Music
Essays, blog posts, playlists, and more focused broadly on music. For more playlists visit my Spotify profile.
- Thrash Panda Interview ()
Based out of Des Moines, Roman Gamble carries the torch for independent music and underground scenes through his photo and video work with Thrash Panda Media. Recently opening a studio north of the city, Gamble is dialing in on his mission to grow and support the local artistic communities by expanding his work into areas […]
- Glass Ox “Gaze of Colossus” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song, as told by the artists who made it. In this edition, guitarist and vocalist Bo Becker digs into the song “Gaze of Colossus” by Glass Ox. In our discussion, Becker touches the process of building the track, an update on the development of […]
- Teri Underhill “MONSTER” (Singled Out) ()
The first line of Teri Underhill‘s website bio frames the purpose of her music around advocacy work, particularly relating to mental health and autism awareness. This mission is felt with brute force when considering her latest track, a creeping pop anthem titled “MONSTER.” The song, as Teri explains, is a direct response to past experiences […]
- Sterling Bidler Interview ()
Nestled soundly in the world of DIY, Sterling Bidler works within a musical space that might be best categorized as industrial. Incorporating electronic music within a heavy landscape of drum and guitar, his sound is at times abrasive, but one that makes more sense when recognizing his approach is built off influences ranging from Death […]
- Wxlley “Bussin” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song, as told by the artists who made it. In this edition, Wxlley discusses the origins of the track “Bussin” and the purpose behind its creation, noting that he used it as a way to check in with himself to see if he could remain […]
- Lady Revel “Jeanette” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song, as told by the artists who made it. In this edition, Jasey Rebarcak discusses the first track to be released from Lady Revel‘s forthcoming album, Mood Music, which is set to drop September 15. The song, she says, carries themes of overcoming pain […]
- Lily DeTaeye “Hive Mind” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song, as told by the artists who made it. In this edition, Lily DeTaeye discusses “Hive Mind,” the title track from her latest release, detailing the patterns in her life that surrounded the creation of the song and how they relate to a broader […]
- Iowa Record Store & Music Venue Directory ()
The following is a directory of shops that sell vinyl, CDs, cassettes and more in the state of Iowa, as well as music venues, clubs, bars, and other event spaces that host concerts across the state. For a more detailed introduction to the state’s record stores, read this Little Village article titled, “Iowa’s record stores […]
- Mark Rushton Interview ()
Mark Rushton is both a recording and visual artist. This simple set of labels is a fine way of providing an overview of the “what,” but it fails to express the mammoth scope of his body of work. Since he began experimenting within the medium around the turn of the century, Rushton has amassed a […]
- Dirt Nasty Beats Interview ()
While regularly releasing music on his own, Dirt Nasty Beats has also been mixing it up across a variety of different genres and styles over the past several months in the collaborative realm. Working with artists both in and outside of Des Moines, where he’s based, a few notable credits from this phase of his […]
- Jazz Niehaus on “Heat Stroke” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song as told by the artists who made it. In this edition, director Jazz Niehaus provides commentary on the video for “Heat Stroke” by Annie Kemble. Having co-written the song with Annie, Jazz explained the inspiration which informed its lyrics and provided a foundation […]
- Lex Leto Interview ()
Composed and arranged in connection with a Melinda Jean Myers-choreographed UI Dance Company piece, Right Here is the latest release among a prolific string of work from Iowa City‘s Lex Leto. Over the past few years you may have seen or heard Lex via their work with Penny Peach, the Christine Burke Ensemble, or most […]
- DRXCULV Interview ()
DRXCULV is a Des Moines-based MC and producer, and his new album, SUBURBAN NIGH+MARE, is aptly titled, bearing a deeply embedded sense for the nightmarish terrors provoked through everyday life. There’s a heavy flavor of collaboration throughout the release, featuring the likes of Chino Vivid, Lil AR, HXD, King Luu, and fellow Blackshoe Inc. crew […]
- HU$H Interview ()
At 18 tracks, SKUNKWORKS is a sprawling release which does well to contradict prevailing trends catering to receding attention spans. This isn’t to say HU$H is remotely ignorant to the musical landscape around him, but only that he incorporates it into a mode which best reconciles with his own creative identity. Having already released a […]
- Kristian Day Interview ()
This week’s edition of the Iowa Basement Tapes radio show covers the bases of the underground, featuring noisy punk, hardcore, sound collage, electronic psych, thrash, and indie rock. The show is a passion project of filmmaker, writer, and composer Kristian Day, and began broadcasting on KFMG in Des Moines in 2018. It’s since expanded its […]
- Kelly Plumber Interview ()
Of the many hats Kelly Plumber has donned over the years, it’s his role with the Iowa Musicians Project that introduced us. Somewhere along the way in preparing for an interview with Ames scene mainstay Bryon Dudley, a comment jumped out at me from another interview mentioning how Dudley donated a copy of each of […]
- Midwest Mixtape Interview ()
Billed as “a podcast where two music lovers come together to explore the landscape of the music industry across the Midwest,” Midwest Mixtape issued five episodes this May capturing interviews with a diverse cross-section of musicians. Created by Emily Postlethwait and Natalie Novak, the project was borne out of the pair of friends’ mutual appreciation […]
- Strong Like Bear “The Slow Collapse” (Singled Out) ()
With the release of In The Future Only The Rich Will Live Forever in 2021, Strong Like Bear uncharacteristically waded into the realm of stoner fuzz. In exploring the dialogue surrounding the album, there’s an interesting contrast at play with it. Little Village commented on the band being “as silly as they are serious” in […]
- Aeon Grey Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Aeon Grey is one third of the Des Moines-based hip-hop group Maxilla Blue. Along with news of a forthcoming performance at the 80/35 music festival in Des Moines, earlier this year the trio announced plans of releasing an album of new material, which would be its first since 2012’s […]
- Greg Wheeler Interview ()
Earlier this year Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops released their full-length debut album titled Manic Fever. Little Village called the release “a decadent meal from the punk rock buffet,” and across its twelve tracks you’ll find a satisfying blend of fuzzy psych, distorted riffs, and pummeling percussion. Following that up, the band premiered […]
- Miss223 “Moonflower” (Singled Out) ()
Miss223 is a Des Moines-based singer working loosely within the realms of alternative pop or wavy R&B. She’s released a trickle of select tracks over the past several years, including the likes of “Free Fly,”which takes on low-key rap elements, bouncing self-revelations over a slow, creeping beat. Her latest offering, “Moonflower,” is another that takes […]
- Basketball Divorce Court Interview ()
Forming in Iowa City, Basketball Divorce Court‘s 2019 What is a Man? EP set the tone for what would come with the group’s full-length debut, rebound, which followed this past March. Over the course of its ten tracks, rebound punches through as a sweeping lyrical assault on capitalism and the patriarchy, without overshadowing themes of […]
- Dead Beat! “KTFO” (Singled Out) ()
Dead Beat! is the moniker of Christian Solsma, an electronic musician based in Iowa City. Having already rolled out several singles over the first half of the year, he’s returned recently with the pulsating, drum and bass-leaning “KTFO.” Connecting via email, Solsma explained the track’s production as a work several months in the making. During […]
- Chill Mac Interview ()
Chill Mac has had a prolific output over the past ten months, following up last summer’s AKA Chill Mac EP with his new full-length release titled None Chiller. Dropping in April, the album’s 12 tracks cover a wide swath of hip-hop, while regularly leaning in on a slowed, pitched-down style that’d fit well within the […]
- Bryon Dudley Interview ()
Bryon Dudley is a man of many talents and he’s applied them in myriad ways relating to the state’s music scene over the past couple decades. In no particular order: He’s a musician, playing and releasing music with a wide range of acts including Strong Like Bear; he’s the owner/operator of a recording studio called […]
- Geneviève Salamone Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Geneviève Salamone bills herself as “The One Woman Symphony,” but even that could be a limiting description when compared to the true reach of her artistic vision. Releasing her debut solo album, Catharsis, a few years ago, she has taken that work and transformed it into a sprawling multimedia […]
- Nasty Collective Interview ()
Making a Scene is an ongoing feature focused around discussions on the Iowa music scene. For this edition, Miguel of the Nasty Collective tapped in to give some background on his work and the local scene where he’s at in Sioux City. Focusing primarily on video production in western Iowa, Miguel has created music videos for […]
- Lennie Quest Interview ()
In some ways, Lennie Quest is the product of a small Midwestern town, while in others the culmination of a lifetime of experience from a globetrotting traveler. The name itself is the moniker of Dalton Krum, who adopted it to produce his pop-inspired rap over the past several years, but the music which followed hasn’t […]
- Traevfx on “328ix” (Singled Out) ()
Singled Out is a feature focusing on the stories behind a song as told by the artists who made it. This edition finds Traevfx discussing the video he directed for the track “328ix” by lui*. Based in Cedar Rapids, Trae ventured to Des Moines for the shoot, which took an unexpected turn when it was […]
- Oliver Young Interview ()
Making a Scen is a new feature focused around discussions about the Iowa music scene. The inaugural edition features an exchange with Oliver Young, who publishes the Iowa Outcast Zine, which is a self-released zine that “document[s] the Iowan punk and metal scenes,” covering the “oddball goofy bands, the serious ones, and the angrily militant […]