Last week, I joined Video7 for a rehearsal ahead of their performance at Waking Windows Festival. On the heels of their first streaming release, Looplands Volume 3&4, Video7 has established their brand as one to watch. Despite this, I still didn’t know what to expect from the audio/visual collective. Listening to their mixes on…
A mark of any good live band is the ability to improvise. Not only does it showcase polished musicianship, but it gives even the most enthusiastic fans something new and exciting. Within this “jam” section, the foundation of a band is put to the test: trust, teamwork, creativity, and collaboration. There are many…
In a year riddled with the loss of so many musical icons and titans — Bowie, Haggard, Prince, Cohen — it felt perverse to see so many publications eager to throw a whole genre onto the funeral pyre. But that seemed to be the fate befalling indie rock, as countless thinkpieces abounded on the…
Detroit-native DJ Claude VonStroke talks about the upcoming Dirtybird BBQ on Belle Isle, his Detroit roots, and the 11th anniversary of his Dirtybird label.
It’s one of those torrid August evenings in Detroit, when the sweat lodge-like atmosphere refuses to relent even when dusk approaches. Humidity scales epic levels, temperatures ascend to near-scorching, and the air itself seems heavier from soaking in all those rays. Hard to imagine that in six months, the steam rising from the sunbaked…
You know those people whom you meet, and you consider yourself lucky because you knew them before they were big? That’s the feeling I’ve had about Madelyn Grant for the better part of the past decade. From watching her belt Adele covers to a sold out crowd in our high school auditorium to dancing…
I recently caught up with Detroit indie rockers Deadbeat Beat before a show at Ypsilanti’s Dreamland Theater. I had seen them play in Ann Arbor a little over a week before but nearly failed to recognize guitarist Alex Glendening when he showed up to the venue, on account of the bitchin’ mustache he had…
Nestled between a vegetarian-friendly diner and a gourmet bagel shop on Michigan Avenue in Corktown — Detroit’s oldest, but also one of its hottest, neighborhood — PJ’s Lager House has long been known as a hangout spot for local bands such as The White Stripes and a destination for touring rock acts looking to…
