You might find Ann Arbor’s Dollie Rot in a parking garage stairwell, a lone field, or a dive bar stage.

Those haunting locales serve as the ideal backdrop for the gothic “it girl,” who released her debut EP Survivor’s Guilt in 2017 at age 16 and followed up with a handful of singles and the album Man’s Wrath in 2024.

In May, Rot released her latest EP, Hidden Works, a compilation of estranged tracks from her archives that reflect her signature low-fi sound, which is based around acoustic guitar and heaps of reverb.

“I touch on so many different points of strife in Hidden Works, and I wanted it to be a more well-rounded album than Man’s Wrath, which was a concept album with a theme present in all the songs,” Rot said. “Hidden Works is more mismatched. There’s less of a narrative quality, but it tells a story.”

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

This edition features music-hall-pop-psychedelic-jazz by Tinn Parrow & Company / Laurence Bond Miller, synthesizer music by Fred Thomas, alien electronica by The Evil Doings of an Intergalactic Skeleton, avant-R&B by Keif Skye, and ukulele-led pop by Mother Mushroom.

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

This all-electronic-music edition features sounds from Pastland, Stunna + Calculon, The Waffle Tower, evbp/Owasurenaku, and CrispySafe. 

Kelsey Detering has found her groove.

The Ann Arbor indie-rocker recently started playing bass and features new wave-inspired basslines on her four latest singles.

“Musically, I feel like I found myself starting at the end of 2023,” said Detering, who’s traded her previous Ceolsige (pronounced see-ole-sidge) artist moniker for Kelsey. (pronounced Kelsey period).

“I found myself as an artist and as a person, and everything locked in. That’s what happened to me, and I thought, ‘This is so different than Ceolsige, and it feels different.’ I’m hearing music differently since I started playing bass, and I’m writing and approaching it differently.”

Initially a pianist, Detering credits Duran Duran bassist John Taylor with inspiring her to pick up the bass—a Rio Dream bass.

“I learned all the [Duran Duran] basslines and started to branch out to other basslines and players, too,” she said. “That’s really the foundation of my playing. The first [bassline] I wrote was for ‘Throw the Stone,’ and you can hear [John Taylor’s influence] all over that. He was inspired by [Blondie], it’s a thread that goes through it.”

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

This edition features big-voiced indie rock by Petalwave, jazz vocals by Allan Harris, modular synths by The Chillennial, guitar explorations by Confusion Reactor / re:fusion cc:ontractor, and punk by Reckless Manner.

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

This edition features melodic indie-punk by Shindig Machine, smooth jazz by John E. Lawrence, electronica by NYKNYAK and wøunds, and hip-hop beats by prod. P.

In August 1983, 200 people entered a new dimension above the Heidelberg in Ann Arbor.

The clubgoers stepped into an unfamiliar yet fascinating music realm at the Big Beat Club, now known as Club Above, to dance the night away.

“Want to be on the cutting edge?” wrote Jim Boyd for The Michigan Daily on July 28, 1983. “New York, as usual, is the place to be, but this Friday you can save the plane fare by going to the Big Beat Club. There you will be able to experience the latest music/dance craze that is now surfacing in New York. It’s called ‘hip hop’ and its impact may prove to be culturally vast.”

The show was pushed back to August 5, 1983, but when the concert finally happened, curious viewers arrived to watch Harold “Whiz Kid” McGuire, a New York City DJ, spin and mix records in a “new” musical style known as “hip-hop.”

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

This edition features hip-hop by MC Kadence, artificial intelligence sounds by The Wreckage Choir, folk-pop by Joe Reilly, jazzy fusion by The Missing Cats, and bedroom indie by Lantern Lens.

The Blox, a competitive web show for entrepreneurs, might be closer to Fear Factor than Keeping Up With the Kardashians as far as reality television goes.

The web show’s focus on public speaking, spur-of-the-moment pitching, and an intensive point system are enough to challenge anyone, especially Rick Coughlin.

Coughlin, co-founder and co-owner of Ypsilanti’s Grove Studios, a 24/7 rehearsal space and recording studio, said appearing on season 16 of The Blox was a well-needed “kick in the teeth.”

“You’re standing in front of all your peers, the guy that’s doing $5 million a year, and the woman who just started her dog business, and they’re all looking at you,” said Coughlin, a musician who co-started Grove Studios in 2017 and now runs it with business partner Breck Crandell.

“You have to deliver something that makes sense, and then a coach pokes holes in everything that you said. You get grilled for another half hour or so, and then you rinse and repeat for seven days. And there [are] cameras everywhere all the time.”

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

This edition features Americana from Cowgirl, jazz fusion by Bobby Streng, bedroom indie by Claw, goregrind by Septic Fibrosis, and sci-fi synths by G.B. Marian.