In one ear
NOT JUST ANOTHER MANIC SATURDAY If you plan just right, this Saturday could just hit musical critical mass and explode in a supernova of chords, notes, strings, drums, solos, harmonies and chori – or is it choruses? Observe: The human suffering in the Balkans that may seem a world away to some strikes close to…
Johnnie Bassett
Of all the local blues bands in Detroit today, the Blues Insurgents are probably the one most likely to break into the big time. For the past year they have been touring extensively both nationally and internationally, but they still have time to perform here at home. Bassett plays subtle and smooth jazzy blues. Three…
Hall’s Balls
What could prompt a comparison between these re-releases of sets by Paul Desmond, ethereally cool romanticist of the alto sax, and Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone extrovert and colossus for the past five decades? Recorded a year apart (1963 and 1964), the sessions share little in the way of overall conception, except for one telling presence:…
Fuxa
Specializing in percussive freak-outs, moogy meanderings, and dreamy space strum, Fuxa keeps a low profile around town, but a high profile in the record collections of space rockers around the world. Proprietors of the Mind Expansion label, Fuxa (you know, like the color) makes only sporadic live appearances. So catch them if you can.
500 Feet of Pipe
Don’t let the fact that 500 Feet of Pipe is a mere trio fool you. They’re as heavy as their name implies, and they extract a mighty wide sound from their hard rock foundations. Certainly inspired by the space-truckin’ organ sounds of Deep Purple, they turn up the volume on some metallic speed guitar as…
The other side of racism
Few had heard of Marvis Cofield before Dennis Archer appointed him to the school reform board. The newspapers had no idea how to spell his name, rendering it "Coffield" at first. (I assume, without knowing, we now have the right spelling.) Similarly, some accounts said he had a degree in sociology; others, in education. His…
Phil Lasley
The notes slide off his saxophone like lace off a beautiful woman’s thigh. Alto saxophonist Phil Lasley’s phrasing on ballads should be bottled and sold as an elixir to those who refuse to believe that jazz in the right hands can heal. Lasley swings on quick tempo numbers and delivers the blues with such feeling…
Bobby Murray
Although Detroit has more than its fair share of ‘name’ musicians, Bobby Murray probably qualifies as one of the biggest names on the local blues scene – at least by association. Murray has for years served as lead guitar player for blues great Etta James. When he’s not working with Etta, Murray fronts his own…
Viola Peacock
With their blissful dives into the indie-guitar compound of melody plus volume, Viola Peacock translate the ups and downs of emotion into a palette of crunch and drone. With an ear for great guitar rock and pop forms, as well as an acute avant garde poetic sensibility, this quartet holds its own among the flock…
Roy Brooks & the Artistic Truth
Roy Brooks is Detroit’s answer to Sun-Ra. He’s a drummist, not a drummer. He calls his music “Jazzabation.” Like Sun-Ra, Brooks’ music moves beyond the conventional realms of bop and swing to a musical stratosphere that can only be reached by a musician with a creative depth that Brooks embodies. Whether he’s making a see-saw…
Food stuff
GET PICKLED Summer is the perfect season for barbecuing, but it’s not good for cooking in the kitchen. The heat, sweat and temptation of fun outdoors always makes me lose my usual passion for cooking. What’s the perfect summer food besides barbecue and beer? Something that doesn’t need the stove or oven. In honor of…
Robert B. Jones
Known widely throughout the Detroit Metro area as the host of WDET’s Saturday morning blues show, “Blues From the Lowlands,” Robert Jones is currently the city’s only one-man blues band. Although other area artists perform solo on occasion, Jones is the only one to adhere strictly to that format – and no one can touch…
Dogs
Formerly known as ‘The Dowg Band’, The Dogs just might be one of the hardest-working blues bands on the local scene. Currently serving as the house band for The Soup Kitchen, where they host the city’s best blues jam session every Tuesday night, the four-piece band which occasionally features Harmonica Shaw can also be found…
Rodney Whitaker Quartet
With his bass strapped to his back, bassist Rodney Whitaker works harder than a traveling salesman. He has hawked his wares in jazz clubs throughout the country. He has two gifts. He plays with the delicateness of a grandmother picking lint off her grandson’s Sunday suit, and he writes compositions like, “Children in the Womb”…
Medusa Cyclone
Mixing an abrasive postpunk aggression with elements of ethno-mysticism, the Medusa Cyclone sweeps through diverse, always interesting sonic avenues. Their records have the habit of becoming highly prized collectors items, while their live performances leave an impression for their mix of agitated tension and tranced-out atmosphere.
Pitch’d
OVERPASSED Detroit techno has had only a few true renaissance men. Alan Oldham — DJ T-1000 — for one, was a cartoon artist and radio host before he entered the world of bleep making. Now Royal Oak’s Dale Lawrence is carrying the torch. A digital artist by day, he works for web designers Sigma 6…
Art and pot stickers
P.F. Chang’s is part of chain, located in a posh mall and the menu strays from authentic. But it is a very good restaurant nonetheless. Entrees are excellent, and drinks include a variety of wine, beer and specialty drinks traversing many cultures.
The Hastings Street Blues Band
Led by drummer Bobby White, Hastings Street is one of the few-if not the only-all-black Detroit blues band consisting of members without one foot in the grave. Considering the African-American roots of blues-and Detroit’s predominantly African-American population-this is rather significant. But don’t just go to see the band for that reason alone. These guys are…
Aces High
Even if you’ve seen a lot of Kiss tribute bands in your time, you’ve never seen anything like Aces High. This quartet of made-up members of the Detroit underground music scene stands as an explosive tribute to Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, and even the drummer dresses as Ace. Their material is all Ace, all the…
Netropolis
Welcome to the first cyber-survey edition of Netropolis. This one is a grab bag, a digital potpourri, a virtual melange of this and that. See, the Web is already galactic in size and is growing exponentially; some weeks there’s simply too much happening to limit yourself to only one cool topic. So this week, I’m…
Butler Twins
The Butler Twins are right up there with Uncle Jesse White when it comes to representing the authentic, ‘down home’ style of Delta blues. Not suprisingly, their home base is at the Attic bar in Hamtramck, as is Jesse’s. The Twins, as they’re referred to in the blues community, have traveled to Europe several times…
James Wailin/Wailin Inc.
Wailin Inc. is fronted by harmonica wildman James Wailin, acknowledged by many of his peers as one of the hardest-working guys on the local scene. If Wailin isn’t working a gig he’s working on getting one. The result of all that effort is a well-rehearsed, tight group of players that can deliver the funk as…
Windy & Carl
As the area’s premier cosmic ambassadors, Windy and Carl have been creating beautiful echoes of the outer limits of sound since well before the space rock revival. Their introspective isolationism has captivated audiences across two continents, and their minimalist live shows never cease to entrance in their home town.
Celebrity washouts
In the wake of the school shooting in Colorado, it seems every showbiz personality in America is being brought before the cameras to testify about violence and the mass media. Here we go again, you say. Still, interesting things are being said by some surprising sources. On "Larry King Live," for example, who should appear…
The Castle
In pop psychology – that medium of greeting card wisdom – a favorite saying is that when you’re given lemons, make lemonade. This is a credo that Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton) lives by. Except for one thing: By Darryl’s unwaveringly cheerful reckoning, lemons aren’t so bad to begin with. The Kerrigan clan – consisting of…
Velour 100
Dreamy female vocals and crystalline, shimmering guitars are the hallmarks of Velour 100. Discerning listeners might find an abstract familiarity in this band’s haunting melancholia. With their misty atmospherics and guitar chime, it’s no surprise that one of the masterminds behind Velour 100 is a moonlighting member of His Name Is Alive.
Monaural
Dubby atmospherics meet ringing guitar experimentalism in the sounds of Monaural. Equally at home in the realms of space and of groove, these titanic sonic sculptors simultaneously echo the innovations of the dance floor and the mixing board while creating their aural architecture. Sometimes they leave their studio endeavors long enough to perform in public…
Momentary madness
"Something wonderful right away." This, from the title of a book written by Jeffrey Sweet about the Second City, describes the improvisational theater’s creative draw on audiences in Chicago, Toronto and Detroit. Combining ensemble acting and political satire, the Second City has carved out a theatrical niche in all three of its hubs. The Detroit…
The Mummy
Perhaps the best thing about The Mummy is that it was shot on location, in the hallucinatory deserts of Morocco which spell insanity and disenchantment in Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky. A meditation on love and nothingness inspired by a poem written by Bernardo’s father – “Sand is sand moved by the wind” – Sky was…
Dwight Adams Quartet
Dwight Adams carries the legacies of trumpeters Clifford Brown and Johnny Coles inside his trumpet. Adams has transcended the diamond-in-the-rough stage to become the most talked-about jazz musician in Detroit. He blows with the softness of snow melting on cotton, and as rough as an excavator cutting through earth.
Dark Carnival
From the ashes of the ’70s proto-punk behemoth Destroy All Monsters rises Dark Carnival, current rock and roll home for ex-Stooge six-string slinger Ron Asheton and dark chanteuse Niagara, legends both. Their brand of raw power should appeal to those who find that the more the years get on, the more there’s nothing to do.…
And Georgie makes three
You all remember George Stephanopoulos, the dark-haired handsome young kid who was once Bill Clinton’s right-hand man. And who can forget Monica Lewinsky, the dark-haired vixen who also once gave Clinton a hand? Stephanopoulos and La Lewinsky have a lot in common. They have both recently written books, the former being All Too Human: A…
Tainted
One thing you can say about Tainted, alas, is that it may represent the cutting edge of ultra-low-budget regional filmmaking. The new sensibility is immediately apparent. If this film had been made in the ’70s, it would have been padded by endlessly plodding, stalking shots. Instead, it’s padded by post-Tarantino talk. Unfortunately, the shaggy-dog digression…
Lovemasters
If you’ve ever strolled into the classier joints on Eight Mile, you’ve probably seen legendary scenester Bobby Beyond (minus Bootsey X). Beyond hones his charismatic babe-magnetism as the leader of the Lovemasters, whose street-wise rhythms set the hot pants to rockin’. Do bother knockin’ at any venerable local live institution to catch this venerable local…
Frank Pahl
A versatile all-around odd-pop craftsperson, Frank Pahl (both solo and with his group Only a Mother) is internationally recognized as a master ukelelist, whistler, and one of the Detroit area’s musical treasures. Besides using everyday instruments to defy conventions and expectations, Pahl has an arsenal of homemade and even self-playing musical instruments. You can bet…
Homestead warrior
Over a cup of coffee, director Rob Sitch waxes philosophical about his first feature film, about success and humility, about his need for sentimental stories, and the Australian proverbial comic streak. The Castle, says Sitch, "is a comedy of lack of sophistication" about Daryl Kerrigan, an ordinary man who’s ready to go against the whole…
Trippin’
As the credits roll into oblivion, James Thurber’s ghost puts out his cigarette. There’s another movie he could’ve written! It’s too late for negotiations now. Besides, his lawyer’s dead and these guys – David Raynr, the director, and his screenwriter, Gary Hardwick, who took less than two weeks to write the script (yeah, right!) –…
Beast People
The missing link between In Search Of and the absurd, mime and the monkey house, the Beast People growl their way through cryptic, noisy, Sasquatch-rock operas. Though they’re heavily disguised in primitive primate costumes, you may recognize these howlers from other local noise groups. The Beast People walk among us!
Teddy Harris Quartet
Just when you thought bebop had lost its flavor, pianist Teddy Harris adds new improvisational herbs and spices. Harris learned how to cook and improvise in jazz clubs like the Blue Bird Inn. He has kept bebop stimmering with his quartet and his New Breed BeBop Society Orchestra. Call his brand of bop “Detroit bop”…
Experiement in frustration
With arms flailing, he springs enraged from his chair and paces about his small, dark office. Sounds erupt and contract in his throat as he stumbles on words wrapped in anger and a thick Chinese accent. Sentences are punctuated with quick nods and furious waves of his fist. "I very emotional, you see," says Dr.…
Guilt and gefilte fish
Many of us know that the word "kosher" refers to dietary laws introduced in the Jewish Bible. However, today "kosher" refers to more than just food. The word has taken on rich colloquial meaning and we judge many things – social behavior, for instance – to be kosher or not kosher. But sex? While the…
Isis and Werewolves
A group of Brighton-based musicians as cryptic as their name, Isis and Werewolves play in many different experimental styles, from Italian horror flick Euro-prog synth-funk to electronic pulsebeats that sound like the darker side of techno. No matter what style they explore, these sonic outsiders create some of the most interesting underground sounds around.
Transmission
Transmission explores the electric frontiers of jazz in the tradition of early seventies Miles, Herbie, Chick — you know the scene. But you’d probably be shocked if you knew that some young musicians from Ann Arbor continue to explore the depths of such sonic space. Be on the lookout for Transmission’s intersections with such area…
Arbitration rights?
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that employers can prevent worker lawsuits by requiring that employees sign away their rights to a jury trial and accept arbitration instead. In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled in Rembert vs. Ryan’s Steakhouse that employers can insist job applicants agree to go to binding arbitration instead…
Viva Las Divas!
VH-1 fans aren’t the only ones in love with divas. These days, record companies have been quick to notice that music fans around the globe want their divas, and South America is no exception. Over the past two decades, there haven’t been many recordings of any sort coming out of Peru. What with the recent…
Tomorrowland
The sounds of the future arrive right now in Tomorrowland. With their introspective electronic drones and slowly shifting sheets of sound, they astound and mesmerize the space rock community. Using guitars, electronics, and plenty of effects as their guides, the citizens of Tomorrowland explore the melancholy atmospherics of space.
Calvin Brooks Trio
The spirit of Grant Green lives inside Calvin Brooks’ guitar. Brooks can play soul, gospel, R&B and classic rock compositions without any of it overshadowing his jazz roots. If you like your jazz hard, soulful or playful, Calvin Brooks can take you there.
Humbug arguments
The public has had its say. Now state and federal environmental watchdogs will decide the fate of Humbug Marsh. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a joint public hearing in Wyandotte on May 5 seeking public comment on whether Made in Detroit Inc. should receive permission to…
Art-of-Fact
What is it that (Paul) Simon sez? "One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor?" Well, this little artifact was recorded in 1977 (originally released in 1980), and whether or not it’s an exciting project is open to debate. For one thing, the record was produced by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and pointed towards the eccentric…
Charles Thompson
Detroit jazz musicians believe in nurturing their young. For years, drummer Charles Thompson has travelled in the hip pocket of jazz masters, such as Teddy Harris. Thompson wails with the ferocity of Roy Haynes, but when he really starts to swing he plays like the spirit of Art Blakey possesses his sticks.
Asha Vida
Stretching notes across the space-time continuum, Asha Vida has been chilling on the groove-trance-improv side of things lately. These Dearborn space rockers can swoop from sonic bombast to fragile song structure, and their live forays into neo-psychedelic improvisation are a highlight of their oeuvre.
Sustainable reality
As Vice President Al Gore and thousands of business people, government officials and activists convened at Cobo Hall for last week’s National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America, members of the Sierra Club took people on a street-level tour outlining Detroit’s environmental problems. The four-day conference addressed such issues as the effects of traffic congestion,…
One Floor Below the Basement
The re-renamed Elevator Through (was Eric’s Trip, then Elevator to Hell, etc.) might be taking the advice, carpe diem, to an extreme with its approach to making records, which can be summed up simply: The first take is the best take. Always striving to capture the essence of a moment gives the band’s risky and…
Don Mayberry
Bassist Don Mayberry keeps time better than a Rolex watch. When the notes and chords start to flow through his body, sweat drips off his face like ice melting off the gutter of an abandoned house. Mayberry’s improvisational ability and his complete understanding of jazz, blues and gospel idioms put him in the same company…
Little Princess
First came the cassettes. Then came the puppet show. Now, the Little Princess exists as part of local noise legend. The solo moniker of Princess Dragon Mom’s Davin Brainard, the Little Princess always adds a bit of unpredictability in the creative aural and visual tangents of noise that he explores.
Kreem of the Komics!
From Mad to Maus to Weirdo, an uncompromised selection of the best in modern comics….
Demolition Dollrods
Detroit’s sexiest trash-rock glamour queens, the Demolition Doll Rods strip rock to the bare essentials in more ways than one. Their combo of primitive sex-beat drums, scratchy rhythms, searing leads, and scantily-clad gyrations ensure that any commercial television appearances will be from the neck up.
OK Confusion
Six, Mansun’s second album, revels in a vision of modern existential dystopia that members of Radiohead might find bleak. The band’s last album was unquestionably mediocre – bratty, blandly assimilated Britpop, Blur-Radiohead Lite – and the influences haven’t changed noticeably on Six. Trying to explain why Six turned out so good, then, is about as…
Pamela D. Wise
Pamela Wise can make her piano samba and dance to her Afro-Cuban rhythms, which is a testament to her gift as a pianist and composer. Her instinct for combining jazz with diverse cultural rhythms and assembling musicians that spit fire into her music puts her in the company with pianist Don Pullens and trumpeter Don…
Fortune and Maltese
It’s sharp suits, suave stage presence and ever-stompin’ 60s shimmy-shimmies! It’s the now sound from 32 years ago! It’s retro a-go-go all over again! It’s Fortune and Maltese and the Phabulous Pallbearers, and won’t someone give these colorfully charismatic garage rockers their own TV variety show already!?
Momentary madness
Second City-Detroit continues a tradition of on-the-spot, spot-on satire….
Gravitar
If you want to know what loud is, Gravitar will show you. Maneuvering their elephantine sonics between creepy composition and all-out roar, these skull-bursters set Detroit’s standard for the precarious balance between improv-noise and avant-rock. Multi-instrumental and multimedia expansion has added to the Gravitar atmosphere in recent appearances.
French Space Pop
France’s answer to seminal UK dance labels Mo’Wax and Metalheadz is grooving to a different drum these days. That Parisian label, Source – which brought us Air’s terrific Moon Safari LP and the acclaimed Source Lab series that unleashed the irresistible French flair of DJ Cam and Daft Punk – has traded in the beat,…
Detroit Cobras
Greasier than a barbeque at the local Fraternal Society of Mechanics, the R&B of the Detroit Cobras gets its special flavor from a different sort of souped-up sauce. Only the finest obscure soul nuggets get grilled up, and anybody who’s tried their cooking live shows knows that they’re one of the hottest acts in town.
The Dirtys
One of a select few ensembles that creates a sound that’s band-name appropriate, the Dirtys play loud, fast punk that’s ready to mess you up. Many area clubs have withdrawn the welcome mat in honor of the Dirtys — so if you see a live listing, you shouldn’t miss their punked-out show.
Gore and green space
After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour, I’m sick of concrete gray and construction orange. All I can think about is getting out of the car – like the Michael Douglas character in Falling Down, I could just leave my car in the traffic jam and walk the few miles home. "And…
Easy Action
Apparently named after the early Alice Cooper classic, Easy Action specializes in a menacing glammy crunch. Former members of some of the region’s fiercest (and most legendary) hardcore punk outfits join forces and grow up a bit, creating the sound of the Coop usurping the role of Bryan Ferry in early Roxy Music. Viva Easy…
Hall’s Balls
What could prompt a comparison between these re-releases of sets by Paul Desmond, ethereally cool romanticist of the alto sax, and Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone extrovert and colossus for the past five decades? Recorded a year apart (1963 and 1964), the sessions share little in the way of overall conception, except for one telling presence:…
Twistin’ Tarantulas
With all the surplus Brylcreem, stand-up basses and tattoo parlors around town, a rockabilly revivial didn’t need much of a spark to rekindle in the Motor City. At the top of the heap stand the Twistin’ Tarantulas, who pack them in locally at their regular residencies when they’re inbetween twistin’ up their European audience.
Only A Mother
The neighborhood’s best acoustic-progressive-folk-ethno-homemade quirk acts, Only A Mother is also the only acoustic-progressive-folk-aw, you know the rest. Blending the 20th century symphonic with the Saturday morning cacophonic, these guys don’t let their multi-instrumental mastery keep them from making some nutty noise.
