The Wrong Numbers - More Cuddles With the Wrong Numbers (2016)

Soul music, to me, is the quintessential American music. I know that the blues, jazz, and hip hop are more important from a music history standpoint: those genres were catalysts for so much more. Soul is just my absolute favorite. It's danceable, it's about good times and bad times. It's also kind of a natural antidepressant for me. Just throw on some Irma Thomas or Syl Johnson and the world becomes a little brighter.

Seeing a resurgence with stuff like Sharon Jones and Leon Bridges is great. Hard to believe that soul music ever went out of style, quite honestly. But perhaps in Detroit, where The Wrong Numbers come from, soul never lost it's footing.

The Wrong Numbers play garage soul so well that Jack White would devolve into the primordial jelly from which he came just to sniff it. These peeps must all come from other bands, I'd guess... this shit is just too seasoned. "Bowel Sounds" is just 2 songs so far, but it's well worth your immediate attention if you're in the market for something frucking fantastic (edit: deciding to keep "frucking as is). Bummer that there's a $7 charge for just 2 songs(*), but I'm honestly considering it.

Look at the release date on this also: posted just 5 days ago. Hot off the frucking press... eh? EH? Ehhhhhhh... sorry. But for real, The Wrong Numbers have got it DIALED IN.

*Edit: Another song has been added! It's great! This is some 1960's Memphis soul, ala Wendy Rene. Amazing.

Sample:
Bandcamp page:
The Wrong Numbers - Bowel Sounds

Blood Stone - Friend Group (2015)

So tonight I am suppose to see a live show here by Jura, the post-rock wizards of metro Detroit. Here in my own adopted hometown, Hamtramck, where I have previously missed many a quality live show, not least among which was the record release by band known as Blood Stone.

Now it is no accident I heard of Blood Stone, the drummer is a lady I know back from my days of slinging caffeine in the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit. She told me of and kindly shared her band's tunes with me and then as it usually goes I sat on it for over a month and finally got around to hearing. Also as usual I feel great shame in not listening to it early as it's a fucking awesome series of songs I beheld once I finally acknowledged Friend Group.

Blood Stone makes what my friend called 'living room pop.' A related notion to more frequently mentioned notion of bedroom pop, but implicitly involves a gathering of people. Thus conforming to the practical realities of an indie band without a proper recording space and that it is also where such music would be written, rehearsed and sometimes preformed for a small audience. This isn't any reason to underestimate Blood Stone at all. In fact it sounds among the more well-executed lo-fi pop albums I've heard in years. Furthermore, the combination of female vocals, warmly fuzzy instruments, and a jaunty pop sound make me think of several fairly recently posted bands like the Pretty Greens, Daddy Issues, and Leggy. If that doesn't sell it I imagine you're a heartless monster or someone that doesn't read this blog often (a.k.a. a heartless monster).

To be had here:
Blood Stone - Friend Group

Nigel & The Dropout - Folderal (2015)

When I wrote of Nigel & The Dropout's previous album, Tumultuous, I mentioned how I only came to know of them from one of them firmly giving me a card with the band's name and the link to their bandcamp on it. It seems it worked so throughly they turned me into a devoted enough fan that I looked into if they had a new album out. Guess how pleasantly surprised I was to see that indeed they've got one out and furthermore that it is pretty damn sweet.

So in case you didn't hear their previous album, which I still highly recommend you check out, Nigel & The Dropout are a duo from Detroit that make electronic dance rock. So while I am the first to admit I truly prefer never to dance ever, not my preferred form expression (not shocking for a man who finds time to write a music blog), but I can tell this shit would be something to move around to. However, this isn't the case for every song. You see, the album has a considerable range. Tracks like "Gestalt" and "I am a Trampoline" are dance rock for sure, but the songs "Blood Brain Barrier" and "Pulled Over, Pulled Under" are far more ethereal to the point of becoming space rock-like. Still others fall outside this binary, being more droning and experimental. I can't decide which of them I enjoy the most, and regardless of which you fancy best I am sure you'll like Folderal.

To be had here:
Nigel & The Dropout -  Folderal

Jura - None of This Was Ever Real (2015)

So I am a bit of a shitty friend. My pal Frank (aka Frankomyalgia) gave me this album to hear as soon as him and the other lads in Jura finished their years long mastering process. Then I put in the queue without special treatment. No reason why other than absentmindedness. However, I'll say that my personal fondness of Frank 'n' Beans aside, this album deserves to have been kicked up up in the line. Shit's fucking tight, professional-ass-tight. So with my apologies, Frankadoodle-do, I final am delivering my write-up.

None of This Was Ever Real is a largely instrumental and entirely enthralling album. The songs have a shimmery quality to them, along with a mild shoegaze droning in the background that lays an excellent bed of sound to build on. At the few moments when vocals appear, they are subtle, echoey and don't step on the music in any way. Rather the blend seamlessly into the tapestry. Moreover, there are no spoken word audio sample interludes, which can be used well but are often over-employed as the expense of good songcraft. It not only sounds Jura like the took their time meticulously picking over the audio of these tracks, I know they took their sweet time putting it out. A labor of love in every note and it is audible. Most impressive, Frankincense.

Finally, until most bands I write-up, I have gotten to see Jura play live. I haven't a clue if they're going anywhere to play any shows, once again I am not a great friend and should have asked Sprained Frankle about this.

To be had here:
Jura - None of This Was Ever Real

Remnose - For the Birds (2014)

So as I have alluded to already I am no longer a used bookseller, and again I have found work in a grocery store. Not as bad as it seems from a base reading of that statement. I get to research and buy product, learning a great deal about wine and picking my coworkers brains on dishes and produce on a routine basis. In addition to the culinary and vinicultural education I get to work with a slew of musicians who are all incredibly productive and talented despite also working their days selling food. Not least among these coworkers is a member of the lo-fi electric folk band Remnose.

The lo-fi recording makes for a washed out yet highly effective style for the songs that are driven by multiple guitars and singing that is beautifully done in a mildly unintelligible voice. The recording features no drummer, and the absence of which causes everything else to swell up in a warm, fuzzy manner. There not complicated tunes, but the sort that make you feel things without your intending to do so. Remnose makes quintessential examples of songs with heart. The guitars make serpentine sounds that charm as well as any snake charmer might aspire to and they're best hear loudly through long broken in speakers. I have seen Remnose live, only once so far admittedly, as I have been sick and otherwise shittly preoccupied and missed the other recently live shows. What I can tell you is that they've added a drummer, thereby making the sound more louder and fuller. Something to perhaps look forward to in any forthcoming releases.

For the Birds was recorded and released by Lo & Behold, which is both a record & used bookstore in my current hometown of Hamtramck as well as an indie label run by the fine gentleman named Richie. It's literally a three minute walk from me and a place to check out for fans of old vinyl if you ever find yourself in the Motor City. Hit us both up, why not?

To be had here:
Remnose - For the Birds

Jura - Jura (2014)

I heard about Jura from a member of Jura. He is actually a coworker of mine at my new job, in fact he's the man whose position I assuming upon his upcoming departure. Just so happens he plays in a post-rock outfit based in metro Detroit, so I couldn't help be find myself rather curious about what they sound like especially as I have been listening to a bit more post-rock and shoegaze music, recalling my fondness for those etheral songs from Montreal's numerous Silver Mt. Zion connected bands.

As listeners for the more experimental genres, especially the often subtle post-rock and ambient tunes available, will recognize the key to a good album is sustaining a heady, intangible mood throughout. It's very easy to approach such music passively, in fact that is the first instinct. To soak in the sound. However, lately I have found it incredibly rewarding to set other tasks aside, to merely listen and imagine with the music with nothing more than a single can of beer or a hot cup of coffee in my system. This is how taking in Jura's self-titled album went from me pretending to read a novel while listening to sitting, eyes shut in a wooden chair, and not worrying about a thing. The album is indeed subtle, with few flourishes and those that appear aren't long or loud, instead the songs are markedly sparse at times, floating along with echoey lyrics and shimmering cymbals. The tracks entitled "Kalamazoo," "Lullabye," and "As a fool, I will follow you" all held me in complete captivation, even more so with some of their extended playtimes. Now, I cannot promise everyone will get this tranquility for hearing Jura, but as with much competently done post-rock, ambient or what have you it has the potential for a dispositioned person to thoroughly enjoy it in a calmness unparalleled in other modern music.

To be had here:
Jura - Jura

Terrible Twos - Horror Vacui (2013)

It isn't often that I posted about a band that I have any personal experience with. There are times I post the music of my friends that make improv weirdo folk, but even they will not act like that is a serious endeavor as entertaining as I find them. While I can't imagine the Terrible Twos take themselves very seriously either, they are definitely a thing. A thing I recall seeing at various venues in Detroit throughout my college years, getting to chat with some of the band members that I was introduced to from mutual friends immediately after which I am sure we both forgot the other's name. To be honest I'm like that with nearly everyone in my life, I can't even learn my second cousins' names until I see them a dozen times. However, as little as I clearly recall from the under-slept and overly drunk long evenings made an impression on me, and I fondly savor the hazy recollections I still retain.

The second full-length by Terrible Twos, Horror Vacui, bears I tremendous resemblance to the live performances that I half-remember. The songs are fast, incredibly fast. On top of that they're distorted and loud with singing that isn't quite intelligible (though reasonable mixed). It's the sort of punk rock that makes you wanna stomp around and throw your arms about, and as I recall those things did happen in spades at the shows. Music to get fucking excited to experience. While it is brutal and lo-fi, it isn't without artistry. They songs are composed of what sounds like a well-trained set of performers that allow a degree of chaos to swell up in the moment, even in the recorded and therefore unchanging version. Horror Vacui has captured that live chaos but isn't so disorientating that it's just noise and hollering. They're making songs just ones that are supremely intense in nature. A fine example of this is "Sickness of the Swan" wherein the shouted lyrics, pounding drums and loud guitars drop off for an awesome keyboard break and then it all swells up like a bucket of sloshing water. I adore it.

Horror Vacui is being released by Detroit's Urinal Cake Records. They've got the whole album streaming for free, and a digital version it is being sold on iTunes, which I am sure you can figure out for your-goddamn-self. There was a vinyl pressing as well, which I am sure you'll also manage via the label's site. Check out there other albums if you like loud, fuzzy garage punk as they've got some band I really dig. And they're streaming as well.

To be heard here:
Terrible Twos - Horror Vacui

EP Grab Bag vol. 77

I won't lie. I have been burning the candle at a dozen ends lately. Working two jobs, trying to hustle up money on my only day off, writing this thing nearly daily. It is beaten my down, but I still had these gems ready in waiting to share with the pilgrims. Anyhow, posting might slow a bit, but I can't sustain this pace, never really have been, hence a history of blackouts. I won't leave the site unattended, just no more 6 or 7 posts a week, more like 3 or 4, as a human being can handle.

To be had here:

J Moss - Weak Off (2014)

Another psychedelic folk effort from our pal, J Moss, the fella behind the Modern Folk musical project and website, where a great interview with Charlie Slenko of Sioux Trial Records can be read right now. Four songs of earnest and surreal folk with a heavy buzz and lo-fi vocals that create an eerie ambiance of a lonesome setting that all too many of us know very well. So not just a good promoter, someone I am pleased to think of as a colleague, but a fine musician as well, which makes me more than a little envious.


JIBÓIA - Badlav (2014)

Remember these guys from last week? You should, was they were fucking great. Anyhow, seems there's a fresh EP just out so I get to share them twice in a row in the Grab Bag. The way their describing the EP like the Prince of Persia on acid, and that's a rather apt way of explaining they mixture of Mid-Eastern/Indian and psychedelic sounds form Badlav. The singing is absolutely hypnotically fantastical, with the far out guitar and electronic effects the songs have a power to transport the listener to somewhere wild and exotic, modern and ancient. Once again, released by that top-notch Portuguese label, Lovers & Lollypops. 

Caveman Woodman & Bam Bam Moss - Caveman Woodman & Bam Bam Moss (2014)

This is a Detroit band I ran across in my post-work, exhausted internet browsing. While I try not to post something merely because it is a Detroit area outfit, and that's where I live, I do get some small swelling of joy from hearing a good garage rock band from here. Mostly because the likelihood of me getting a chance to see them is highly increased and it will probably be affordable or free, which works with my budget of near destitution. The songs are fucking sweet, totally worth giving a whirl.

Lust For Breakfast - Lust For Breakfast (2014)

When I was casting around for a Scenes of a City location before the writing up either Lyon or Gijón I considered Turin, Italy. I still most talk myself into that place as a post, but I am spent on energy like you would not believe lately so I am not sitting on this goddamn awesome EP any longer. Lust for Breakfast has made four lo-fi garage rock songs I keep coming back to and continue to give me enjoyment. More on the pop side of garage, but very tastefully done and not all shitty like when a pop band fuzzes a guitar, like a garage rock back that got a bit more like a Mod rockers and wore a tie for once. Though as you can see in the album art, no shirt is actually wore.

EP Grab Bag vol. 75

All of these songs are straight out of the submission box, in a loose no corporal sense. I think they're solid listens of various genres, but that goes for most all these Grab Bags. So trust me, if you liked the prior 74, this one should be good for it too. I promise, pilgrims.

To be had here:

3FT - 3FT (2014)

This a Detroit band that I became aware of when I ran into some members at the Ty Segall show in town a couple of weeks back. Turns out I know one of the musicians and was aware of his prior work, yet as many musicians do he's kept busy and is in this band now as well. Though I found the EP through an acquaintance with a stake in it, it is every inch the sort of lo-fi garage rock that I count myself lucky to hear in Detroit so often. A healthy amount of washed out psychedelia in there and very good pounding drums and excellent guitar riffs. Can't wait to check them out live.

Guruzsmás - Demó I. (2014)

A band from Budapest who plays trippy progressive rock, or as their friends have dubbed it "post-folk." They share a sense of urgency and intense lo-fidelity akin to their Hungarian compatriots we've featured such as Piresian Beach, Gustave Tiger and Nohopekids. Guruzsmás is more diverse in style than those bands, almost as if it were several bands in the course this demo ranging from surf rock revival to post-metal. It is impressive, but I wonder which one they might settle on for a full-length or if they keep the scatter shot. Either way, I'm game.

Crashfaster - Superchroma (2014)

Electronic dance music with a heavy degree chiptune and synthpop infused. San Francisco's Crashfaster isn't my usual fare, but is undeniably catchy and the first time I heard the EP it ending too soon for my liking. The album art is a perfect summary for this music, it is like fantastical manga from Japan, but sung in English as they are Californians. It's pretty cool, particularly if you put a few beers in you and playing some video games, which is exactly what I did as I heard it.


Landlines - Log Out, Tune Up, Drop Dead (2014)

This is a group from Portland that Elvis wrote up previously, when their Loserly EP came out. Like that EP this new one is lo-fi indie pop/garage rock that sounds like an E6 band with even more fuzzy guitars. Meaning that I fucking love this EP. The EP is mesmerising and I have been listening to it all over and over ever since I got it onto my mp3 player. I sure hope Amazing Larry gets a chance to tell me what they're like in person, as I am way to far to get to Portland myself.

TURN TO CRIME - Can't Love (2014)

I got a ticket today, going to the suburbs to get my brother to help me out with food to eat, that's how tight my budget has gotten. Of course I got popped in a money grabbing speed trap if the fuckhole city of Ferndale, MI. Go there, get $40 in food and $150 ticket for my troubles, fuck them. There's gonna be some unruly city council meetings in the future if I get my way. Nothing to lose when your broke I guess. Anyhow, I needed something to redeem my faith in the Detroit region, and I've found it in Can't Love by TURN TO CRIME. Let's hope it quells my rage before I get myself arrested... again.

TURN TO CRIME seems to be a getting a reputation, perhaps more than most Detroit bands I've run across in recent months. So for me not to throw in my two cents about this band might be a small and less than noteworthy thing as this group has gotten press from much more significant outlets like Stereogum and The Fader, yet I don't suppose that's any reason to penalize them at all and not to share them as they are meeting the core requirement of this blog. This being as simple as having the album be streamable online and someone that writes here likes it. It isn't an album that's easy to place genre-wise, as it shifts from song to song from post-punk to noisy ambient pop and always has anti-pop irregular catchiness inherited from Lou Reed. If you forced it, you could called Can't Love art-pop, which is code for classily undefinable. As in someone knows how pop music works but can subvert it enough to make it into something more than popcorn. Some of the songs like "Nightmares" are totally noise-filled post-punk, which I do enjoy, however the real brilliance is in the very Velvet Underground-esque songs "Sunday's Cool" and "Forgiveness." I can already hear the out podcast pal Craig saying he'd rather just play VU, but I like to hear something new too, even if it is recalling something old. Everything is a building mound of cultural references and struggles to sort and redefining yourself against and in harmony them. Which I'll keep in mind when I am yelling at suburban officials and know I am hopeless underpowered to succeed. I won't be the first one nor the last.

To be had here:
TURN TO CRIME - Can't Love

Nigel & The Dropout - Tumultuous (2013)

The other night a I went with a friend of mine to a longstanding street festival in the Cass Corridor neighborhood of Detroit. It's known as Dally in the Alley, but seems to be mostly on the actual streets now, with one alley still having stages and vendors. Anyhow, I recall joyfully attending this event when I was a college student, getting drunk beyond belief until six in the morning, going to parties in apartments full of complete strangers and eating apples found in a tree in the dark while suckling on a bag of wine we stole. Maybe I am wee bit older and more aware, but it seems police presence was beefed way up. Additionally, I'm more cautious. Now that I more than old enough to buy the beer at the festival, and I not too interested in imbibing and having to get home. I sure as fuck don't wanna wake up halfway laying on a broken couch, back aching and head spinning as was the case when I was twenty.

However, in the midst of what seemed to be an evening of walking in circles with my buddy as we alternatively had to make conversation with ex-coworkers and friends of former roommates there was a young man desperately handing out what looked like business cards. As our eyes met he stared me down and quietly said "Just take it." That's some fine salesmanship in my book. Turns out all it had on it was an email address and a bandcamp URL for a musical project I'd never heard of, and I slipped it into my pocket and kept on shuffling through the crowd.

The most surprising part is that I somehow did not lose the card and felt compelled to look into it when I got home, to see what these kids called Nigel & The Dropout were all about. As the name suggests, it is a duo. Musically they are electronic dance rock, something that a cool bar with odd colored lights might play if they were so smart to. I normally don't get exposed too much of this as I sat in with my books and beer after work and write up these posts everyday. However, I got a hunch this isn't the run of the mill dance floor jams, they have an addict and guitar-heavy style that makes it appealing even to the fans of distortion and lo-fi rock. The blending of these sediments is very welcome occurrence, and I found myself instantly restarting the album upon its completion. For two dudes claiming to make this without a laptop it is indeed very impressive. I'll go so far as to say it's excitement pure and simple. Loud, glamorous excitement. Perhaps enough to overlook that they're from Farmington Hills (a local dig, friends).

To be had here:
Nigel & The Dropout - Tumultuous

EP Grab Bag vol. 68

I always feel very productive after I finish an EP Grab Bag, but I guess that is just imaginary it really just means I sat around and listened to a bunch of music. Does make me feel more worldly when I can get a large geographic span covered in the EPs, so that's something. Oh, and the music, the music is fucking good, that's why I do it, right?

To be had here:
Druggy Pizza - Chili Cheese Crust (2014)

This is the solo moniker of Cédric of most righteous French garage rock band Dusty Mush. I must imagine any diligent follower of SRM would be sold just by that, but in case you're head is in the sand I'll tell you more. Chili Cheese Crust are six short and loud tracks of very fuzzed out garage rock with lyrics that cannot be understood and moaning keyboard playing. Basically, the exact kind of squalid rock and roll that I thrive on. In particular give a listen to the amazing song, "I'm Cramped" for its simple effectiveness. Mind you this is his third EP as Druggy Pizza, so there's more to eat up.

Nick Oleksiak - Carrie (2014)

This is an EP I found when looking around on bandcamp. Carrie is five songs by a young man from Detroit that is studying music in Cincinnati (I guess they know shit down there). It is rather hard to describe the music generically, he even goes to the length to tag it "whatever i feel like" but it is certainly electronic pop music of some sort. Has a new wave-ish feeling. Perhaps one could call it  an updated 80s/post-disco thing. Whatever the fuck it is I caught my attention, the first and final songs of the EP in particular.

Boards - Care & Handling (2014)

A Norwich-based musical project with very stripped down instrumentation. Blends acoustic guitar and a few accompanying instruments with light electronic tones and beats. So in a reversal of my usual stance on vocals, it is really the singing that carries this EP from being a competent yet humble ambient release into something more beautiful. The overall effect of the songs is a mesmerizing calm, like a mediative piece, so when a spoken word story appears in the midst of the eponymous track I was very willing to hear it. Excellently done.


Garrett Linck and JESSIE'S BREATH - /Split/ (2014)

Garrett Linck, who you might recall from his solo work and in babydog, is back with a track on the two song split with another musician that goes by Jessie's Breath. Linck's track is a folksy indie rock tune that is very catchy as has become expected from that dude. Jessie's Breath matches it with his own lo-fi folk tune that's every inch as charming. Good combination for a split and looking forward to hearing more from each of these songwriters.

El General Villamil - Archipiélago 32' (2014)

This is basically an addendum to Amazing Larry's post of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. He found four really great acts from that city, and I was downloading them the other day and trying to see if I wanted to make an episode of the podcast out of the bands and I saw these guys pop up. More fucking garage rock that was so good I could not help myself but add it here. Old of my favorite parts is how on the bandcamp page they have an explaination of their name in Spanish even I can decipher: "El General Villamil fue el conquistador y primer gobernador del Archipiélago Galápagos en 1832"

The Go - FIESTA (2013)

The Go are a Detroit band, and I could have saved my odd combination of ranting and praising of the Motor City for this post just as easily as throwing it in with the write-up for Blaire Alise & The Bombshells. However, I am not a terrible patient man and I had it written then so I posted it then. Moreover, there is some history to cover with the Go, both for them as a band and me as a listener. I've been listening to the Go since I was a high schooler, as I recall searching for their self-titled album in 2003 when I was a mere sophomore and just getting introduced many of the garage rock bands I still love via the Port Huron public library. So well, my memory is anything but a steel trap, I believe I was listening to their debut album Whatcha Doin' that came out in 1999. This is back when I still found the musical doings of Jack White to be worthwhile to hunt down, and there was a period that he served as the drummer for the Go. I've since grown out of any infatuation with Jack White, but I have still got a great endearment toward the Go.

Now, I haven't listed my chronology with the early albums of the Go to brag, but to say that I know the early stuff much better than their later albums and to point out that these guys have been at it for a pretty good stretch of time. The two core members of the group are John Krautner and Bobby Harlow, who have each been in the band for the entirety of its existence and share song-writing duties. There's been a huge evolution in the sound of the Go over these years since a dimwitted young man from the Thumb of Michigan found out about them, this is to say from very roughly recorded garage rock to a finely tuned psychedelic pop band. With this most recent batch of songs the Go are sounding ever more like the Kinks and the Zombies. This is a very welcome happening, as who in their right mind doesn't enjoy that 60s style psychedelic pop music? And to have seasoned songwriters, who've gotten over their youthful necessity to be super loud and settled into a more delicate genre is a fine trajectory. Moreover, they're not just trying it on for a few songs, the whole twenty track album are songs of this sort. FIESTA has reaffirmed by fandom of the Go and given me new reasons to hear what they might put out in the future.

To be had here:
The Go - FIESTA

Blaire Alise & The Bombshells - FOR MY DARLIN' (2014)

So as anyone that has ever paid the fuck attention to this blog or the podcast knows, I live in Detroit and I am not entirely jazzed about it. At least I am far more skeptical of it than most other people I know in this city, and I don't subscribe to the idea that the city is on some sort of trajectory for a rebound. In fact, I think I've been proven correct in my pessimism on the metropolis's prospects with all this bullshit on the bankruptcy that seems utterly nonsensical to me, but I guess necessity isn't always reasonable. However, I am not gloating that I was right to be doubtful about Detroit, I mean the odds were on this if you were to place bet at these shitty casinos we've now got here. Moreover, I fucking live here, it would only benefit me to see the city revive more. I get to grin and bear the ugly aspects of this city whether I am hopeful or not.

I say all this as a preface to the fact that Detroit is truly a mixed bag. In some ways good things come from bad things and vice versa, certainly not in a healthy balance but like a horribly out of whack scale might measure allotments of delightful features into the cityscape. For example, the place is cheap overall: low rent, drinks are reasonable, food prices aren't too high unless you want something from the new high-end grocers or restaurants that are popping up (even then nothing compared to the coasts), and gasoline is cheaper than places like Chicago or New England in my experience. This means what is poverty according to the government can still be livable for young adults without offspring like myself; not comfortable or luxurious but not nearly homeless either. No plane tickets to France in budget, but a steak to cook at home and a pack of decent smokes are achievable. Of course you gotta lie about not living to your car insurer or your premiums will double or triple automatically and I never learned how paranoid I could be until I got mugged, or how angry I could be until after the second time. But then again, the police can't be fucking bothered to stop you from having a beer in a park most of the time, nobody is gonna stop you from having chickens despite it technically being illegal, and riding a bike through this city can be remarkably fun because of how there's only one rule: don't let anything get too close.

Yet in all these pros and cons I've saved what might be the only trump card I really think the Detroit has, it's fucking amazing music. Getting into the Detroit garage rock bands of the 90s and early aughts are what initially hooked me on going back everyday to the Port Huron public library to check out CDs by the dozen. The Hentchmen, the Dirtbombs, Outrageous Cherry, the Come Ons, and naturally those wonderful early albums by the White Stripes and the legendary Gories. Now, I wasn't in a position monetarily, transit or otherwise to really see any of these bands until I was... 24, I think. But there was a dreamy, young and more naive version of me that listened to these groups rabidly, and was astounded to find very few people listened to these bands, at least until the White Stripes blew the fuck up like an atom bomb. It was like, for a hot minute the world looked at Detroit and recognized that we were doing something cool again, like some kind of a renewed Motown imagined for just a flash of instant. Then the world noticed everything else going on basically everywhere and we slipped back to where we were at before: a few really popular acts and a pyramid of other acts of less notoriety beneath. 

Yet, this is not a sad ending to Detroit's illustrious musical past. What sort of shit would that be? This city, if nothing fucking else, knows how to make some damned righteous rock and roll (and hip hop, techno and so on). I'd put this above the automobiles and the fact that we used to make Stroh's. And perhaps it is a nostalgia-based favoritism, but I think one of the new prime examples of this is Blaire Alise & The Bombshells. Nostalgic insomuch that her singing reminds me so damned much of Detroit acts I remember so fondly like the Fondas, the Detroit Cobras and the Come Ons with a healthy dose of Motown girl group and 50s rockabilly feel thrown in. She's playing to her crowd, that much is for sure, and I am eating it right up. And just to make me feel a bit older than perhaps I should, she's just a kid, as far as I know she's not even able to buy herself a beer yet. Basically, at this point the fans of Detroit garage rock should be on board, and those of you unfamiliar with this shit have a lot of homework to get done...

To be had here:

Blaire Alise & The Bombshells - FOR MY DARLIN'