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

This edition features emo-punk by The Great Homesickness, experimental jazz by Marc Hannaford, electronica by Catspangold, cloud rap by Nem?, and hip-hop by Gostbustaz.

The Great Homesickness, Questions EP
The Great Homesickness, Still and Waiting EP
The Great Homesickness, "Brother"
Ann Arbor's Brett Higgins is The Great Homesickness. He was once a member of The Lowercase, which released a really tight Midwestern emo-punk album, Mountains, in 2017 before calling it quits a year later. Jason Devaney wrote most of the songs in that band, but Higgins wrote a couple of tunes for that record, and after some delays, he's finally putting out his own music—and playing every instrument, too. The singles and EPs he put out in 2024 aren't specifically Christian—unlike Higgins' worship-music project Cedar Cathedrals—but the lyrics frequently wrestle with faith and identity. Higgins describes the two-song Questions EP as being about "breaking up with evangelicism," and the "Brother" single looks at how he and his old friend's lives diverged "through geography and vocation, but particularly with respect to matters of faith." But you need not be religious, or even spiritually curious, to enjoy The Great Homesickness. As with The Lowercase, Higgins' solo project flies the flannel flag proudly, mixing catchy punk anthems with labyrinthian guitar lines. If it was the late 1990s, I could easily imagine Higgins releasing music on labels such as Jade Tree, Polyvinyl, or Deep Elm—and if any of those names ring familiar to you, you'll love The Great Homesickness.

Marc Hannaford, The Antripodean Collective, Live
Pianist Marc Hannaford has lived in Ann Arbor for several years, but a lot of his recorded musical activity still emanates from visits home to Melbourne, Australia. The U-M professor recorded The Antripodean Collective, Live in April 2024 at Melbourne's Cross Street Music Hall. These two long pieces of group improvisation document 98 minutes of complex piano-guitar-violin-bass-sax-drums interplay that should appeal to fans who attend Edgefest every year.

Catspangold, "Omega"
Catspangold, "Ur the Moon (Catspangold edit)"
Catspangold, "Kiss"
Catspangold, "Turn Up"
Catspangold, Right Now EP
Ann Arbor's Catspangold released several singles, EPs, and edits this year—and none of them sound like they're from the same artist. "Omega" is a Basic Channel-influenced dub-techno piece; "Kiss" is more akin to a hyperpop tune; and the Right Now EP exists between The Chemical Brothers and booty-bass music. Catspangold also did a cool remix of rapper Playboi Carti's song "Ur the Moon."

Nem?, Magic Mirror! EP
"I produce all my beats, making me instantly better than 80% of rappers out there," states Ann Arbor's Nem? on his debut EP. This cloud-rap creator also listed the samples for the three songs on Magic Mirror!: Daniwell P's "Nyan Cat"; Porter Robinson's "Something Comforting"; and  Imogene Heap's "Hide and Seek."

Gostbustaz, The Bust a Nut EP
After being silent since 2022, Ann Arbor hip-hop group Gostbustaz returned in 2024 with four new releases, including this recent EP. In case you can't tell from the record's title, Gostbustaz loves to work blue, with tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. Imagine Kool Keith if he grew up rooting for U-M football. (The new EP is really solid, but I really just wanna listen to the all-timer "Banned in Ann Arbor" again.)

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