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Kesswa re-releases EP with trippy video: The interdisciplinary artist Kesswa, aka Kesiena Wanogho, is known equally for her experimental-leaning R&B music and her video work. So it’s fitting that her re-issued EP’s lead single “WAV,” Kesswa’s first new solo material since 2019, is accompanied by a trippy music video. The video documents a few months in the artist’s life between L.A., NYC, and Detroit using a 360-degree camera, and discerning eyes may recognize the local detroit haunts Paramita Sound and Motor City Wine that make appearances. The Soften EP was self-released in 2019, and has since been remastered and remixed in some places. This deluxe edition is getting a vinyl pressing via the Portage Garage Sounds crew, and also features an extended remix of past single “Contemplate” via the label’s resident mind melter 2Lanes. Kesswa was a featured vocalist on 2Lanes’ own Portage Garage single “Baby’s Born To Fish…” and also collaborated with label boss Shigeto on the experimental video and spoken word performance “Is My Mind A Machine Gun?” (which blew me away when the pair performed it at DLECTRICITY in 2021). Suffice to say, you won’t want to miss out on the deluxe edition of Soften when the full EP releases on May 12. You can download or purchase the record via Kesswa’s Bandcamp page, or find a hard copy at your local record store. —Joe
U.K. jungle torchbearer Tim Reaper brings the heat: Of course, Michigan weather has duped us again. It felt like summer for about a week, and then by the following Monday we were seeing snow again. The consistent sunlight that we’ve been yearning for may be a ways off yet, but fear not! THRG and Marble Bar are bringing one of the hottest producers and DJ’s of UK jungle, Tim Reaper, to Detroit this Friday for a show that is sure to light up the dance floor. Reaper will go back to back with tourmate Dwarde as the headlining act, and local support from Lazarus, Beatloaf, and Nico will round out the night. Expect high-energy beats, immersive sonic textures, forward-thinking mixes, and an overall good time to shake off the mid-spring slump. Presale tickets are available via Resident Advisor. —Broccoli
Omar S delivers the extended mix we didn’t know we needed: Detroit house music producer and DJ Omar S has done it again. He and Alister Fawnwoda recently dropped “I love your girlfriend” featuring John FM, and just last week they followed up with a long mix of the song. In the original version, John FM croons emphatically over a simple yet powerful keyboard line about being caught in a love triangle of sorts, giving us just enough to get the song stuck in our heads but not quite enough to fully lose ourselves in the beat. You almost feel like the song ends too early to do the idea justice, which must have been intentional, because in the extended mix we get a range of dynamics and builds that turn the concisely composed earworm into a full-blown hit. The track has already gotten love on dancefloors around the world, and we expect that you’ll continue hearing more about it in the coming weeks, so check it out now on Bandcamp or wherever you get your music. —Broccoli
Footwork and techno clash this weekend: Obviously as the birthplace of techno, Detroiters have an affinity for other electronic genres like house and jungle/drum & bass. Footwork, also known as juke, actually takes inspiration from another Detroit original: the jit. Both styles of music are categorized by rapid breaks and syncopated rap samples, accompanied by hugely talented dancers who are able to keep up with the tempo (thus the name “footwork”). After RP Boo pioneered the genre in Chicago in the late 1990s, the Teklife crew of producers and DJs led to an explosion of footwork’s popularity in the late 2000s (mostly outside of Chicago), culminating around member DJ Rashad’s acclaimed 2014 album Double Cup. This Saturday, April 29, dreambeach’s Sleep Olympics welcomes footwork innovator DJ Taye to City Club, sharing the bill with the box-banging AMX (who had one of our favorite releases of 2022). With an excellent lineup of local support to round it out (Blackmoondchild, dreambeach B2B Raphy), there’s bound to be expert-level juking and jiting on full display. Tix available via Mean Red. —Joe
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