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

This week features psychedelic folk by Evan Haywood, hip-hop by Flwr.Chld and Kapsoul, indie-folk by Cece June and Far Leys, and minimalist techno by Dr. Pete Larson.

Evan Haywood, Canterbury Tales
About a year ago, Ann Arbor's Evan Haywood left his full-time job for another full-time job: independent artist. The producer, songwriter, rapper, guitarist, visual artist, and filmmaker opened the Black Ram Treehouse studio and launched the Black Ram Sound record label, which has put out numerous hip-hop singles as well as Haywood's psychedelic-folk records. His latest album wasn't recorded at Black Ram, though; Canterbury Tales is a live collection of seven cuts recorded at the Ann Arbor venue, four more from Third Man Records in Detroit, and one song for the River Street Anthology. The Canterbury tunes were recorded on cassette in 2014 by Fred Thomas and released in a limited edition tape on his Life Like label. The performance marked the first time Haywood appeared as a solo artist—just guitar and voice—and it's him alone on the River Street tune, too. The Third Man tracks are a noisy full-band expression, but you can still hear the bluesy, rootsy influences at the songs' cores. Metro Times did a nice piece on Haywood and Canterbury Tales.

Flwr.Chld and Kapsoul, "Curry Chicken"
Rapper Flwr.Chld and producer Kapsoul recorded the spacey hip-hop cut "Curry Chicken" at Evan Haywood's Black Ram Treehouse and it was released by Black Ram Sound.

Cece June, How Did This Get So Heavy? album, Red Couch session, two music videos
Cece June recorded How Did This Get So Heavy? while a student at the University of Michigan, working with a host of fellow student-musicians, including producer Sam Uribe. The Spanish indie-folk singer has since graduated and moved to New York City, and this lovely album is the sort of recommendation letter every young person would love to have in their pockets when leaving school. June's songs work great just with guitar and voice—as you can see and hear in the Red Couch session she did—but the arrangements Uribe helped coordinate on the album gives her music a ton of color and showcases her deep and soulful voice.

Far Leys, Dream of a White Bird
Will Tackett, who came to Ann Arbor by way of Philly, is the main mover behind Far Leys. He writes slow, gentle, folky psychedelia and sings in a breathy voice that is as soft as his songs. Dream of a White Bird is filled with songs that tell you what they are: "Lullaby for Dreaming," "Hypnopompic," Lullaby for Mourning," "Footprints in the Snow," "Breath Becomes Air," and "Drifting" to name a few. Gorgeous stuff.

Dr. Pete Larson, Field Drift 2
Friday Five favorite Dr. Pete Larson always has something brewing, whether it's something new on his Dagoretti Records, music by his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band, or something from his new Great Corner Sound label. Where Dagotetti made its name by mixing Kenyan folk music and rock 'n' roll along with some splashes of free jazz and other genres, Great Corner Sound focuses on electronica, including Fred Thomas' recent neo-jungle album as ECOATM and Larson's improvised minimalist techno LP Field Drift 2. The Ann Arborite also seems to be working on a full-length techno record made entirely out of sampled sounds he gathered during a visit to Japan—and you know we're gonna write about that, too. 

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