The local West Michigan music scene saw some major changes in 2025. Bookended by the closure of the historic Kalamazoo State Theatre late last year—and its recently announced reopening set for next year under new ownership—the year in live music was marked by a series of ups and downs.
With truly one of a kind new venues opening, from The Big Room in Grand Rapids, to Glow Hall in Kalamazoo, the concert-going experience continued to get redefined and reimagined, with community and ingenuity at its core. So even as the scene lost GR favorite Turnstiles on the West Side, and feared for the future of the legendary Skelletones, which will close at the end of the year, with plans to relocate in 2026, the landscape of local music may have changed, but it has only continued to grow.
Continuing to champion the legacy of West Michigan music, veteran bands La Dispute, Pop Evil and The Verve Pipe all returned with solid new albums this year, while former Kalamazoo band Michigander dropped their self-titled full-length debut, following a string of singles and EPs that have taken them from the college airwaves to festival stages over the past decade.
So, as we approach the end of such a tumultuous year, we decided to draw special attention to albums from a newer wave of West Michigan artists poised to push through and put their names on the musical map. Capturing our region’s boundless creative spirit, and unrelenting work ethic. Across different styles and genres, these are unflinching records that find a way to uplift in the face of these dark and trying times.
saturdays at your place – these things happen
Since forming as teenagers in Kalamazoo’s DIY scene, emo outfit saturdays at your place has just continued to grow. Building a passionate fan base through relentless touring, raw honesty, and raucous anthems, the group has graduated from college rock to face down its most difficult test yet: early adulthood. And their latest album doesn’t shy away from the bittersweet blur of heartbreak, friendship, promise, and uncertainty that comes with surviving your early 20s. It’s an ambitious release from a band that has never forgotten where they’re from the farther they’ve gone, and who bring back a sense of sincerity desperately needed right now.
PHABIES – The Curse of Caring
On their second full-length album, Grand Rapids indie-rock group PHABIES confronts the harsh reality that no one is coming to save us, except for ourselves. With an eye fixed on the looming climate crisis and humanity’s collapsing connection with the natural world, they pair the poetic lyricism of frontwoman Lauren Hobson with lush, dreamlike arrangements that shimmer somewhere between disenchantment and euphoria. It’s a sonic adventure, and an emotional journey, that reflects the lessons of growing up, letting go, and learning to love all along the way, that’s both bold and big-hearted, even when it’s not easy to be either.
Izzy Reign – self-titled
Absolutely explosive, Grand Rapids’ Izzy Reign announced herself as a voice impossible to ignore with her high-powered debut album. Describing her music as cyber-pop, Reign’s blend of hard-hitting industrial metal and EDM has already gone viral, racking up millions of streams, with a pulse-pounding energy and undeniable hooks that don’t let up from start to finish. It’s chaotic and cathartic, yet coolly calculated, with Reign’s vocals veering wildly from powerful and pristine, to pure terror, whether with a scream or a whisper. An aural assault on the senses, the album is an exhilarating exploration of what it means to be human ahead of the looming AI revolution.
Avocadsquad – Eshkeneh Radio
Sometimes the most beautiful thing that music can do is provide a blissful escape from the everyday, and that’s exactly what this collaborative project from Grand Rapids house collective Avocadsquad offers in abundance. Clocking at over two and a half hours, this album is deeply rooted in rich funk, jazz, and R&B grooves, but open to folk and rock excursions that chart their own course. A project founded in friendship, they blur the lines between hip-hop and spoken word performance, in a way that welcomes the listener to float along with a fictional radio station, for a free-flowing, sometimes stream of consciousness session in pure escapism.
Rip Smidgeon – The Sum of My Dreams / POINTS
There’s no hiding that Grand Rapids indie band Rip Smidgeon grew up in the post-streaming era. With short, irresistibly catchy songs perfectly created for TikTok’s ever-changing algorithmic appetite, they pull in influences from nearly every decade of rock music, while adding their own lo-fi, low key chill vibe. Propulsive and prolific, they made the most of their 2025 by self-releasing not one, but two records showcasing their signature sound, celebrating the first with a show back in January as part of the growing scene around Holland’s Park Theatre, and launching a mini tour in support of their second with a show at The Stache this past summer.
