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

This edition features Persian fusion by Babak Soleimani, electronica by Broomway, hip-hop by Blaine Nash, singer-songwriter soul by Jeff Karoub, and synth-pop by Same Eyes.

Babak Soleimani, Farewell Pond
When Ann Arbor's Babak Soleimani isn't doing his day job as a data scientist at Ford, he's making beautiful music on the santur, a Persian version of the hammered dulcimer. His latest recording, the four-song Farewell Pond, places the ancient instrument in a modern context, incorporating electronic treatments and programmed beats. The results are somewhere between downtempo ambient, smooth jazz, and soundtrack music. Check out some of Soleimani's previous recordings on Soundcloud, including an intriguingly two-song single called Middle East Indie Rock, and check out his AADL performance from July 6, 2024, with AgawDilim, his band with pianist Veena Kulkarni-Rankin.

Broomway, II
This Ann Arbor artist has released three albums, including the new II, but it seems to be a truly anonymous bedroom project: none of the records have credits, and the only thing searches turn up is my blurb about Broomway in 2022 for the first LP. All three records genre-hop skillfully through just about every style of electronic music, from IDM and EDM to trip-hop and techno. 

Blaine Nash and Blue Lanternz, Aftah The Rain maxi single
Ypsi-Arbor rapper and producer Blaine Nash teamed up with the worldwide Blue Lanternz collective last year for the Aftah the Rain EP. He extracted his two features—one as MC, one behind the beats—for this maxi single. Both "Ghostly Conductors" and "Symphony of Hell" are spooky, densely packed productions.

Jeff Karoub, "Come Back to Ourselves" 
Dearborn resident and U-M employee Jeff Karoub must have traveled down Main Street after work to make his new single, "Come Back to Ourselves." He recorded it in Ann Arbor with Darrin James at his Ravine Records studio. Karoub describes the song as a tribute to all the music he loves from Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans, and James called in his horn-playing pals Ross Huff (trumpet), Dan Bennett (baritone sax), and Tim Haldeman (tenor sax) to give the country-type ballad some soul flavoring.

Same Eyes, "Idol"
Ann Arbor synth-pop band Same Eyes is continuing on its single-a-month schedule (for the most part), and every tune should be a hit, including the new "Idol." The song reminds me of When in Rome's "The Promise" if the BPMs were cranked down and the melancholy ramped up.

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