“Grand Ave Ruckus” Grand Ave Ruckus Independent This isn’t a mediocre high school brass section; it’s Grand Ave Ruckus melting faces with serious grooves on its debut album. The nine members of the band include three trumpet players, two percussionists, two trombone players, a saxophone player and a sousaphone player.
Read More →“The E.P.” Lily DeTaeye Station One Records Lily DeTaeye’s debut with Station One Records is every bit as commanding and thoughtful as I thought it would be. I expected nothing less from the 19-year-old, who at such a young age has amassed an impressive enough local resume to make her
Read More →“In Tongues” Joji 88 Rising Music/EMPIRE Joji’s thoughtful music is the polar opposite of his abrasive YouTube character Filthy Frank. Where the two do converge is a DIY aesthetic, and Joji maintains this in creating lo-fi hip-hop. Following in the footsteps of his 2016 Soundcloud release “Chloe Burbank Vol. 1,”
Read More →“Colors” Beck Capitol Records It’s been a long road to “Colors,” Beck’s 13th album. The first single, “Dreams,” was released more than two years ago, and the singer has teased fans with a few more songs since then. Four years after “Morning Phase,” and we finally have more Beck. Like
Read More →Gloom Balloon “Drying the Eyes of the Goddess of Gloom, Underneath the Stars and the Moon” Maximum Ames Records Probably the most polarizing Des Moines act of the last half decade or so has been Gloom Balloon, Patrick Tape Fleming’s collaboration with Chris Ford. Gloom Balloon’s live shows and recordings
Read More →The Sleepover “No Sleep” Independent I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect on first listen to Des Moines band The Sleepover’s debut LP, “No Sleep.” Two-thirds of The Sleepover is comprised of members of the thrash metal band Dark Mirror, and while you can hear slight similarities to some of
Read More →“The Fuss” The Fuss Independent Over the last two years, The Fuss has evolved from a solo project for singer Joey Lyons to a full-fledged band with the addition of Matt Nelson, Ben Waldschmitt and Nick Lucs. In 2017, the band has been playing out more, including a performance on
Read More →“Pure Torture” Green Death EMP Label Group Two years after “Manufacturing Evil,” and a year after the departure of founding guitarist Erich Tran, Des Moines metal band Green Death returns with the short EP “Pure Torture.” It’s a little amuse-bouche to set the stage for the band’s future. “Pure Torture”
Read More →“Bad Decision” Roxi Copland Independent It can be easy to take local musicians for granted when they’re performing regularly around town. Sometimes it takes them moving on to make you realize what was really lost. It’s been several years since jazz singer Roxi Copland left Des Moines for Milwaukee, but
Read More →“Whiteout Conditions” The New Pornographers Concord The New Pornographers seems like a band that should have imploded a decade ago. It’s made up of enough successful individuals (A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Dan Bejar) that the band gets called a supergroup, making a Fleetwood Mac-style breakup all but inevitable. The band’s
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