The Maximum Ames Music Festival has announced its lineup for the 2016 festival, to be held Sept. 15-18. Headliners include pioneering gay country music artist Lavender Country, and Rock [...]
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Posted July 06, 2016in Sound Check
Posted June 29, 2016in Sound Check
Iggy Azalea
“Digital Distortion” Def Jam Iggy Azalea has not collapsed into a black hole of her own suck just yet. After her first release, “The New Classic,” was certified platinum [...]
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Posted June 22, 2016in Sound Check
The Iowa Blues Challenge held its finals this past weekend at the downtown Mariott Hotel. This year’s winners were Bare Bones and the Jeff Banks Band. Both acts received [...]
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Posted June 15, 2016in Sound Check
New Member Charles
“Rock and Roll Alligator” Independent New Member Charles does the quirky, oddball indie thing properly. It is something that many bands in town attempt, but few manage to do [...]
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Posted June 08, 2016in Sound Check
This is the weekend for Pridefest, and there is plenty of music to be heard in Des Moines’ historic East Village neighborhood. In addition to headliners Tina She, DJ [...]
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Posted June 01, 2016in Sound Check
The Monkees
“Good Times!” Rhino Even in the best of times, back in its 1960s heyday, The Monkees were one of the most bubblegum acts ever assembled. The fact that the [...]
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Posted May 25, 2016in Sound Check
Bob Dylan
“Fallen Angels” Columbia When Bob Dylan released 2015’s “Shadows in the Night,” the idea of an iconoclast like Dylan covering Sinatra seemed ridiculous. But the resulting album proved [...]
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Posted May 11, 2016in Sound Check
CD REVIEWS
Beyonce “Lemonade” Parkwood “You ain’t married to no average bitch, boy.” Those words, taken from one of the more devastating tracks on “Lemonade,” should be enscribed on Jay-Z’s [...]
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Posted May 04, 2016in Sound Check
CD REVIEWS
Joshua Sinclair “Love Hate” Independent The tagline on Joshua Sinclair’s promotional material reads, “Writing breakup songs since 1998.” It is a statement to be believed, because if you close your [...]
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Posted April 20, 2016in Sound Circuit
Lita Ford
“Time Capsule” Steamhammer When Lita Ford released “Living Like a Runaway” in 2012, she swore up and down that a long, toxic relationship had short-circuited her career and that [...]
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