Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features Persian fusion by Babak Soleimani, electronica by Broomway, hip-hop by Blaine Nash, singer-songwriter soul by Jeff Karoub, and synth-pop by Same Eyes.

The party was going on too late, with people milling inside my Ypsilanti group house way past when my roommates and I wanted them there. Gentle prods of "Time to go home" and "Get the hell out" were unheeded by the bad-beer masses, so it was going to take a sonic bouncer to clear the joint.

That's when we played Devo's "U Got Me Bugged" at energy-dome-shattering volume, utilizing the CD player's repeat function for the maximum annoyance we could wring out of a song that runs 2 minutes and 49 seconds. I don't recall how many times we played "Bugged"—a modular-synth squelch-fest revealed on the then newly released Hardcore Devo: Hardcore Devo: Volume Two, 1974-1977, which collected demos and experiments from the Akron, Ohio surrealists who were still years away from the mainstream success of 1980's "Whip It."

But I do remember "Bugged" worked like a can of Raid made from waveforms, making our unwanted guests (and perhaps some wanted ones) scurry off into the night.

Sasha Gusikhin founded NeuroArts Productions in response to a tragedy.

Luke Balstad was Gusikhin’s best friend, and a straight-A student at Harvard, but he also knew that he needed mental help assistance. Balstad was in therapy, was honest and open about his bipolar condition, and was attended to by a supportive network—but it still ended with him dying by suicide in 2022.

Balstad was being treated with medications—he tried at least 10—and therapy in the standardized modern way, but Gusikhin believes that let her friend slip through the cracks.

“No amount of checking in on Luke would have been able to save him," says Gusikhin, a University of Michigan senior double majoring in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience along with voice performance. "He had all of this care and yet there was all this impression with this one size fits all, this ‘let’s try this, and that, and that.' When we do that we are never attuned to: ‘What if this medication [causes a] toxic reaction to that person’s brain chemistry?’ It’s very dangerous, and it can cause very dangerous situations and even loss of life in this case.”

Gusikhin's NeuroArts Productions organizes multidisciplinary arts events to promote mental health education and reform.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features sample-heavy electronica by Obsolete Aesthetics, fuzz-fi by Lantern Lens, Irish-steeped instrumentals by Kitty Donohoe, multigenre pop by Andrés Soto, and an experimental jam by Laserbeams of Boredom.

Not a lot of marriages reach the 50-year mark, and even fewer bands do.

But Ann Arbor-based folk group Mustard’s Retreat has always blazed its own path, weathering changes and challenges across an astonishing five decades.

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, the group has scheduled a handful of concerts— including one at The Ark on March 28—featuring all three original members, who started playing together at the Heidelberg’s Rathskeller in 1975.

David Tamulevich remembers auditioning there as a solo act when he’d only done some open mics previously and was working as a cook at the Brown Jug. Libby Glover, who would later become part of the original trio, was tending bar there when her boss asked what she thought of Tamulevich.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features worldly improv-rock by Jesse Stiles and Bombici, healing ambient by Golden Feelings, political metalcore by Loss of Life, hyper-pop emo by Sacha, and electronica by Delphine Delight.

The Monday Mix is an occasional roundup of compilations, live recordings, videos, podcasts, and more by Washtenaw County-associated artists, DJs, radio stations, and record labels.

This edition features sights and sounds from flannel-flying punks Normal Park, which has had three concerts documented by Punkbedfilms; the debut clips from Camera Cowboy's Trailside Tunes, featuring live performances by Cowgirl and Adam J. Snyder; a concert recording of the Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet; three new dance-floor mixes from MEMCO; and trumpeter Mark Kirschenmann performing melodic excerpts from his new album.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features hip-hop from Dre Dav, drumcentric world-music jams by Muruga-Sikiru-Trance Tribe, noise-rock by Horse Bomb, big-synth music by Orka Veer & Zakoor, and chamber-pop by Cedar Bend.

London Beck doesn’t hesitate to share what’s on their mind.

The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer sings about reclaiming their power and undergoing a personal transformation on Vengeance Be Mine.

“When I started to put together this album, this was a way for me to say … I’ve gotten to a place where if [something] is really bothering me, I’m not going to keep that secret because I’m protecting somebody else,” said Beck about their latest album, which features infectious elements of R&B, soul, house, dance, and hip-hop.

“Someone very close to me said, ‘You’re going to worry yourself to death and then you’re going to pass away. And the things that are happening that are grieving you will continue to happen whether you’re here or not. So why are we going to hold that in and keep that in?’”

Beck followed that advice after recently experiencing an illness, a vocal cord injury, and the death of their grandmother. They channeled those struggles into 17 bold tracks about identity, growth, and heartbreak on Vengeance Be Mine. 

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features folktronica by Rabbitology, disco-house by John Beltran, soundtrack grooves by KUZbeats, synth-pop by Same Eyes, and indie by Luna Pier.