Is your local, neighborhood English major with too much time on his hands (directly related to the same major), so he bothers the people around him about music, news, and other nonsense. He is a writer for DITKalamazoo, The Index, Kalamazoo Local Music, and has written for Kzoo Music Scene. He is also a co-founder of the no-cost recording group DIT Sessions, where he also manages video editing and video recording.
Grief and Grumble.
Goodnight and goodluck.
With the days counting down to the second Already Dead Family Reunion, we here over at DIT figured we’d do an extended preview of sorts about a few of the artists that are near, dear, or just plain cool. On each day of this week we are going to be posting a new artist. saying a little bit about them, and why they are going to make this year’s AD Fest just that much more unmissable.
Los Angeles-based artist Emperor X has only twice visited Kalamazoo in three times as many years (ADFR will be his third time to the city), but with a passion for touring and physical musical media, the Already Dead Family seems a proper fit. The dedication for the original, creative, and representation of physical music is so intuitive, that with the latest Emperor X release Western Teleport (2011), 41 purple cassette tapes were hidden around North America as part of a meta-game which would unlock extra MP3s. Only 15 of them have been found.
While founder Chad Matheny first came to Kalamazoo years ago with a full band behind him, Emperor X has since simplified into a solo set that has toured all over the United States– it was a show in Willimantic, CT with Forget The Times that initially introduced Matheny to Already Dead Tapes co-founder and festival starter Sean Hartman. While designs for a 4-way split featuring Emperor X on Already Dead Records were thought up, they have since been changed to a normal split twixt Dan Doyle and the Hermit Thrushes, Hartman has assured that “we’ll get something with him eventually.”
Though reduced to the company of himself, Emperor X‘s sound is not by any means meager. The one-man-show is rounded out with loop pedals, multiple microphones, and song lyrics pumped full of science-savvy terminology, geek-culture references, and heart-throbbing angst that provide oodles of experimental-pop sound. Everything is as catchy as fish-hook strung through Ben Gibbard’s upper-lip, and as hauntingly vexing as a Sam Beam solo set.
Those that want to sneak a peak at Emperor X can check out his song “Erica Western Teleport” from Western Teleport below. For a more intimate feel, listeners and viewers can witness him live at Louie’s Trophy House and Grill, this Saturday from 10:30 p.m. to 11:15p.m. as part of the Already Dead Family Reunion. Tickets $7 now, $10 at the door, or $12 for the whole weekend.
Respect the Bar, Respect the Crowd, but don’t forget to enjoy yourself.
When writing a show preview it is often difficult to avoid hyperbole—providing the ample amount of excitement and vigor to transfer over to those that brush their eyes across words to energize legs into moving is a unique task. One doesn’t want to appear false in their enthusiasm or else it lends to a discredited event, and possibly a disappointed audience at both the show and on the article.
That’s why it often gives the writer the utmost pleasure and satisfaction when the topic , or rather the person or persons involved already possess a vigor and enthusiasm that allows for proper representation of their event. Ulysses Eatah, WIDR DJ, blogger on ufodictator.com, and owner of the small label that operates out of it, is earnest of his love for music while simultaneously holding a humble position on his role in its production, and the bands he has gathered together for the eighth UFO Dictator show at Louie’s this year. In an interview Ulysses provided a comprehensive run-down of his history of blogging, and with his inspiration for UFO Dictator, check it out. This is more his article than mine:
OK, brief history.
2007 started putting out records.
2005 first annual UFO Dictator show.
2004 I started a website called UFO Dictator to talk some shit about music and things that really mattered like baseball, OCD, and records found at Goodwill.
1997 started DJing on WIDR and playing the kind of music that I still like: loud, fast, rock ‘n’ roll AKA punk rock.
1987 I heard some weird, abrasive shit on WIDR when I was in middle school and that started me on the path to enjoying weird stuff.
The reason why I started my radio show, having an annual show, and putting out records were all for the same reason: the shit that I really dig wasn’t being fairly represented in my hometown. You gotta think that late 90s in Kalamazoo and most of the midwest was 3rd generation emo, 6th generation hardcore, and penultimate edition college rock. I’d go to shows, I’d have an OK time, but nothing got me that excited. So I apply at WIDR do 6 months of rotation and take over the Friday night slot that’s been the time for punk rock and I start playing Rip Off, Crypt and In The Red Records instead of Dischord, Vermiform and Kill Rock Stars. Dig stuff on all of those labels then and now but I was tired of Buddy Holly glasses and dudes wearing sweaters in August.
The radio show is fun, introduce the fine listeners to worldwide punk rock stuff from the late 60’s up to the current crop of stuff and I only play stuff that I personally enjoy.
In 2005 I ask my buddy Matt Dorbin who’s booking shows if he would help me get some of my favorite local bands that play loud, aggressive rock’n’roll a show and we’ll name it after the newly minted UFO Dictator website. He says yeah and we do an annual show every year since.
The label starting was more of the same. Some of my friends are in bands, I like their bands, I want to see them release on vinyl, so we did. All of the bands are based out of SW Michigan so far except for a few of the bands on the I’d Buy That For A Dollar comps where Spain, Milwaukee, Memphis, Chicago and Lafayette are represented. Haven’t put anything out since 2010 and really don’t plan on putting anything else out in the next year or two as it’s hard as hell to release records. I was going to put out a single by my own band on my label but that would mean that we’d break up within a month of the record coming out. Rimshot.
A lot of people think call this UFO Dictator fest but it’s not a festival. There’s no ninjas riding tilt-a-whirls spraying Faygo at people while Andrew WK is trolling the crowd who’re fucked up on Oxys and fried Oreos. That’s a festival. This is just a show with some bands that I wanted to see. Sometimes we have had it 2 nights and that’s fucking awesome but also a nightmare and my 25 friends already complain that I ask them to come out and watch some amazing bands play for 1 night and by the second night they’re back at home watching Soap on Antenna TV.
I’m always thankful that anybody gives a rat’s ass about music. Especially the little sub-genre of rock’n’roll that I’m still a huge fan of. This year’s show is scaled back in the fact that it’s only 1 day, 1 venue, and 5 bands. But it’s pretty huge because we’ve got 2 metal bands to start and end the night in. Beast In The Field is playing for the 2nd time this year at Louies. So crazy, 1 drummer and 1 guitar playing through 4 heads and 8 cabs. I know that you’ve seen them before, fuck. Barring any power failures it should be the loudest thing at Louies ever. The Manatees from Memphis are Abe’s baby and he’s making his 2nd UFO Dictator appearance and I think that he’s played drums in at least 5 different bands here in the past 7 or 8 years. Total fucking punk. Corrosive Kids from GR are total art scum punk Electric Eels nonsense. Kalamazoo upstarts Bat Cave are bringing the WIREy styled drone. And opening up the show with their first public appearance is Bonehawk. I guess that they’re going to play some secret style of metal at fucking 8pm when the show starts. Considering that the core of the band was in stoner jamz Mesa, the whole night should be pretty heavy.
Oh yeah, I really don’t like promoting stuff. Makes me feel like I’m selling life insurance for babies. That said though, the show is going to be awesome. I’d pay $7 to see any of these bands separately and you get them all in 1 night. Fuckit.
-Ulysses Eatah
Check out the show tomorrow night at Louie’s. Bring some seven dollars, and a pair of effective eargplugs, because your drums (of the ear variety) are going to fly out and pierce the eyes of the person behind you if you don’t.
DIT Sessions is going to be interviewed on WIDR 89.1 FM tomorrow at 2 p.m. until 3 p.m., as well as showcasing music from past sessions—so all y’all should tune in if you are in the Kalamazoo area or listen live online via http://www.widr.org/. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Like it on facebook. All that s’tuff. It’s like they’ve won a major award.
Hey guess who forgot about the article they were supposed to write about the show that starts at 9 p.m. at Milhouse?
The Bulletproof Tiger sounds deliberate. Listening to is like starting and stopping dominoes with deft hands to create pools of black and white indie-rock paint that just oozes inky perfection—all while notes dance atop a snare drum to an electric-guitar conductor. These four lads out of Toronto are skilled instrumental math-rockers (no lyrics here folks), eschewing typical pop-styles such as when one would expect the structure of the song to be dependent on “verse-chorus-verse-chorus” for less predictable instrumental constructions, sometimes having 5-6 different, distinct sections to a song. Each song is seemingly out-of-sync, only to take a tip and twist in which tempered tapping of the guitar strings rush listeners back into confidence.
Providing some jumping-and-pumping music, sure to get chests sweaty and fists wailing about in the air, will be four-piece emo-punk group The Marine Electric from Brooklyn. Screams and grunts are reminiscent of 90’s skate-punk, less violent and more bloody heart-thumping angst, only further enforced with a throaty growl that is present in most songs that rumbles its way over the flighty choruses. Plenty of cymbal crashing and momentous punk-chords are here to get the circulatory system going, and Minutes fans should also give these guys a look as well.
Providing the most pop influenced sound of the night, the providentially named Cherry Cola Champions—never mind they aren’t coming due to familial injury. BUT SUPPORT THEM/ CHECK THEM OUT ANYWAY:
And hey, give the locals some love too—The Reptilian will be all over the grittier, free-formed, edge of punk tonight, sounding all ramshackled and ready to battle with the boot stomping heart to their music with outlying mechanical guitar playing and spacey drums. With twangy guitar solos paired to punk-chords and rambunctious break-downs The Reptilian is a raucous, rough and roaring addition to the night.
Donations for the touring bands are always accepted, but tom-foolery involving the destruction of the house is not.
Respect yourself, respect others, respect the house.
With their third full length album in under a year, Coma Nova’s “The Hazard Album,” released July 17th, shows what might happen when artistic apathy takes control an album.
Before allowing that foreboding sentence to seize your eardrums, listeners and fans shouldn’t question the quality of the album—even if it requires a wary listen. Bouncing around between the genres of grunge, metal, surf-rock, classic-punk, and rap, the trio has produced their most eclectic (and lengthy, coming in at a healthy twenty songs) record to date.
That length provides plenty of listening enjoyment for those that are already familiar with the gritty, alt-grunge, fuck-you sound of Coma Nova,. While no-longer the four piece group with female lead that graced the cover of West Michigan Noise as of last year, the core trio of friends –Eli Kroes, Jake Marcus, and Matt Motzell (after a hiccup with another, now self-exiled drummer, who appears as The Professor on the album)–still remains.
The album wavers between 90’s grunge experimentalism and angered-rap apathy. It starts off with a sludgy beat song “The Boggart” that straddles some wobbly line between metal and grunge. However, “The Boggart” does little to set the tone of the album. Sitting on a sound of garbling dark-matter, Coma Nova dissolves the volcanic guitar tracks in favor of a punk-rock anthem on the next track, “Nightmare Generator,” along to the frantically repeated lyrics “it’s alright.”
The genre-hopping occurs in bursts during the first half of the album, favoring punk trips during “Nightmare Generator” and “Showbiz,” followed by grunge-metal hybridizations like “Chains” and “Nazi Sympathizer.” While the diversion from a single focused genre can be distracting, it doesn’t feel forced; rather the band feels comfortable performing and experimenting within these genres that have built off of each other—taking a lick from here, rocking a graveling voice there, Coma Nova manages to make genre abandon a-ok.
But where abandon and absence of self-definition aid the band in the first eight songs of the album, a shift into rap—specifically of the “hate” variety, brings a questionable tone to the album. After a series of grunge tunes(or somewhere in the vicinity of the genre), listeners are smacked with the bands’ rap caricatures/alter-egos Sharks/The HATE Noise (Eli), Mean Gene (Jake), Anonymous (Matt) so much so that it feels like a completely separate album.
In an interview, Eli ascribed the shift in gears, during both the first and second halves of the album, to boredom and apathy. “Once we’re done with one project, we’re sick of listening to all these songs we just worked on. We want to make something else at that point.”
Collaborating with other local artists The Wrap, DJ Gami, Dankstarr, and The Professor, Coma Nova creates a hip-hop narrative of gun-toting violence, physical abuse, white-trash, and homophobia.
Set to a catchy, upbeat, guitar riff, during “I Get Mad” Sharks slings rhymes about dealing cocaine and meth (nobody’s cocaine is whiter/ I bring mine across the border), drinking and fighting cops (last time I did some shots/ I got grilled by fifteen cops) all along to the chorus “I get mad, I get mad/ oh I get mad, gonna whoop that ass just like your dad.”
Most of the songs are provocative, past the point of braggadocio (when rappers rap about how great they are and how much other rappers/ individuals suck in comparison, specifically through rhyming). The last song of the album “Has Been For Years” features Sharks and Mean Gene claiming credit for blowing up the Twin Towers right alongside “gotta love fairies/ or not/ fuck that, fuck J.K. Rowling/ yo faggot, your boyfriend’s calling,” all set to Frankie Valie’s “Walk Like A Man.” Much of it seems to be Coma Nova just wanting a rise out of the listeners, Eli himself claiming that “some shit just seemed funny.”
Others are crude, such as “Future On The Road,” a song about truckers having gay-sex, along with a few chilled-out rap songs about smoking weed, like “Herb.” All of it is catchy, and well mixed—both DJ Gami and Eli are obviously talented producers, Eli handling all the in-studio production with Gami on all the live tracks, and they keep things crisp, almost allowing the polished rhymes to pass through without hindrance.
However, for as catchy and well put-together as it is, its tone and content’s disregard for sensitive subjects will alienate many listeners. In an interview lead guitar and vocalist Eli described their intentions as “wanting to make fun of the things around us growing up: homophobic white-trash that shoot-off guns in the woods,” (as most evidently shown in the track “Fully Automatic Gun Addict”) and bassist Jake asserted that they “never wanting to offend anyone,” (a statement not as easily certified). The message just doesn’t come across clearly on the first listen, and requires a few, heaping, handfuls of salt to get through without a resounding “fuck you” to the band—despite quality production, practiced experimentation, and a healthy confidence from the band itself.
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.
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.
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.
Has the sizzle-snap hiss of insects dying a humid death in blue-bleakness of a bug zapper have you hankering for a humble hootenanny DIT readers, listeners, watchers, (whatever)? Tomorrow night, at Milhouse, Ramshackle Glory, Lincoln County War, Son Drop, along with Tim Tapper and the Terribles, are planting a raging blue liberty spike atop the cowboy hat of country music.
Ramshackle Glory is a seven-piece punk band out of Tuscon, AZ, formed by Pat the bunny of DIY note. However somewhere along the way to the Midwest, an irate Southern Illinois farmer mugged the group, took their electric guitars, and left them with just enough money for some aging instruments at the local pawnshop. Equipped with trumpet, banjo, accordion, and piano, Ramshackle Glory’s sound could be cousin to that of Streetlight Manifesto if one were to replace the dramatized ska for working class twang. Songs such as “More about alcoholism,” lyrics like “Carl Marx in my bedroom alone,” and just plain poetic verses like “lick my dirty balls,” impress a swaggering tone that burns like the end of a bottle of Jim Beam and leaves you just as blearily satisfied.
Lincoln County War, a duo comprised of Benjamin Myers on guitar and Sofia peters on violin, are folks playing folk all about killing folks. Driven, loud, and surprisingly violent, the two have a fiery approach to twiddling fiddling. Tearing up while screaming along to their battered, bumpy, country road of a set will be appropriate.
If the sweating and swearing of the other groups gets listeners grabbing for their heart medication, then Son Drop (sans founder and lead-man James Duke) will lull listeners in with a porch-rocking, foot tapping tone. With slurred up renditions of “Sunshine” and a sound like pickled surf-rock played as heard through a soup can, Son Drop will have listeners staring at the ceiling reminiscing of basements past. While Duke won’t be there, this is the first time these boys have played in over a year, so it will be interesting to see what they pull out of their hats.
Tim Tapper and the Terribles are a three piece group formed around Kalamazoo singer-songerwriter Tim Tapper, with the ever-loving Jarad “Saxsquatch” Selner on drums and poster-extraordinaire Rory Svekric, of the Almanac Shouters, on bass. This three-piece will be something to check out, Tapper promising a more “upbeat, charged up” performance differing from the solo stuff he usually produces.
Show starts at 8 p.m. Don’t trash the house. Bring donations, although the music is free. Hooligans.
Resonating with the ambient hum of youth and glitter, Glowfriends has prepared a show this Saturday for thine listening enjoyment. What’s that? Haven’t seen them and whilst in the proper–upbeat–happy-go-lucky state of euphoria necessary to allow their loafer-gazing sound to wash over sparkling electrified eyeballs? Fear not, for this show is at BIGGBY (on Stadium Drive). If coffee doesn’t cut it, well, we here at DIT do not recommend substance abuse. Eyes may taped open and smiles may be pried open with fingers. Expect forceably upraised eyebrows.
Caffeinate those cavernous craws and enjoy the free show (yes, free) and the Kalamazoo premiere of Cardboard Highway, which, according to lead vocalist April Zimont of Glowfriends, is a “special surprise.” It is an all ages show, so get the heads out of the gutter, and mind the cussin’.
Show starts at 7 p.m., caffeine starts always.
And now for a music video to rally the summer mood.
DITKalamazoo 