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

This edition features punk rock by Sex Change, electro-prog by The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, space rock by Tomorrowland, Americana by Wells & the Outfit, and distorted beats by Foreign Carnivals.

Sex Change, Mayor McCheese EP
Ypsi's Sex Change comes blasting out of the gates on its debut EP. This vintage-style hardcore-punk quartet—no moshy breakdowns, just pure speed—is fueled by the breathless rage of Darby W, whose voice sounds like a lion's roar. Guitarist Mary Kay Ultra, drummer Adm Von Doom, and bassist Jef Porkins (from Scissor Now!) are all gas, no brakes. The EP was recorded by Minus9's Andrew Claydon, one of the most durable punk rockers in Michigan dating back to the mid-'80s. (Sex Change plays two shows in Ypsi soon: August 30 at Regal Beagle and September 5 at Ziggy's.)

The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, eDim EP
This Ann Arbor artist (pretty sure it's one person) continues to mine gems from their hard drive. Every couple of months, a few Strange Theory tracks appear on Bandcamp that mention when the track was started or written and when it was finished. In the case of the title track to this two-song EP, "eDim" was started in 2019 and finished this year while the other song, "10," was written in 2021 (and I assumed finished this year). Strange Theory makes music that features physics references in the song titles while touching on everything from prog and metal to retrowave and '80s action-movie soundtracks. It's muso music in the best possible way.

Tomorrowland, Anemone
Tomorrowland was an Ann Arbor ambient space-rock duo who released records on Darla, Burnt Hair, and kranky—three 1990s labels that were deep into the genre. But Anemone—newly remixed and remastered from the multitrack recordings—was the duo's 2003 swansong for Red Antenna, a boutique label and design studio that catered to more electronic music. That's fitting because Anemone is a beat-centered record whereas Tomorrowland's 1992 debut, Sequence of the Negative Space Changes, is a glorious wash of blissed-out drones. But no matter the sonic genres the band explored, analog keyboards and effects pedals shaped Tomorrowland's neo-psychedelic soundscapes.

Wells & The Outfit, Twelve Brothers
I can't find any info about Ann Arbor's Wells & the Outfit, and the only credit on the band's debut recording, Twelve Brothers, is a producer credit for Will Cannon. It's possible Wells is also The Outfit and both are Cannon, making this Americana-leaning project a one-person operation. There's a bedroom-recorded vibe to the EP, but not because it sounds bad; in fact, it sounds great, and the songs balance spaciousness and intimacy with skill. A nicely rearranged and sped-up version of Ray Lamontagne's "All the Wild Horses" joins the EP's three original songs.

Foreign Carnivals, There Will B Blood
As Othercast, Ann Arbor's Kelman Wolfkostin makes long, billowing, ambient soundtracks to imaginary films. But his Foreign Carnivals project is all about noisy hip-hop and distorted club beats, and the nine tracks on There Will B Blood are a showcase for Wolfkostin's relentless creativity. He demurely calls the tunes "a mixture of Hard and Stupid," and perhaps there is an unfinished nature to the tracks—not that they can't stand on their own, they're just all rather brief. It's easy to hear these recrafted for an experimental-oriented rapper to flow over or a techno remixer to build off of, but There Will B Blood is also a very solid listen as it exists now.

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