Tag: Detroit

PLAYING DETROIT: Jena Irene Asciutto debuts “Cold Fame”

What if I told you that a former American Idol runner-up wrote a power ballad about medical marijuana? And what if I told you that this same, 20 year-old reality TV competitor released one of the most well-rounded, wildly mature pop records just last week? Okay, okay. Last hypothetical. What if I told you that Farmington Hills native Jena Irene Asciutto doesn’t give a fuck what you think? Cold Fame carefully balances innocence, rebellion and the space between the spotlight and the darkness.

Asciutto’s soaring vocals paired with the thoughtfully lush (but perfectly restrained) arrangements allow the lyrical content to swell, sink and float with pop magic. “So I Get High” finds a pro-pot Asciutto defending marijuana so cleverly that it could just as easily be a Bible study anthem. The imagery of “Floating Down the River” invokes a listless defiance with lyrics like “You can fuck me for free/Use each other till the morning/Then I’ll ask you to leave/I can’t give you my energy” masterfully masked with a radio-ready sweetness. And then there’s Amy Winehouse inspired and indiscreet “White Girl Wasted” complete with handclaps, ska horns and frequent use of “No fucks given.” What is most remarkable about Asciutto’s debut journey and rebirth is her commitment to being unapologetic no matter what genre she explores or which message she delivers. This consistent dance of acceptance and resistance is what makes Asciutto wise beyond her years yet so totally and honestly representative of being 20 in 2017.

Smoke the day away and vibe out with the new princess of pot below:

PLAYING DETROIT: Mango Lane Share Cheeky “Sex” Video

If Detroit had palm trees and if palm trees had a theme song we would have to assume that Mango Lane’s chilled out, shimmering L.A. afternoon make-out session “Sex” would be most fitting. Channeling Washed Out, with hints of Phoenix’s “Love Like a Sunset,” “Sex” feels more like a post-coital American Spirit afterglow on a balcony. Cleverly caffeinated guitars and breezy synths give depth to the duo’s layered, wistful vocals and oddly comforting lyrics.

According to their Facebook bio, Jack Engwall and Austin Carpenter met through skateboarding, which might be why “Sex” mimics the ebb and flow of wheels on the road just as much as it soundtracks a hand moving up a thigh. The video pairs well with the pleasantly passive, go-with-the-flow vibe – purples and blues shift into fuchsias and reds as if to mimic a mood ring on the finger of fresh intimacy.

But these two don’t seem to take seduction too seriously; what is most attractive is the video’s low-key cheeky feel. We find Mango Lane dancing with the same lanky inelegance that made Flight of the Conchords fans chuckle. Yet, somehow, “Sex” doesn’t sound or look like a parody – Mango Lane’s awkward confidence is a turn-on while their grooves incite an undeniable popping off.

Mango Lane releases their new record on June 16th. Let’s hope their video for “Sex” gets you through the dry-spell:

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PLAYING DETROIT: TRIP METAL FEST 2017

 

Memorial Day weekend means one thing and one thing only for most of Detroit: techno. For the past 17 years (on and off due to regulatory restrictions, budgeting issues and exponential crowd growth) Detroit celebrates its role as the birthplace of true, nitty-gritty electronic music. From the likes of Carl Craig, Kevin Saunderson and Moodymann, a world was forged from heart-racing bass beats and dizzying spins of discordant manipulation.

Well, this post isn’t about Movement. This is about TRIP METAL FEST. Companion, rival, and a deeper, more brooding assemblage of sound, TRIP METAL FEST (a pay-what-you-want weekend of musical shock therapy) kicks off this weekend at Detroit’s El Club. We’ve handpicked a few unsettling tracks to scare off the unwanted BBQ leeches this Memorial Day.

Aaron Dilloway: The Beauty Bath (Side A)

A relentless buzzing occupies the space of this 23-minute long track like a fly trapped between a window and a screen. To call Aaron Dilloway’s “The Beauty Bath” ambient would be missing the point all together. His static distress call is manic and sedated while maintaining a level of complete neutrality.

WOLF EYES: Interference Part 3

The lead curators of the event, Wolf Eyes have given “dark” a new scale on which to be measured. Known for their maddening orchestral cluster-fuck, Wolf Eyes excels at all things unnerving. The trio’s latest record Interference (released earlier this month) exploits the Lars Von Trier-esque rabbit hole of sound that tangos with beauty and mortality in equal measure.

Elysia Crampton: Panic Glue (Demo)
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Panic is right. California based Elysia Crampton delivers a soundtrack suitable for that episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? with the cigarette-smoking funhouse clown. Although her other work is more verbally haunting, with guns cocking and twinkling harpsichord layers, the underlying theme of disturbia is ever present no matter what track you click.

BONUS: Performance Artist Bailey Scieszka, a.k.a Old Put, is down with the clown and promises to suck you into her twisted world of chaos and love of WWE Smackdown.

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Follow the yellow brick road to Hell and back by clicking here for more info.

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PLAYING DETROIT: Britney Stoney Holds Tight with “Grip”

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photo by Akhil Sesh

Singer/songwriter and soul songstress Britney Stoney reemerged last week with her first new track (and video) since 2015’s acclaimed Native EP. This time around, Stoney shares a newfound intimate inflection with “Grip,” an unofficial sad-girl prom anthem.

“Grip” masterfully and quietly provides an echo of personal cinema. Sure, it’s a pop song – one that could easily soundtrack a Hannah-seeking-Adam montage on the recently deceased Girls. But Stoney flips the script and fastens a flimsy, sparkly bandaid to a heart-attack with grace and vulnerability. Her voice, breathy with delicate invitation, is undeniably enchanting against the fluttering choral playground and a glitter of synths fit for Johnny Jewel.

Visually, “Grip” finds Stoney tangled in a candy-colored pinhole dreamworld created by renowned visual artist Dessislava. A dizzying camouflage, Stoney spends the video entirely alone, rocking Eighties formal wear and Nineties-era Brandy box braids from scene to scene. Like a late night “WYD” text, its tender-hearted pop-seduced torment begs to be set free and longs for intimacy all at once. Relatable, danceable and totally love-sick, “Grip” holds tight and won’t let go.

Dream on with Britney Stoney’s magical trip down Heartbreak Lane below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Pretty Ghouls Go Ultra-Goth On New 7″s

“Grab your socks and comb your locks. Let’s go!” instructs Detroit’s delightfully sinful goth-punk trio Pretty Ghouls.Sure, they seem sweet and saccharine at first glance, channeling the likes of The Shangri-las, but it is their muddy, bloody graveyard grit and grime that solidifies the act as a musical exorcism. Vocalist Asia Mock, guitarist Sarah Stawski, and drummer T.J. Ghoul released not one but two 7-inches last week, each offering different views from their respective six feet under.

The first, Dead Man’s Walk, features the tambourine-heavy zombie-parading title track along with b-side “Emergency 666!” – a panicked, hair thrashing Hole-esque call to arms.

And then there’s Teenage Frankenstein. The title track follows suit with their completely unhinged aesthetic, pushing their collective vocal chords to the brink of breaking. Meanwhile, b-side “Creature Feature” is patient, akin to placing a clawed hand on a record to slow its rotation. Sulking and slinking under the sheets and under the skin, Pretty Ghouls prove themselves to be Detroit Goth royalty with these searing new 7-inches.

Raise spirits from the dead and let Pretty Ghouls haunt your record collection by ordering their newest releases here.

PLAYING DETROIT: Mother Cyborg Teases Debut LP

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shot for MetroTimes
Mother Cyborg by Ara Howrani

For Diana Nucera, a.k.a Mother Cyborg, it’s been a long time coming. Her long-awaited debut album Pressure Systems drops this week, and based on the two teaser singles “Earth Dreams” and “3souled Women” we are all wildly ill prepared (but so ready) for the journey.

Cerebral and enlightened, Nucera gifts us with an odyssey via invisible waves of transmission. “Earth Dreams” is, in many ways, an out-of-body experience as Mother Cyborg poses question after question after existential observation; “What will you do/With the information you’ve found/When you realize what you’ve been/what’ve you’ve seen/and how you’ve lived your life thus far?” The percussive synths trip and tumble, mimicking the dance of electricity across wires. The droning key buried in the background could easily be the sound of the mothership approaching. Nucera’s digital fortress is lush, refined, and made all the more omnipotent with her breathy, foreground vocals and sonic exoskeleton.

“3souled Women” is a different beast, entirely. Though still maintaining an atmospheric awareness, Mother Cyborg races here, an unassuming ode to light speed. More erratic than the serene dazzle of “Earth Dreams,” “3souled Women” mimics the sizzle of wires being clipped and fused while administering an intravenous dose of whatever mythical drug makes Earth more easily inhabitable to an extraterrestrial. “Could I pass as your human?” she challenges. “Would you take advantage?/Make your life worth more than mine?” Mother Cyborg does not ask for validation or for permission. Instead, she consistently presents us with a warning disguised as a question for which there is no clear answer. And for that, Mother Cyborg is perhaps more human than the rest of us.

Mother Cyborg plays her album release party at Detroit’s El Club on 4/29 at 8pm.

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PLAYING DETROIT: Will Sessions Tease New Album, Deluxe

The word “fusion” doesn’t begin to skim the surface of the rich and diverse stylings of Detroit’s hardest working band, Will Sessions. Not easily categorized, Will Sessions’ influence spans decades and their accumulative sound swells with an authentically reimagined funk renaissance. Equal parts 70’s jazz, soul, hip-hop and yes, pure, sweet funk, the only thing this recipe calls for is more. The eight-piece, whose output modernizes and anthologizes Detroit’s sonic roots, celebrates the release of their first full length record, Deluxe, comprised of previously released, newly remastered tracks in addition to some fresh collaborations. The first single, “Run, Don’t Walk Away (feat. Coko)” is as sly as it is seductive and embodies what it means to strut. What is achieved here is a sense of empowerment. The marriage between growling funk beats that roll like patient hips and vocalist Coko’s insatiable determination makes “Run, Don’t Walk Away” less of a plea and more of a motivational command.

Deluxe drops 4/21 on Sessions Records. Get your groove on below:

PLAYING DETROIT: ADULT. Return with Avant-Garde Video

Over the course of 20 years, electro-clash duo ADULT. has challenged the conventional with avant-garde prowess and an unmatched affection for letting their freak flag fly. Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller returned last month with an experimental collaboration and their seventh record Detroit House Guests. 

“We Chase the Sound” (featuring Shannon Funchess of Brooklyn band Light Asylum and !!!) is a brooding, pulsating dark corner riot and its video companion is a testament to the duo’s unique capacity for connecting the line between art and audio. Paired with knocking synths and hyper-sexual panting, the addition of Shannon Funchess’ carnally commanding presence is not so much a breath of fresh air as it is a pleasantly masochistic hand over the mouth. Convulsive and uneasy, “We Chase the Sound” has Terrence Malick party-scene tendencies. Haze-heavy with static spasms, the world created here is intoxicating and dangerous; the underground unearthed.

Slip into some pleather and dive into the twisted world of ADULT. with “We Chase the Sound” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: JR JR “Same Dark Places”

The first taste from JR JR forthcoming fourth record, “Same Dark Places” follows suit with what the duo does best: hook-dependent melodic pop menageries that feel more clever than sincere. If the duo’s 2015 hit “Gone” was a movie trailer for some generic teenage girl coming of age tale, then that would make “Same Dark Places” an ad for anti-depressant medication, the kind where the black and white shifts to color during the narration of common side-effects ending with cartoon bluebirds landing on the shoulder of some hesitantly happy real-life woman in a cardigan.

There are many masterful elements at play here, however, all of which make it nearly impossible to hate this song (which is what I really want to do.) First, there’s singer Josh Epstein’s thoughtful lyrical cadence. The words swell and bounce in such a way that his inflection alone could be listed in the credits as an instrument. And then, of course, there’s their reoccurring penchant for crafty arrangement and production. The fusion of Andrew Bird vibes (the layering of manic horns and sorrowful strings) meets The Lion King for Sega Genesis (this I can’t explain) meets that “LIVE. LAUGH. LOVE” wall hanging in your parents guest bedroom (okay, I’ll stop) would fool you into believing that JR JR woke up one day with this exact song, as you hear it now, in their heads. The drums feel like an afterthought and the lack of an end-point or clear resolve sink this track into “can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head-but-I-won’t-remember-it-five-years-from-now” territory. Although it was likely intended to be an anthem for swimming against the current, “Same Dark Places” merely treads water.

Let the light in and listen to “Same Dark Places” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Sheefy McFly “Neon Love Affair”

Electrified funk master Sheefy McFly blessed us this week with “Neon Love Affair,” a fresh futuristic time-warp that channels the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog (ala rumored composer Michael Jackson) with a serious dose of technicolor sass. Released as a companion piece to his solo art exhibition of the same name this Friday at Two James Distillery in Corktown, “Neon Love Affair” embodies the rawness of the lovestruck renaissance man Sheefy truly is.

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“The Last Kiss” by Sheefy McFly

Enlisting producer and multi-instrumentalist Gabe Gonzalez and mix masters Hir-O Beats, the collaboration is an undeniably layered trip into the rabbit hole. The track grinds with lip-smacking drum licks, deep house bass beats and synths that level up while Sheefy unapologetically asks “Do he treat you liked I do?/Do he trust you like I do?/Do he know you like I do?/Do he fuck you like I do?” But “Neon Love Affair” is no pity party. Instead, the track is an invitation to dance the pain away, moonwalking forward, looking back only once.

Get the deets on Sheefy’s exhibition here and get down and move on with “Neon Love Affair” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas Release New Bilingual Track

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photo by: Nicholas Williams

Why fight fire with fire when you can fight fire with fuego? No one knows the power of cross-culture sound more than bilingual soul sorceress Jessica Hernandez. She and her band The Deltas have recorded a double LP, Telephone/Telefono (the same record recorded twice, in both English and Spanish), and the first set of singles, “Run Too Far/Escapar” are electrified sprints to the finish, spiced with caffeinated confidence and jittery, glittery femme fatale ferocity. What these singles solidify is that Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas have found universality in duality by embracing home and heritage while remaining committed to the signature sultry rock n’ soul they’ve been making their own for the past seven years.

Listen to the full dual tracks below and catch Lady Hernandez and her rockin’ Delta’s in a city near you.

05/21 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric
05/24 – SLC, UT @ The State Room
05/26 – Napa, CA @ BottleRock Festival
05/28 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05/30 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
06/02 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge
06/03 – Omaha, NE @ The Blackstone
06/11 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion *

* = WRFF Birthday Show with The Killers, Foster the People, Bleachers, Kale, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and Marian Hill[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

PLAYING DETROIT: New Band Alert: Foster Muldoon

It started as simple bluegrass jam session and turned into something the band is calling “Michigan Downgrass.” Call it whatever you like, but folk trio Foster Muldoon is just getting started. Although they don’t have any music released, their recent performance at the Hamtramck Music Festival ignited a curiosity that only a twangy, tangy and sweet combo like Foster Muldoon can muster. Making Mumford & Sons seem like a carbon copy of a carbon copy (and a trite one at that), Cameron Lollio (guitar/vocals), Ryan McKeon (banjo), and Abigail Grace (violin) embrace their collective offbeat shrug of traditionalism by infusing R&B tendencies with their melodic wheat-field swagger.

Stay tuned for more from this charismatic, dynamic trio and check out this toe-tapping performance of “Songwriter’s Song” below:

PLAYING DETROIT: Deadbeat Beat Deliver New Two-track Cassette

Lo-fi DIY nostalgia-pop babes Deadbeat Beat delivered some much needed fuzz and feels by means of two new live tracks released on cassette earlier this month. Both were recorded live at Lo! & Behold Records and Books for The Milo Show (Detroit’s premiere music web-series, hosted by local beat enthusiast and Detroit Free Press contributor Jeff Milo). “And Then it Hit Me” and “The Box” do not reinvent the 1960’s hazy genre of Velvet Underground jam-rcok but, they do give the entire encompassing sound a dusting off with equal parts angst and whimsy. Where “The Box” feels a little Peter, Bjorn and John in its nasally French pop aesthetic, “And Then it Hit Me” has a more focused, searing Brian Jonestown Massacre power with a hint of when Wilco was still good. With this well thought-out marriage of two tracks that still feel spontaneous and vibrant in their full-picture spectrum, Deadbeat Beat comes very much alive.

Listen below via Bandcamp:

PLAYING DETROIT: Dear Darkness Slays on Latest EP

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Dear Darkness photo by Elise Mesner

Stacey MacLeod and Samantha Linn are distressed to impress, sharing their wonderfully warped worldview as as post-punk kitsch queens Dear Darkness on their latest EP She’s That Kind of Person, but I Like Her Anyway.

Released last month, their latest effort doesn’t stray far from 2016’s Get it Here EP. Faithful to their unhinged brand of glitter and grime this sonic adventure is less bashful bedroom eyes and more spontaneous arson speckled with deep throat kissing. Tongue between teeth rather than tongue-in-cheek, Dear Darkness revisits their affinity for braiding danger with crossed-legs innocence.

This time around, the girls turned up the fuzz with additional layers of synths and even more reckless percussive outbursts; taken together, their sound feels like a perfectly orchestrated tantrum. “Birthday Party” is a pouty psych-punk update to Leslie Gore’s “It’s My Party” and “You Had it Comin” could easily soundtrack a David Lynch revenge montage sequence. “Let’s Blow up the Moon” which is, well, about blowing up the moon, is so heavily distorted that you would think they were playing on the moon, loud enough for us to hear back on planet earth but warped by outer space. It’s peppered with enough blood-curdling screams to wake Hitchcock from the dead. Cohesive even in their chaos, Dear Darkness proves once again that you’ve gotta have a light to go on living in the shadows.

Bat your lashes and take names with the latest from Detroit punk princesses Dear Darkness below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: VESPRE “Siren”

A soothing and heavenly departure from her history as a folk artist and frontwoman of The Normandies, Kaylan Waterman slipped into new waters with her latest project VESPRE. Introducing this new exploration with the track “Siren,” VESPRE produces an aural shimmering pool of blurry constellations, reflective and curious. “Siren” rides the line of R&B, ethereal electronica and unearthed Disney princess without begging for comparison (although there are Madonna-esque moments that are pleasantly unexpected.) Waterman’s voice never frays but waivers and trails patiently, like a comet in slow motion with a clear and defiant trajectory. What “Siren” offers is a mirror and an escape both confrontational and reassuring. Waterman paints an entire personal history with a few thoughtfully crafted lines: “It’s a fight to the finish/I’m heading straight for the limit/It was a war to begin with/No telling who’s going to end it.” Placed in her swirling, celestial abyss, it acts as a measured anthem of low-key empowerment.

Take flight with the debut track from VESPRE:

PLAYING DETROIT: Best Exes Release “Cactus” Cassette

It’s strange to think of ex-lovers in terms of how they rank compared to one another, but perhaps there’s some truth and treasure in having a “best ex.” It could be a former partner who will jump your car when your battery dies, or one who has no ill intent when comforting your hurting heart with your favorite bottle of rosé and an LCD Soundsystem record, or simply the one that shines brightest in your memory, even if the timing wasn’t right. Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti/Detroit minimalist DIY rock quartet Best Exes tap into the estranged sincerity of having loved, moved on and lingered in a city that bursts at the seams with former flames and new sparks on their new cassette release Cactus.

Short and sweet, Cactus is cozy equivalent of saddle shoes, a borrowed sweater and organic cigarettes. Best Exes encapsulate that nuanced innocence by means of lo-fi guitar twang,  endearingly uncertain vocal harmonies and retro bass lines that nuzzle fuzzy percussion. The playfully combative “Weird Kind of Nice” could read as a texting conversation, politely begging to feel anything other than alone. Vocalist Jim Cherewick channels early Caleb Followill; when paired with Linda Jordan’s pacifying, nasally charm Best Exes feels like a less literal She & Him – thoughtfully cluttered and platonically tepid.

This observation is particularly true for the last half of the record. The track “Friends” repeats Exes’ pleasant theme of colloquial cadence with 50’s sock-hop flare. “Oh Well” is a bit more verbose and emotively physical, reading like a lengthy letter about the wrongs of the other (Jordan sings of infidelity and throwing a lamp across the room) and is possibly the most openly conflicted track from these real-life characters. The final track, “Blessing” is undoubtedly the most well-rounded and fearless example of the pop-infused, passive torment of Cactus. Though embedded throughout, Cactus‘ disguised nostalgia is not always pleasant and its foreseeing of the future is not always easy to swallow. However, Best Exes’ collective ability to compose lovingly languid tales of self-searching through exploration of previous exploits make the big picture feel less small.

Don’t text your ex! Instead, take a listen to Cactus via Best Exes’ bandcamp:

PLAYING DETROIT: Frontier Ruckus “Our Flowers Are Still Burning” Video

Frontier Ruckus

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Frontier Ruckus
Frontier Ruckus

Matthew Milia and his gaggle of lovelorn folkies – otherwise known as Frontier Ruckus – return with a sardonic make-out party prelude to their forthcoming record Enter the Kingdom. The sad, sensual clip for latest single “Our Flowers Are Still Burning” offers a camcorder view of social loneliness ahead of the album’s February 17th release. A slow-dance, folk-ified, Big Star-esque confessional with a touch of reversed male gaze, “Flowers” instills hopeful resonance with listlessness revery, something the Frontier gang has championed and expanded upon.

Singer and guitarist Anna Burch documents the party through a vintage handheld, a perfect companion to Ruckus’ boxes-in-your-parents-attic aesthetic. The low-key gathering is standard Detroit, containing a quiet cast of characters who find temporary love, lust and casual catharsis in one another. Burch wanders upstairs to discover Milia alone, singing and soaking fully clothed in a running shower as spit swapping commences downstairs. Whether Milia is struck by social anxiety, heartache or an overwhelming sense of not knowing his role in the grand (and not-so-grand) scheme of things, Burch lovingly coerces him from his bath time meltdown with the promise of a cake decorated with sugary, saccharine letters spelling out the song’s title.

The band leaves the house party in the dead of winter, Milia still wet and without a jacket or a lover, but surrounded by his Frontier Ruckus bandmates, resigned to keep on trucking even in the harsh light of the morning after.

 

Grab a tissue or a kiss and take a sad soak with Frontier Ruckus below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Prude Boys “The Outlaw”

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When the sandy shores of a zombie beach party meet the salty lawlessness of a vintage wild west shoot-out, you would likely find yourself galloping within the Tarantino-lite dreamworld crafted by the latest tracks from garage pop threesome Prude Boys.

The Outlaw, though only two tracks long, make for a grungy Lee Hazelwood x Nancy Sinatra reboot while garnering imagery of seduction and escape with their uniquely refined and playful nostalgia. The opening riff from the titled track is reminiscent of The Dandy Warhols lick from “You Were the Last High” but in Prude Boys uptempo context feels urgent and authentic surrounded by vocalist Caroline Myrick’s haunted warble. Wildly expressive without much deviation, “The Outlaw” is genre-less and toggles between what feels like fantasy cinema and curious reality like a chase through the Hollywood backlots and sound stages, dipping in and out of backdrops of ghost towns and real life coffee shops.

“You Plague My Dreams” follows “The Outlaw” with a jutting rock tale of a lingering lover. Tormented by wanting to stay but the unfair crimes of still hanging around even while deep into the R.E.M cycle, our antagonists find ways to make resentment soft and make guitars sound as though they are slamming doors. Though a little less obvious in its cinematic tonality than the EP’s opener, “You Plague My Dreams” finds itself in the closing credits territory which is apropos for a band with a knack for seeing the bigger picture.

Saddle up and get rowdy with the latest from Prude Boys below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Bonny Doon “I See You”

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What do you get when you mix emoji-filled birthday texts from mom, a drunken journey through liquor store shelves and conflicted selves, plastic cup inebriation, and happy-to-be-alive appreciation? Well, you might just find yourself wrapped up in the warm and quiet crisis of “I See You” the latest from Bonny Doon and the first taste from their upcoming self-titled record due out in March.

As far as first tastes go, “I See You” presents a homesick perspective on getting older and the relatable desperate need to piece together mundane imagery in hopes of finding some grand meaning to the grand scheme. Though the song is melancholically fixed with little swell or progression the across the board vulnerability is dutiful and unassuming in its observational self-cruelty. Following a similar cadence of the Smog track “Hit The Ground Running” lyricist and vocalist Bill Lennox achingly croons “I saw my reflection in a bottle of wine/like a neon sign/flickering my name like a drunken call to an old flame.”  Troubled and honest “I See You” is a shrugging of the shoulders at the thought of the future and flat beer sipping of the past.

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PLAYING DETROIT: Flint Eastwood “Oblivious”

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New year, old song, new video: the perfect transition into a what is sure to be a creatively bountiful year for Detroit and beyond. While our gaggle of talent puts the finishing touches on upcoming projects, releases and new visions Flint Eastwood’s latest video for “Oblivious” a track from last year’s Small Victories EP is a beautifully hyped visual for a song that begs to brace for change with a tumultuous fluidity. We find our heroine Jax Anderson, dressed in her usual dapper, western priestess attire dancing a warrior dance with similarly clad compatriots in a warehouse space. We are also introduced to our antagonist and mysterious femme fatale, who is shown by the lakeside and sauntering through a wheat field cloaked in black with rope precariously in hand. “Oh, I keep my eyes closed/Keep my mind oblivious, oblivious” claims Anderson, covering her eyes mid-dance as if to insinuate that our blindness is voluntary. It is with that imagery that Anderson is ambushed and a black bag is thrown over her head as she is dragged off and kidnapped. The most striking visual component is the violently ethereal underwater footage of our simply clothed leading women, swirling about in a tangled tango of light and dark as we are confronted with sporadic shots of what must be a brief life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment. The water bubbles look like cosmic explosions against bare skin and the mirrored black tile crosses which feel curiously morbid in context. Are we in control? Is it best to remain oblivious and be swept up in spontaneous fate? For a pop song, Flint Eastwood poses existential quandaries and pairs them with brooding cinematic storytelling that keeps us guessing, heads just above water.

The most striking visual component is the violently ethereal underwater footage of our simply clothed leading women, swirling about in a tangled tango of light and dark as we are confronted with sporadic shots of what must be a brief life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment. The water bubbles look like cosmic explosions against bare skin and the mirrored black tile crosses which feel curiously morbid in context. Are we in control? Is it best to remain oblivious and be swept up in spontaneous fate? For a pop song, Flint Eastwood poses existential quandaries and pairs them with brooding cinematic storytelling that keeps us guessing, heads just above water.

Watch the video, via the band’s Facebook page, below:

PLAYING DETROIT: Stef Chura “Spotted Gold”

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Quickly rising as Detroit’s DIY pensive pop priestess, Stef Chura and her captivatingly peculiar lo-fi sensibilities shine and burn playfully in her latest video for “Spotted Gold,” the third single from her debut album Messes due out January 27. Chura’s candy-colored, battery acid coated disharmonious world beckons late 90’s MTV feels complete with pop-star commercialization and her signature voice, which teeters between collapse and eruption, finds its visual counterpart in “Spotted Gold.” The colors change quickly like the tuning of an old television set as does the wardrobes of Chura and her bandmates as if to But the most strikingly unsettling element is the montage of

The colors change quickly like the tuning of an old television set as does the wardrobes of Chura and her bandmates. But the most striking element is the montage of rapid-fire imagery depicting activities that are considered taboo (smashing a mirror) and bad judgment calls (pouring milk on a laptop) to completely self-destructive behaviors (drinking poison and playing finger/knife roulette) all of which end as badly as one might imagine. The aesthetic is clean, perhaps even sterile, but in Chura’s sugary torment, is messily sincere. It’s easy to interpret “Spotted Gold” as a mischievous night out or miscalculated reckless relationship but the lyrics: “Spotted gold turned black and blue” reveal that perhaps Chura’s sand-in-the-eyes, hand-on-the-stove universe is less of a lark than it is a tale of emotional masochism and that when a good thing goes bad, well, maybe we are more in control than we think.

No, your toaster doesn’t need a bath. Keep tinfoil out of your microwave and check out Stef Chura’s series of unfortunate events in “Spotted Gold” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Fred Thomas “Voiceover”

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Fred Thomas has a lot of feelings (and he really wants to talk about them). He may fear transformation in the same way he might fear another perturbed thought of how he could have prevented a previous love affair from going to pieces. He may relish in the scratching of the many surfaces that camouflage and protect his tender, gooey existential crisis-inflamed interiors. But what is made clear by Fred Thomas’ latest beautifully neurotic mind-mapping narration “Voiceover” (the first taste from his forthcoming record Changer due out later next month)  is that he doesn’t quite have it all figured out and if he did, well, he might not know what to do.

“Voiceover” is a sleepless, chorus-deprived and worrisome dashboard “check engine” light. Self-deprecatingly confrontational, this pared back rock jam feels like a tightly woven string of doubts that overcame by means of emotional overload. The video is a life on loop. Repetitive thoughts are mirrored with commonly overlooked/performed imagery. From lipstick application (and lipstick removal) to uncorking wine, and to book to bookshelf placement to the subtle beauty of gently falling hemlines against the back of kneecaps, what is captured visually here is the same crisp mundanity expressed in Thomas’ artfully composed run-on sentences.

View Fred Thomas’ latest GIF-like emotional exploit below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Humons “Try it for Me”

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Sonically celestial crusader Humons dropped his debut EP Spectra earlier this month; a whirling, spacious collision of emotional decluttering and the rhythmic freedom of danceable electronica. Humons paired up with director Shane Ford of The Work to produce the video for “Try it for Me,” a stunning visual marriage of organic and digital landscapes, both of which reflect the sincere duality of Spectra as a whole bringing Humons’ vision full circle.

The video follows our unassuming, wanderlust-ing heroine, dressed notably in white for the entire ride. We are introduced to her apartment, then the beach where she seems entranced by having her hands in the sand like some goddess of the elements. Some of the most beautiful frames are set in a lush forest where our blonde, angelic maven of mysticism crosses path with a woman who inhabited the forest before she came along. Their eyes beg with curiosity and when they touch, though innocently, we are reminded of our own guides, pathways, and our personal sensuality. Where the video challenges reality is in the toggling between what seems like three different realms; waking life, dream life and the world trapped in between. The pulsing camera work in conjunction with the throbbing synth beats breaks the walls between viewer, voyeur, and participant. This ever changing dial of realities is illustrated by a digital distortion that feels more vortex inhalation than noise. From echoing images that vibrate to hazy, pinhole visions the deja vu sensation is calmed when we are finally led to the water’s edge with our two spiritual pilots. What the video champions is the encouragement to search one’s self and ones environment; a rite of passage you can dance to.

Ride the waves of Humons latest vision quest with the video for “Try it for Me” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Zoos of Berlin “Instant Evening”

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It’s been three years since Detroit’s sonically poignant pioneers of quietly turbulent indie rock, Zoos of Berlin, last full-length release. Earlier this month, Collin Dupuis, Will Yates, Matthew Howard, Daniel I. Clark and Trevor Naud returned with an open door and a detour. An oceanic space dive, bridging the waters and atmospheric distances between way up and deep down, Instant Evening is a mystifying abstraction and a perilously purifying journey that renounces gravity in the same breath from which it praises it. The band is asking us to pretend that this is their first record which would displace 2013’s pleasantly unstable Lucifer in the Rain and their airily sedated debut record Taxis from 2009. But maybe they’re right to ask this of us. After all, what Zoos of Berlin has masterfully achieved with Instant Evening is the aural embodiment of time lapsed and time stopped and in several cases time reversed. A transcendental escapist mirror of the self and the whole, Zoos latest, first record is a new language in a native voice.

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Their emblematic cadence is more well-rounded here, more complete as assisted by their collective patient tonality and fluid melodic velocity. There are comparable moments to the likes of Belle and Sebastian, LCD Soundsystem and most notably the late David Bowie’s final opus Black Star, but the comparisons aren’t a distraction as they usually tend to be. In fact, what makes Instant Evening an instant “yes” is its commitment to not only sound but to its deeply personal and uniquely porous temperament and languish whimsy. The opening track “Rush at the Bend” is an upbeat whirling dervish that uncorks the intent of the record, a gentle tug and ripping of the seams. The delicate balancing of layers within layers never feels thick or overthought. Case and point, “Spring from the Cell” an echoey and deliberate lamination of vocal harmonies, twinkling prom-night synths and dreamy acoustics. As the album progresses, the sensationalized belief that night is approaching grows apparent. “A Clock Would Never Tell” is a parade processional love song that begs to come in from the dark and the cold and leads shortly into “Always Fine with Orphan” a glittering and robust longing-for-summer anthem that manages to braid melancholy with pleasant memories of making love under the sun. We are left with the orbit-less “North Star on the Hill” which poetically stands alone on the record. Like hands missing each other in the night, gracing only fingertips before the invisible tethers pull and draw them apart, the albums closer is unassuming in its heartbreak. A swallowing of stars and a ghost caress, Instant Evening ends with an ellipsis.

Listen to the full stream below:

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