Friday Five: Ani Mari, T. Greens, Rainforest, Elevator Raider, Chirp
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features alt-country by Ani Mari, an improvisation by T. Greens, drum 'n' bass by Rainforest, electronica by Elevator Raider, and jams from Chirp.
Friday Five: Scotty Karate, Clangstrum, John Holk & the Sequins, HUES & Gold Midas, The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features alt-country by Scotty Karate, modern classical by Clangstrum, psychedelic country by John Holk & the Sequins, hip-hop by HUES and Gold Midas, and prog-metal by The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.
Friday Five: Randy Napoleon, Date Nite, Mogi Grumbles, The Evil Doings of an Intergalactic Skeleton, Dastardly Kids
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features jazz by Randy Napoleon, indie rock by Date Nite, modular electronics by Mogi Grumbles, space-age computer music by The Evil Doings of an Intergalactic Skeleton, and rap by Dastardly Kids.
Friday Five: Melody Korkmaz, Jess Merritt, Jim Cherewick, Michael Skib, Bekka Madeleine
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features R&B by Melody Korkmaz, soul-pop by Jess Merritt, indie-country-folk by Jim Cherewick, metallic shoegaze by Michael Skib, and folk-pop by Bekka Madeleine.
Monday Mix: WCBN's Local Music Show, Benjamin Miller, Immaculate Conception, The Boy Detective, Indie Pop Takeout, Sound and Silence
The Monday Mix is an occasional roundup of mixes, compilations, podcasts, videocasts, and more by Washtenaw County-associated artists, DJs, radio stations, and record labels.
For this edition, we have studio gigs from WCBN's Local Music Show, an interview with Benjamin Miller, mixes from Immaculate Conception, an interview with The Boy Detective, and new episodes of Indie Pop Takeout and Sound and Silence.
Friday Five: Evan Haywood, Flwr.Chld and Kapsoul, Cece June, Far Leys, Dr. Pete Larson
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.
Friday Five: variant, Cedar Bend, Towner, Great Arm, Artdogg
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features space music by variant, indie rock by Cedar Bend and Towner, neo-grunge by Great Arm, and hip-hop by Artdogg.
Friday Five: Darrin James, The Eleventh Hour, Paper Petals, Anteomedroma, MC Kadence
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features folk-rock by Darrin James, chamber jazz by The Eleventh Hour, dark ambient by Paper Petals, black metal by Anteomedroma, and hip-hop from MC Kadence.
Friday Five: Latimer Rogland, Premium Rat, Jeremy Frey, S.U.N., DACAMERA
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This week features minimalism by Latimer Rogland, pop-punk by Premium Rat, power-pop by Jeremy Frey, hip-hop from S.U.N., and remixes of DACAMERA.
Memorialize and Remember: Grey Rose Grant's folk opera "Little Histories" explores the death ritual
Grey Rose Grant puts all of themself into projects.
Their 2019 folk opera Michigan Trees came out of Grant's experience as a trans-femme person. The 2023 chamber-rock opera The Precipice was based on Grant's poems and songs along with the journals of Karl Ronneberg, their co-founder of Fifth Wall Performing Arts. Even Grant's new work, Little Histories, about a mortician looking back on the life events that made him turn to his profession even as they prepare to host a funeral for a former lover, has its roots in the composer, performer, and librettist's North Carolina childhood.
"Little Histories is deeply connected to personal experience," Grant says. "Back in the day I was surrounded by literary nerds and we went through an autofiction phase which has for sure affected how I want to tell stories within the medium of theater. Every little story told in Little Histories has some truth to it: memories of two of my grandparents' funerals; a memory of witnessing a bird fly into a window in high school; the pet cemetery we had in the woods behind my childhood home. That said, these memories are swirled together, misremembered, and injected with a healthy dose of retold mythologies, the story of the birth of the modern American funeral industry, and more. I enjoy beginning from the personal and moving outward from there."
Fifth Wall Performing Arts' production of Little Histories runs January 26-28 at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, and I asked Grant, a 2016 graduate from the University of Michigan who currently works at Ypsilanti's Riverside Arts Center, about their latest DIY folk opera.