgatory on Friday at 8:30 PM!

-Lily Graham

Thought Wrong

We dive back into core Pokey’s Records with Thought Wrong, an Iowa City through and through hardcore group that brings a rougher edge to the scene. Thought Wrong will have you chasing the waves of their distinctive guitar sound, now at the hands of recently added guitarist Diego. This, however, is not to write off the impact of the rest of the band, with drummer August, bassist Cooper, and vocalist Marc, who bring equally weighty performances that will surely have your heads banging. The group seeks to carry on the Iowa hardcore tradition and does so with flying colors. See them bring the house down for Pokey’s Fest.

-Lily Graham

Saturday

Plack Blague

Hailing from Lincoln, Nebraska, Plack Blague spews out metallic, lustful “LEATHER INDUCED ELECTRONIC BODY MUSIC.” If you like assaulting yours ears with acidic bass and harsh keyboards, this band is sure to leave you foaming at the mouth from pure excitement. If that’s not enough for you, the unhinged erotic performance of vocalist Ross Schlesinger (a.k.a. Raws) is sure to satisfy your needs. You don’t have to spend your Saturday bored out of your mind. Embrace the pull of flashing lights, strange noise, and exciting company.    

-Casper Bakker

Mindclot

A relative newcomer to the scene, St. Louis based four piece Mindclot has already begun to build a reputation as a one of a kind act in their mere not quite two years of rocking. Bringing a hybrid between blackened crust and d-beat, their unique rhythms will shake up expectations for the fest. Check out their 2023 album Profit Over People to prepare yourself.

-Evan Raefield

Pat and the Pissers

They’re one of the most far flung visitors for Pokey’s, coming all the way from Indianapolis! Pat and aforementioned Pissers have had a busy flurry of years, having released an album in both 2022 and 2023 with no signs of letting up. They are fresh off a spring tour across the nation, as well as separate dates bookending their Iowa City appearance. Audiences can expect a tight, fuzzy, and artsy performance from the four when they take the stage.

-Evan Raefield

Snuffed

The hardcore of Chicago’s Snuffed is vicious. Words snarled from vocalist Karly feel absolutely rabid. Riffs are constantly dropping down into the Earth, sending shockwaves across the surface. The natural rotting decay featured in much of the band’s imagery gives into the sonic presentation. It’s hardcore to devolve into, returning to some sort of animal urge, forgetting any of the artificial hardships that plague everyday human existence. None of these problems will really matter when eventually we all will return to the dirt where we came from.

-John Glab

True Commando

Breakcore is one of the most intense and energetic forms of music out there, with its high BPM and blistering fast rhythms. Now imagine making it even more intense and demented. That’s what Iowa City based artist True Commando does with his “hellish jungle” tracks. Amid the already frantic pace of breakcore compositions, he makes it even more caustic with blown out samples, along with scathing screams that tangle themselves within the bombardment of noise. Through all the cacophony is an intense, infectious shuffle perfect for running through the causeways of some flaming city. An immense amount of harsh energy is brought to each one of the sets, leaving a little bit of his soul strung out among the wires coiled on the ground.

-John Glab

Frontal Assault

A shining star of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metal scene and a longtime regular in higher profile Iowa City shows, the seasoned band Frontal Assault brings a high adrenaline shred based approach to speedy metal tempos, sure to send audiences into a frenzy. They’re coming off of their most recent project, 10 Beer Plan, a split with fellow headliners Ill Omen (more on them in a moment) released in April of this year. They will have necks hurting before Saturday is half over.

-Evan Raefield

Ill Omen

The other Gemini of the Cedar Rapids metal scene, it makes sense that Ill Omen released a split with Frontal Assault, as they too embody a high octane thrash metal experience, with piercing vocals and even more piercing licks. Fresh off of their 2023 album as well as the aforementioned split, Ill Omen will bring a verifiable technical wizardry to Saturday’s lineup. I can already hear the tremolos in the distance.

-Evan Raefield

Kl!ng

Kl!ng to some degree is Penny Peach reincarnate. Kl!ng consists of all the members of the other band, but instead the song writing responsibilities have been divided equally among the three of them. Sonically, it is very similar. The band still has the same indie rock fusion between the fluidity of garage psych akin to Ty Segall, and a much more chaotic approach to grunge. Each one of their songs twists and turns into unpredictable directions, and the personalities of all three are given plenty of room in any of their sets. It’s all a very welcoming presence.

-John Glab

YXNG RASKAL

Harry Manaligod, the artist behind the YXNG RASKAL project, produces scathing rap songs with abrasive, murky, hyper pop like beats. Many of her songs, like “prairielands” on her recent album SPLIT/TING are protest anthems made to rage at the systems of oppression that people face in Iowa City on a daily basis. All while doing this though, she still does it in a jovial way, like on the track “LiNDSEY GRAHAM” where she shows no matter how much those in power try to knock people down, we can still rise and enjoy the time we have in our lives. Along with this, as Manaligod puts it, it’s bad bitch music that’s not bitch made.

-John Glab

Burger

Despite being a newer band in the Iowa City punk scene, Burger does not need an explanation. Yet, I guess here I am trying to give one. Filling in the city’s empty niche of Oi! Punk, the band still exudes a level of aggression, but makes it extremely palpable by providing a generally chirpy atmosphere. Each Burger set is extremely fun and joyous. It feels like it’d be perfect to play in some chapter’s union hall. Another niche in the Iowa City area which should be packed even more. 

-John Glab

Sunday

Aseethe

Aseethe is viscous. Their sound of doom metal is all-encompassing. When listening to their sets, the sludginess of their riffs seems to turn the air of whatever venue they’re playing into a solid mass. They achieve this effect by emphasizing drones in their music. Along with blending the regular elements of hardcore, they introduce synths into their sonic array, never letting up for a moment of brevity. All the different voices bend and bleed into each other. Within their dense, metallic performance, it permeates into a mesmerizing, hypnotic rumble. 

-John Glab

Death Kill Overdrive

Death Kill Overdrive is a bombastic pop punk freakazoid band hailing from Iowa City. With the delightfully pissed off vocal stylings of Cain and Oliver, and unmatched instrumentation, you’ll have no choice but to cheer and jump around for this home grown four piece! They released their most recent album Juicin’ late last year. With songs about everything from the joy of being in love, to the absolute horror of working in a grocery store, to how fucking cute the bassist Molly’s rabbit is, there’s no excuse for not showing up to what is sure to be a fantastic performance. Catch Death Kill Overdrive on the flip side, and at Pokey’s Fest.

-Casper Bakker

thisworldisnotkind

All lowercase, no spaces, MySpacecore band name? No thanks. Sure they’re relatively new, but this band like sucks. They’re fucking trash. We don’t need a cringe-ass screamo “skramz” or whatever the fuck band in Iowa City. I hate every member of this band, especially that dumb fuck twink of a bassist. Go see them or whatever.

Pest Heaven

Two piece bands consisting of just a vocalist on guitar and drums aren’t very common to come by. This is often because with having just the three possible voices, it’s hard to flesh out a full sound, unless you exude extreme talent. Two pieces like Washer, Gnarwhal, or to some degree The White Stripes do this exceptionally well, being able to create captivating songs with the barebones tools. Pest Heaven also falls into this category. Between guitarist Adelina and drummer Cauline, no space feels left empty. Some intricate fill or drum pattern is always being played, while the guitar riffs feel incredibly lush, and move from one killer idea to the next. All of this comes along with the duo’s fiery, heartfelt delivery. 

-John Glab

Haunter

Iowa City, Pokey’s Records, and the festival that they are putting on is home to plenty of weird and convention-pushing art. Tucked into this is a thriving experimental noise music scene. Haunter is one of many of these artists. During their sets, typically lit by just a single candle, they generate dark, barren, windswept landscapes. They feel inhospitable to be in, like it’s some sort of mistake that you find yourself standing in the middle of the long-decayed carnage. It’s an overbearing sensory experience that can make a person grapple with their own swirling being.  

-John Glab

Pokey’s Fest Schedule

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Having a band make its way from the other side of the world, from a major European city not entirely well known to Americans, just to play at the back of a kombucha shop in the Midwest, greatly intrigued me. Upon seeing their name on the poster, I was determined to check it out. Zmar played second on the night. The first band that played was from Davenport, and had one of those spindly, hard to read black metal logos on the poster. They honestly weren’t really that enjoyable, so I’m not going to try and decipher their name or write much about them. 

Zmar though, were extremely enthralling. They played songs from their album Napořád which was released in May of last year. Vocals were howled and hissed like they were in desperation for survival. The lyrics in Czech emphasize this notion, with them being about manmade issues like patriarchy destroying the lives of women, and war wrecking the reality of many. It stabs at the most intrinsic of reactions.  

Backing this are these suspensions of dark, chaotic, and clouded instrumentation. It gave the songs a somewhat desolate atmosphere. Behind nearly each one though is this rupturing feeling of optimism, like streaks of light gleaming through the slits in the clouded dust. It builds the sentiment that if we try and stand up against systems of oppression, we can carry the world into a better place, even through all the pain and wreckage that it faces now. Even within the chords it would resolve on an uplifting hopefulness, and then ground itself in a tumultuous reality, before oscillating back again. It wills beauty into an unsightly world. 

It mirrored the images of the performance. The dark figures of the band were backlit by a spotlight angled on the ground, kind of like a low rising sun radiating on the peaked edges of dark mountains. Each member played with an unfeigned energy and immense vivaciousness. Despite the small, cold blue room that was still sparse with people, Zmar were able to transmit electricity through the few bodies of conduction that were there. It’s something that they are used to. Michal, the band’s vocalist, told me that small, tucked away venues like Wild Culture Kombucha were what they were used to playing in. For me, the piercing hopefulness of their performance reached that holy moment of fantastic live art where it sent literal chills coursing across my skin. 

Zmar came through Iowa City after playing Zegema Beach Records’ ZBR Fest, which got silly to say the least, during that weekend in Chicago. Coming along with them was screamo band Niboowin who gave just as great of a performance. Their new album giving in would come out later that week. Their set consisted of tearing, dynamic tracks with band members sometimes interchanging lyrics. Each song was lashed out in real visceral expression. Both bands are putting out some of the most musically spirited and emotionally punctual screamo. 

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This album marks a change for bedbug. Dylan Gamez Citron, the artist behind the project, crafted the songs in a new way. With previous bedbug releases, they wrote and recorded all the music in their bedroom, assembling the songs on a four-track recorder. Inspired by artists like Brave Little Abacus, they made lo-fi folk pop songs with an emo flair, and a plethora of samples interwoven into the melodies. It was dawned with an intimate sincerity that many people deeply connected with. Creating music at that time was a relatively solitary exercise for them. When I talked with Dylan about the new album, they said it was enhanced from eventually being ingrained in the Boston area scene. From this they enlisted the help of friends as band members and recorded in a studio.  

“I’m like kinda weird with the way I write stuff. I don’t really know how people write stuff as a group,” they said on the album’s songwriting process. “I would bring a basic guitar structure and some vocals, and then I would bring that to the band where we would all decide what parts would go where, and how they would sound.” This new collaborative approach made the songs larger, and fundamentally changed bedbug’s sound.  

It was so different that Dylan stated, “I was considering having a new band name for the record, but everyone told me not to do that, and it would be a waste of resources and reputation.” pack your bags never abandons the methods of the older releases. Instead, it makes the vibe of the tracks from previous albums fuller and more enveloping. It’s like they grew and are now wrapped around you laying down while you listened rather than crawling around your hands as you stare off into the distance by yourself. The past sentiments still exist in the current entity. 

The creation of the album was also a great time of person change for Dylan. They moved from the Boston area in Massachusetts to Los Angeles for work in 2022, just after the songs on pack your bags were written. While that move hadn’t happened yet, they said it still occupied their mind, and informed the album. The change from moving from one part of the country to the direct opposite, and all the anticipation that comes with that is stark. “seasons on the new coast” shows this preemptive thought from the title, but also with the opening line “Snow banks still grow, without me,” and the lyrics about leaving people someone cares about behind.  

Recurring throughout the record too is this theme of moving across the wide expanses of land that make up the country. Skies that oscillate between wide open swathes of gleaming blues, and dark backdrops dazzled with trillions of stars cascade above. Images of the sun’s light sprawling rainbows on dashboards, or the desire to drift and dance across the imaginary interstate lines inhabit the album. The song “postcard” gives a more rebellious flair to this attitude, burning down everything you want to leave behind, and moving on to more prosperous things. All this bolsters the pack your bags motif that shows up in several songs and gives the album its namesake. It describes the journey of picking up your life and traversing to new far-off locations. Feelings of excitement and melancholy can come with that change.  

Bright, mellow indie folk tunes lull the listener. Quaint synth blips trickle in around the analog sounds. Dylan’s raspy, anxious, quietly murmured vocals have a very soothing nature. These aspects give each song this tender feeling. Each song transudes through the listener’s spirit, like the honeyed scent of forested air. Never dissipating, it stays there like a long reassuring embrace. It has a deep, yearning atmosphere, trickled in by the halcyon days of youth.  

For me it’s reminiscent of summer day trips I went on with one of my parents that went along driftless, wooded highways weaving through to whatever blissful destination lay at the end of the road. The ground dappled in the leaves’ shadows, with nearby bodies of water glimmering in the same light. It recollects memories of sitting alone along bluffs staring out and being overwhelmed by the bright pastels of the sky during sunset. Jovial and sweet memories that hum behind the vault of the past.

There’s something about the idea of hitting the open road, crossing endless stretches of unfamiliar terrain, and leaving behind the weight of what’s known that resonates deeply. It’s the spirit of exploration, of finding freedom in the journey and embracing the unknown with a blend of excitement and quiet contemplation.

Whether it’s the hum of tires on a long stretch of road or the way the landscape slowly changes, each moment feels like part of something bigger, something full of potential. It’s not just about where you’re going, but the act of moving itself, of seeing the world from a new vantage point and letting the distance between you and the familiar fade with every mile. Those days spent wandering through forests, watching the world unfold in its most raw, untouched form, fill the soul with a sense of wonder that lingers long after the trip is over.

And yet, sometimes the adventure calls you to places beyond the map—places like tropical islands that beckon with the promise of azure waters and swaying palms. Hawaii, with its rich, diverse landscapes and laid-back spirit, feels like an invitation to step into the rhythm of something both familiar and entirely new. The islands hold a beauty that mirrors those winding highways and quiet bluffs, with their lush rainforests, volcanic beaches, and crystal-clear waters.

It’s a place where you can truly embrace the journey, whether you’re cruising along coastal roads or finding hidden spots only known to those who dare to explore. Renting a vehicle—be it a scooter or a Jeep—adds an element of freedom, allowing you to feel the wind against your skin and stop wherever your curiosity leads. With rentals available throughout the islands, the adventure becomes personal, taking you to each corner of this paradise, where new discoveries await at every turn. 

Welding these feelings together, Dylan said, “I sometimes pull from two or three different strains of thought. The reason that I think it works is that I try to keep the emotion that is conveyed in that moment consistent. As long as that’s consistent, I don’t think it really matters if you can follow the story. I think it’s more important if you can follow the feeling.” To garner these reactions from the listener, they string together ambiguous common experiences that are easier to relate to. “I don’t know if there’s any clear meaning to it. It’s more in that collage way of how someone feels,” they said. “Everybody has had some experience with a long car trip. Stars are the same way. Everybody has a couple memories of a time when they could take the stars in.” 

Deep rooted nostalgia seeps in from these shared feelings. They are shown through in the songs’ compositions and how they glide with the lyrics. Dylan cites a specific example of driving around the streets of their empty suburban hometown in New York, blasting music. They said how it was their first taste of freedom with getting their own car. That specific memory is a thought that went into the album, but it’s not the main message they were trying to communicate.  

“I’m never trying to give it away too much, it’s never so intentional of what I’m trying to get people to think,” Dylan said on how they form songs. “It’s up for interpretation. So how I interpret it isn’t how other people should interpret things. That’s been some weird feedback I get. Some people will be like ‘wow that was really beautiful,’ some people would be like ‘your song is really funny,’ and I’m like, ‘wahh okay?’ I just have no idea how people would interpret things.” With their songs, they try to portray specific feelings. A lot of that is connected to joy and sorrow, loneliness and hopefulness, and all the connections to coming of age nostalgia. They’re universal but complicated emotions. 

Sensitivities to nostalgia make up the being of pack your bags. During one of my listens through the album, I was lying in a small park surrounded by taller buildings in St. Louis during my Spring Break. It was the first tolerable day of the year to be outside, with bright skies, sparse woolly clouds, vibrant grass, and sturdy but generous winds. As I was listening to the record, I felt overwhelmed by the scene, and the retrospective images they unearthed. The instrumentals, with their earnest and warmly tender folk sensibilities only enhanced this feeling, sprouting further from the ground, with tendrils tangling around my limbs. 

Rippling in was the track “mount moon”, the only sample heavy track on the album, with darling spacey synth blips backed by a clapping drum machine loop, and a precious ambience seeping through the gaps in the foliage. Whispers of “Today will look just like heaven,” hang around like the essences of past conversations soaked into the land. At either end of the song are voicemail samples from Dylan’s grandmother. It’s shaky and static in sound, and frantic, like she was struggling to figure out the technology, but still filled with an endearing appreciation for the receiver. 

It reminded me of my own grandparents, most of whom aren’t here anymore. That feeling transuded through my being. Like the spilled orange soda soaking through the dry weathered wood of the decades old playset. Or the dimming and brightening clouded sun simmering through the cheap lattice weaved curtains. There, I cried. I cried happy tears, that curved around a warbling, radiating smile. I sat up looking around the small park, and all the people that passed by it. A dog came up and licked my palm, and I melted into more gleeful tears. I was overwhelmed by joy, and I felt so wildly loved. 

In that moment, listening to “mount moon” and all the context provided from listening to the rest of the album, it gave me a realization that led to such a positive visceral reaction. I saw that even with all the people who aren’t there anymore, even if they are gone, there was still so much love. It’s still somber, and it won’t make every loss feel right immediately, but it brings clarity. Even if in death their physical presence isn’t here anymore to show that, all those past indications are still there. All that adoration and caring is still there. It takes the form of memories that can be cherished and relived, but it also remains in me. The love that those people showed me in the past still defines who I am as a person in the present, and I carry that on as I live out daily life.  

“It’s what it’s trying to capture. I try my best to see that there is a lot of beauty in the world that is good. I also think that some of it is stuff that exists in our own past, and that can feel kinda complicated. It’s cause you have this beautiful moment growing up, and now that is no longer with you. But it is still. It can feel like a lot,” Dylan had said on this notion. The halcyon moments that are remembered so fondly don’t just end as soon as a person moves out of that singular point in time. Instead, they carry on forever into the long-lasting future, suspended in the fluid of time that defines the world around us.  

They’re like snapshots of moments that live in different astral planes of existence, ruminating through things like the cracks in drywall, the ridges of stone, the shine through a car’s windshield, or the gaps between roots and leaves. Sending through warm reverberations, it shows that the past and its influence will last for the rest of time. Those people and moments will always be there, like spirits lingering, haunting them in the most loving way possible. They’re there as something to hold onto and melt over. 

Dylan purposefully tried to pack as much nostalgic imagery into the record as they could. Things like catching fishes and running barefoot in the rain mentioned on “leave your things, the stars are returning”, or staring at streetlights while wandering around at night on “pack your bags, it’s time to go home” among many other small, detailed moments on the album make it so it can conjure up these aspects of the past for anybody.  

Despite being a smaller artist, having around 10,000 monthly listeners on streaming platforms, this aspect of evoking blissful memories is what has connected with so many people. It has established a strong, faithful following around bedbug. Tyler Odom, who’s behind the bedroom screamo band Your Arms Are My Cocoon, has expressed an absolute admiration for bedbug, citing them as their favorite artist ever. Dylan has also brought up the many times they’ve had interactions with fans over email or on social media who gave gleaming accounts of how much they loved their music, and what it had meant to them. Those few people who have listened really care and have found an attachment. 

“The people that like it, like it so much more than I was expecting them to. They really love it, which I appreciate,” Dylan said on the reactions to bedbug that they have gotten. “Right now, where it’s at, not a ton of people are listening, but the few that do are really invested. I’m pretty grateful for the people that are following me.” They also added that inspiring all these people seems weird. They feel like that the band is way too small to have that kind of impact on people, but through all the messages, they know that impact is there.  

With this, the songs on pack your bags the sun is growing and Dylan’s voice that occupies them has become its own entity that lingers and stays with a person. During and after listening, all the sensibilities interlaced in the album weave themselves between the essence of the listener. They carry the songs with them as they live out the rest of their lives, being able to reflect on the tones and rhythms whenever. These melodies are granted immortality, residing in the core of the people who they have graced. pack your bags displays that the joyous aspects of past nostalgia will always be there for us in some spectral form. 

The post “pack your bags the sun is growing” from bedbug has granted immortality appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Saturday is also the KRUI 40th Anniversary Birthday Bash, where alumni from across the country are coming together to celebrate the student radio station’s impact and longevity since March 28th of 1984. The party will feature an anniversary gathering at 3:00 PM, and a live music performance at 5:00 PM both at the Iowa Memorial Union. Here are the details of what’s going on Saturday.

KRUI 40th Anniversary:

Blist Her

The Midwest can be isolating. Flatness can consume you. If you try to drive away, you’ll only be met with the familiar red rhythm of powerlines flashing on the horizon.  

Blist Her is a shoegaze band from Burlington, Iowa. The Midwest feels less like their place of origin, and much more like the perfect backdrop to all their songs. I hear an infinite field in the fuzzy, droning guitar, and thick snowfall in the glittering ambiance. As the drums slowly trudge on, so does your car. It too is now acutely familiar with the crimson flashes in the distance. 

Blist Her’s songwriting is tender but disturbed. It blends short, aching lines with beautiful environmental descriptions. While words in the band’s songs are few, usually no more than 10 lines per song, their vocalist Brandon Boyd delivers them with a confessional tone that blankets you in sorrow and new beginnings. This local act fits well for the celebration of an Iowa City staple in KRUI. Come cry, come smile, and maybe walk out of it feeling a little more connected to your Midwestern existence. 

-Casper Bakker, Production Staff

OHYUNG

Robert Ouyang Rusli has found themself walking down seemingly miles of red carpet in recent months for the release of the film Problemista, directed by Julio Torres, and the most recent film put out by the production company A24. They wrote the soundtrack for the film, along with composing for several other movies as well. As a recent transplant to Iowa City from New York City, they have been performing experimental noise sets in the Iowa City area over the past few months under their performance name OHYUNG. Now, they find themself performing as the headlining act for the KRUI 40^th Anniversary Birthday Bash. 

Combining, many different sonic genres, OHYUNG’s albums have varied from permeating minimalistic ambient tracks like on imagine naked! to the blown out maximalist trap beats in PROTECTOR. Live sets also have vast variation, and can balance between peaking bright shearing sounds, to a soothing calm atmosphere, to loud abrasive and anxious breakbeats dabbled with harsh noise. They’re reminiscent of lying still among the serene tranquility of nature, and then being dragged out into the chaos of artificial human living. Two contrasting survival arcs. Ripping out the essence of a person’s humanity, it can either destroy, or stand still and take in the beauty around them. OHYUNG couples this with a lively stage presence, breaking into sporadic convulsions and writhing across stage often drenched in ebbing and flashing light. The sets are both visual and auditory artistic displays. 

OHYUNG has been prolific, with many performances in places across the United States. Their performance portfolio even includes a Boiler Room set in collaboration with animator Lorin Roser. Now, their next show will be to commemorate this historical benchmark in KRUI’s history. Like the student run radio station itself, they will create an experience lasting in memories for years to come. 

-John Glab, Editor-In-Chief

Saturday:

The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band (3:00 PM ReUnion Brewery)

The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band will be playing ReUnion Brewery on Saturday at 3:00 PM for the Mission Creek Festival. Shaw has cultivated a group of masterful players and writes arrangements to play to their strengths. Shaw himself features on double and electric bass, while also doing vocals at times. His band is composed of some of the best improvisational players around Iowa, whether they be music professors, retired band teachers, or some of Iowa’s best local musicians. Shaw also serves as the entertainment director of Iowa City Pride, along with providing insight for the Iowa City Jazz festival. 

The group as a unit is so tightly put together, whilst also feeling loose and freewheeling. This can be seen in the performance of “Love For Sale” from 2019’s Iowa City Jazz Festival. Speaking from personal experience, his group was a joy to see live when they performed at Hancher Auditorium in August. If you like jazz and find live performances enjoyable, this is a great show to go see. To quote Mission Creek, this is “for fans of bass, funk, hot people, and a good time.” You can keep up with Shaw’s activities by visiting his Instagram @theeblakebass. 

-John Mumm, Music Staff

New Standards Men (3:30 PM Trumpet Blossom Café)

A particularly unique inclusion, Denver’s New Standards Men reward those with an ear for details. Opting for more longform pieces, the band offers an exploration of tonality and progression, featuring elements of jazz, metal, drone, and post-rock. Their works are epic in nature, and command the listener’s attention. Fans of such acts as Earth and Godspeed! You Black Emperor, consider making time for this performance. 

-Evan Raefield, Music Staff

Bootcamp (4:45 PM Trumpet Blossom Café)

Formed in May of 2023, Bootcamp is a hardcore punk band that doesn’t disappoint. With members from several other notable hardcore groups, they’ve made a mark in the local Iowa City Hardcore scene with an assault of consistently energetic performances, and a powerful demo tape released by Pokeys Records in August of last year.

In the short time they’ve been a band, they’ve already toured across parts of the United States, established a strong following in the local community, and garnered praise from many other musicians in the hardcore sphere. Bootcamp’s shows are typically short and punchy, with lively crowds often including an active mosh-pit. Their presence on stage is, similarly, active. The band members exude a fantastic energy that really elevates their shows. 

-Harry Epstein, Editorial Staff

24thankyou (7:30 PM Riverside Theater)

Having more than established themselves as a band on the cutting edge of Iowa City’s local scene, 24thankyou is coming off the release of their debut album, Everything I Was, Burning Slow. Each song feels like an auditory adventure of its own, with their most recent album featuring forays into avant-folk, bedroom pop, trip-hop, and more. Their performance is not one to miss. No matter the sonic palette, each song is delivered with its trademark one-of-a-kind energy and colorful delivery. 

-Evan Raefield, Music Staff

m denney (7:45 PM Gabe’s)

m denney will be performing at Gabe’s on Saturday at 7:45 PM. m is a local artist whose work fragments genres, mediums, and ideas to create a unique experience threading together our very lives. She works in electronic and noise music, guitar, writing, and lying about being a composer. These works frequently incorporate collaboration from other local artists such as dancers, instrumentalists, and other performers to bring a visual element to her one-of-a-kind sound. m’s career has spanned many cities, many names, many genres, and many mediums, but no matter what she does, it is sure to be experimental and wholly unique.  

m’s performances are mesmerizing. They’re a web of sounds, engrossing the audience in an alien experience that challenges them to consider what connects them, these noises, and the world around them. My experiences at her shows have been fascinating. Her style has a knack for pulling you in with its persistent, familiar repetition yet always leaving room for more, keeping the audience on edge with curiosity. The underlying droning and blinking lights further hypnotize me as I imagine the jungle of audio equipment analogous to the connections between the sounds it outputs. m’s set is sure to be a truly unique experience. You can find her previous work on her website, and her future performances under the name .em

-Trent Strawhacker, Editorial Staff

S.G. Goodman (8:00 PM The Englert)

S.G. Goodman is a singer-songwriter based in Murray Kentucky, that caters to the Americana folk set of ears. Raised in a rural area, within the confines of a Southern Baptist church, Goodman makes songs that convey feelings around forbidden love. She speaks on the queer experience while living in a community that isn’t entirely accepting. Through the medium of music, Goodman produces songs that are interpreted as a means of healing from the traumatic experience of not being welcomed for who you are by your own community.  

Tender and bittersweet, Goodman represents and holds an identity within the country genre that one doesn’t usually run into. She pours her sapphic longing in lyrics of sentimentality and instrumentals of nostalgia. The approach that she has toward rock is one that sets out a unique perspective and voice within the genre. It is a voice that is much needed. Her well-known album Teeth Marks probes into sensations of yearning, within the umbrella of something passionate and evocative blossoming into fruition. What Goodman has to offer are reflections of reality placed in the romance of outlaws. It makes the listener want to live their truths just as she does. 

-Anika Maculangan, Editorial Staff

Nadah el Shazly (8:45 PM Riverside Theater)

Nadah el Shazly’s work is not to be overlooked. Originally hailing from Cairo, Egypt, she combines a creative art folk style with precisely played jazz, classical, and electronic backings. The result is a wholly original whirlwind of influences capable of profoundly moving an audience. Their compositional attention to detail alone is enough to make this performance a must-see for classically trained audiophiles, as well as anyone interested in the sheer artistry that el Shazly is capable of displaying.  

-Evan Raefield, Music Staff

Osees (9:45 PM The Englert)

Osees (aka Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, The Oh Sees, OCs) is the blossoming brainchild of musician and visual artist John Dwyer. Founded in San Francisco, and now based in Los Angeles, the band has gone through various lineup and name changes since their inception in 1997. The band’s sound is erratic, spanning a range of genres, all with a distinct psychedelic garage rock edge. Osees started to flourish as a band in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s in DIY venues across the country. The band is known for their bombastic live shows, making it a performance not to miss during The Mission Creek Festival on Saturday.

-Casper Bakker, Production Staff

Pelada (11:00 PM Gabe’s)

Iowa City is not often one of the last stops, at least to my knowledge, of a music act on their farewell tour. Mostly because I associate the “farewell” tours with bands that were not able to pass the test of time, providing their goodbye, which is sometimes ephemeral, in large, stadium-like venues. Additionally, these farewell tours are often more called for than not. Whether it be because of the state of the band members or lack of interest from audiences. This is far from the case with Pelada, who have decided that 2024 is going to be their last, and we are fortunate to have them in Iowa City closing the Mission Creek Festival.  

Pelada is characterized by a its electronic music backbone with a punk ethos, and Spanish lyrics. The vocals provided by Chris Vargas sternly communicate themes of evolving inequality, climate change, and social justice with vigor. Production is mainly managed by Tobias Rochman, taking foot on techno and house, with strong probes to industrial music, and heavy yet tasteful uses of acid bass lines. Their highly acclaimed Movimiento Para Cambio gained traction with a fully-fledged ideal of what punk in an electronic music context would sound like. Ahora Más Que Nunca is their most recent project, released in mid-September of 2023.  

After 10 years, one EP and two highly acclaimed LPs, Rochman shared on Instagram the dates for the last stops in the first half of 2024 and announced that Pelada would end by January 1st of 2025. I remember a couple weeks after, Rochman posted an Instagram story expressing frustrations over fees regarding transporting their gear into Mexico for their Pitchfork Music Festival performance in Mexico City. He added that increasing fees for touring artists in the United States and internationally is one of the reasons the duo will be dismantled.  

Those working behind the scenes at The Englert, knowledgeable or not of the situation, worked out to provide an incredible opportunity to witness a unique musical act once again. But now with the caveat of being one of the last shows for this duo. Expect an unrepeatable danceable experience, where defiance is the protagonist. 

-Andrés Mora Mata, Music Director

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