The Mill’s new free concert series, the Tuesday Night Social Club, has already established itself as a gift that keeps on giving, and December is no exception. A kind of live-music counterpart to the Thursday night Dance Party at the Picador, the Mill does a nice job presenting local and national talent at no cost to you. This month’s offerings lean toward the local side, with a major emphasis on guitars. Densely layered, mathy and precise, destroyed and sloppy, left-handed: however you like your guitar, you can find it here this month. Garage-rockers The Black Slacks and local rock almost-legends Petit Mal start things off on the December 2. On the 9th it’s Dimas Lemus, whose shoegazing fuzz-rock and female vocals remind me of the band Drugstore with more oomph. They’re playing with Golden Megaload, which is two of the three former Puritanicals, known for tight guitar-rock and occasional shirtlessness. On December 16, local hard-rockers with a sensitive side Birth Rites will play with one of Ed Borstein’s bands, The Brown Note. Amazingly, Olivia Rose Muzzy, the KRUI disc jockey who is also on this bill, will play some not-electric string instruments (double bass!) through a loop pedal. Exciting not only for being not a guitarist, but for filling the massive chamber pop void left by the departure of Skursula.

The last Tuesday Night Social Club of 2008 marks the return of The Blacks, a San Fransisco/New York rock and roll three-piece who nearly stole the show from Cursive when they opened for them here in April. You dig minimal sounds? One of their three members plays tambourine, leaving only guitar and drums to lay the foundation for a surprisingly massive and dirty sound. Lead vocalist and guitarist Louisa Black channels Karen O via Lydia Lunch, and can belt out covers by everyone from Romeo Void to Amy Winehouse. JDK Blacker, said tambourinist, will spit on you, steal your beer, and then pour it on you, so be warned. Following this Tuesday night show, they will also be playing New Year’s Eve at the Picador. One of these two sets—if you can’t make both—is an absolute must-see this month.

One of the best, and nicest, bands in the Iowa City rock scene is Mannix!, who are rocking a CD release show on December 12 at the Mill. They are playing with Caw Caw!, who are on the local label Slanty Shanty, and The Slats. The Slats are from Minneapolis and are just plain awesome: big riffs, zany lyrics, super-tight arrangements with just the right amount of slop.

If all of this rock isn’t your cup of tea, two quieter shows will feature some incredible songwriting talents. On December 5, Denison Witmer will play the cozy basements of Public Space ONE along with local singer and artist Caleb Engstrom. Also on this bill are Jeremy Messersmith from Minneapolis, and Jeff Hanson, who is on the Kill Rock Stars record label, which is known for having great songwriters. You might remember a dude named Elliott Smith.

And, finally, speaking of big names, you don’t need me to tell you one thing about the wonderful and talented Pieta Brown. She was supposed to play at the Mill some time back, but was called away for duty as the opening act for Ani Difranco’s tour. Pieta will be celebrating the release of her latest CD, and with Haley Bonar also on the bill I can imagine these tickets going fast.

See you in the New Year!

Samuel Locke-Ward

If there is a party at the end of the world (and there will be, right?) then count on Samuel Locke-Ward to send out the invitations. With his new record, Sacrilege, Treason, Treachery & Thyme, he further establishes himself as not only a harbinger of doom but also the host with the most, turning moody and deeply paranoid songs into country foot-stompers, pop anthems, and straight-up sing-alongs. But no matter what the tune, the album, at its core, is very serious. Like any good party, there are political conversations side-by-side with embarrassing behavior, everyone using their eyes to either undress or stab each other until things end in total collapse. This record is all of those things and more, and yes, it’s a concept album that plays out beautifully. This is a shining portrait of neuroticism in a post-freedom (fries) world.

Album opener “Now (We Have Won)” sets the mood with a scathing critique of domestic and foreign policies fueled by religious fervor, hatred, and violence. That the song is sung from the perspective of the people who believe in these policies makes it all the more striking. “Blood in the streets / Tears in your face / Now now now we have won” is as good a paraphrase of Bush’s policies as I’ve ever seen. Blood is a theme here, as the two longest tracks (“Bleed 1” and “Bleed 2”) are where the album’s themes get developed most fully. “Bleed 1” moves along a plodding, deliberate pace, laid down on a trap kit. Locke-Ward pushes his versatile voice to the breaking point, resulting in a sound not unlike Will Sheff in some of his finer moments. (Of course, that Sheff also recorded a fine anti-Bush song in “The President’s Dead” is also worth mentioning.)
“Big Brain” is a nostalgic 90s rock piece that marks the run-up to the album’s furious conclusion. The album’s last 15 minutes are the finest since the first two (the album has 18 tracks in 50 minutes), culminating with “Bleed 2.” Narrated more than sung, it’s the story of a day in the life of someone who just can’t take it any more. It’s great.

This is technically Locke-Ward’s sixth solo record, but the fact that he has so many great friends makes the album more rewarding, and his dark visions more fully realized. Pete Balestrieri of the Violent Femmes plays sax, Will Whitmore takes his turn at the mic, as does Shame Train’s Sam Knutson. Kate Kate of Lipstick Homicide plays guitar, and Ed Gray lends his electric guitar strings as well as his voice. It’s tour only and DIY as hell (CD-R with photocopied sleeve), so go see Samuel and the Boo-Hoo’s on tour, buy the record, listen to it, and raise your fist.

About that big night, and Phish-heads get together now, we have a long tradition of bands donning “musical costumes” to pay tribute to the music they love. This makes Halloween no different from any other night at the Yacht Club, which must be the number one venue in the world for cover bands. We Funk will do their Halloween duty by playing P-Funk songs. Over at the Mill, some of the best local indie rock bands will be having a tribute fest variety show of their own. Mannix will play the part of Blondie, their friends and fellow rocknrollers The Puritanicals will be The Beatles, 12 Cannons is David Bowie, and Shame Train will be performing Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea it it’s entirety. I’m really looking forward to Sam Knutson singing “Semen stains the mountaintops”–well, I would be looking forward to it if I weren’t going to see some guy named Stephen Malkmus play the Picador. I don’t expect a lot of covers, but I do expect some old songs and a lot of new ones, especially from his damn fine most recent album, Real Emotional Trash.

Speaking of Malkmus, he’s also played with the Silver Jews, who followed 2005’s excellent record Tanglewood Numbers with this year’s Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. Fronted by the talented David Berman, they’ll play The Picador on the 9th, setting into motion a series of concerts that are sure to jeopardize your ability to attend work or class. On the 11th, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone headlines a super-intimate show at Public Space One, also featuring Brooklyn loop-rocker Ill Ease along with up-and-coming acts Gangi and Rainbow Arabia. The show will be $5, all ages, and almost certainly pack the house. Two days later, on the 13th, Spencer Seim (of Hella) brings his solo project sBACH to PS1, and then you have a few days to rest before Genghis Tron hits the Picador on the 17th. Two days later the Philadelphia madmen Man Man will also play The Pic. This six-piece band is fronted by a man named Sergei Sogay, and the band’s on a label (Anti-) with fellow shouters Tom Waits and Will Whitmore. The live show is said to be a sweaty, bizarre carnival.

If you like bands that have women in them (still too rare, you know?), then I would check out Baby Guts at Public Space One on the 4th, bringing their brand of punk alongside local faves Lipstick Homicide. Also playing is MC/VL, a Minneapolis hip-duo (they’re dudes, sorry), who rocked last year’s Mission Creek fest so hard that they were added to another show the next night. Other shows, briefly, of note: Sunset Rubdown at the Picador on the 2nd, Melissa Ferrick at The Mill on the 20th, Roommate at Public Space One on the 25th.

When it comes to (alt) country, no one does it better than local institution Sam Knutson and Shame Train. They have a great new record on their hands with Splendor, and this month you have no less than three opportunities to hear tracks from it. On the 9th, Knutson plays solo in support of Cameron McGill, and on the 12th he’ll get the band together for a show at Public Space ONE. And I mean a band. Like you would expect in this genre, Shame Train is a group of guys who can really play, so expect nice sounds in this intimate space. Self-described “apocalypse blues” man Lute Tucker opens that show. Lute stomps his feet, plays the hell out of his guitar, and has been known to sing anti-Bush polemics. Knutson goes back to his home turf, the Mill, on the 20th for a show with Scott Cochran and Flannel.

Another great band in the roots tradition is Canada’s Rock Plaza Central, who mix traditional country instrumentation and songcraft with a Neutral Milk Hotel-vibe. The combination led many people to swoon over 2006’s Are We Not Horses? And while this band is overdue for a follow-up, the songs still sounded fresh in July when I caught them in Des Moines. The band comes to the Mill on the 17th with Wye Oak, who had to cancel the last show here due to the flood. We’ll all finally get a chance to hear tracks from a great new album, If Children. Local musician, impresario, and Mill waiter Andre Perry’s folk band Lonelyhearts will open the show.

If it’s brand new music that tickles you, the Mill on the 26th is the place to be, with two of the most blogged about (tee hee!) bands of the last few months coming into town on a co-headline bill. Baltimore’s Ponytail is a furious, percussive, rock-and-roll machine fronted by a woman who screams in a way that you have to compare to Yoko. The album, Ice Cream Spiritual, does an admirable job of capturing the live show, but really, this is one you have to see to believe. Brooklyn’s High Places’ are also percussive, but in a much smaller way. The band’s songs are delicate and hazy, and if the long-awaited debut (which comes out this month) is anything like the singles and compilation appearances, then I’m anticipating one of the year’s best records. Shawn Reed, who co-promotes this show with Mission Creek, will play as opening act Wet Hair. An accomplished artists as well as musician (he was formerly in Racoo-ooo-oon), Shawn runs the tape label Night People and hosts a wealth of experimental music shows. In fact, he’ll hold one on the 9th with two Portland bands, Eat Skull and Little Claw. For more details, email him directly at nporders@gmail.com.

In brief, of note: These Are Powers, the 6th at the Picador; Pwrfl Pwr, 10th at Public Space ONE; Centro-matic and The Broken West, 11th at the Picador; Lipstick Homicide, 19th at Public Space One; Dressy Bessy, 19th at the Picador; Horse the Band w/So Many Dynamos, 27th at the Picador.

If that seems just too short, don’t fret: the HEALTH team also had a remix album come out this year, HEALTH DISCO, and they’ll be sticking around for Saturday night, August 30, to spin tracks from that and other records. Joining them will be Fairfield sensations Porno Galactica and The School of Flyentology. Other DJs will also be involved, and the whole sweaty mess goes down at the Picador. I’m not sure what you might have planned, but this is the back-to-school party of the fall semester.

During the day on the 30th is when the New Bohemia Music Festival proper goes down in the CR, and headlining this year are some names that should be familiar to some of you: perennial New Year’s Eve rockers Murder By Death and local fella’ William Elliot Whitmore. Whitmore, who is working on an album for Anti- records (home of Tom Waits, Neko Case and Nick Cave), should be in top form before a hometown crowd. Rounding out that bill will be some of Iowa’s finest, including Shame Trane, the Diplomats of Solid Sound, Sarah Cram and the Derelicts, Matthew Grimm and the Red Smear, and the Puritanicals. It all starts at noon in Cedar Rapids.

Don’t miss Toronto’s Great Lake Swimmers at The Mill on the 19th because you’re confusing them with Iowa City’s own Great Lakes Music. The Music is good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s much less common to have a chance to see the Swimmers around these parts. They arguably had their most successful year in 2005, when they released their excellent self-titled album and rode the wave of Canadian musical success stories that was sweeping the continental U.S. at the time. But the Swimmers are still at it, touring behind 2007’s underrated Ongiara, and warming up its live show by opening for the likes of Allison Krauss and Robert Plant (!). My guess is that the show will be superior, and perhaps a little eerie.

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head not only has an awesome name, but also has awesome beats and the retro-electro feel that has been responsible for bringing rock-and-rollers back to the dance floor. The name of its latest album is Glistening Pleasure, which I’m hoping also describes the upstairs of the Picador on the 15th. Fans of Hot Chip and Chromeo should especially plan to attend.

On August 10, the Pokey LaFarge duo comes to The Mill with a bunch of acoustic instruments, doing a mix of bluegrass, old time and folk. This kind of show is really what the Mill does best, and Pokey will be touring in support of a new album that came out in the middle of July. As of this writing I haven’t heard it, but I do know that this duo were formerly a part of the Hackensaw Boys, who once toured with Cake and were one of the best bluegrass bands I’ve ever seen. Banjo lovers young and old should be able to unite around this one.
By way of introduction, I’m writing this column in reverse chronological order this month. You know, just to mix it up.

The arrival of July means festival season is in full swing, and starting things off will the profanity-laced Fuck Yeah! Festival, which started as a one-day Los Angeles affair and is now a touring roadshow. It’ll have stopped at the Mill on July 1, featuring Crystal Antlers, whose debut EP is rightly generating all kinds of buzz from music writers and bloggers. They were joined by Team Robespierre and Monotonix. Two Iowa City bands were also on the bill: furious rockers The Puritanicals and the super deluxe DJs from the School of Flyentology.

The parties continue a few days later, and you’ll have two to choose from for your soundtrack to America’s birthday. I’ll be headed to Des Moines on July 4 for the 80/35 Festival, a two-day event featuring The Flaming Lips and The Roots. Besides other nationally renowned and middle-aged acts like Black Francis (awesome) and Cracker (wtf?), the festival deserves high praise for its commitment to local music. I’ve been increasingly frustrated by the rise of the profit-driven mega-festivals that seem divorced from the very places they take place, so kudos to 80/35’s promoters for booking some of Iowa’s best: The Poison Control Center, The Diplomats of Solid Sound, Dirty Little Rabbits, Dave Zollo, The Envy Corps, and Pieta Brown. If you prefer jazz with a big helping of jam, they you’ll want to stay in town for Medeski, Martin and Wood, among others, at this year’s jazz fest.

For a party on a much smaller scale, come to 805 E. Washington for a house show featuring Olympia’s Sewn Leather on July 3. Touring with the appropriately named Joey Casio, these bands make retro electronic blips into dance music. It’s like less polished Hot Chip with five times the aggressiveness. Ed Bornstein, local drummer of Foul Tip and the Tanks, has a new project called T’bone that will open. Bring your own booze, and a lot of it.

The Lonelyhearts are made up of Iowa City’s Andre Perry and the Bay Area’s John Lindenbaum, which means touring is infrequent and therefore always worth catching. They’ll be playing their brand of indie folk with Lawrence singer Suzannah Johannes on two dates in our area. The first is on July 10 at Huckleberry’s Pizza in Rock Island, where they’ll be opening for one of my favorite revelations of this year, The Dodos. The following night, Lonelyhearts and Johannes will play at Public Space One, which is now in the basement of the Jefferson Building downtown. Miguel Soria, ex-local guy who performs under the name Monadnoc, will open that show.

Later on the night of the 11th, the aforementioned School of Flyentology will be throwing a rare Friday night show at the Yacht Club, featuring Fairfield’s own Porno Galactica and Zap Rowsdower. One of the surprise acts of this year’s Mission Creek Music Festival, brothers Porno and Zap make innovative and dance worthy beats while flailing around on stage and generally causing pandemonium. It’s the kind of genuine excitement that so many electronic musicians are generating right now in a live setting, and I have no problem mentioning these high-schoolers in the same breath as Dan Deacon and Girl Talk.

Three shows of particular note round out the month, all at The Picador. On July 21, the Apples in Stereo bring their Beatles-esque pop melodies to the Picador, and might even play “Stephen, Stephen,” which was recorded for the Colbert Report and appears on their recent rarities album, Electronic Projects for Musicians. Front man Robert Schneider is eccentric, awesome, and talented; besides his own brand of lush, sonic, indie pop, he produced Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Roommate, who has quietly made one of 2008’s best albums with We Were Enchanted, play on the 26th. And emo fans get ready: July 31 sees the Jesse Lacey rolling through town, and the man behind Brand New will certainly bring plenty of angst and sing-alongs with him.

See you there.