The No Fun House will be having a collection of talented, catchy solo musicians and songwriters that should not be missed.

EMPEROR X is a writing and touring powerhouse, whose dedication to his craft cannot be denied. as such, the results of his efforts are phenomenal. Lyricism that is hardly rivaled, and inventive guitar styles, this music is as catchy as it is innovative.
But don’t just take my word for it:

STEPHEN STEINBRINK is also on tour, bringing warped but beautiful pop from another time. Reminiscent of The Dukes of Stratosphear/Andy Partridge, as well as the lightest, strangest Ween songs, Steinbrink creates well-orchestrated, lush pop music.

http://stephensteinbrink.bandcamp.com/

RADIATOR HOSPITAL is the creation of Sam Cook-Parrott, Grand Rapids songsmith extraordinaire. Radiator Hospital is fuzzed-out power-pop that expresses infatuation and heartbreak simultaneously, with clever, though blunt writing, complete with sci-fi references. This also may be Sam’s last show in Kalamazoo for a long, long while so you do not want to miss!

http://radiatorhospital.bandcamp.com/

BENJI MYERS is local puppy, myth, legend, who has performed in many local acts, including Witch Fingers, Lincoln County War, and Mushmen currently. A busy character in Kalamazoo music, Benji is a prolific and impassioned songwriter, so you may want to see what he brings to the table as a solo performer.

This show starts at 8 PM so GET THERE ON TIME.

Boy howdy DIT friendly reading personnel, there is quite the festival coming up, filled with bands, (unconfirmed) naked chicks, and wieners. Louie’s Trophy House (and Grill) is hosting Wienerfest: Part Deux Saturday night and will be selling hot dogs for the wonderfully appetizing price of one US dollar. But since wieners may not be tempting to everyone, there will also be a five acts playing throughout the night starting at 9 p.m.  until 1 a.m. for wiener aficionado and wiener protestor alike to feed their musical appetites.

Leaving behind all other interpretations or expectations of how a band should perform or what they should sound like, Forget the Times can range from sinister overtures of new-jazz to exasperating noise-rock jams.  There is always a tension behind the sound of the group, a hum, or hanging tone in the air that arises in a cerebral throbbing that leaves listeners in between dazzled and diaspora. Forget the Times rides the wave twixt schizophrenic soundtrack and heady lullaby of honeyed notes. Comparing them to something you’ve heard probably wouldn’t make much sense, because even though guitar-heavy rhythms provide a bit of familiarity to those new to the band, the ever changing cast of characters the band utilizes (they have around 10 “members” in their free-jazz collective) promises a unique experience for every show.

The four-piece instrumental indie rhythm group Chinook focuses on repeated melodies that are as smooth and delicate as ice melting on glass. While recently suggesting the desire for a vocalist (and  they are currently sorting that out), these four guys are tight when it comes to the build-up and layering of their indie-rock orchestrations. Each piece sounds intricate, with non-verbal stories dancing around in the back of listeners’ eyelids and settings taking place within the eardrum. Listeners will enjoy the busy-sound of an indie band’s emotional torrent without the sometimes pleading whine of the vocals.

Relatively new to the scene as a group, Brass Bows has solid rhythms and brazen vocals from their female lead, bringing a hard-rock feel in the vein of Stikyfut. The group has no recorded material, but is full of crude, salty humor that is perfectly welcome at the second installment of Wienerfest. Expect much shredding upon the guitar and playful devices from the driving rhythm section while getting snarled at. Good times (and a DIT Session) from these folks soon.

The aforementioned shredding.

Angry, angsty, and sweating music out of their pores and injected straight into your ears, the talented screamo-duo Great American Witch Hunt provides a hard-core edge to the eclectic night. Each word sounds like it spat out from gritted teeth and begging for listen. With intermittent breakdowns, GAWH provides talented instrumentality behind Pterodactyl screeches. Their songs sound like a constant break-up fight, and always end with pang of hurt.

With the roar of demonic guitars and bombastic drums in the background, Fine Fine Titans is rather intense. While usually sitting firmly in the mad-god realm of screamo, with blood-walls of guitar hurdling toward listeners with the force of a thousand evils, lead singer Jennifer Bartlett will occasionally break into a narrative-voice to complete the story of a specific song. Sometimes her voice will reel back into a hard-rock tone akin to old Ozzy O. All their songs are bursts of energy, be they comprised of screams or brazen ballads, so  be ready to get rocked.  And if buying wieners isn’t your style, save up your dollars for Fine Fine Titans debut EP “Arms,” dropping sometime this summer.

Bearded titans.

Entrance is going to cost wiener-goers five dollars, and all subsequent wieners after entrance one dollar. Show starts at 9 p.m. Enjoy the food, and respect the venue.

At DIT, we are generally working to limit competing shows on the same night, but these things do happen-and then we are forced to choose. We’re here to help make that an informed decision.

At the Globe there will be a 21+ show of the folk and country variety with Jon Timm, an upper-Michigan native turned Nashvillian, and Rust Whip, the country-rock band fronted by Kalamazoo’s Dylan Lancaster.

Jon Timm and Rust Whip are in the middle of doing a week of shows together and you can learn more about the both of them in this Mostly Midwest article.

Hometown heartthrobs Cold Mountain Child will be rounding out the bill on this one. Originally formed as the duo of Tyler Bradley and David Spalvieri-Kruse, the group has since grown into an ensemble of shifting members and instrumentation but still creates lush mountain-folk songs that’s prettier than socks on a rooster.

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Simultaneously, down at the Victory House will be a total mixed-bag of a show with Pittsburgh’s Skinless Boneless on tour displaying their hyper blend of fuzzed-out Freak/Psych madness. As residents of Philadelphia’s Single Girl, Married Girl Records, a label that prides itself on putting out challenging music, if Skinless Boneless is as interesting and energetic live as they are on recording, they’ll put on a helluva show for sure.

Photo courtesy of Single Girl, Married Girl website http://www.sgmgrecords.com

Locals for this one will be on rather opposite ends of the musical spectrum. Terror Terror Oh My! are a party time Rock and Roll band that likes to deliver healthy doses of sass whereas Deep Waters are more of an introspective, chilled out act that resides somewhere on the fringes of the Pop music realm (and features some of the same members of Cold Mountain Child curiously enough – how they plan to pull this off will be a mystery).

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Both shows are set to start at 9PM so be sure to get down one way or the other – unless you’re feeling adventurous, then grab some friends and hop between the two. Either way, make sure to throw some dollars towards the touring acts who will be in town.

The killer shows just keep coming like we’ve got some sort of musical assembly line operating here in tha Zoo.  The twenty-seventh promises to be no exception, with one of our finest basements to host a smorgasbord of rock n’ radness.  I don’t know why you guys let me write this stuff.

DELAY http://delayoh.bandcamp.com/

Earnest to goodness powerpop from Columbus, OH.  I had the immense pleasure of catching Delay at Plan-It-X fest earlier this summer, and this band is awesome, I swear it’s true.

ALL DOGS

All right, I’m told this group contains members of Delay, but that’s all the information I’m capable of scraping together, so let’s just assume they’re totally rad. How could they not be?

Plus, CITYCOP http://citycop.bandcamp.com/ noodly, mathematical and poetic, I’ve been dying to have this band back here in Kalamazoo.

Oh, did I mention THE REPTILIAN?!? Playing for the first time since Russ’s bicycle decided to exact revenge upon the forearm of the undeserving guitarist. http://thereptilianband.bandcamp.com/

Further support will come in the form of BIKE TUFF and NATURAL DISASTERS, with whom we should be very familiar indeed, and this post is far too long already.  Basically, there’s no good reason to miss this show, it’s gonna be a fabulous friday at Fat Guy, for real.

Show at NINE PM. Bring some dollars for the helmet or blender or whatever and try to find a way to clap with a beer in your hand.  Respect everything!

Are you looking to see some Midwest Americana and simultaneously support one beloved cat named “Beige Presents Matt Wood the Cat”? Then head down to the Walnut house tonight at 8 p.m.

All five groups are composed of staples from the Kalamazoo Roots scene, featuring old and new folk faces. Walnut House resident and show organizer, Jeremy Quentin says that the line-up is, “definitely a bunch of old strutt kids getting together,” referring to the Stutt’s formerly vibrant bluegrass scene.

Gitis Baggs fills venues with his haunting noise samples, relaxed minor guitar chords, and  smooth, lazy vocals explaining dark weirdness, like in “Sales Convention”. Mostly Midwest caught Gitis Baggs’ “Song of Innocence” at the Keweenaw peninsula Folk Festival, Farmblock 2011. See below:

Gitis Baggs : Farm Block Session from Mostly Midwest on Vimeo.

Apart of the Double Phelix recording collective, Birdfingers is vocalist Bennett Young’s brainchild. Young’s voice, lower than most, is a deep and constant paddle stroke in his band’s ever-changing lineup. However, the ascetic of Birdfingers‘ 2011 self-titled debut pulls together a common thread, of 50s-reminiscent-jingly-beach-pop, throughout the album.

In Andy Catlin’s project, Lasso, we find a soundtrack to a low-fi, indie, horror, sci-fi spagetti western. In 2011 Lasso’d, the romantification of the Final and American Frontier are not dead,  but are instead combined and thriving in Kalamazoo. In The Return of the Lasso, nasal and dissonant vocal harmonies are smoothed over by effect filters. Lasso is also a member of Double Phelix.

Small Houses is Jeremy Quentin’s project. His songs include technical acoustic guitar, a little piano, and intensely tender vocal delivery about the human condition, all set in Michigan. “When it’s Morning” from Our Dusking Sound could slow down any Sunday Afternoon.

Also apart of the Kalamazoo Folk scene, Adam Danis has appeared on Fiona Dickinson’s “My Lovely Friend” and at local open mic nights.

Matt Wood (the cat), for short, is a community owned pet, residing at The Walnut House. He’s named after a Kalamazoo sound engineer. According to Quentin, all of the musicians playing tonight have lived with Matt Wood (the cat) at some point.

Quentin says that Matt Wood (the cat) is not feeling well and needs more than just a regular check-up at the vet. He says, ” I’m excited to get Matt well and get him the medicine he needs.”

Quentin is also excited about an upcoming show on August 2, at the Walnut House. It will feature a claw and hammer banjo player from Wisconsin called Kalispell along with The Hill and Wood, a six-piece pop band from Charlottesville, VA. Quentin, of Small Houses,  says, “I’ve played around a hundred shows this year. These are the two best acts I’ve seen this year.”

Check it.

Feeling nostalgic? Longing for those summer drives? Well, Big Blue House is hosting a trio of raucous bands with a hearty love of the Mid-West this Tuesday for your sonic sentimental delight.

Rodeo Ruby Love, claiming origin from the south—Bloomington, IN, is a pop-punk group all about illuminating the simple stories of the Mid-West. Driving cars through wispy corn-fields at dusk, easing into the city after a long-ride on the highway, or burrowing into an apartment that is as cluttered as the streets outside it— RRL plays songs about cities, suburbia, the spaces in the between, and the love-struck individuals who inhabit them. With a power-pop layout, playing a bubbly guitar medley one moment and tap-dancing away on key-board or horn the next, RRL has a lot of fun on their tracks and on stage—I last saw them tour where they boarded the stage with huge grins to the theme music of Legend Of Zelda. If that wasn’t enough, they are veterans of Daytrotter and have toured with Pentimento label-mates Streetlight Manifesto and Lionize. They are bundles of fun with plenty of kick left over to make dancing a must.

Jake Simmons (and his Little Ghosts), compared sometimes to the styling of Elvis Costello, has the sound and feel of a good-ole rock band. Simmons released his reeling and rolling debut album late winter of last year, showcasing bristling drum-beats and twanging, Americana-styled guitar rhythms, a performance similar a to a rev of a ’57 Chevy that just had its oil changed. Smooth but grizzled.

Tim Tapper and the Terribles, the alliterating trio of alt-grunge performers that sounds straight out of your favorite basement, put on a show that wavers in and out of controlled, paced, rhythms by bassist Rory Svekric and drummer Jared Selner, to a mania driven by lead Tapper’s grained guitar playing. Good for when you are feeling sinister, with a touch of twitching smiles. Like mommy’s little helper without the nice side effects.

Show starts at 9 p.m.—bring some cash for the touring troupe.

It’s my birthday and all I wanna do is throw a rock show with my friends. Yr all invited! Let’s eat pizza and drink fancy soda.

Here’s the plan:
Wednesday July 18 @ Corner Record Shop (1710 West Main)
8pm hang outs. 9pm music.

Performances by:

SEAN HARTMAN & FRIENDS

Myself, Benji ‘WearWolf’ Myers and Tim Tapper will be joining forces for the first time in  YEARS to bring you a drummless improv noise set. Expect plenty of fuzzy guitar and synth tones. Drifting toward ecstasy.

THE ALL STAR SEMI PRO BRASS BAND

If you were around for the end of the most excellent Hullabazoo event a few months back, then you know what is in store. The Saxsquatch is assembling a variety of brass horn players to officially tear the roof off the sucka. Pure soul.

THE SNIFFLES –

Do you like grunge music but always wished it was easier to dance to? Then yr in luck!

THE SKIN CELLS –

Crossing genre lines between Modest Mouse style indie rock, power pop and post hardcore. These dudes skip the bullshit and simply make music that sounds GOOD. Bring tha thunda.

Hope to see y’all there! Gonna be a real cool time. Don’t forget to bring some money for the touring bands. Sorry, no drugs / alcohol (record shop rules). If ya wanna be super generous and help spread the word, here’s a link: http://www.facebook.com/events/248483748588054/

Respect the Shop. Respect the bands. Respect yrself.