Laughing Gas
Laughing Gas is a group of musicians that are dedicated to playing music that is not preconceived and changes with each show they perform. The lineup of the group varies as well as the music, which always makes for an interesting experience – for members of the band and the audience.
The spook who sat by the door: Ex-Gov. Agent
1998 – Drove out to Nation Studios in Southfield one night to sit in on one of Royce the 5’9"’s fledgling recording sessions. A few members of his crew, Wall Street, were seated in the waiting area, talking among themselves about nothing groundbreaking. At one point, the topic of musical ambition came up and each…
Futurism without the future
Based on the evidence presented at the installation-art extravaganza of the same name recently held at detroit contemporary gallery, The Forgotten Sounds of Tomorrow explores the fruition of a well-honed minimalist take on bass and beats, one that rarely breaks its regulated clip for vocals, samples or even nonbeat-oriented ambience. The album highlights at least…
Gaffle
Tree Town trio makes the kind of glorious rock wail that wouldn’t be out of place on a vintage Touch & Go recording – that is, agression without brutality, power with expert velocity and the most amazing guitar sounds you’re likely to hear for a long, long time.
Adam Druckman
Intimate, personal – sometimes perverse – tales unfolded on acoustic and electric guitar. A DIY Dylan? By George, there’s something to that.
Waxwings
The Wax Wings – besides being the likely recipient of the “Cute Band Alert” should Sassy ever revive that award – make the kind of angular-yet-heartfelt, purely-pop-yet-tinkering-with-the-rules rock music you can sink your brain and bop into.
Summer soul-stice: Soul 2 Eclipse
Positivity is relative. We’ve gotten so loose with that term that calling a group positive is like describing an artist’s album as "the next level." Right. Whatever. So when you come across a group that does appeal to your more progressive senses, what do you call it? Spiritual? Too lofty. Enlightened? Too ethereal. How about…
This time a great notion
Label compilation-as-aesthetic manifesto can be tricky business. If you half-ass the track selection, sequencing, packaging or remastering, it’s probably just as well to have never unleashed the product. But far worse still is the label that never had a vibe, a feel, a vision of its own and makes that all too clear to the…
The Kicks
Featuring members of the Sights and the mysterious Richard Panic performing guitar driven, melodic Brit-pop to make you swoon.
Volcanos
Estrus recording stars and kings of the Detroit hot rod-surf convergence, the Volcanos ride the waves with maximum velocity.
Boycott the caucus
Well, now that the Democratic presidential nomination has been decided, the Michigan Democratic Party has kindly consented to let a few voters have a partial say in the process. Isn’t that sweet? Now, not any old voters can participate, mind you. Nor can they do what we think of as "voting." No, to take part…
New traditionalists
"Has the future happened yet?" asks electronic duo Year of the Robot in the technopop tune "Retina of Silicon." Judging by the song’s robotic tones and syncopated synth machinations, it’s a moot question. Along with an unaligned group of such Michigan musicians as Adult., Godzuki, Ron of Japan, the W-Vibe, C3, 4FR, and the various…
Woodstock flies again
Dig out your black light (and black-light posters) and grab a tab of window pane – it’s trippin’ time! Face flashes you back to the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix and Cream via guitarist Mike Smith’s mastery of reverb, wah-wah and other hallmarks of the glory days of guitar rock. Vocalist Courtney adds a more ballsy…
Summers, Delaney & Sharp
Summers, Delaney & Sharp is a sublime live experience of jazz guitar, courtesy of fine Django Reinhardt covers and S, D & S originals from this Ann Arbor trio. They’ve built up a loyal following in A2 based upon their weekly live shows and the sort of intelligent, fun atmosphere their intoxicating brand of jazz…
Safety forced
We’re getting ready for an evening of fun, kicked off with a few shots of tequila and a blast of warmish weather. I’m dressed to kill, in a pair of knock-’em-dead shoes and a dress to die for. "Are you ready?" I ask the Lizard of Fun, who’s been shooting the breeze on the phone.…
Flint in denial
Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent by Flint native Michael Moore to recipients on his e-mail listserve on March 1, the day after the Kayla Rolland shooting. It is being reprinted in Metro Times with his permission. Dear friends, I tried to write this letter to you last night, but the level of sadness…
Up from tha underground
Call this compilation Esham Rising, ‘cuz Detroit’s legendary wigged-out, quasi-Satanic, dark-side-of-the-acid-tab MC is, as they say, “having a moment.” His years of ruling Detroit’s hip-hop underground and underworld have paid off recently with his signing to national indie TVT and he’s taking full advantage of it. “Bootleg” unleashes Esham in all his freaky-flow glory upon…
Blackman & Arnold
This eclectic world music-leaning sextet branches out into the sounds of jazz, exotica and fusion and is happy to take you along for the journey.
Loose Lips
GA GA GOGH GOGH Saturday night at the Detroit Institute of the Arts saw a parade of quintessential movers and shakers meander their way through an exclusive sneak preview of the upcoming blockbuster Van Gogh exhibit, "Face to Face." The soiree was hosted by the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, a principal underwriter of the show, and…
Innocent until proven toxic
A governor’s panel recently acknowledged some of the state-regulated chemicals in our environment might be harming children more than adults. But rather than contemplate tighter standards that might affect industrial polluters, the Michigan Environmental Science Board panel chose to err on the side of the chemicals, not the kids. MESB concluded in a February report…
Devotion to expression
There really is a middle ground between hardcore and emo-pop! Case in point: Ann Arbor trio Lovesick. Not as aggressive as some of the west side’s DIY culture and a helluvalot more articulate, Lovesick is a band of 20-somethings who are bent on staking a poetic claim on both their own identity and the love…
Brainmute
For folks who keep tabs on influential industry mag, CMJ, the Brainmute name’ll certainly sound familiar. The Detroit-area outfit was featured on the April 2000 CMJ comp Certain Damage.
One nation under a grin
The Detroit Grand Pubas shake up the techno scene.
News Hits
News lapse The story of a Detroit News employee charged with fondling two teenage boys has been hot copy since the man’s arrest in late February. What makes it such a sensational piece are police claims that the man, 55-year-old James Thompson of Southfield, has admitted having relations with hundreds of boys over the last…
Losing patients
After learning that the nation’s poor had the highest incidence of cancer and the lowest survival rate, Dr. Clarence Vaughn went to work in one of Detroit’s most impoverished neighborhoods. "I decided I needed to work in the city," says Vaughn, now 72, who had practiced medicine in the suburbs for 17 years. In 1985,…
Superdot
Sharp-dressed West-side ska, swing and pop septet.
Kill Switch
Wiry, eerie guitar sounds give way to a distorted vision of Motor City rock’n’roll – driving with flourishes of pop hookery, sing-along choruses flavored by an appreciation for the vocabulary of industrial rock.
Jazz (re)generator
One of the few Detroit nightspots where you’ll find three generations of jazz lovers rubbing elbows, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge gets hotwith a rebirth of the cool.
Cluttered drives
After a long winter of wild Web carousing, allow me to clear out my hard drive and unsort my bookmarks. In other words, it’s time for another cybersurvey edition of Netropolis. Here is my latest list of clickworthy pages, guaranteed to chase away any remaining cold-weather blahs. MEET THE CUBE Is it the destiny of…
Pancakes and meringues
Cheese and meat omelets, pancakes with fruit, cinnamon rolls, French toast — sounds like a breakfast winner. Equally traditional lunch items include tuna melts and Maurice salads. Weekend breakfast specials, served all day, are a tad more adventurous, and everything is made fresh on the premises, including the breads and bumpy cakes.
Drowning Mona
In the lively and funny Drowning Mona, the sleepy burg of Verplanck in upstate New York is portrayed as dysfunction junction, the kind of oddball community where nearly every resident drives a Yugo with vanity plates. When the much-despised Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) drives into the Hudson River, the gleeful response of Verplanck’s denizens troubles…
Devil’s Robot
Sonic and devilish madness from timeStereo / Princess Dragonmom’s Davn and Warn, conjuring Beelezebub through performance and glorious noise.
60 Second Crush
Virtuosic guitar rock featuring former members of Motor Dolls, Brothers from Another Planet, Down with Hatred, and Plow. Heavy riff-rock with a penchant for flourishes of the funk. The Crush is an intense bunch, but you’ll love it, kid.
Pitch’d
SOLAR FREAK After a nearly six-month absence from Ann Arbor, Solar, that weekly (Wednesday) showcase of Detroit techno came back to A2’s Blind Pig. Celebrating a two-year anniversary after the night had been on pause may seem strange, but it’s exactly what Ann Arbor needed to cure the February blahs. The crowd packed the bar…
Supery spy entree
Open your eyes and read this classic phrase: "Bond. James Bond." Undeniably, these are the words of Ian Fleming’s vintage super spy, a symbol of the suave, impulsive and suit-clad masculinity that every woman leans toward. Now, after 19 feature films, billions of tickets sold and more films emerging from the boilerplate at this very…
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
Despite its exploitative title and zippy visual style, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris’ 1997 essay on the human condition was his most subtle effort up to that point. Its focus is on four people immersed in seemingly unrelated fields of interest – a topiary gardener, a robotics expert, a specialist on the behavior of mole-rats and…
Orphans
Taking the terms "dysfunctional family" and "dark comedy" to their most demented levels are the cast and director of Orphans. This independent film from Glasgow centers around four adult siblings on the evening before their mother’s funeral. While the eldest brother, Thomas, sings a tribute to his mother in a local pub, a brawl breaks…
Short but sweet
If only Weezer and Spike Jonze hadn’t already thought up that “Happy Days” video idea! It would’ve been the perfect setting for the sound track this EP provides. Slightly cheesy keyboards. Sugary background harmonies. Clever lyrics about true love and lonely nights and teenaged angst and new beginnings. Cute boys strumming jangly guitars on stage…
Food Stuff
DAILY PICK IS HEALTHY A shopper at Whole Foods Market in West Bloomfield did a double take when she saw celebrity chef Curtis Aikens doing a cooking demonstration. "I love you!" she exclaimed. "I love you too," boomed the affable Aikens without losing his focus on the sizzling onions in his frying pan. (Aikens waits…
Fast & furious
How many musicians does it take to make 11 songs worth of thrash-happy, head-snappy, party-on-Garth rock ‘n’ roll? Answer: Two. No joke – SWiG’s big sound consists of one vocalist (David Bierman) and one guitarist-bassist-drummer-producer (Glynn Scanlan). Scanlan lays down the ever-so-lively rhythm and riffs, giving each track its own personality (here some surf-rock twang,…
The Third Miracle
Father Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a postulator, a priest whose chore is to investigate possible candidates for sainthood, to examine the evidence of any miracles, to probe the virtuousness of the nominee’s life – in short, to bring a coldly rational sense of inquiry into a highly emotional area of belief. Father Frank is…
Basketcase
Aural-ambient soundscape magic from alchemists working with cello, processed trumpet, clarinet, voice and found objects. Beautiful sounds amde by the everyday flotsam you too often dismiss in passing.
Bantam Rooster
Reigning champs of the Garage-blues-punk-catharsis Rocking Federation (okay, so they’re still waiting for a challenger, but they’d surely kick that combo’s booty), Bantam Rooster is a percussive howl in the woods and, if you’ve had enough caffeine and beer, you can really dance to it!
Words thick like paper
Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Poets Read Their Works Audio CD By Scott-Heron, Angelou, Brooks 2 Discs, $29.97 ‘I’ve known rivers / ancient dusky rivers / my soul has grown deep like the rivers” — these are words written by an 18-year-old Langston Hughes, performed by a 51-year-old Hughes, and a…
Paybacks
Comprised of members of Rocket 455, the Hentchmen and other garage greats, and fronted by commanding platinum-blonde singer-guitarist Wendy Case, the Paybacks inject Cheap Trick with a dose of muscle and AC/DC with a shot of arena pop. Rock on!
Words thick like paper
‘I’ve known rivers / ancient dusky rivers / my soul has grown deep like the rivers” — these are words written by an 18-year-old Langston Hughes, performed by a 51-year-old Hughes, and a fitting opening for an immense collection of African-American spoken-word performance spanning nearly a century. Rhino/Word Beat’s latest audio anthology, Our Souls Have…
Buddha Fulla Rymez
Think of a really rollicking party, add rap, stir with rock, have a coupla beers and maybe a blunt (shhh! Don’t tell) and you’ve got the Buddha Fulla experience. Roll with it!
American Mars
Mr. Thomas Trimble and company return to the live arena (as it were) to perform haunting songs of the Midwest and to explore the interior realms of the post-modern singer-songwriter.
Belgian bully
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild Houghton Mifflin Company, $15, 367 pp. The year is 1898. You are a young shipping clerk for a Liverpool-based firm that has the exclusive contract to carry cargo to and from the Congo in Africa. The company sends you…
Hemigod
Hard-rock heavy hitters – crunchy guitar riffage; long, flowing locks; powerful rhythm and soaring, melodic songs that suggest that rock’n’roll is a far cry from dead, baby! If they’re Detroit’s answer to Alice in Chains, then Detroit’s a lot more attractive than Seattle.
Miss Julie
The unlikely battleground of Miss Julie, Mike Figgis’ searing film version of August Strindberg’s button-pushing play, is the kitchen of a 19th century Swedish manor house. It’s the festive midsummer night, and the count is away. With his authoritative presence removed, a dance of seduction commences between his daughter, Miss Julie (Saffron Burrows), and manservant,…
Agent 009
Mixing the worlds of alt-rock, punk and future-metal crunch with abandon, Agent 009 will give you just the right kick in the booty.
Intoxicats
Psychobilly from the wrong side of the tracks and the right side of the punk-rock-roots-rock spectrum. Dirty habits and empty bottles are at the heart of the Intoxicats (Molotov) cocktail.
Desperately seeking romance
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! Richard Panic, the tinkering mad scientist, creates his romantic fusion of new wave and techno not to garner adulation for his efforts, but to let his sounds seep their way into the oft-ignored recesses of your psyche. "The music is a way to express feelings that…
sweatysuedelips
Featuring former members of Charm Farm and Stun Gun, sweatysuedelips, as evidenced on their debut record, Coming to Terms, mix up a batch of NIN-flavored industry, hold the overpowering angst, side of romanticism and alienation.
The Next Best Thing
The two stars of The Next Best Thing – Rupert Everett and Madonna – illustrate the movie’s strengths and weaknesses. The duo play Robert, a gay landscape designer, and Abbie, a yoga instructor with perpetual man problems. They are best friends who inadvertently become parents after a drunken one-night encounter, and decide to establish an…
Denise James
Denise James’ voice may just be Detroit’s greatest untapped natural resource. Not that James has hidden herself away — quite the contrary, actually. She’s the voice behind the greviously underappreciated Dirteaters and has appeared on numerous His Name Is Alive recordings. But James has stepped out on her own with music that’s simultaneously intercontinental (in…
Drunken elephant walk
Detroit’s own Fez seems to understand that the lines between musical boundaries start to blur after that first fifth of gin. The quartet also knows that the devil’s music didn’t start with rock ’n’ roll. It oozed up from the swamp blues, the beer-garden polkas, the gypsy dances, backwoods honky-tonks, juke joints and ragtime jazz.…
Drummatic distance
What makes a master drummer forsake the traps and sticks for computers and software? In noise rock-ruling Gravitar and swamp-punk detonation duo Bantam Rooster, Eric Cook laid down some amazing and unique drumwork. Then he broke his ankle, and, as he tells it, "I was laid up for a couple of months. Suddenly, it seemed…
Larger than life
In some bizarre Brit-pop alternative universe, the Atomic Numbers are huge rock stars. Scores of go-go-booted teen queens are queuing up for their latest record release at the mall. High school jocks in Podunk, Idaho are sneering, De Niro-style, vainly copping drummer Matt Aljian’s wiseguy grin. And the boys in the band are headlining silver-glittered…
Face
Face rides the edge between psych-rock, classic, late-’60s blues-based music and straight-up power. Frontwoman Courtney’s full-throated sweet rasp and stage presence carries the day.
Mickey Strange
Glam-rock, baby! Mickey and the lads’ cover of Bowie’s “Panic in Detroit” sets the tone properly, no?
Brian Lillie & the Squirrel Mountain Orchestra
Real-life music about real-life folk delivered with heart and a sense of the soul of the Midwest. The Squirrel Mountain Orchestra provides a rangy, diverse backing that complements tales perfectly.
Blake Chen
Acclaimed singer-songwriter aka “The Haunted Troubadour” (and rightfully so, with a voice like Lou Reed and an ability to conjure up autumnal chill via guitar, he’s the ghost you love to hear).
Drum fire
Hindsight is 20/20. An old cliché, to be sure, but it’s never seemed so ridiculously brilliant as when applied to Persona, aka Eric Cook. The question at hand is, how did one man – one drummer, specifically – go from an improvisational noise trio (Gravitar) and a straight, fast and lowdown rock duo (Bantam Rooster)…
Numbers
The Jam, the Who, the Clash, the “Angry Young Men,” Motown soul and working-for-the-weekend energy – what more could you ask for? If the Numbers’ recent jam-packed rock’n’roll sweatfests are any indication, you best show up early for a spot on the dance floor.
Mudpuppy
Mixing R&B, funk and straight-up blues into a heady gumbo, Mudpuppy’s a night in New Orleans come home to roost in Detroit.
Stunning Amazon
Poetic, urban-universal-heart-folk (with a little bit of Ozzy Osbourne thrown in for good measure).
Gimme shock treatment
Rescuing punk rock from a bad case of the blands, the Clone Defects play with an art-damaged fervor that puts them in that tiny league of modern punkers who are actually adding something worthy to the punk rock legacy. Suffice it to say, their real-deal punk rock antics slash and burn through the efforts of…
A jewel is a stone
On the title track of songwriter Brian Lillie’s remarkable third album, a town gathers to bid farewell to the departing fire chief. Among the crowd is the local mortician – an odd woman who “remembers the faces but buries the names” – and the town sheriff, who’s drunk. They all wish the exiting firefighter luck,…
Metros
These amped-up kids rock – as in punk – á la their spiritual musical pappies Iggy Pop and the Stooges, with a healthy dose of late-’70s NYC-London punk power. Check out their debut full-length on San Francisco’s Rip Off Records for more evidence.
Twitch
Twitch’s wildly eclectic sound could be characterized as a more scientific cousin of the Immigrant Suns. Avant at times, crazed at others, rocking, but from obtuse angles. Great stuff!
Persona
Skittish avant ‘n’ drum ‘n’ bass ‘n’ breakbeats. A rare opportunity to dance, bob your head and marvel at the artist formerly known as Eric Cook in the live setting.
Girl (not) alone
"Before I ever went into a studio, I had a four-track and I used to record on that. I hadn’t taught myself guitar yet, so it was mostly keyboards and piano and vocals, with a lot of harmonies," remembers Denise James. From such humble home-recorded beginnings comes one of Detroit’s true hidden musical treasures. Retaining…
The Go
Upholding the grand Detroit street-rock tradition, the Go has taken its gutter-slick, maximum impact guitar rock to new heights the old-fashioned way – by converting the masses through the power of rock, not-so-pure and not-so-simple. Dark sunglasses, shaggy manes of hair and all the swagger you would imagine would still scare your parents, the Go…
Deathgirl.com
Layered, spacey (sometimes), intensely emotional-evocative, deathgirl.com’s not just a clever Web address, it’s a revenge fantasy set to music. You may remember deathgirl.com from their days trading as Caelum Bliss; well, the Caelum’s got a brand new knife to wield.
Brilliant
New romantic synth pop with heartfelt lyrics, shiny, bright hooks and choruses and moody washes of keyboard and processed guitars. These psychedelic furriers make the ’80s fun again.
