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

This week features ambient by A601-2 and Brock Van Wey, wacky funk from Sabbatical Bob, Fourth World music via Arthur Durkee, and parody tunes by Tom Smith.

A601-2, Shibuya Hypnagogia
Echospace is a long-running electronic music label/studio and it just put a bunch of its back catalog on an Ann Arbor-based Bandcamp (even though it already has another Detroit-based Bandcamp page). Some releases focus on techno, but this 2016 work by A601-2 is a 61-minute generative-music composition that will have you drifting off into la-la land, which is pretty much the only place you can visit during Covid Winter No. 2

Sabbatical Bob, That's a Vibe
This Ypsi-Arbor group helped Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Lily Talmers make her excellent Remember Me as Holy Album, which is atmospheric folk-rock. But Sabbatical Bob's own sound, as heard on this new LP, is closer to jazz-funk, with shades of Zappa-like wackiness. That's a vibe, for sure.

Arthur Durkee, The Western Lands Special 48​/​24 PCM Master Edition
This is an audiophile reissue of Arthur Durkee's 1994 exploration of Fourth World sounds featuring the Ann Arbor musician on Chapman Stick, fretless bass guitar, bodhran, tar, dumbek, percussion, and more.

Dangerous Odds, June 5, 1996
Before he moved to Ann Arbor, Arthur Durkee was also in Dangerous Odds, a Wisconsin-based band that featured two poets, Ron Ellis and Larry Giles, reading the works over improvised sounds. These five tracks were recorded for a radio broadcast 25 years ago.

Tom Smith, "I'll Be Back," "C-T-H-U-L-H-U," "The Fairie Who Couldn't Fly," "Which Doctor," Homecoming: MarCon 2005, Live at GAFilk 2001
Ann Arbor's very own Weird Al released four singles recently plus two archival live recordings. Just eat it.

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