I’m sure a lot of you have been pretty overwhelmed by the amount of awesome shows going on in Kalamazoo this week but its only going to keep getting better! In my time spent playing in bands, Milwaukee has always had some of the dopest of bands and people. This Saturday, two of the dopest are coming to Kalamazoo, Alta and Arizona Wilder. I’ve heard nothing but great things about these two and Justin from Alta is one of the nicest, most helpful people I’ve ever met. Both bands have that great midwest post hardcore sound and I’m very excited to finally see both.
Local bands will be Lost In Translation who play some very chilled out math rock much like Sharks Keep Moving or Don Cabellero. The other local will be Anybody But The Cops, think of a jazzy Fugazi. Show starts at 8 PM. Respect the house and donate to the touring bands!
Cleveland, OH-based Signals Midwest kick off a month-long, national tour at Kalamazoo’s own Fat Guy House tomorrow. Cain Marko, Bike Tuff, Living Room, and Protected Left will also play.
Despite their more complex and guitar-noodlin’ ballads, Signals Midwest stays true to their pop-punk roots with catchy hooks and solid punk harmonies. See “The Quiet Persuader” from Latitudes and Longitudes (2011).
Their sophomore album, Latitudes and Longitudes was released on Tiny Engines, a label that has seen the likes of Tigers Jaw, CSTVT, and Restorations.
Grand Rapid’s Cain Marko returns to Kalamazoo to play well known punk songs. The quartet is comprised of childhood friends Chris Lidstone and Jay VanVeen, high school friend Jeremy Verwys, and recent friend Joel Otte.
They formed Cain Marko at the end of 2008, “after surviving fifty-eight combined winters in the harsh Midwest.” Their influences include, “their home state, literature, comic books, alcohol, fellow Michigander punk stalwarts Bear vs. Shark and Small Brown Bike, as well as the Floridian legends Hot Water Music.”
Sunday night is going to be ridiculous. The Milhouse will be hosting what will likely go down as my favorite Kalamazoo show of the year.
I met the guys in Duck. Little Brother, Duck! after a 14-hour drive from Idaho Falls to Portland this past winter. Upon our arrival, these fine fellows showed us the kind of hospitality in their hometown that made the hours and gas money spent all so worth it. These are the kind of folks that will help someone from 2000+ miles away with a show to play, pack out an entire anarchist bookstore to well beyond fire-code, inexhaustibly show you around their entire city, and get their parents to feed you healthy Portlandia food the whole time you’re there.
Also, their band makes amazing music.
It’s angular, adventurous, and defies structure – yet with all the energy of the most shoutable post-hardcore bands. Their newest release, Don’t Take Our Filth Away, is coming out this month on Topshelf Records and can be heard now on the label’s bandcamp page (which has been taking up a tab on my web browser for the last three weeks because it’s the kind of album you find yourself listening to daily).
They’ll be meeting up with Octaves from Baltimore, MD, while they’re on this side of the country. Octaves is stylistically quite different; darker. They play a metally version of hardcore that is fast and aggressive but knows when to let a song breathe and expand and do the kind of interesting things that set this band apart from others in the hardcore/screamo realm.
Also on tour for this show will be William Bonney, the Northern Indiana heavyweights who will be touring behind the brand new vinyl release of their album Good Vibes. This fierce five-piece, if you’re not already familiar, was a critical part of the new Midwest screamo movement before members decided to move to other parts of the country. Though not always active nowadays, they’ve been working towards their vinyl release for some time now and are in the midst of a lengthy US tour.
Local bands Ackley Kid (always a hometown favorite) and Seventeen Again (the brand new band featuring members of Ackley Kid/The Reptilian/William Bonney) will be joining this stellar lineup of touring bands for the evening. It’s going to be a frenzied show from start to finish with nothing but exciting talent.
The show will be starting early due to having so many bands on the lineup. None are to be missed and, as always, please help these touring bands out by being as generous as possible with donation money!
A spectacular mash up of genres that promises to be a good time.
Ackley Kid~Village Street Buddies that bring a furious brand of hardcore punk. Their new songs sound spectacular and they never fail to bring the thunder.
Lost in Translation~Kalamazoo Math Rockers who play blisteringly complex melodies that will make your head spin.
In addition to the star studded Kalamazoo line up the Village Castle will be playing host to two touring acts from Dekalb, IL.
The Stockyards~Self proclaimed slop/grunge punk. The Stockyards also play a big role in setting up shows at Dekalb’s premier DIY venue “The 7th Street Space“.
Davey Dynamite~Dekalb’s legendary Folk Punk god. Davey sings lots of songs inspired by music from Plan-it-X! Records.
Please bring donations for the touring bands and don’t destroy the house. See you there!
Alright collective DIT readers, Friday night there is a double-header at Louie’s of the warbled, rockabilly-indie two step variety.
Delilah Dewylde and her dusty-trail Lost Boys, in town from Saugatuck, are going to beat listeners blue with their toe-thumping bass-line paired with the whiskey sour twang of the southern-styled songstress’ voice. While predictable in song style, most often opening up with Ms. Dewylde’s “I’m the boss around here” vocals– and strung together with a slapping on her coffin-sized upright bass, the band’s slightly-crooked eyebrow, black suits and red-dress attitude are plenty to get the neck swaying and the leg bouncing.
Followed by guitarist Lee Harvey’s Dick Dale styled, motorized guitar solos that could have revved out of a pick-up truck, listeners will find themselves right at home in the corners of the bar waiting for a fight to break out or the hoots to holler as if it was 110 degrees outside and they were in some bar off the side of Highway 61.
The band will also have “Delilah Wylde Berry Wheat” beer from Saugatuck Brewing Co. available for sale, so give it a taste if you want a stumble to your two-step Friday night.
For those that are interested in Son Drop and didn’t read last week’s article featuring their questionable appearance, expect some folk-inspired indie psychedelia.
The real story is that James Duke, founder and “brain-trust” of the group, is coming in town from Minneapolis for the show, and is more or less responsible for the one-night resurrection.
Having “not played full bando since February” or “Boiling Pot Festival 2011” (he can’t quite remember which), Duke had a few things to say about the first set the band has played together in almost a year:
“Son Drop has some new songs and some old ones. Jeremy Ruggles (bandmate) is in Mexico for this show, so the fabulous Selner Bros Band will be rounding out the set.”
“One time we played live on the radio. Actually two times. Both times were wild and unpolished and very fun. I was also sick and had this great rasp in my voice both times. I hope [the set] sounds like that.”
And for those that do decide to support the show, and mayhaps buy a CD or two, Duke hinted that he will “will use the money to buy taco bell at 2 am on my bus ride home, and maybe go on tour in the fall.”
You heard the man. This Friday night, Louie’s Trophy House at 9 p.m.
Tomorrow night, Kalamazoo basement venue the Crystal Cavern will rival the fun it offered last weekend when M Sord, Batcave, and others graced it’s cement floor.
Tiny Moving Parts describes themselves as “Minnesota kids who have nothing better to do.” This music video pretty much sums them up, but expect fun-time chime guitar riffs and a whole lot of shouting.
That’s Blood is four guys who grew up making music together in neighboring Kalamazoo city, Portage. Once known as Sea Rex, That’s Blood writes technical and heavy songs influenced by post-hardcore of the early 2000s, a la The Fall of Troy. They’ve been playing basements around Kalamazoo fairly often, and the above video is of a show they played at Victory house some months back.
George Costanza will be performing as well. We’ve mentioned George in a lot of recent posts, so we’ll skip the description this time to avoid redundancy, but what can be said is that they will be performing with known Kalamazoo musician Alex Young on drums until Chris gets back from his film internship in California.
The show starts at 9pm and Tiny Moving Parts has a gas tank will thank you for donating!
Come down to No Fun House around 5pm if you’re hungry and want to participate in the potluck/cookout, stay all night for music, which starts around 8pm. Emilio Festivez is No Fun House’s annual festival, featuring low volume bands, Estevez movies, and veggie burgers.
Alex and Marcus Quinlan are brothers from Battle Creek. This will be their first performance together. Alex has laid down some very thoughtful, reputable folk songs since the demise of both The Almanac Shouters and Rotten Wood Moon.
Sea Couch is a husband and wife duo from Baltimore that has an eerie, haunting aesthetic to their conceptual folk songs. Their instrumentation includes dual vocal, banjo, and acoustic guitar. Maryland isn’t close, so make sure to bring some donations, or at least some kind words for the couple of folkies.
Birdfingers is the songwriting project of Kalamazoo musician Bennett Young. Bennett has been known to perform both solo and with a full band, both of which are captivating set-ups. His music is bright and uplifting. It’s a tad folky, but modern and unique.
Lastly, a group that I’d have an awfully hard time writing an unbiased preview of, seeing as they might be the most important band in Kalamazoo to me, is Cold Mountain Child. CMC have been sharing their earthy, but spacey low volume soundscapes with K-zoo show-goers for years now. This past year, CMC upgraded from being a duo to being a full (but still quiet) band, including trap-kit drums, bass, violin, two acoustic guitars, electric guitar, keys and harmonizing vocals. Cold Mountain Child will soothe you and encourage you to think, while also creating an ethereal wall of sound.
You’re probably sun burnt. Possibly hungover. You’re either loving the newfound legality of airborne fireworks in Michigan or you’re really sick of it by now. But this is America, so let’s keep the party rolling.
Relationships and My Captain, My Sea on tour from the Steel(ers) City, Pittsburgh. They’re playing tonight with their local buds/teen heartthrobs George Costanza. It’s a night of fun, upbeat, twinkly, pretty, punky kind of stuff and it’s all going down below ground level which should feel very welcome in the midst of the current heat wave.
Bring a few dollars to help these Pennsylvanians on their tour and get ready for more fireworks and maybe even some BBQ action. It’s going down at 9PM.
What an amazing way to start a tour for Batcave & M. Sord! With Kzoo locals Inflatable Best Friend, Sid Redlin, and Terror Terror Oh My! accompanying them, this will be an outrageous must-see show!
Batcave
Comprised of locals Matt Maverick, Andrew Mansberger, Isaac Lowery, and Matt Wood, Batcave is yet another superlative Kalamazoo supergroup. Without any prior personal knowledge of their former bands, I do know that this lineup as well as their sound is something one must truly observe.
M. Sord hits the stage with a genuine extraterrestrial look and sound! Simply drums and shades. Rockin’ it with only the sound of his live drums and preprogrammed synths, this unique music will put you in a trance and take you to Venus.
The day before everyone goes out and takes advantage of Michigan’s new tolerance of dangerous fireworks, Kalamazoo will be visited by an alien presence. They will bring strange sounds that will make strange feelings. They will warm your soul and cool your jets, as the evening permits. they are:
Courtesy insectfields.org
INSECT FACTORY, an ambient noise act that is sure to simultaneously soothe and cause ruminations of thoughts of different places that are not quite tangible but absolutely do exist, probably.
PUBLIC SPEAKING is uncouth grooves and sensual vocals. A perfect blend to get the blood moving again, after all that sweet rumination.
KYLE LANDSTRA, a Kalamazoo local, will assist us in examining our metaphysical states and righting what may be wrong with our microcosmic orbits.
Finally, the GIANTS OF FREE JAZZ will be making a shadowy and mysterious appearance via Wireless technology.
The music starts at 9pm sharp and flat, but make sure you get there early enough to catch everything. Also bring some cash for the touring acts. The show is free, but they’ve got merch and will be accepting donations.
It’ll be quite the hullabaloo, boy let me tell you
DITKalamazoo 