Monday Mix: Michigan Creates, Music Un-Tuxed, A2AC Murals & Planters, Blue LLama live streams, Ann Arbor 200 documentaries
The Monday Mix is an occasional roundup of compilations, live recordings, videos, podcasts, and more by Washtenaw County-associated artists, DJs, radio stations, and record labels.
This edition features an interview with Kerrytown Concert House's Artistic & Executive Director Monica Swartout-Bebow on Michigan Creates; a chat with Ann Arbor cellist Thor Sigurdson on Music Un-Tuxed; two short promo videos for Ann Arbor Art Center's 2024 public art projects; Blue LLama concert live streams; and the numerous arts documentaries created for the Ann Arbor 200 birthday celebration.
Friday Five: The Great Homesickness, Marc Hannaford, Catspangold, Nem?, Gostbustaz
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.
Friday Five: GVMMY, Dastardly Kids, Kandy Fredrick, Kaito Ian, Eric Nachtrab
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This edition features hyperpop by GVMMY, hip-hop by Dastardly Kids, country by Kandy Fredrick, electronica by Kaito Ian, and jazz by Eric Nachtrab.
AADL 2024 STAFF PICKS: HOMEPAGE
If you're an Ann Arbor District Library cardholder, you receive a weekly email newsletter listing news, upcoming events, and a slew of recommendations from the catalog. Those recs are also available at aadl.org/reviews, and we're always happy to make suggestions for books, audiobooks, streamable content in the catalog, DVDs, board games, tools, etc. if you visit us at the branches.
But our 2024 Staff Picks allow the AADL crew to go beyond the library catalog—and the calendar year.
We don't limit our year in review to things that came out in 2024 or that can be checked out from AADL; the staff comments on whatever favorite media and events they experienced this year, no matter when or where they originated. Maybe a favorite album of 2024 came out in 1973, or the best book someone read this year is so old that it's out of copyright. It's all good, and it all counts.
Here are the categories of AADL's 2024 Staff Picks:
AADL 2024 STAFF PICKS: AUDIO
➥ AADL 2024 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2024 Staff Picks: Words
➥ AADL 2024 Staff Picks: Screens
➥ AADL 2024 Staff Picks: Pulp Life
AADL 2024 STAFF PICS: AUDIO
Music, podcasts, CDs, records, and more:
Friday Five: The Nuts, Michael Skib, Rabbitology, Zagc, Mazinga
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This all-singles edition features indie rock from The Nuts, a remixed Michael Skib sci-fi excursion, electronic folk-pop by Rabbitology, techno by Zagc, and fuzz rock from Mazinga.
Our Story: Athletic Mic League's new single, "Made History," traces the Ann Arbor hip-hop group's legacy while namechecking important figures and Black businesses
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.
Friday Five: Mother Night, Younger Dryas, Cracked & Hooked, Aikanã, Battle of the Bits
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This edition features the many guises of rock from Mother Night, Younger Dryas, and Cracked & Hooked, drum 'n' bass by Aikanã, and emo-indie chiptunes from the Battle of the Bits forum.
Friday Five: Whimsical Beats, The Cicada, Isolation Sundaze, Luminous Fridge, History History
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This edition features lo-fi chill by Whimsical Beats, hyperpop from The Cicada, rampant eclecticism via Isolation Sundaze, modular synths by Luminous Fridge, and political grunge by History History.
Singer-Songwriter Jo Serrapere Looks Inward on Her New Two-Volume Album, “The Beautiful Ones”
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.”