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

This week features folk-grunge by Head Full of Ghosts, industrial electronics from EnD, avant hip-hop by V8 Spellbook, jams from Ma Baker, and I dunno what from Men Wearing Dresses.

Head Full of Ghosts, 321 Miles
Ypsilanti trio Head Full of Ghosts likely knows every note in the Candlebox discography and I imagine they have collectively played Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York more than any other record. The group's debut album, 321 Miles, is pure acoustic grunge—right down to having a cajón in place of a drum kit. 

EnD, Live 26
Ypsilanti electronic-improvising duo doesn't make studio recordings per se; they record live performances, be they in a studio or, in this case, on a stage in Hamtramck. Dark industrial noisescapes that go bump into your frights.

V8 Spellbook, V8 Spellbook
Ann Arbor's V8 Spellbook provides the raps, producer Tyrus Archer does the beats, and the dynamic duo has created an 18-track lo-fi avant-hip-hop record that casts its own peculiar charms.

Ma Baker, 08/06/2021 - Tangent Gallery w/ Baked Shrimp
The latest live recording from this funk-rock-jazz-jam-electronic five-piece band.

Men Wearing Dresses, Poltergeist EP
This Ann Arbor duo marries flugabone—imagine a big trumpet for euphonium/baritone players to cover trombone parts—and electronics, along with a guest appearance from a sousaphone on one track. The combined sound is part marching band hip-hop, part free-jazz noisetronics. WILD.

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.