Jucifer is a nomadic doom/drone metal band that has been touring consistently across the country in their RV for over a decade. The band has released material on Relapse Records and Alternative Tentacles. Also noted for their extreme volume, Jucifer is said to be as loud as a jet engine.
Local support includes
Inflatable Best Friend (7 inch release show)
Drink Their Blood
Super Thing
Louies Trophy House Bar and Grill. 440 E North Street.
9 Pm. 8 dollars at the door. Come crowd surf with me!
Kalamazoo sometimes is a great place for getting together with your friends to get sad, contemplative, pensive, nostalgic. That might not sound like a great time if you’re not well acquainted with the folk music that comes out of this town, or that tours in, but if you are you know it’s one of the more compelling musical experiences around.
Homeless Gospel Choir – the band one man band of Derek Zanetti out of Pittsburgh, PA – last played in Kalamazoo over 2 years ago while on tour with Harley Poe. Crammed in a livingroom packed to the gills, and no PA, HGC captivated an audience mostly unfamiliar with his work. His writing is relatable – a conemplative inner self struggling with an indifferent and dishonest world. But don’t let my shoddy words try and explain, here’s a video
Grey Gordon – on tour with HGC, previously played in Kalamazoo at the Corner Record Shop traveling with Jason Anderson. Grey’s music is sweetly sad and melancholy – like your favorite songs you forgot brought back new. You may not know the songs, but they’re likely to strike you as nostalgic.
This show will also be supported by locals Arms Akimbo – your local friend and sad story songwriter, and Axel Quinlan – folk songwriter in the wrong era singing to you regardless
This show is at The Kalamazoo Institute O’ Farts (not to be confused with the KIA). Contact DITkalamazoo@gmail.com for the address. Show is at 8:00. Bring dollars for the outta towners. Be excellent to your hosts and friends and friends you haven’t even met yet.
The Mount Pleasant/Detroit Grind trio CLOUD RAT will be kicking off their tour out west at the Courthouse this Wednesday. The Rat has only played kzoo one other time four years ago, and may not play here again any time soon, so make sure to be there so that you don’t miss my (and potentially your) favorite Michigan punk/grind band!
The new crust/black metal band DAKHMA, will be coming down from Grand Rapids to play their first show in Kalamazoo. If you like your music dark and full of blast beats for the long haul, this is a band for you.
Toping off the show will be locals SEVENTEEN AGAIN and BODIES, making for one heavy, fast, and angry night.
Make sure to bring some bucks for the touring bands, going way out west isn’t cheap. show starts at 7, so be punctual please!
Milhouse has got the cure for yr Monday blues. A rock solid lineup of local and touring weirdos ready to Rip It Up!
Check the technique:
Spray Paint are a fresh up-and-coming Rock band from Texas. All kinds of interesting elements make up their unique sound. Garage fuzz, No Wave skronk, Post Punk dance, Rock & Roll reverb. Debut full length LP out now on S.S. Records. Be sure you grab a copy at their show tonight!
Frostbiter is a side project from the mysterious Matt Maverick. Dueling synthesizers playing coldwave minimal electronica. Might even hear a little saxophone. Come nod yr head to this.
Surprise Attack is a local Noise Rock Power Trio. Sid and Poncho on the drones and Saxsquatch on the skins. Prepare yrself for liquid trance jazz sound waves. Let it take you away.
Y’all know the drill.
Leave the jerks at home.
Bring a friend.
Donate to the touring band.
Buy some merch.
Doors at 8pm.
Respect.
Tomorrow night, Kalamazoo once again hosts one of the most indomitable rock bands in the history of the known universe: DEAD RIDER. There’s not much that needs to be said, really. This is the Rock Music of the Future. Grimy, burning, and beyond reproach. All Bangs, No Whispers.
Playing support is Kalamazoo’s premiere noise-rock unit, FORGET THE TIMES. Lead by the fearless Sean Hartman, this is seriously one of my favorite local bands to experience. If you still have the ability to feel, this will feel so good. If you have been numbed by years of drudgery, take heart! FTT will put some tingles in you yet.
Finally, rock-solid Psych Powerhouse BROWN COMPANY will similarly be supporting this bill. Featuring members of Minutes and Violent Apathy, this is a collection of sounds that will make you reconsider ever giving up the guitar back when you were seventeen and couldn’t quite get the chords right to ‘Hotel California’.
Music starts at 9pm, and it’s $5 at the door to get in. A paltry amount for such a fantastic collection of performances.
1 CAVEAT though, Friends: You have to be 18 or older to show up, even though it’s Spring Break.
Overly Polite Tornadoes, the playful moniker Mark and Holly Morris are using for their latest musical project, are releasing their first EP and hitting the road to promote it. The tour kickoff happens this Thursday 8 p.m. at the Vine Neighborhood Association at 511 W. Vine Street. This is a FREE ALL AGES show, and will be supported by two local groups and one touring band.
The link and image above are one of the few recordings currently available on Overly Polite Tornadoes bandcamp. Those familiar with Mark and Holly’s work with the Glowfriends will find that while the voice may be familiar, the soundscape is more drawn out and textured on these recordings. The track posted above reminds this writer of Flying Saucer Attack’s second LP “Further.” Whether that was an immediate influence on Overly Polite Tornadoes, I cannot say.
Coming through Kalamazoo by way of Olympia, Washington are Hot Tears. The songs available on their bandcamp foretell a dramatic live show with lots of crescendos and blown minds. You can preview them here: http://hottears.bandcamp.com/
Local support will be provided by a Morris family project called Cardboard Highway (http://cardboardhighway.bandcamp.com/) and Vine area regulars Boring People (http://boringpeople.bandcamp.com/). Not only is this show FREE, but it is ALL AGES! The event will get underway at 8 p.m. sharp, so don’t delay! Once again, the Vine Neighborhood Association building is located at 511 W. Vine Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Boots Riley is a pretty rad (and radical) musician who will be giving a lecture at the Wesley Foundation tomorrow(Thurs) at 7pm in the Cafe downstairs. He’s best known in his involvement in The Coup.
The Corner Record Shop is a place to learn all about music you might not know much about – or to delve even further into something you know you like. Be it by asking the employees, buying records on a gamble, or checking out any of the numerous shows, you’re likely to expand your musical horizons easily in this place.
And where else on a Monday night will you get such a compelling mix of live music?
COMFORT FOOD– are a noisy jazz two-piece, with a distinct sound that even puts it somewhere near No Wave. It’s angular, harsh at times, but with a distinguished groove. They’re traveling from Chicago to our humble town, and will eventually have their newest release out on Already Dead Tapes (based both here and in Chicago).
Supporting Comfort Food, local ringleader and founder of guitar noise outfit Forget The Times, SEAN HARTMAN will be brandishing his musical weapon of choice solo, which is a rare experience.
Plus a newer project, CARDBOARD HIGHWAY will be showcasing their skillful shoegaze and post rock tunes.
Show starts at 9:00! Bring extra scratch to donate to Comfort Food, and maybe even a bit extra after that for a record or two – if that’s your thing. Be excellent.
Maybe if you were in Kalamazoo in 2008, you went to Rocketstar Cafe. Primarily a coffee shop, sometimes also hosting all ages shows of a variety of genres. Maybe at that time you, like me, saw Ghost Mice and Eric Ayotte play a lovely and energetic folk show.
Photo by Jes Kramer
And if you’re familiar with Kalamazoo, you’ll also know that accessible venues have had a hell of a time remaining open. Shortly after this, Rocketstar ceased to be. Other spots have come and gone through the years, and many houses have picked up the slack – though not in a particularly legal or accessible way either.
Around the time of this Ghost Mice show, there was talk of creating the Kalamazoo Collective Arts Center. Tons of work was done on creating bylaws for this all ages art space, but when nailing down a location became exceedingly difficult, the project fizzled out. But now it’s back! A new group of people are picking up where the originators left off, and are looking to create an affordable, accessible space for all art and all ages.
And also through this all, the Kalamazoo Peace Center has offered a space on campus for music, radical discussion, workshops and speakers. This sort of activity goes hand in hand with the not-for-profit, DIY ethic that is entrenched in the Kalamazoo music scene.
The KCAC and Peace Center are looking for your support, and have thrown together a nostalgic show for the purpose! Featuring:
THE ALMANAC SHOUTERS – Formed in 2009, the Almanac Shouters are a local band, playing their first (and only planned) show in almost 2 years. They’re a loud folk band with reflective and metaphoric lyrics you can scream and dance to. The line up for this show features Axel Quinlan, Fiona Dickinson, Nola Wiersma, and Rory Svekric.
GHOST MICE – A band synonymous with Plan-It-X Records, a DIY label known for the slogan “If It Ain’t Cheap, It Ain’t Punk” and putting out some of the best of folk and pop punk over the last 20 years. Ghost Mice are straightfoward and honest songwriters whose earnest dedication to their words is compelling.
THE MINOR KIND– Eric Ayotte, folk song writer and short film enthusiast, has a new project and this is it. It’s a country band, it’s sweet, you’ll like it.
This show also features a ROOT BEER KEG for all who donate. Please be excellent to eachother and respect the house! The show is likely to be packed, so make sure to take care of those around you.
9:00 PM start time. Putting the punc back in punctual. Email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com for the address.
Eclectic doesn’t necessarily mean difficult, and here is a prime example of artists drawing from many different sources to create compelling and catchy music that’s hella tasty for your earbuds!
PORCHES. a full band and sometimes solo project of Aaron Maine, is a blend of folk and indie rock in an unexpected way. Traveling all the way from New York to our humble basements, PORCHES. are here to share with you captivating and moving songwriting you can get your dance on to. This group is labelmates of such wonderful groups as Pile, Speedy Ortiz, Krill, Kal Marks and many others who may have already impressed you.
This show will also feature a resurgence of Double Phelix man of mystery GITIS BAGGS! Although Gitis has been playing music consistently in a myriad of local projects, his solo work has not been heard for some time. That being said, Gitis plays wonderful experimental and thoughtful folk that is lush, ambient, and strange. You wont want to miss!
PLUS while we’re at it, TRANCERS, a newer local project, will be making their basement debut. From influences all across the board, you can tell these folks have deeply entrenched themselves in music fandom, and are sharing their findings with us all.
Show starts at 9:00. Please donate what you can, as PORCHES. have traveled quite a ways to get here, and need to sometime get home. Be excellent to each other. Dance yr butts off. Contact DITkalamazoo@gmail.com for the address.
DITKalamazoo 
