ArtPrize turns up the volume for musicians with structural changes aimed to increase their exposure. “Half of the time when I would tell people about the piece they would say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know music was a category.’ So then I had to explain that to them instead of talking about the song or what I’m about and what I do,” said Bouwsma-Schultz, who won the $2,000 St. Cecilia Music Center (SCMC) award in rock/blues for her song, "In my Heart (To the Moon)."
Cage the Elephant's 2013 album, Melophobia, was approached a bit differently than previous records. As opposed to a strict collaborative effort from the very beginning, each of the band's members started writing music individually.
Kalamazoo’s music scene might be battered, but it ain’t beat. Audiotree, the Chicago-based website and music company known for its stellar in-studio sessions, is bringing a well-deserved bump to town with its second-annual music festival.
Suddenly, at the blink of an eye, August is here and summer is fast approaching its end. With autumn drawing closer in, excitement forms as new expectations are made of what the next season will bring. Here to help with the transition is the track of the week, preaching adventure, change and moving forward.
Go ahead and holster your witty comparisons to Jack Black and the movie School of Rock when you are around James Hughes — he’s heard them before.
Les Claypool is certainly best known for his role as lead vocalist and bassist for Primus. But Claypool is just as well known for his number of side projects and artistic endeavors, including the formation of supergroup Oysterhead, theme songs for "South Park" and Robot Chicken, a book, a movie and working alongside musicians from Tom Waits to Metallica.
Four jazz students with a shared love of ‘60s pop united in 2004, making a name for themselves playing dive bars in Boston and Cambridge. Ten years later, the members of Lake Street Dive are National Public Radio darlings and late-night television veterans who released their third studio album, Bad Self Portraits, earlier this year.
A fresh face in the punk scene, local rockers Bike Tuff produce authentic indie/emo/punk music that’s a little more thoughtfully crafted than is usually the case. Their latest effort, Into Shore, displays a songwriting craft and general musical ability that can be elusive for the genre.
The Red Handed's album combines the lofty aspirations and knotty compositions of prog with the earnestness and accessibility of indie rock: the playing is competent yet not overblown, the vocals are clean and simple (think Between the Buried and Me, not Dream Theater), and the songs are concise and compact, yet packed with enough detours to keep all the music nerds happy.
It was Grand Rapids in October 2013 where Josh Scogin’s former metal band, the Chariot, made its final Michigan appearance. By the following April, it’s also where his new project, ‘68, spread its wings.
For the past three years, LadyfestGR organizers Jes Kramer and Steffanie Rosalez have scoured West Michigan communities to find some of the best females to include in their lineup.
Call it the circle of life for any local music scene — some venues are forced to shut their doors, while others invite musicians to an open stage.
In 2009, two pairs of siblings and a street busker at the University of Arizona got together and formed a string band. Two years later, they found themselves winning the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest in Colorado, joining the ranks of past winners like Nickel Creek, Dixie Chicks and even Kalamazoo's own Greensky Bluegrass.
It was only a matter of time before hip hop consumed Rick Chyme's life. The rapper, (real name: Patrick Cleland) got into the genre through basketball, which he played from first grade through college at Western Michigan University.
