London Beck doesn’t hesitate to share what’s on their mind.

The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer sings about reclaiming their power and undergoing a personal transformation on Vengeance Be Mine.

“When I started to put together this album, this was a way for me to say … I’ve gotten to a place where if [something] is really bothering me, I’m not going to keep that secret because I’m protecting somebody else,” said Beck about their latest album, which features infectious elements of R&B, soul, house, dance, and hip-hop.

“Someone very close to me said, ‘You’re going to worry yourself to death and then you’re going to pass away. And the things that are happening that are grieving you will continue to happen whether you’re here or not. So why are we going to hold that in and keep that in?’”

Beck followed that advice after recently experiencing an illness, a vocal cord injury, and the death of their grandmother. They channeled those struggles into 17 bold tracks about identity, growth, and heartbreak on Vengeance Be Mine. 

In April 1993, I took my first step into the world of Rocky Horror.

I went with three high school friends to see a midnight screening and shadow cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the State Theatre in Ann Arbor.

Upon arrival at the theatre, I was greeted by one of the shadow-cast actors fully dressed in her costume. She walked over to me and asked, “Are you a virgin?”

Somewhat taken aback, I asked, “Who wants to know?”

The actor just laughed and said, “You’re my very special virgin.”

Being a naïve, clueless teen and new to Rocky Horror, I didn’t get the reference at first. I thought the actor was nosy and wondered why she asked me such a personal question.

Her question didn’t click with me, though, until the start of the show. As the emcee, she made some announcements and invited me to join her on stage as the “Very Special Virgin.”

A mature tree blooms every year. Fruit trees can take two to five years to produce. It took Tree City 13 years for Pure Levels to flower.

The Ann Arbor hip-hop group spent that time shaping and defining the album’s tracks before releasing it late last year.

“It’s a time capsule, and it’s a good chunk of our personal evolution as artists and as a group,” said Evan “Clavius Crates” Haywood, a Tree City MC and producer, about the group’s first collection of new songs since 2010’s Thus Far.

“It’s exciting that it’s finally at the point where we’re happy with it and we felt like it was ready. We did not want to release it when it was just good enough. We wanted to release it when we felt it was something really timeless, something that would hold up to repeated listens, and something that would hold people’s interest.”

Pure Levels features Tree City’s four MCs—Clavius Crates, Silas Green, DJ Cataclysmic, and Cheeks—rapping candid rhymes about broken relationships, aging family members, systemic issues, and capitalism alongside fantastical space-themed wordplay over sci-fi-sounding beats by producer Michael Dykehouse and several others.

Premium Rat knows they can't go it alone.

The Ypsilanti indie-rocker embraces that mindset while exploring the need for connection and community on their debut album.

“That has been the journey of my life because I’ve always been a very independent person and a person who’s not good at asking for help,” said Mer Rey, who performs as Premium Rat, about Stranded on Land.

“This album tells the story of me learning that lesson—that no person is an island—and I can’t do it all myself.”

Premium Rat follows that story arc throughout Stranded on Land’s 12 tracks, which were curated against a backdrop of multi-genre sounds.

“The idea of Stranded on Land is starting the album feeling very disconnected from the world and people around me, feeling like I didn’t understand or belong in the world, and feeling very isolated and alone with that feeling,” said Rey, who features elements of pop punk, indie rock, dance-pop, indie folk, and Broadway music on the album.

“As the album goes on, it tells the story of me finding community, finding other people who also felt that way, and realizing, ‘Oh, I’m stranded on land, but so are a bunch of other people, and we’re actually stranded together.’ And that is how we [find] our way out and claim our freedom—by doing that together.”

Musical brothers Billy Harrington and Michael Harrington relish performing and recording with different artists.

As sidemen and session players, the Ann Arbor-based musicians—known as The Brothers Harrington—have shared the stage and studio with several local acts, including Chris DuPont, Kylee Phillips, Adam Plomaritas, Kelsey Detering, Bobby Streng, and Mark Jewett.

They spend a lot of time backing those artists at The Ark and Trinity House Theatre and laying down tracks with them at Big Sky Recording and Solid Sound Recording Company.

“It’s cool watching from the sidelines and seeing where the artists go, where they play, and what their next album looks like,” said Billy Harrington, a drummer, percussionist, vocalist, and producer.

“It’s fun to observe, but it’s like having all these family connections, and you get to enjoy that—the fruits of your labor. You get to do a session, and it comes back with 10 to 15 gigs, so it’s nice for a freelancer.”

A new art installation in Liberty Plaza intends to spark play and social interaction in Ann Arbor.

Oscillation relies on people’s movements to create different colors, sounds, and pitches when they interact with it. The installation features five crystal-shaped pieces and acts like a theremin—a musical instrument that you can play without touching it.

“The idea of a theremin interested us because of how it could be played with motion, and we had been wanting to think of a way to enlarge that interaction in the public space,” said Ryan Swanson, whose Brooklyn, New York-based design studio, The Urban Conga, created Oscillation.

“This work felt like the perfect opportunity to develop that interaction to become a public instrument for communal interaction.”

As part of that communal interaction, people will be able to experience Oscillation starting January 17.

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is collaborating with The Urban Conga and its touring partner Creos to bring the installation to the city through March 16.

Marty Gray empathizes with loved ones battling dementia, depression, and other personal challenges on his latest album, Disassemble.

“The whole album is autobiographical, it’s just about the people around me,” said the Ann Arbor singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. “It’s rare that there is a song about me, but I’m telling you how I feel about these people throughout the whole record.”

Gray explores that fragility and the observations of a concerned bystander on Disassemble. The album’s poetic lyrics, ethereal vocals, and cinematic instrumentation convey the emotions he encounters while witnessing family and friends decline.

“There are some songs about my friends and the things that they’re going through,” said Gray, who studied opera at the University of Michigan. “There are friends in my life that are losing the battle with depression. I have a couple of songs about my grandparents; I have one about my opa and one about my [late] oma … and my oma’s dementia and seeing what happened with her brain, her mind, and her life.”

In 1994, seven friends never anticipated they’d make hip-hop history in Ann Arbor and beyond. A mutual love of creating music and playing sports prompted the Huron High School students to form a group that would eventually become Athletic Mic League.

“We weren’t Athletic Mic League then. We were the Anonymous Clique, but we all started going to Trés [Styles’] crib writing and messing around on little beat machines and little recording setups in 1994,” said Jamall “Buff1” Bufford, one of Athletic Mic League’s MCs.

“We didn’t become Athletic Mic League until probably [1997]. Wes [Taylor] came up with the name … so we said, ‘Yeah, let’s go with it.’ We all play sports. We took an approach to writing and practicing like it was training.”

Thirty years later, that disciplined mindset has stayed with the members of Athletic Mic League: Trés Styles, Wes “Vital” Taylor, Vaughan “Vaughan Tego” Taylor, Michael “Grand Cee” Fletcher, Mayer Hawthorne, Kendall “14KT” Tucker, and Bufford.

Now, the group is celebrating its contributions and legacy in a new track aptly titled “Made History.”

Commissioned to write and record the track for the Ann Arbor District Library's Ann Arbor 200 bicentennial project, Athletic Mic League also pays homage to Washtenaw County hip-hop history and Black history in Ann Arbor.

Despite life’s obstacles, Jo Serrapere sees the beauty in herself and the world around her.

The Dearborn singer-songwriter shares that hopeful mindset on her latest double album, The Beautiful Ones, Volume I and Volume II.

“The whole record is about beauty and about seeing beauty through light and dark and the good times and the bad times. It’s most fulfilling to write from a personal [perspective] and try to help people,” said Serrapere, who’s a clinical psychologist and U-M alumna.

“It’s [also] coming to that realization of where I want my music to go. I could just sing in my bedroom and that would be fine … but the whole point is to try to touch other people in the process.”

Serrapere includes 22 tracks that explore her emotional struggles and the growth she’s experienced along the way. Those personal reflections also prompted her to take a more autobiographical approach to songwriting for the album.

“I joke that I’m at an age where I’m going to write my autobiography,” Serrapere said. “I wanted a personal record and all these songs fit in that genre.”

An empowering quote from Bell Hooks is printed in a black serif typeface on a brown handbill-size poster card.

The statement from the late author reads, “If we give our children sound self-love, they will be able to deal with whatever life puts before them.”

That motivational proclamation is one of numerous type-driven messages hand-printed on 3,000 vibrant 8-inch-by-6-inch poster cards by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

The Detroit printmaker’s renowned letterpress work is featured as part of Random Thoughts on Poster Cards, an exhibit running at Eastern Michigan University through December 14.

“People give me quotes, I read things, and then I just compile a list. And depending on the mood I’m in, I print what I want to,” said Kennedy alongside fellow letterpress printer Gerald Schulze during the exhibit’s November 7 opening reception at EMU’s University Gallery.

“It’s just a matter of someone telling me something, and I’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, that would make a good poster,’ or I’ll read something and think, ‘That would make a good card,’ and then I just print them.”