10 Jun 2025

Risk and Reward for a Bettendorf Native: The Mike Conrad Trio, June 29 at the Redstone Room

By Jonathan Turner

Like many of us, Mike Conrad is just making it up as he goes along. Unlike most of us, however, the 37-year-old – a Bettendorf High School alum whose trio headlines a June 29 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room – has won international acclaim and several awards for his improvisational wizardry as a composer, arranger, pianist, and trombonist.

03 Jun 2025

Nice Ways of Saying Something Ugly: Live Music June 13 through 15

By Loren Thacher

The Tubs (confuse with the Tubes at your own risk) are a Welsh band, relocated to London and now touring America for the first time. On first listen, their newest album Cotton Crown is a glorious wash of '90s college-rock guitar, a warm shower at midnight in a gently-lit bathroom, radio-ready four-chord nostalgia for hipsters and Blues Traveler fans alike. Taken at the most superficial, background level, it's an energizing shot of musical positivity.

06 May 2025

Wild, at Heart: Wolfskill & the Wild Play in Support of Their EP Debut "Feral Heart," May 30 at Ragged Records

By Mike Schulz

Plenty of albums feature songs that are also love stories. Far fewer albums are themselves love stories.

01 May 2025

Local, Regional, International: A Varied May at Rozz-Tox

By Loren Thacher

The three live-music events scheduled at Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island, IL) in May pair talented local artists with respectable regional bands, and, on May 18th, a topnotch, brand-new, international heat-seeker.

29 Apr 2025

Young QC Conductor Makes His Mark: Hisham Bravo Groover Leads the Quad City Symphony Orchestra in “Video Games in Concert,” May 10 at the Adler Theatre

By Jonathan Turner

Hisham Bravo Groover is nearing the close of his first season leading several QC orchestras. And the articulate, passionate conductor is earning key bravos along the way.

11 Mar 2025

Touring the Globe with Music: Pianist and St. Ambrose University Professor Marian Lee Performs at the Figge Art Museum, March 29

By Jonathan Turner

Like the romantic sweep of a Rachmaninoff concerto, Marian Lee's passion for music is visionary, powerful, and awe-inspiring.

06 Mar 2025

From Local to National Artists, QCA Music Scene Is Better Than Ever: If You Are Not Paying Attention, It's a Damn Shame

By Sean Moeller

We correct when it gets egregious and we scold when they nettle and pinch too hard, but for some reason, this moronic thought that the Quad Cities music scene is crippled or lesser prevails through the times.

11 Feb 2025

A Young, Brassy, Singing Music Mentor Stays Busy: CJ Parker at the Sound Conservatory, February 23

By Jonathan Turner

CJ Parker is just 24, but he’s been playing music since he was three, and feels lucky to make the art his full-time career.

08 Jan 2025

New Music in 2024: Going Deep, or Going Wide?

By Todd McGreevy

What's a “year in review” compendium edition without the best new music recommendations from the Quad Cities' region's independently owned local and regional radio-station programmers, disc jockeys, and musical artists and producers?

08 Jan 2025

Best Albums of 2024: Modern Sounds in Electric Guitar and Other Stuff

By Loren Thacher

Apocalyptic in its vision and ambitious in its musicality, High on Fire’s first album since 2018 is an explosion of pent-up heavy metal energy from one of the finest and most progressive bands active today.

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