The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

80/35 lineup continues to get better with 2018 headliners

Kesha and Phantogram are among the headliners for the Capital City’s midsummer night’s scream.
Patrons+stroll+the+streets+in+Des+Moines+during+the+80%2F35+music+festival+in+July+2017.+%28Ben+Allan+Smith%2FThe+Daily+Iowan%29
Patrons stroll the streets in Des Moines during the 80/35 music festival in July 2017. (Ben Allan Smith/The Daily Iowan)

Des Moines continues to bring in music giants for its local music festivals. With the Hinterland festival’s dynamite lineup release, 80/35‘s 2018 slate is nothing to scoff at.

80/35 made a splash last year, bringing in the significantly larger artists than in years past. It scheduled electronic-pop group MGMT and the West Coast alt-indie rock group The Shins and the late Charles Bradley, “the screaming edge of soul.”

RELATED: 80/35 Music Festival Day 1 (07/07/17)

This year’s lineup features popular music giant Kesha. Her most recent album, Rainbow, features Praying, her most popular radio hit,

Praying is a back and forth of Kesha on acoustic piano or guitar and the girl-pop that made her famous. She is finally showing her vocal abilities, without getting away from the “TiK ToK” sound that the millennial generation grew up listening to.

Kesha will co-headline the festival with indie-pop group Phantogram, a duo from New York is made up of Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. Phantogram combines technology that might generally be associated with dance-pop along with hard-hitting lyrics.

The subject matter for the group’s newest album was altered when Barthel’s little sister died in a car accident.

Three was released in 2016 and was only the third full-length album released by the group since its first in 2009.

Phantogram should give Des Moines something to dance to, as Barthel’s psychedelic vocals mesh with the summer sunset during the group’s mainstage show.

Courtney Barnett is an Australian musician who hit the ground running when she released her collaboration album Lotta Sea Lice with Kurt Vile in 2017.

The Aussie grunge rocker released her first album, Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit, in 2015. The album is a journey down Barnett’s life as a free spirit, telling stories of individuals she crosses along the way.

Barnett released “Nameless, Faceless” on Feb. 15 of this year. This single is a teaser for her new album, which she will take on tour in Europe and the U.S. starting in May.

80/35 takes a new direction, adding the hip-hop duo Atmosphere to the lineup. The group comes from Minneapolis but has created a national interest throughout its long career.

Atmosphere’s first full length album, Overcast!, jumped into the reality rap genre that was coming of age in the ‘90s. The rap group dove into chill-pop in 2007 with its EP Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9. This short project showed the group’s ability to produce light-hearted music that differed from its original works.

Atmosphere’s newest full-length release, Fishing Blues, sticks to the soft beats and more audible lyrics it débuted in its Sad Clown release that remains most popular with its listeners.

The festival will also bring in Car Seat Headrest, a Seattle-based group that has gained popularity in the indie-rock scene. It features lo-fi recordings with raw lyrics and sound in its 2016 release, Teens of Denial.

Car Seat Headrest released another full-length album, Twin Fantasy, on Feb. 16.

80/35 has also shown love to local artists in the recent past, including Des Moines group The Maytags in its 2017 lineup.

That also includes Middle Western, a collaboration of eastern and central Iowan musicians, including William Elliott Whitmore and Iowa City’s Dave Zollo. They also included Iowa City musician Elizabeth Moen.

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