Tag: Detroit MI

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: ADULT. Returns with Incendiary “R U 4 $ALE”

Throughout the course of their 25-year history, Detroit-based industrial, synth punks ADULT. — Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller — have embodied steadfast frustration, distrust and apprehension. Typically for acts that have been together that long, the edges began to soften with time, but the duo isn’t interested or even remotely concerned about the comfort of legacy. 

Kissing Luck Goodbye, the duo’s 10th album is slated for a March 27, 2026 release through Dais Records. Reportedly, the album features music that may arguably be the most visceral, urgent, angry and uncompromising effort of their career to date. Built with upgraded gear and a whole new library of sounds, Kissing Luck Goodbye‘s material is crushingly dynamic, louder and much clearer with Kuperus’ commanding delivery being given much greater delivery in the mix, outlining an arsenal of vivid, caustic calls, chants and music. Laughter, whether in the lyrics or as possessed presence, serves as a leitmotif through the material that speaks to the menacing absurdity of our moment. 

The album will include the previously released single “No One Is Coming,” a rousingly anthemic and urgent scorcher, and the album’s latest single “R U 4 $ALE.” Much like its immediate predecessor, “R U 4 $ALE” is a hypnotic, urgent and forceful banger that features one of Kuperus’ most dynamic and unhinged vocal performances to date, anchored around an incendiary mantra of our age “The chaos is what they want!”

The song doubles as a declaration of intent: to meet a burning and rotting world of greed, disarray and abuse with defiant, masterfully assembled chaos. “You have two choices in this hellscape we’re living in right now, which is either fight or be depressed,” ADULT.’s Adam Lee Miller says. “Either one is okay. But, you know, our choice to fight back was simple.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ADULT. Shares Urgent, Anthemic “No One is Coming”

Throughout the course of their 25-year history, Detroit-based industrial, synth punks ADULT. — Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller — have embodied steadfast frustration, distrust and apprehension. Typically for acts that have been together that long, the edges began to soften with time, but the duo isn’t interested or even remotely concerned about the comfort of legacy.

Kissing Luck Goodbye, the duo’s 10th album is slated for a March 27, 2026 release through Dais Records. Reportedly, the album features music that may arguably be the most visceral, urgent, angry and uncompromising effort of their career to date. Built with upgraded gear and a whole new library of sounds, Kissing Luck Goodbye‘s material is crushingly dynamic, louder and much clearer with Kuperus’ commanding delivery being given much greater delivery in the mix, outlining an arsenal of vivid, caustic calls, chants and music. Laughter, whether in the lyrics or as possessed presence, serves as a leitmotif through the material that speaks to the menacing absurdity of our moment.

The album’s lead single “No One is Coming” is a rousingly anthemic and urgent industrial scorcher anchored around a forceful baseline and noisy feedback that’s one-part dire warning, one-part call to arms that directly attacks inaction in the face of fascism. And at its core, it reminds the listener that there will be no calvary, no saviors, no deus ex machina to save us. We’re all we got. We’re going to have to save ourselves — or perish.

“‘No one is coming to your rescue . . . ‘ A lyric that was written in early 2025 and is even more relevant on its release date a year later. A song speaking to moral collapse and political corruption ‘to a T.'” ADULT.’s Nicola Kuperus says. “These subhumans attempting to run the show are more concerned with cashing in and political cosplay than the well being of mankind. While working on this album, I read an article from an esteemed environmental scientist about “what’s coming in the future”. What stuck with me was their point that we are entering a new phase in existence where the most important thing we can do is know our neighbors and know the strengths of each other and what resources everyone has. Who needs extra care? Who is on their own? This song was written as a call to arms. Be alert. Be aware. Be prepared. Stand up for yourself and look out for your community. We are better when we are united. Social media is wearing us down. Deluding us. The political landscape is horrifying, distracting, deranged and unhinged. We are seeing this go down in real time right now in Minneapolis… NO ONE IS COMING TO YOUR RESCUE… except ALL OF US! Keep speaking up! Keep using your right to protest and most importantly keep showing kindness to one another.”

The accompanying video features the duo playing in front of a backdrop of edited stock footage of crowds clapping, dancing and consuming mindlessly as the surrounding world burns down.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 97th Birthday, Sheila Jordan!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 97th anniversary of the birth of Sheila Jordan.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GENA Shares Breezy and Sultry “CIRCLESZ”

Deriving its name from an acronym “God Energy, Naturally Amazing,” and loosely inspired by the Gina from Martin, GENA is a new collaborative project featuring arguably two acclaimed and talented artists:

  • Liv.e: In a short period of time, Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Liv.e has quickly established a reputation for restless experimentation with the release of her full-length debut, 2023’s Girl in The Half Pearl, an effort that received praise from Billboard, Rolling Stone, Vulture and more, and last year’s synthwave-driven PAST FUTURE.e. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based made surprise appearances at last year’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, joining Earl Sweatshirt and Andre 3000 during their respective sets. She’s currently on Earl Sweatshirt’s Live. Laugh. Love. world tour, with Zeelooperz and Cletus Strap.

  • Karriem Riggins: Over the course of his 35-year career in music, Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based Karriem Riggins has firmly cemented a reputation as one of the most respected drummers and beatmakers out there. He has played with and produced for an eclectic array of acclaimed and legendary artists including Common, Erykah Badu, KAYTRANADA, Steve Lacy, The Roots, Madlib, Paul McCartney and Norah Jones. Notably, he formed a close kinship with the beloved, fellow Detroiter J. Dilla. In 2017, Riggins won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and lyrics for his work with Common and Robert Glasper on “Letter to the Free,” which appeared on Ava Duvernay’s 13th. Recently, Riggins reunited with Common and collaborated with James Poyser to write and record “Victory,” the theme music for NBA on Prime for the 2025-2026 season and beyond.

The pair can trace the origins of the project to when they met through a mutual musical acquaintance and quickly recognized each other as kindred musical and creative spirits, who started playing shows as GENA earlier this year. GENA sees the Los Angeles-based duo channeling the instinctive musical prowess of both artists while seamlessly meshing their imitable style. The result is a playful and soul-driven improvisational work that captures Liv.e’s vision of reconstructing R&B her way paired with Riggins masterful percussion which spans improvisation and beatmaking alchemy.

GENA’s debut single “CIRCLESZ” is a remarkably breezy, jazz-tinged bit of neo-soul featuring an arrangement of precise, boom bap meets-bop jazz-like four-on-the-floor and glistening and arpeggiated Rhodes serving as a hook-driven, lush, dusty sample-like bed for Liv.e’s sultry delivery. While sonically nodding at Yasiin Bey‘s “Umi Says,” “CIRCLESZ” evokes the woozily intoxicating connection you can build with another person and the small moments that can color that romantic bond.

Shot with a grainy, analog quality, the accompanying video features the pair performing on a The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson-styled show and set, including an interview with the host.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rakim Teams Up with Dem Jointz and Detroit’s Lazarus on Hard-Hitting Anthem “Not To Be Defined”

The legendary God MC, Rakim will be releasing his fourth solo album, The Re-Up on August 29, 2025 through 1332 Records on all digital streaming platforms with physical copies — that’s right, vinyl, CDs and cassette tape — available right now.

The Re-Up‘s first single, the Dem Jointz-produced “Not To Be Defined,” is a collaboration with Detroit-based emcee and certified physician Lazarus, who was featured in the US Library of Congress for being the first artist to premiere a song from space. “Not To Be Defined” marks a first for the beloved, hip-hop legend, who has helped make the genre a global phenomenon — the first time that he has worked with a Detroit-based artist, ever.

Rakim and Lazarus deftly trade inspired, lyrically packed bars over Dem Jointz’s broodingly cinematic, thumping boom-bap Preemo-meets-Pete Rock-like production. While serving as a meeting of like-minds across different generations, “Not To Be Defined” is a forceful reminder of hip-hop’s artistry and power when true lyricists with something to say grab the mic. And for those, who think that they can’t find that real shit, it’s out there; you just have to make more of an effort to find it.

Directed by Matt Alonzo, the accompanying, slickly edited video features the two emcees on a Detroit rooftop and a studio, spitting bars. Fittingly, the video is no-filler, no bullshit — just real shit.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Detroit Punks The Lowcocks Share a Cheeky Cover of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”

Founded back in 2017, the Detroit-based punk outfit The Lowcocks have established their own sound while sharing stages with several national touring acts, including The Casualties, Total Chaos, Nekromantix, The Koffin Kats, Menstrual Tramps, GBH, The Suicide Machines and The Exploited.

The Detroit-based punks latest single is a deliriously fun and cheeky, straightforward bruising cover of Dolly Parton‘s beloved 1980 smash-hit “9 to 5.” If you somehow didn’t know, “9 to 5” is a defiant feminist anthem, capturing the ambition, chutzpah and the bitter frustrations of its narrator/songwriter. But what makes it truly great is that what the song expresses and evokes is something that generations of working women know exactly what Dolly is talking about in the song. And in some small way, The Lowcocks cover feels like a passing of the torch for a younger generation, who will have to maneuver and fight an altogether different yet similar fight.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Detroit’s The Lowcocks Shares a Blistering, Politically Charged Ripper

Founded back in 2017, the Detroit-based punk outfit The Lowcocks have established their own sound while sharing stages with several national touring acts, including The Casualties, Total Chaos, Nekromantix, The Koffin Kats, Menstrual Tramps, GBH, The Suicide Machines and The Exploited.

Their latest single “The Forgotten” is a blistering, politically charged, mosh pit friendly ripper, anchored around scorching, power chord-driven riffage, propulsive drumming and a snarled vocal. While “The Forgotten” channels old-school hardcore punk, the song focuses on contemporary concerns with a laser-like, incisive precision: The band explains that the song is centered around immigration detention center at this country’s southern border — and the experience of children who arrive without the safety and protection of relatives.

“The next time you see a four or five year old kid, imagine them running alone, in the dark, scared – and then being put in a cage,” the band’s Annie Oakley says. “Our news cycle moves fast and it’s easy to get burned out, or feel overwhelmed by the world, but these cages are still full of people and these kids are being forgotten, which is where the name of our song came from – it’s a reminder and a promise that we won’t let them be forgotten.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jessie Berkshires is a Detroit-based singer/songwriter, musician, and visual artist. As a singer/songwriter and musician, Berkshire collaborates with her husband and producer, Nat Plane to craft sleek electronic soundscapes that serve as a fitting vehicle for her songs that tell stories of love, loss, pain and hope.

Released earlier this year, “Enough” is anchored around twinkling keys, oscillating and glistening synths, thumping beats and thumping beats. Berkshires’ plaintive vocal ethereally floats over the decidedly 80s inspired, hook-driven production that brings the likes of Kate Bush, Pet Shop Boys and others to mind.

As Berkshires explains, the song is an exploration of the sort of struggles we all experience with its lyrics delving deep into the weariness of conversing with oneself and the constant retrospective gaze that can leave one feeling trapped within the confines of their mind and self-talk. Throughout the song, the song’s narrator yearns to break free from their own internal struggles and doubts.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Portland, Maine’s Crystal Canyon Shares Slow-Burning and Shimmering “Sierra”

Founded by Detroit-born Lynda Mandolyn (vocals, guitar), who spent her formative years fronting the all-female punk outfit Inside Out; and The Baltic Sea’s Todd Hutchinsen (guitar, engineering) back in 2015, Portland, ME-based shoegazers Crystal Canyon were formed with a simple mission: to call upon the spirit and vibe of the tradition of late 80s and 90s shoegaze without rehashing the formulaic gestures or strictures of the genre. The band also features a collection of Northeast indie scene veterans, including Hutchisen’s The Baltic Sea bandmate Jeremy Smith (bass).

The Portland shoegazer’s third album, the recently released nine-song, Stars and Distant Light was recorded at Hutchisen’s Acadia Recording Company studio — and features the band’s newest member, multi-instrumentalist Nate Manning, who primarily contributes drums, along with guitar and other instrumental work throughout the album’s material. The album’s more explosive moments, as the band explains is a direct result of the fresh perspective to their sound that he brought to the sessions.

Sonically, Stars and Distant Light sees the band being true to the classic shoegazer stereotype of being obsessive about their gear, with the album featuring sounds that could only be produced following the trial and error of dozens of guitar tracked meticulously onto analog tape. Overall, the album sees the band’s members taking all of their combined professional experiences to craft material that fuses their previous experiences and influences in a way that sounds unlike anything any individual member has done before. “We formed a band that sounded like the music we listened to,” says Mandolyn. “In the process, we’ve become a band we’d want others to hear.”

The band’s Hutchisen explains, “We started out demoing about sixteen or seventeen songs then finally narrowed down the songs to the nine that are on the record,” while citing the inclusion of more synth and keyboards being not just one point of departure from their previous releases, but a refinement of their established commitment to lush soundscapes.

Stars and Distant Light‘s latest single “Sierra” is a slow-burning, Souvlaki-era Slowdive-meets-Twin Peaks-like bit of dream pop built around shimmering and swirling guitar textures, thunderous drumming paired with Mandolyn’s dreamy delivery and big, swooning choruses. The song sees the band managing to balance cathartic release with restraint, which is important for a band that has a penchant for being loud.

The band notes that the song is a tribute to the late Julee Cruise, who was best known for her work with composer Angelo Badalamaenti and director David Lynch in the late 1980s — especially on Twin Peaks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Protomartyr Shares Punchy “Polacrilex Kid”

Detroit-based post-punk outfit Protomartyr — Joe Casey (vocals), Greg Ahee (guitar), Alex Leonard (percussion), and Scott Davidson (bass) — have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique over the course of five albums — 2012’s No Passion All Technique, 2014’s Under Color of Official Right, 2015’s The Agent Intellect, 2017’s Relatives In Descent and 2020’s Ultimate Success Today. 

Protomartyr’s sixth album, the Greg Ahee and Jake Aron co-produced, 12-song Formal Growth In The Desert is slated for a Friday release through Domino Recording Co. Although the band’s Joe Casey had a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things during the recording sessions at Tornillo, TX-based Sonic Ranch, the album’s title isn’t necessarily a nod to the sand and sun-blasted expanses of the southwest. Detroit or anyplace else on Earth can be its own desert. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.” And fittingly, the desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal. 

The “growth” referenced in the album’s title came from a period of profound, life-altering transitions for the band’s Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for 15 years. Now, 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life. In 2021 though, a rash of repeated break-ins signaled that it was time to move out. Protomartyr’s music — this time more spacious and dynamic than ever before — helped pull Casey up. “The band still being viable was very important to me,” Casey adds, “and it definitely lifted my spirits.”

Having long served as the band’s unofficial musical director, Greg Ahee knew what Casey had been going through and the challenges he’d been processing, and as he was conceptualizing the music, he thought about how to make it all “like a narrative film.” The cinematic sensibility also manifest itself in Casey’s song-as-story-like lyrics, which reportedly see him critiquing ominous techno-capitalism, processing aging, the future and the possibility of love. But the underlying them as Casey describes it, is a testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard. 

 Post quarantine, the band regrouped with an understandable sense of uncertainty, questioning if and how to continue after the turbulence of the past few years. They found themselves channeling that ambivalence to hone a song they named after a chapter from a 1950’s teen dance manual. “Elimination Dances,” Formal Growth In The Desert‘s second single referred to a game where “‘you get tapped out when you lose the dance,” and that felt an apt metaphor for just surviving. “Life is a struggle, but “you might as well keep dancing until the tap comes,” Casey says.

Fittingly “Elimination Dances” is a cinematic yet tense and uneasy waltz built around rolling and propulsive drumming, angular and wiry bursts of guitar and a sinuous bass line paired with Casey’s urgent, snarling delivery. The song partially recounts Casey’s experience feeling small in the vast and indifferent desert, the existential acknowledgement of time and the struggle to survive with your dignity and wits intact. 

“Polarcrilex Kid,” the final single off the album derives its title for the chemical name for nicotine gum, something that Joe Casey refers to as an “unwanted friend I’ve become acquainted with since getting on the quit smoking/start smoking again tilt-a-whirl.” Built around propulsive, staccato drumming, tense, wiry guitar busts paired with Casey’s punchy delivery, “Polarcrilex Kid” is woozy mix of punk and post punk with remarkably cinematic elements — i.e., the shimmering pedal steel solo towards the song’s coda. Thematically, the song tackles a familiar Protomartyr concern: Can you hate yourself and still deserve love?

Directed by LooseMeat.Biz – David Allen, Nathan Faustyn — the accompanying video for “Polarcrilex Kid” brings back memories of shitty public access TV — in particular, Uncle Floyd and the like. But it also serves as a preview to the band’s forthcoming appearance on The Marty Singer Telethon, premiering on Highland Park TV on Thursday at 7:00pm Eastern. Hosted by the imitable Marty Singer, who appeared in the video for “Processed By The Boys” and Sarah McMahon and will feature a collection of talented performers, including Stoney Sharp, the wrangler; the Mt. Sinai Hospital Dance Team and more. Fittingly, the video features the band performing with a collection of weird, surrealistic performers.

Protomartyr will be supporting Formal Growth In The Desert with an extensive intentional tour that includes a two night stay at Bowery Ballroom — June 15, 2023 and June 16, 2023. It also includes a two night stay at one of my favorite rooms in Philly, Johnny Brenda‘s — June 17, 2023 and June 18, 2023. Check out the full list of dates below. Also, there’s a pre-order link for the album, which is also below. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Olivia Jean Shares Creepy and Groovy “Raving Ghost”

Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Olivia Jean found her first musical love in 1960’s instrumental surf bands. Taking up guitar at an early age, she became enamored by the city’s thriving garage rock scene, drawing inspiration from its unique rawness. By the time, she was a teenager, the Detroit-area based singer/songwriter and musician began regarding her own surf music compositions. After years of self-recording, she put together a demo that led to the founding of the Black Belles and the band’s signing to Jack White‘s Third Man Records.

After the release of the Black Belles’ 2011 self-titled full-length debut, Olivia Jean stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her full-length debut, 2014’s Bathtub Love Killings. She then followed with her self-produced sophomore album, 2019’s Night Owl.

Slated for a Friday release through Third Man Records, Olivia Jean’s highly-anticipated third album Raving Ghost is populated by mysterious characters in various states of danger — cursed lovers, doomed souls, women deliriously hunted by unseen forces. Featuring backing from a collection of top players, including My Morning Jacket’s Bo Koster (keys), Jellyfish‘s Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (keys). T-Bone Burnett‘s and Nikki Lane‘s Carla Azar (drums) and The Raconteurs‘ and The Afghan Whigs‘ Patrick Keeler (drums), the 11-song album sees Olivia Jean amplifying the drama with her wildly melodic take on garage rock, with each riff handled with the power and precision she’s shown as a member of the Black Belles and as an in-demand session and touring musician. As a whole, the album is reportedly an evolution of the retro-surf sound featured on her previously released solo work while arguably being among the most mesmerizing material she’s released to date.

The album’s latest single is the slinky and darkly seductive album title title track “Raving Ghost.” Built around a looping, Link Wray-meets-Jack White gutter line paired with twinkling keys, a rousing anthemic, power chord-driven chorus paired with Olivia Jean’s mesmerizing vocal, “Raving Ghost” is a groovy but unsettling tale of a woman being hunted by a creepy and determined, unseen force.

Directed by Erica Salazar and Olivia Jean, the accompanying video for “Raving Ghost” fittingly features the acclaimed singer/songwriter and musician being followed by monstrous and shadowy figures, who at times surround her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Protomartyr Shares Tense and Uneasy “Elimination Dances”

Detroit-based post-punk outfit Protomartyr — Joe Casey (vocals), Greg Ahee (guitar), Alex Leonard (percussion), and Scott Davidson (bass) — have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique over the course of five albums — 2012’s No Passion All Technique, 2014’s Under Color of Official Right, 2015’s The Agent Intellect, 2017’s Relatives In Descent and 2020’s Ultimate Success Today.

Protomartyr’s sixth album, the Greg Ahee and Jake Aron co-produced, 12-song Formal Growth In The Desert is slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Domino Recording Co. Although the band’s Joe Casey had a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things during the recording sessions at Tornillo, TX-based Sonic Ranch, the album’s title isn’t necessarily a nod to the sand and sun-blasted expanses of the southwest. Detroit or anyplace else on Earth can be its own desert. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.” The desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal.

The “growth” referenced in the album’s title came from a period of profound, life-altering transitions for the band’s Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for 15 years. Now, 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life. In 2021 though, a rash of repeated break-ins signaled that it was time to move out. Protomartyr’s music — this time more spacious and dynamic than ever before — helped pull Casey up. “The band still being viable was very important to me,” Casey adds, “and it definitely lifted my spirits.”

Having long served as the band’s unofficial musical director, Greg Ahee knew what Casey had been going through and the challenges he’d been processing, and as he was conceptualizing the music, he thought about how to make it all “like a narrative film.” The cinematic sensibility also manifest itself in Casey’s song-as-story-like lyrics, which see him critiquing ominous techno-capitalism, processing aging, the future and the possibility of love. But the underlying them as Casey describes it, is a testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard.
 

Post quarantine, the band regrouped with an understandable sense of uncertainty, questioning if and how to continue after the turbulence of the past few years. They found themselves channeling that ambivalence to hone a song they named after a chapter from a 1950’s teen dance manual. “Elimination Dances,” Formal Growth In The Desert‘s second and latest single refers to a game where “‘you get tapped out when you lose the dance,” and that felt an apt metaphor for just surviving. “Life is a struggle, but “you might as well keep dancing until the tap comes,” Casey says.

Fittingly “Elimination Dances” is a cinematic yet tense and uneasy waltz built around rolling and propulsive drumming, angular and wiry bursts of guitar and a sinuous bass line paired with Casey’s urgent, snarling delivery. The song partially recounts Casey’s experience feeling small in the vast and indifferent desert, the existential acknowledgement of time and the struggle to survive with your dignity and wits intact.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: John Lee Hooker

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to John Lee Hooker.