Our friends over at Kalamazoo Noise snagged some cool footage of local math rockers, Good News live at the Koffee Klutch. Dig.

If you like this, be sure to come see them at No Fun House on July 30th with And I Was Like, What? and Fox & The Law.

On July 8, Ann Arbor’s Nathan K brought his signature honesty and precise finger-picking to a Kalamazoo audience at the Strutt. Nathan’s songs have a certain feel to them; kind of like driving away from someone you really love, and thinking about why you love them.

Fiona Dickinson made everyone stop in their tracks, beers half lifted to their lips, necks craned to to see where this sound could possibly be coming from. Accompanied by an all-star band of locals, Fiona’s spacey folk grew into a cloud of strange and unsettling emotion that was at once familiar and mysterious. All we knew was that it was beautiful, and we wanted to be close to it.

The Mind Death Quintet slowed things down a bit and turned each chord into a multi-layered wave of swirling sound. Jeremy Ruggles‘ voice floated over the top, like Gene Wilder in a room full of psychedelic candy, re-assuring listeners that it was all right to keep walking further into unknown parts and pleasures. I haven’t felt this way since I had that nervous breakdown at that Pink Floyd laser light show in 1999. Just kidding. But seriously.

p.s. I had the pleasure of making the flyer for this event. If anyone wants me to design flyers for their show, it’s only $10! Shoot me an email at james.r.duke@wmich.edu and tell me what you’re looking for.

No Fun House did it again.

Having personally worked the door, I can say without doubt that there were 50 people in that basement, rocking out and having an excellent time to two visiting bands, plus some wacked-out experimental quartet that I don’t know anything about. If you missed it, you missed out, so keep your eyes open for the next one.

I can’t say much about the quality of the opening act (on account of I was in it), but I can say that we’re called Forget The Times, we’re local (represen’in’), and we like weird noises. Sean Hartman, Peter Cook, and Benji Puppies (all DIT associates) are the three-guitar army of sorts, then there’s some punk-sissy on a drum kit. We’ll be around, so keep your ear to the ground if something like that interests you.

Next on the bill was Sohns, a most excellent high-octane super-charged rock group from San Antone, Texas. Fast guitars, technical drums, high-pitched vocals and -volume- made this group a sight to hear. From my seat in the back of the room at the doorman’s post, all I could see was a bunch of hot and sweaty bodies rockin’ to the sounds of what I can only assume was a class-A example of a Texan Friday night (except on a Wednesday, and in Michigan). What I heard, though, is best described as an unrelenting musical assault a-la rock-n-roll. If Sohns makes it back through the Zoo, you can bet good money I’ll be there to see it.

Third and finally, Northern Indiana put Analecta on loan for the night. They were fantastic. While not quite as spastic and sharp-edged as Sohns proved to be, they were just as loud, trading in the cut and scream of righteous electric guitars with strong melodic concepts and a pleasing aural resonance that had me, personally, leaning back with my eyes closed. The three-piece cites both Russian Circles and Explosions in the Sky as influences, and that is about as close to home as one can get. These post-rockers are another must-see, and with Indiana only being a short jaunt away (you gotta go down there for your cheap cigarettes and fireworks anydangway), it shouldn’t be too hard to catch ’em real soon.

Tonight there’s a few things happening, what with Emilio Festivez tearin’ down No Fun, and The Strutt playing host to Fiona Dickenson, Jeremy Ruggles (and the Mind-Death Quintet), and Nathan K. Slide by both if you get a chance. Or pick one. Either way, and whatever your flavor, you ain’t got no excuses to stay home tonight.