Peninsular Place



Blog

February 20, 2012
 

Drunken Barn Dance and the SomethingNew in local hip-hop…

More articles by »
Written by: Jeff Milo
Tags: , , , ,
dbder9small - kellybennett

Photo by: Kelly Bennett

My memories of the winter of 2008 and the winter of 2009 are burned with signature singes from a singer/songwriter who taught me that Johnny Cash and My Blood Valentine could work together as feasible influences for a new, strange, rousing folk-based sound…hoofing around the snowy banks of the ‘burbs with my CD Walkman and Drunken Barn Dance. (http://www.facebook.com/drunkendance)

Scott Sellwood, Ann Arbor barely knew thee… Well, we did… But since this front man for experimental folk-rock quintet Drunken Barn Dance has been living out in New York for three-ish years now, I’m worried that we’ve got too many newer, wide-eyed MusicHeads around town, here, now, just making their way onto the scene – who didn’t get the proper amount of chances to see you when you still lived here…

Take notice, all: Sellwood, who lived here in the mitten for nigh on a decade, is coming back to join his Ann Arbor compatriots, producer/bassist Jim Roll, guitarist Greg McIntosh and drummer Scott DeRoche (along with his fellow New Yorker, Ryan Howard) for another Drunken Barn Dance set – a showcase of the special sublimities rendered when a fiercely strummed, beer-splattered acoustic guitar starts burning with the same intensity and growl of a plugged-in Fender, when a high, dreamy rasp starts rolling along these invigorating revisions of soaring Americana splashed onto feedback forged jangly folk-pop.

I’m glad to have a band, this band, where I can say – that I saw them play for 13 people in a swank uptown tap room – and it was one of the best live rock experiences of my life – maybe this show, at Woodruff’s could be that for you…but I’d sure as hell like to see ever that much more than 13 people there – cuz whatever goes down is going to be special, since Sellwood still considers this his home, he brings all of his heart onto the Ypsi stage when he’s here.

But…Before that happens, another exceptional local folk project, one that’s based entirely-here, in Washtenaw, across his membership, that being Gun Lake, will be performing at this same venue (that being Woodruff’s).

This quartet, brewers of a darkish and poetic Americana/baroque-pop sound, was recently on the local airwaves via WCBN. But a few weeks further back they played (SCENE)Metrospace –where they must have made more than a few friends, because now they’re bringing a bunch of Lansing musicians in to join them, Feb 23rd (Woodruffs): Elliot Street Lunatic and Tiger! Tiger!, respectively along with Bro. Stephen.

But… … If we switch gears to hip-hop, then I have to address the fact that I, myself, and likely some of you out there, missed last weekend’s (2/19) show at the Blind Pig, featuring buzz-heavy, blog-sanctified rapper A$AP Rocky, one dynamic/eccentric performer on the vanguard of what New York Magazine called the “goofball, new-school” of New York rap.

So…we missed that, but how about going for local rap – like tomorrow, (2/22), at the Blind Pig, with up-and-coming Lansing-bred/Detroit-based sci-fi-inflected, dorked-out and dapper –rapper SelfSays. – http://www.facebook.com/selfsays – (I say up-and-coming only because now, after ten years of writing and performing and battling around the scene, Self—a.k.a. Charles Vann, is being noticed by some labels across the pond, as well as stirring up interest from a dozen or so producers eager to get his raps over their beats).

Here’s his latest:

SelfSays – SomethingNew from Matt Barth on Vimeo.

And… …Later on, (2/25) at the Blind Pig, Detroit-based funk-flared rapper duo Passalacqua, christened as go-to-closers for any indie-hip-hop show around town bolstered by last season’s Zebehazy Summer LP, are going to be performing – a pair of assiduous MC’s who helped open up a lot of doors, for this writer, to the local hip-hop scene. For example, Passalacqua shoved me down the rabbit-hole, thus making it possible for me to stumble upon SelfSays, but beyond that, there’s Flint’s Tunde Olaniran, blending tribal beats and scuffed-up electronica onto a soulful R&B/hip-hop aesthetic. (http://tundeolaniran.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-transgression). Olaniran is also on the Pig’s Feb 25 bill, along with Tree City and the Contraband (http://treecityhiphop.com/), and Subvader.

I think that’s all I had to say, this week.

But give Drunken Barn Dance a listen – meet Mr. Sellwood for the first time, or, if you remember him – go welcome him back, if just for one more wonderful weekend. Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful (http://mistylyn.bandcamp.com – who, I have to presume, are damned-close to finishing their forthcoming full length LP), along with Up The Chain and Hezekiah Jones will be backing them up, Saturday night.

 

 



About the Author

Jeff Milo
Jeff Milo
Jeff is another awesome member of the iSPY team.



Peninsular Place
 
 

 
Passion Pit

The Buzz: November

Passion Pit // Royal Oak Music Theatre / Nov. 2 by Jasmine Zweifler Advice for the day: don’t get all scandalized when a friend asks if you’ve gotten tickets to Passion Pit. Passion Pit is not actually a trench filled with ...
by iSPY Team
 

 
 
Misty Lyn - Photo by Doug Coombe

Misty Lyn and the Big Beautiful

Misty Lyn walked into the studio knowing this was who she was, feeling that this was where she was supposed to be. Knowing that these songs were hers and she was going to accomplish anything, everything, with these new songs of...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
 
shigeto_detroit-18

Fusing the Past and Present, Shigeto’s Journey into the World of Electronic Music

Wind whistling through tall grass. Stacking, shuffling, breaking and building – like faint echoes from a carpenter’s shop. Natural percussion and electronically-born melodies sneaking into open air through a crack in a stud...
by Paul Kitti
 

 

 
Promo2

Jack & The Bear

On a cool evening in middle October, the seven members of Jack & the Bear settled at a cozy wooden table inside B-24 Espresso Bar. Sipping large mugs of coffee and sharing cookies, Brandon James, Adam Schreiber, Evan Close,...
by Treasure Groh
 

 
Peninsular Place
 
ispyblog 10-9

“Collective Folk Art” – Boss Radio / Sagittronics / Vagrant Symphony

Duende… This Detroit-based quartet experiments with strange brews of un-psyche, dysfolk-ian, blues-stung honky-tonk; a reassembling of strutting rock styles jettisoning into lysergic-hinted lift-offs yet still muddied with a ...
by Jeff Milo
 

 

 
Scene.YpsiFest.thehighstrung.DougCoome

Ypsifest #8

YpsiFest isn’t out to be self-congratulatory – no, it’s out to be a summit, a meeting of distanced musical minds, a bridge! This will be three days of live (loud) music, Michigan music, in Depot Town, meant not so much to...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
 
Greensky Bluegrass - Photo by Michael Weintrob

Greensky Bluegrass

Kalamazoo-based bluegrass sensation Greensky Bluegrass has had a busy summer, gaining steam with festivals and sold-out shows and playing with some of the biggest names in music. And now they will be making a stop at the Blind ...
by Mary Simkins
 

 
Kelly Klever Massage

 
Yela-Press-2012-2.01

Yelawolf

The Redneck Poet from Gadsden, Alabama Drive about two hours northeast of the beautiful University of Alabama campus and you’ll reach Gadsden. It’s the kind of place where shotguns are toted as loosely as iPods, where you�...
by Paul Kitti
 

 
 
13

Saul Williams @ the Blind Pig

Click here for an introduction to Saul Williams through a recent interview.  By the time I arrived at the Blind Pig this past Tuesday night, Dessa had already been on stage for a few minutes and had the crowd on her charming h...
by Paul Kitti
 

 
 
detropia

Detropia Premier (Soundtrack) + Congress’ Maker

Two things this week: ONE: Detropia is a surreal insight into the accelerated depletion of Detroit, in manufacturing, financing, and in population, directed by the Oscar-nominated creators of Jesus Camp, exploring what the Moto...
by Jeff Milo
 

 




Matisyahu