Collaborating with University of Iowa’s Scope Productions, The Englert Theater brought Lip Critic back to Iowa City as a part of their Track Zero series. With the band’s unique and unconventional blend of various music styles and this being their second visit to the world city, it’s no surprise that they’ve quickly gained the cult following of punks, raver’s, alt kids, hip hop heads and music lovers alike all across Iowa. Joined by local powerviolence act Recess and punk rockers Ascended Master, it was bound to be a great show.  

Recess was the first opener and started the night off with some incredible energy. Lead singer Sir Anne Wrappe has dipped their toes in several forms of performance art including drag and burlesque acts which makes them a very unique but exciting hardcore front-man. This juxtaposes perfectly with Powerviolence’s usual style of fast paced, aggressive guitar solos and murky, sludgy bass riffs to make Recess really stand out amongst a sea of copy-cat metal bands. Another highlight of their performances for me was their undeniable chemistry as a group, from the consistent swap of vocalists to the way the drum fills compliment the guitarists, you can tell this is a group of highly skilled and experienced musicians. Excellent set and I can’t wait to see more from Recess, they don’t have any released music so make sure to check out a show from these rising stars in the Iowa City music scene!

Next up was Ascended Master, the “unc band” of the lineup. Due to how strong their performance was, I was surprised to find out that they’ve only been playing shows for the past few months, but it made more sense knowing how stacked the group was with music scene veterans. Namely their lead singer Oliver Weilein of City Council and BOOTCAMP fame. At one point in between songs he went around the crowd asking people what they would want to change about Iowa City and actually listening to their responses. It’s really great to see a local musician who’s so dedicated to uplifting their own community and just goes on to show why Oliver is such a local legend.

Even speaking exclusively about music, the set was such a blast, just punk bangers back to back with such a keen understanding of performance and crowd control. I think my favorite was a cover of Descendents iconic song Hope, with some really fun mic grabs and crowd pile ons throughout the track. Unfortunately they have no social media, so make sure to continue looking out for them popping up on some local flyers!

The simplest and most accurate way to describe Lip Critic’s music is experimental. The eccentric four man multi instrumentalist group combines elements of rock, hip hop, punk, electronic, and industrial music to make these incredibly produced tracks that are equally aggressive as they are danceable. This was reflected perfectly within this show’s moshpit which ebb and flowed between rave style dances and more traditional push pit moshing. 

You can’t help but shake ass to the grooveable rhythms of Toxin Dodger, thrash your head to The Heart and sing your lungs out to the choruses of Milky Max and In The Wawa (Convinced I Am God). And none of this would be possible without the band’s incredible stage presence. Their lead singer Bret Kaser is an absolute maniac who will do anything to bring up the crowd’s energy whether that’s running into the pit, bringing people on stage or screaming random things between sets. With such high energy performers it’s hard to not reciprocate that energy and want to move with them, which I believe everyone in the audience (me included) felt for the whole set. If you want to hear more about specific tracks, check out my review of their latest album Hex Dealer. If you love what you hear, definitely anticipate the group’s upcoming album Theft World, out on April 30th. But for now, thank you Lip Critic, for an amazing performance.

While not available for a full interview after the show, I did get the really great opportunity to have a conversation with the lead singer at the merch booth and here’s some of what he had to say.

Tarik: Hey thanks for a great set, really loved it.

Bret: Thank you man, thanks for the energy.

Tarik: Did you actually meet your wife in Iowa? (Referring to earlier in the show when he shouted between songs that he met his wife at Gabe’s)

Bret: Nah I don’t even have a wife.

Tarik: Wait what, why’d you say that then?

Bret: I don’t know, I just thought it’d make people excited.

Tarik: Do you always make up stuff like that during shows?

Bret: Yeah, just something funny that gets people going.

Tarik: I was gonna say, cause I think last time you were here you said you were going through a divorce.

Bret: Haha yeah, did you come to our show here with White Reaper?

Tarik: Yeah no it was so fun. I didn’t know who y’all were before the concert, and I came and you guys put on such a great show I had to come see you guys again.

Bret: Do a lot of people around here just kinda like coming to shows, even if they don’t know the artists?

Tarik: Yeah, a good amount of people, we got a pretty solid music scene.

Bret: Yeah that’s sick man, we really didn’t know Iowa City was like that before our first show here, but we were really sleeping on it, you guys go crazy.

Tarik: Thanks, y’all should come back.

Bret: Yeah, we definitely will next tour.

Tarik: When’s that gonna be?

Bret: Probably around fall after we release our new album. This was kind of just a mini tour to test out new songs live and create some hype around the album.

Tarik: Well I’ll definitely show up man, see y’all next time.

Bret: Yeah thank you!

And this conversation is where I found my story. I thought back on October 4th my first time seeing Lip Critic, and what I initially thought was gonna be an average night out with some fun music, but what turned into one of my favorite live music experiences and a newfound love for an extremely talented emerging group. All resulting from me just choosing to take a chance on seeing a lineup of bands I knew next to nothing of. Like Bret stated “People here just kind of like coming to shows, even if they don’t know the artists.” Similar to how Lip Critic took a chance on playing in Iowa City for the first time and now it’s becoming a tour staple for them.

I talk to music fans on a daily basis, many of which you would almost never catch at a local show. Usually saying something along the lines of “Well how do I know if I’ll like it if I don’t know the artists?” Well my question is what if you DO love it? It’s a common trend to see online music lovers post performances from their favorite artists at the dawn of their career. Playing to small crowds at local restaurants, venues and basements. A far cry from their later critical acclaim and global success. You’ll see these comments flooded with people talking about how much they wish they could’ve been there to see these amazing acts for cheap in such an intimate environment. Well what’s stopping you from doing that now? Every city is flooded with performances from talented, hungry young artists looking to make something special and one of them might just be a new favorite of yours. I found that with Lip Critic, and you can too.

The post Concert Review: Lip Critic, Ascended Master, Recess, and why you should go to local shows. February 19th at Gabe’s. appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Some of us KRUIers saw Lip Critic back in October, when they opened for White Reaper at Gabe’s, after a brief discussion, our prestigious council reached the unanimous conclusion that they were by far the best part of the show. Their music is somewhere in between electronic and hardcore, full of samples and electronic crunches, a divorced(?) eccentric vocalist, and best of all, not one, not three, but two drum sets! Our friend Tarik says it perfectly, “The infectious riffs, the manic yet catchy lyrics, the insane vocals combining with intense electronic production and live drumming create such a fun and powerful song that was both amazing live and amazing to listen too at home.” (Tarik©, 2025). Explosive energy drives tracks that slip into bizarre time signature changes leaving the crowd jumping more and more off-beat, reaching higher and higher.

Recess is a newer band out of the Iowa City punk scene but have been playing shows across Iowa City the past few months, and traveling to Omaha soon. With tomorrow night’s lineup spanning across hardcore, punk, metal, and electronic, they’re gonna be a great piece of the set. Their current Instagram story reads “GO TO A SHOW GODDAMNIT,” and I’m a good boy so I’ll be there. I must advise all others to comply with these vicious commands as well.

This will be a good show as Lip Critic’s first show of the year and the first of a mini-Midwest tour. I mean come on, “standing in a Wawa convinced I’m a god, so I’m gonna get any sandwich I want,” who else gets it like Lip Critic does? Even if you hate hardcore, or metal, or having fun with funky noises, I’m sure they’ll be delivering plenty of these poetic lessons, teachings that could deliver the unknowable visions of the second world into your consciousness. Just maybe, even someone like you could be the god in the Wawa…..only one way to find out!

Earplugs advised. Please. Doors at 8pm, more information and tickets can be found here. <3.

The post Show Preview: Lip Critic with Recess and Ascended Master at Gabe’s, February 19th appeared first on KRUI Radio.

White Reaper

White Reaper was the final headlining act and closed out the night with a bang. Pulling partially from their new album and partially from their old hits, the hour worth of consistently engaging music Louisville alt rockers made the room extremely lively and fun to listen too. White Reaper have been pushing out good stuff in the Indie music scene for the last decade with albums like The World’s Best American Band and You Deserve Love. Their new album Only Slightly Empty maintains this consistency while also introducing more mature theme’s about relationships, fame and our world at large. If you want a more in depth review of the album you can read our review of it by KRUI writer and reporter Will Clair.

World’s Worst

World’s Worst first opened up the show phenomenally pulling mainly from their new album American Muscle. With a variety of influences from genres like Shoegaze, Emo, Grunge & Slacker Rock they had a really great performance filled with a nice mix of more relaxed and more high energy songs. My favorite from the set was their last track Rockets. It ran pretty long but I would’ve listened for 10 more minutes because of how it used its repetitive drumming, hypnotic bass lines and beautiful guitar tones (shoutout fuzz peddles) to create this really powerful and addicting wall of sound. After the set was over I got to speak with two of their band members Zach and Jake and had a nice conversation about some of their origins and influences. They all met in the skateboarding scene around University of Utah and formed Worlds Worst in late 2019, after having to split up briefly during covid they reformed towards the end of 2020 and have been going really strong since. If you wanna hear more about their story you can check out the interview KRUI’s own Logan Melia did with them. Great work and thanks for doing an interview with us World’s Worst!

Lip Critic

Lip Critic really amped up the audience for their half hour. Coming in with two drummers, a power electronic set and a lead singer who you would’ve thought was on coke. The pit went into a frenzy. Moshing, walls of death, crowd surfing and general high energy dancing made for a really fun set. The lead singer added to this quite a bit with running into the crowd multiple times and other crazy hijinks. Their mix between styles of dance and electronic music with more traditional American hardcore and metal makes for a really interesting boundary pushing music.

I wanted to highlight their unique style and genre blending that was seen across their performance and music as a whole. Their set consisted mainly of their 2024 album Hex Dealer which I got to buy a CD of afterwards at their merch stand. After taking it home to listen I immediately felt the same rush I felt at their show within the first few tracks and this kept going for the whole album

Kicking off the album with It’s The Magic, the track starts with a powerful bass and initially calm vocals before slowly introducing more instruments. Going into the second chorus the songs continues to intensify until the screeching vocals and heavy drums in verse three, carrying on for the rest of the song. 

Track two Love Will Redeem You wasted no time amping up. The heavy repetition and vocal effects are extremely effective at creating this chaotic almost manic vibe. This theme of manic anger continues on into the song The Heart, which is seemingly about an inescapable feeling of pain rushing through someone’s heart. The scattered vocal lines mixed with lyrics such as “Is beating inside me, a feeling untimely, can’t fight it off, can’t fight it off” effectively induces this feeling of anxiety and paranoia within the listener.

When speaking with the group after the show they discussed some of their influences within industrial hip hop artists such as Death Grips and Danny Brown, the latter of which they’ve actually opened for. These influences really show within their next two tracks. Starting with Bork Pelly we get a fun posse cut with underground rappers GHOSH & ID.Sus and continuing onto the very catchy Spirit Bomber. Both of them are the first fully rapped songs on the album and feature these very manically delivered non linear lines akin to MC Ride and other industrial hip hop artists.

The second and final feature on the track comes from DJ Izzy Da Fonseca on Death Lurking. The repetitive vocal lines create a very hypnotic yet fun and catchy atmosphere leading perfectly into Milky Max. Their most popular song delivers perfectly on what so much of what makes this album so great from front to back. The infectious riffs, the manic yet catchy lyrics, the insane vocals combining with intense electronic production and live drumming create such a fun and powerful song that was both amazing live and amazing to listen too at home.

The next three tracks are where you can see their hardcore roots blossom further. The heavy drumming in the Sermon outro, the breakneck pace of I’m Alive and the screeching vocals on My Wife and The Goblin really push the listeners stamina with nonstop high energy songs. In The Wawa (Convinced I Am God) in it’s own unique way tells what I believe to be a story of a man rejected by conventional society and norms and turning to find his own truth, ie: convincing himself he’s god. I think this perfectly exemplifies how many of the songs lyrics (despite being seemingly nonsensical) have some deeper ideas and meaning behind them. This concludes with the final track Toxic Dodger a braggadocious track that I see as the group almost manifesting their success within music. Repeating “If you wanna stop me you’re gonna have to kill me” until you believe it as hard as they do, and to be quite honest after finishing this record I think I do.

Even a year after its initial release Hex Dealer still remains one of the most exciting and boundary pushing release’s within underground music and this show was living proof of that. Their high energy genre blending sound and undeniable production talent lead to great albums and even better performances. I think its valuable for music audiences to challenge their ears by listening to music that doesn’t neatly fit into specific genre labels which is why I think artists like Lip Critic are so important. And I would definitely keep them on my radar of up-incoming talent within Electronic, Experimental Hip Hop and Noise music.

The post October 4th: White Reaper, World’s Worst & Lip Critic at Gabe’s. Lip Critic’s Hex Dealer Album & Show Review. appeared first on KRUI Radio.