The Radar tracks new music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week:
Lord Centipede, Annie and Rod Capps, Sigidy, Rabbitology, Lily Talmers, Ryan Gerald, Rohn - Lederman, Plantsgarden, Larkn, and Backwanzus. 

Around the time John Beltran was living in Ann Arbor prior to the pandemic, he resurrected his Placid Angles moniker, which has come to yield some of the most adventurous music in the electronic music producer’s celebrated and diverse catalogue.

While the Detroit-based producer and DJ no longer lives in Ann Arbor, Placid Angles has endured to become something of a go-to alias for Beltran to channel his love for combining nostalgic '90s-centric breakbeats with deep house and ambient techno.

His latest Placid Angles album, Canada, has received rave reviews. The record is dedicated to the country he visited as he finished the LP, and it encompasses everything the Placid Angles project represents since his first album under the alias, 1997’s The Cry, while channeling his love for labels like Warp and 4AD in equal measure.

“It's still fun, and I think Canada is my best offering,” Beltran said. “I'll get a lot of disagreements, because a lot of kids love [2019’s] First Blue Sky. I agree that's a good one, but this one really, really hits it for me.”

“One Track Mind” features a Washtenaw County artist or band discussing one song from their latest release.

Standout Track: No. 1, “Denim Blues,” from DAViS. The Ann Arbor singer-songwriter’s latest EP, Denim Duster, features themes of wanderlust, growth, and aspiration. The EP is named after an actual denim duster that DAViS regularly wears and sports on the cover of his release.

On “Denim Blues,” DAViS struggles with the present, questions the future, and longs for an escape. “Yeah, this one was like a diary entry and gets at my challenges with being present and aims to make peace with what’s right now. To ‘stand here and be patient’ and not feel like I have to be so action-oriented all the time. The experience of writing and producing this song was cathartic for me in the way that it happened quite fast compared to other songs.”

For 30 years, a University of Michigan art exhibit has celebrated the creativity of incarcerated artists.

The Annual Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons highlights the artists’ resilience and the profound impact of their art under the most challenging circumstances.

“There are so many pieces of art created from things that do not traditionally hold significance, from beautiful sculptures made out of soap to portraits in pencil reflecting hardship, isolation, love, and tremendous meaning,” said Mattie Levy, community engagement coordinator for U-M’s Prison Creative Arts Project, in a press release.

“The annual exhibition reminds us of the value of connection and the healing that can be found through art, both inside prison walls and beyond those walls.”

Hosted by the Prison Creative Arts Project, the exhibit runs March 17-31 at Duderstadt Center Gallery on U-M’s North Campus. It features more than 800 works of art created by over 600 artists residing in 26 Michigan prisons.

The University of Michigan produces a tremendous number of major talents in the fields of visual arts, music, film, theater, literature, and more. The various colleges within U-M, as well as several in-house publications, also do a good job of documenting the various creative pursuits of the university's students, teachers, and alumni—if you know where to look.

So, here's a round-up of arts and culture articles and interviews published by various University of Michigan news services and departments over the past few months.

The Radar tracks new music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week:
Chirp, Diont'e Visible, Prol'e, Hewin, Mark Zhu, GVMMY, Troy Birdsong & Carrington Vaughn, Knut Hill, 42itous, Laurence Bond Miller, Tried, Latimer Rogland, and Armored Moth.

Joshua Woodcock's day job is as an advertising producer in Seattle. But since he was a kid, this Detroit-born creative and Eastern Michigan University alumnus—who also speaks Japanese and has a law degree—has loved films, and even started making his own short movies in high school.

Woodcock's feature-length debut film is, of course, much longer than his juvenilia: The 95-minute One Night in Tokyo follows a man who visits Japan to reconnect with his girlfriend, only to find that she's ditching him.

The 2025 film has made the rounds at several film festivals, and there will also be a special free screening of One Night in Tokyo on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 5-8 pm, at the EMU Student Center Auditorium. Woodcock will also be in attendance to discuss his movie.

Learn more about the film, watch the trailer, and register to attend the screening below.

“One Track Mind” features a Washtenaw County artist or band discussing one song from their latest release.

Standout Track: No. 2, “Maneuvers Through the Prominence of Tau Ceti,” from Michael Skib. The Ann Arbor artist’s latest album, The Distance Between Two Stars, is an electronic and cinematic journey into another realm. The album includes several references related to stars, planets, and space pollution.

On “Maneuvers Through the Prominence of Tau Ceti,” he takes inspiration from the star Tau Ceti in the constellation Cetus. “I was reading about exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—actually. Tau Ceti has been a star of interest in the search for exoplanets for a while because of its proximity to Earth and its sun-like properties. It’s also in reference to The Dispossessed, which takes place on planets in Tau Ceti’s orbit. I sort of imagine whatever mission might have been taking place, in the loose-fitting storyline of this album, might have been related to the search for hospitable planets.”

Meme Resnick’s interest in Dungeons & Dragons started when she transferred to a new high school in her junior year.  A friend suggested that she might like to learn about the popular role-playing game.

“He was putting together a group and asked me if I wanted to play, and I thought, 'I’m new at this school, and this will help me meet some new people,'” she said. “I like to play different characters and play different story lines and see what they are like.”

In addition to Dungeons & Dragons, Resnick was also interested in theater.

Theater and D&D role-playing came magically together in Qui Nguyen’s play She Kills Monsters, which the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre will present March 12-15 at the Arthur Miller Theatre, with Resnick directing.

Julianna Loera-Wiggins’ journey in standup comedy has been a bit more academically motivated than most.

A Ph.D. candidate in the University of Michigan’s Department of American Culture program of Latino/a Studies, Loera-Wiggins decided to write her dissertation about the Latina stand-up comedy scene in Chicago, where she moved to take stand-up comedy classes.

“I figured you can't really write about comedy without doing it,” said Loera-Wiggins. “I like the idea of being sort of unruly, because you’re brought up with these sorts of cultural expectations, especially as a woman, and comedy sort of breaks those a little bit, or you can lean into that.”

While Loera-Wiggins hopes her time in Chicago as a scholar could one day lead to publishing a book about her research, she has worked to create additional opportunities for representation in stand-up in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area during the completion of her Ph.D.

After returning to the area from Chicago, the Ypsilanti resident inherited Femme Feedback, a monthly comedy open mic in Ann Arbor that offers feedback for aspiring female, trans, and nonbinary comics.

While Femme Feedback has elements of a typical open mic where comedians can try out four to five minutes of new and old material, it also provides a teaching element courtesy of a headlining veteran comedian who gives feedback via written comments to less experienced joke tellers.

“It's one of the few places where we can talk directly to the femme and trans experience, where if we were to do this material elsewhere, we would get no reaction, or we're often kind of met with unfortunate circumstances,” Loera-Wiggins said. “So, this is definitely a safe place for people to do that. My goal as the producer is for femme and trans comedians to know how to advocate for themselves and their own needs.”

Loera-Wiggins will showcase what Femme Feedback is all about during a special showcase hosted during this week’s Tree Town Comedy Festival at 7:15 pm on Thursday, March 5, at 212 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor.