King Eddie Expands His Kingdom

For his recent self-titled album, King Eddie frontman Justin Maike had the goal of creating something “as D.I.Y. as possible, while still sounding polished and nice.” So he made the album using the resources he had in front of him, from recording in a haunted house in Detroit to hanging blankets on the walls so Read More

Movement Electronic Music Festival 2015

The Phase 2 line-up includes: ! ! ! 313 The Hard Way (DJ Seoul b2b DJ Psycho b2b T.Linder) ADMN Al Ester Andy Garcia Annix Anthony Jimenez Ben Christensen Brodinski Bruce Bailey Calico Carl Craig featuring Mad Mike Banks – live Charles Trees Classixx D.Wynn Darkcube – live Dilemma Dink & TK DJ Godfather featuring Read More

PHOTO GALLERY – CHURCH: REVIVAL

After more than two years of work, Detroit hip-hop duo Passalacqua and genre-defying electro duo SYBLYNG (Seth and Jax Anderson of Flint Eastwood) are releasing their collaborative album, entitled “CHURCH”. CHURCH is Passalacqua’s first album release in three years, and it was produced entirely by SYBLYNG. Revival is the album release show, which highlighted their Read More

Bands You Need to Know: The Native Howl

Folk-rock bandits, The Native Howl formed less than 2 years ago when singer-songwriters Jake Sawicki and Alex Holycross finally joined forces after years of making music in close proximity to one another. Since coming together the duo have self-released The Revolution’s Dead EP, and used their combined business acumen to launch Clean As Dirt Records, Read More

Second Single From Nunca Duerma “Shapeshifter” LP

Old Tacoma Records and Young Heavy Souls present Shapeshifter. An 11-track LP combining elements of hip-hop, jazz, and electronica from Chicago-based producer, Nunca Duerma will be released on Tuesday, July 22. The full-length album will be available for purchase on iTunes and on 12” vinyl records through the Young Heavy Souls store for a limited Read More

The HandGrenades Release New Video for “Wrapped in Plastic”

Detroit favorite, The HandGrenades, just released the best (more like whatever the superlative of bomb-ass is) video I’ve seen come out of Detroit in a long time.   This eye/ear-gasm for their track, “Wrapped in Plastic” off of their awaited EP, 52, was directed by their very own, Jesse Shepherd-Bates.  The crew lets us sit-in on Read More

PHOTO GALLERY: SLEAZY MCQUEEN @ WHISKEY DISCO

SLEAZY MCQUEEN (Whiskey Disco Records) w/ Dustin Alexander & Jerry Downey (Sexual Tension) As owner of the record label Whiskey Disco, Sleazy McQueen has helped to give the ‘Nu-Disco’ scene an element of referential class. With remarkably well produced re-works and originals, the Sleazy sound combines the dirty fun ofseventies funk with the hypnotic rhythms Read More

For All The Bad Mama Jamas

Born in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood in 1952, Carl Carlton spent his childhood in a city that was on the verge of a new musical revolution.  When Motown was founded in 1959, the signature “Motown sound” soon became a model for what everyone aspired to sound like.  Carl Carlton began singing and recording in the Read More

Smooth Soul Vibrations

Eric and the Vikings added soulful flavor to the Detroit music scene via Soulhawk records in the late 1960s and 1970s.  The Soulhawk label was owned and operated by Richard “Popcorn” Wylie, who had been influential with Motown from the beginning and now operated as a producer, songwriter, and supporter of Northern Soul.  Members Eryke Read More

PHOTO GALLERY: BIG FISH DISCO wsg JARED WILSON – Jerry Downey’s Birthday Party

It”s 2014 now and we’re reelin’ in the big fish in celebration of Sexual Tension Detroit owner, Jerry Downey’s birthday – Detroit style. with DJ set by Acid & Techno legend… JARED WILSON (7777, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Skudge) “Jared Wilson is of a new Detroit lilt. He has not been eclipsed by the gravitas that comes Read More

We Love The Contours

Originally formed in Detroit in 1958, The Contours started out as a quartet consisting of lead singer Billy Gordon, Billy Hogg, Joe Billingslea and Sylvester Potts.  Their original name was The Blenders, but after the addition of guitarist Huey Davis and Hubert Johnson (cousin of Jackie Wilson), they became The Contours and auditioned with Berry Read More

Detroit Bass Player interview “Ralphe Armstrong” interview

Big Ive sits down with the legendary Ralphe Armstrong for an up-close and personal chat. For those that know or have seen Ralphe know when he talks, you should listen! In 1973, Ralphe Armstrong – a 17-year-old Detroit kid just out of high school tried out for a gig with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. “The other Read More

Having Big Fun on the Dance Floor with Inner City

Throwback Thursday on our site honors the originators and innovators who paved the way for other contemporary Detroit artists to explore their sound and vision, and thanks to true visionaries like Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, Detroit has a signature techno sound that has reverberated throughout the music world.  Kevin Saunderson met his Read More

DBP INTERVIEW WITH JAZZ GREAT ‘ROBERT HURST’

While not exactly sure how big the Bass-Mint is, this summit of upright bass players is impressive. Ivan “Big Ive” Williams chats with Jazz Great Robert Hurst, and friends. Robert Hurst has been one of the most in-demand bass players in jazz for the past quarter century and has done extensive stints in the bands Read More

DSLT: Best of 2013

Since we are new in town, we decided not to do a traditional list, that being #1 is the best and #25 being the bottom.  Instead we have compiled a list of 20 Artists/Bands that really made their mark in 2013, within in the city and our ears. Our list will include electronic artists, indie Read More

A Fireside Chat with “The Jet Rodriguez” frontman, Cameron Navetta

Thursday, October 10th, 2013.  Raining innumerable domestic animals.  Inside the New Way Bar, loners, lovers, childhood friends, and withered businessmen merge with a love of two sacred things in common: music and baseball.  The Jet Rodriguez gets the crowd on their feet just in time for the Detroit Tigers to trample the Oakland Athletics with Read More

The Just Brothers Give Us Northern Soul

Jimmy and Frank Bryant were two brothers from Detroit who worked as session musicians and created a dance-floor hit so groovy, it has been sampled over the years by the likes of British DJ hit-maker Norman Cook (known by most as Fatboy Slim) to create an iconic Northern Soul sound that people for decades have Read More

Freda Payne : Detroit Gold

Freda Payne was born in Detroit in 1942 with Motown soul in her genes — both Freda and her sister, former Supreme Scherrie Payne, were blessed with the gift of vocal prowess.  Freda Payne attended the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts when she was younger and grew up with the influence of female jazz vocalists.  Read More

Education Sounds Like This

I sit here in this brightly-colored classroom, as my teacher pulls up a file on his computer screen and suddenly he asks, “Do you see that big phallic thing at 200?”  My eyes focus on the projected image before me. “Yeah, we gotta get everything out of its way.” That’s when I realized this was Read More

A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City

The Eastown Theatre went from being an opulent, family-friendly movie house in Detroit around the 1930s, to a rough-and-tumble rock-and-roll rave spot plagued by bad luck in the 1960s. After being shut down for a brief period in the early ’70s, the Eastown was renamed the Showcase Theatre and opened up for another run in Read More