An Invaluable Service

There are places without parking lots …Places where you go downs rickety stairs, where you’ll hear riled recitals of the latest songs from your local outfits – the new punks, the new noise-rockers, the new everythings, or somethings or all the what-have-you’s – Performances tinged with just that much more inhibition or a different kind of looseness, teased out from the key ambiance of dimmer lights or the power-strip-plugged amps, all the duct tape…the underground venues, the unconventional performances spaces, the lofts, the basements, the corners of cafés…

I’m not out to sanctify… I’m just applauding (subtly, outward, into the ether of the internet) that local culture, local music, -the-creative-spirit overall, is flourishing so much so that it can’t help but seep out into the more guttery areas, where endearingly enthusiastic (compassionate?) adhoc club-managers (of a sort) are catching the latest cacophonies of bands by giving them a place to plug in and providing wall-space for prodigious painterly-types who keep mixing new colors to dazzle us…

“It can be hard to get a show at an ‘official’ venue for new bands,” said Eric Stephenson, who runs his own joint called The Far House in Ann Arbor. “DIY spaces give an opportunity for new or underexposed artists to find their footing and build an audience.”

Soundproofing and a discreet/unassuming/out-of-the-way location are integral, with decent mics being a bonus. You should probably get a good ratty rug to pad your incoming drummer’s elaborate kits, too.

Most importantly: DIY shows should resonate with inclusiveness.

But Stephenson wouldn’t shake his head if you considered this just another trend, or off-shoot of some moment or movement. These kinds of things should be the antithesis of fleeting, finical half-hipsters, they should be for those aiming to be true local-culture preservationists.

“Most people who are just in it to be cool or whatever are likely going to give it up at the first signs of complications.” And there will be those, indeed. “From my experiences,” Stephenson imparted, “…everyone who sticks with it is genuinely interested in making interesting things happen for the sake of doing it.”

These community centers for creative expression are providing “…an invaluable service to upcoming musical acts and folks that prefer to play in more intimate settings.”

And they’re here, throughout Ypsi/Arbor as they are over in Detroit.

Ritual Howls for that matter – who just released a cassette on local label Ginkgo! – just performed at a joint known as Trinosophes – which is a repurposed elementary school that’d started up as a similarly-styled DIY “space” in the early 00’s, known, then, as The Bohemian National Home.

So maybe this was a long way to go about telling you that you can either pick up this new Ritual Howls cassette from Café Ollie’s Ypsi Music Shelf… or stream it below…

…But the energy of our DIY community seemed too radiant as of late to not go unheralded by this easily roused rock-listener. Thus, I felt compelled to expound and share some insights from Mr. Stephenson, as well.

More sounds and weirder, invigorating music (and art) are always ‘out-there…’ down darker streets; you’ll find rewards for seeking out the more nook-and-cranny type places.

~

And then…

…Just as I was wrapping this blog-post… (literally, just “8 minutes ago…”) I was updated that local singer/songwriter Matt Jones, (who, like Ritual Howls, has nothing necessarily to do my initial ruminations above^ on DIY spaces,) just released a new single.

It’s the first proper single since his Half-Poison/Half-Pure LP and its good to see hear his high, haunting voice wafting out again atop the crests of his characteristically forebodingly beautiful acoustic percolations.

I think it’s worth a listen.

Anyway…