Before I tell you all about the special guests we had performing live in-studio during this week’s MI Local, I have to tell you about Sounds Like Detroit! 

WDET’s annual Sounds Like Detroit Showcase will be on Thursday, Aug. 13, at Batch Brewing, featuring KTCHN (jazz), Aisha Ellis (jazz/neo-soul), Jubilee Jackson (hip-hop/R&B), and Michelle Held (folk).

These are artists that WDET listeners selected by vote, based on their video submissions to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. Tickets are available now. Join me at Batch Brewing to see all four artists perform: let’s celebrate local music together! 

NOW, back to this week’s show! We heard new tracks from local artists like The Sad Hour (goth-rock), just in time for “Summerween,” as well as a new track from jazz composer/bandleader Austin Di Pietro. 

My in-studio guests included Carmel Liburdi, Mark Jewett, and the sister duo known as Jackamo.

Mark Jewett is a Plymouth based singer-songwriter who blends everything from tender folk to driving power-pop, while Jackamo lean toward Americana-rock sweetened with dazzling harmonies. Jewett will lead the group, The Strategic Advisors, on Thursday, July 9, at The Ark in Ann Arbor, with Jackamo opening. Both of these artists also performed live on the show this week!

Carmel Liburdi is a Detroit-based indie-folk singer-songwriter with a wide range of influences, including some DIY punk energy, but leaning toward sweet melodies with charming turns of phrase. Carmel released a new song this week and WDET listeners got to hear it for the first time last night! After we chatted with Carmel about their upcoming shows, we were also treated to a live performance.

Thanks for listening! And see you on Aug. 13 at Batch Brewing! 

On this week’s show, I revealed the lineup for the 2026 Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, as voted on by WDET listeners!

This is WDET’s version of NPR’s annual Tiny Desk Contest, where we present 10 local artists who submitted to the national program and let YOU decide which ones you’d like to see perform live at our showcase happening at Batch Brewing on Aug. 13. Tickets are available NOW. 

On the show, I sampled songs from each of the winning artists, including modern jazz from KTCHEN, a blend of jazz and neo-soul from Aisha Ellis, passionate and poetic hip-hop, R&B and soul from Jubilee Jackson, and then the special MI Local pick, the storytelling folk ballads from singer-songwriter Michelle Held! 

This is the fourth annual Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, and my third time serving as your official emcee, so take my word for it when I tell you: you don’t wanna miss this! It’s a special night with incredible vibes where YOU can discover your new favorite local artist! Or, if you cast a vote, then join us to cheer on your favorite! It’s a celebration of local music, brought to you by WDET! Stay tuned for more featurettes on MI Local in the weeks ahead, and make sure you get your tickets now! 

Meanwhile, we also had a ton of premieres this week on the show, including a new single from Hamtramck-based singer-songwriter John Salvage, who has a new album out in July, along with Ricochet The Kid, The Quitters, Ani Mari, and more!

My in-studio guests were organizers of a special film screening event happening at the Outer Limits Lounge this weekend, where they’ll be showing a rarely-seen music documentary that captures the scene around Detroit in 1979, titled Face The 80s. We talked about the legacy of bands from that era, including The Romantics and Destroy All Monsters, and sampled songs by bands featured in the film, like Algebra Mothers, Sonics Rendezvous Band, and more.

Listen to the full show above for up to two weeks after it airs.

This year’s Sounds Like Detroit Showcase is set for August 13, at Batch Brewing, and it will be my third year as your humble emcee. Now, we still need your help to lock in the line-up, so be sure to follow the link at the end of this article to vote for your favorite from our Top 10 Contenders, selected from recent submissions to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. That being said, tonight was a fun episode, because I welcomed dynamo soul/R&B singer/performer Drey Skonie into the studio, who, with the Clouds Band, headlined my first year as the SLD host. 

Drey Skonie was already on the rise when he received the most votes during the 2024 Sounds Like Detroit, and he and the Clouds Band have only gotten busier and better over the time since–including selling out Cliff Belll’s multiple times, and famously improvising an entire song on the spot at a recent Arts Beats & Eats performance where they were briefly interrupted by a passing train (the stage was set up right next to the railroad crossing), and that track became “Ride Me Like a Train,” which we sampled tonight. 

While he hung out, Drey also shared his thoughts on the importance of supporting local music through programs like SLD, along with other programs like Motown’s Amplify series, which also honored Drey in the past; we also chatted about Drey’s memories and experience at the 2024 SLD concert, and what that meant to him and his band. We closed with “Rippin’ & Runnin'” the song that wound up getting Drey to the SLD stage in the first place. 

Also on tonight’s show, organizers from the annual PUG Fest joined us to talk about that upcoming mega-music festival happening this weekend, featuring lots of intense rock music, from heavy indie, to midwest emo, to metal-hybrids and pop-punk powerhouses. This is an all-ages independent DIY music festival organized in partnership between The Crofoot and The Pleasant Underground. The upcoming event splits its schedule across Ferndale and Pontiac, with multi-stage spaces, giving fans a stacked marathon weekend of music.

Organizers Ian Cruz and Kyle Minch joined me in studio to talk about the line-up which includes local artists like Former Critics, Riot Course, FrostIsRad, and many more, including high profile artists who are touring in from other scenes! We also heard an exclusive premiere from the band Feast FOUR The Crows, who have a new album coming out soon.
PUG Fest splits up the week with a lineup at the Pike Room (part of the Crofoot complex) in Pontiac on Thursday, followed by a Friday night lineup at the Orchid Theatre in Ferndale, then back to The Crofoot in Pontiac on Saturday. Find more info here.

We also heard premieres, this week, from 800cc, Spa Day, and The Telephone Poles! All that and so much more! Make sure, btw, that you vote for our Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, HERE.

This week, Detroit-based singer/songwriter Chloe Drallos joined me in the studio to discuss her new album “The Cave,” which comes out this Friday on LifeLike Records.

Drallos has been performing and releasing music for seven years now, primarily under the moniker Zilched.

While Chloe’s previous work, as Zilched, leaned into what she called “doom-pop,” or a beautifully brooding blend of distortion-laden post-punk, dark dreamy shoegaze, and a bit of post-grunge grit. But as it started to grow, more of her long held influences came to the surface, drawing on iconic storytelling songwriters with strong voices; you started to hear even more poise coming to the fore with the way she paired her potent voice with powerful guitar chords. And that’s true, again, on “The Cave.”

Two years ago, after releasing a full-length with as Zilched titled “Earthly Delights,” Chloe started moving toward a proper solo project under her own name. “The Cave” is her formal debut as a solo artist, following a recent EP (“Three Seasons”).

You can catch the release show for The Cave this Saturday at The Field Office, with openers The Hand.

Stream the show above to hear our interview about the songwriting process and recording of “The Cave,” and hear some songs from it as well—including a live performance by Chloe in-studio.

A look back at Sounds Like Detroit 2025

My other guest for this week’s show is Tariq Gardner, a stellar and accomplished jazz composer, drummer, and bandleader who notably won the most votes last year in 2025’s Sounds Like Detroit (SLD) Showcase.

Busy night on MI Local this week! We started off with an update on WDET’s annual Sounds Like Detroit contest, featuring tracks from five more artists from our Top 10 Contenders, drawn from submissions to this year’s NPR Tiny Desk. 

You, dear WDET listeners, will be determining who among the Top 10 will go on to play our annual showcase at Batch Brewing! You’ll be invited to that, of course: it’s happening on August 13. But first, we’ll need YOU to start voting! Voting is LIVE now, visit wdet.org/votesld.

On tonight’s show, we heard from CHECKER (garage rock), Mild Pulp (pop-rock), KTCHN (free jazz), Jubilee Jackson (hip-hop) and Aisha Ellis (jazz).

Also on the show, the indie-rock quintet Moravian stopped by to premiere a brand new single, ahead of their upcoming show at Orchid Theatre in Ferndale, presented by PUG Fest and the Pleasant Underground.

Moravian’s presence and buzz have been been percolating over the last two years, developing notoriety for their high energy live performances and their ultra-catchy, rough and tumble, fast-tempo, pop-informed rock rips. The band, featuring Alex Christ (vocals), Blake Potvin (lead guitar), Shane Wheeler (rhythm guitar), Coby Valead (bass) and Ricardo Velez (drums), formed in 2022 when many of them were still finishing up college.

Catch Moravian at Orchid Theatre next Friday, June 12, with Mild Pulp and Starlings.

Everyone I Owe 2

Finally, we had members from three different groups on the show to talk about another show, happening this Friday, June 5, at the Loving Touch in Ferndale. There’s lots of lore to unpack with this one…

In the summer of 2011, more than a dozen bands were assembled to perform a jam-packed night of live music, which was to be filmed and then turned into a documentary that would basically stand as Detroit’s version as the iconic 1982 post-punk concert-doc “Urgh: a Music War.” The film was never completed, things went south, feelings soured, and it required a recompense event in 2016, with another attempt at an assemblage of several local bands, which was filmed successfully and turned into a doc called “Everyone I Owe.”

Here we are, now, and we’re doing it again! Bands like The Rogue Satellites, Pia the Band, Starlings, Carjack, The Beggars, and many many more, will be performing at the Loving Touch on June 5, and each performance will be filmed for an intended second documentary film!

I was joined by Jesse Shepherd-Bates, a solo artist and member of indie-rock group Handgrenades, along with Pia-Allison Roa of Pia The Band, and by Lisa Poszywak and Jaye Allen of Rogue Satellites. We had a great conversation about the friendships forged in the local music scene, the benefit of bonding between one generation and the next, and what it means and feels like to be inside of or part of any certain ‘wave’ or moment of a scene! Check out Everyone I Owe Pt. 2 this Friday at the Loving Touch!

Listen to “MI Local” with host Jeff Milo Tuesday nights from 9-10 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.

Stating the obvious feels unavoidable: David Bowie, even 10 years after his passing, remains one of the most influential artists of all time. So, it feels like a silly question when I ask what motivated local musicians to arrange and then perform a tribute show to the late great chameleon of genre and aesthetic, doubly so when it’s spearheaded by a Detroit-based performance artist who, himself, has spent his 40+ year career creatively developing a particular alter-identity for the stage: the blend of punk, burlesque, rock and vaudeville in one white greasepainted package: Satori Circus. 

The artist behind Satori Circus has amassed several friends and collaborators over the years, including guitarists Rick Browarski, Jeffrey Cantwell, and Brandon Trenz, the latter of which actually did a lot of the rounding-up of additional musicians to form an ensemble, back on January 10, that performed a tribute show to Bowie at the Tangent Gallery (on the anniversary of his death). Now, this Saturday, they’re reforming, as Lads Insane (a play on Alladin Sane) for The Rise and Fall of Lads Insane, performing the entirety of Bowie’s iconic The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust. 

During our interview, we talk a lot about Bowie, of course, and about the rest of the musicians rounding out this group, including saxophonist Johnny Evans, drummer Bill Henrikson, and percussionist Jay M. Jones. The group will also be performing a few other choice cuts from Bowie’s 70s canon at the Tangent, along with other featured performers from the visual and performing arts scene. This is an all ages show, and you can find more info here. 

Also on the show, I played songs from five of the top 10 contenders for our Sounds Like Detroit Showcase! We recently announced the 10 local artists that WDET listeners will be voting on, to see who goes on to perform at our celebratory showcase at Batch Brewing on August 13, and you can find more information here. Voting goes live on June 3, but for now, on this week’s show, you can hear tracks from Laurie Love, Vahn Black, Rose St. Germaine, Illajide, and Michelle Held. 

Also on this week’s show, new music from Issac Burgess, who has an album release party at the Ghost Light on June 10, along with new pop-punk sounds from Haley & the Crushers, and a tender ballad from Kate Peterson, who you can see at this summer’s Sonic Lunch series in Ann Arbor. 

This week, I had Quality Cinema Band in-studio to talk about their new album, “Roseland,” and their upcoming show this Friday at the Gambrel Saloon. This is a charming and versatile indie-rock band that loves melody, harmony, and a little bit of twang, with some toe-tapping rhythms and time signatures that can regulate your nervous system. Plus, they can legit jam when called upon.

After their interview, they revealed that their live performance of two new songs from “Roseland” was their first go at an acoustic set. During the interview, they revealed that their show coming up on Friday night in Eastern Market is apparently their farewell show. Extra incentive to not miss it, then!

Stream the show to hear our interview, about 40 minutes in, and then hop over to Bandcamp to stream their new (and final?) album.

Now, we also heard a ton of new music from local artists, like Chloe Drallos, who will be on the show in three weeks, along with other singer-songwriters like John Salvage, who has an album out in July, and George Montrelle, who has a new single with Ross Herner.

Detroit’s Tiny Desk

But a highlight of this week’s show was the announcement of our  Top 10 contenders for this year’s Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, set for August 13 at Batch Brewing. Sounds Like Detroit is WDET’s version of the NPR’s national Tiny Desk Contest!

We combed through more than 150 submissions to that contest sent in from Michigan-based artists, and we’ve selected 10 stand-out artists that YOU, dear listener, can vote on, starting June 3. The top 3 vote-getters will go on to play a concert at Batch Brewing, and we’d love to see you there.

Check out the Top 10 below, and visit our Sounds Like Detroit page for more information! Also, stay tuned to MI Local and WDET for more details!

Sounds Like Detroit finalists – Voting opens June 3

You’ll often get quiet a zesty sonic stew when you tune in to MI Local! Part of that is due to how creative and adventurous many of the artists in our local scene are, but it’s also due to just how much music is released across the state, week-in and week-out, that inevitably a noisy indie-rock song by Jasper Dean transitioning into an EDM-driven electronica ballad by Gwendolyn Dot.

But it also means that you’ll get guests like Pinkeye, aka The Pinkeye Orchestra. This is a free-jazz inspired ensemble of 12 local musicians that formed a little more than 18 years ago, around what was then a burgeoning post-garage-rock scene of the mid-late 00’s.

Several of them started out by covering John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” with distorted guitars, frenetic drums, saxophones and more. Initially known only as Pinkeye, the band started to add more members, circling unconventional venues like The Bohemian National Home and the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit.

At the center of the Pinkeye band were three musicians who also had a knack for organizing, event-planning, or call-it-what-you-will, that was Mike Ross, Jeff Howitt, and Ray Thompson. They joined me in-studio to talk about the band’s upcoming performance at the Annex Gallery, part of 333 Midland in Highland Park, this Friday at 7 p.m., their first performance in 16 years.

During our interview, the trio talk about forming the band, and eventually crossing paths with the late John Sinclair, former manager of the MC5 and celebrated poet, musician and jazz-enthusiast. He began performing with Pinkeye in 2009-2010, and rechristened them The Pinkeye Orchestra. Catch ’em live, this Friday, playing two sets at the Annex.

My second guest was Arriana Bardoni, the singer-songwriter and guitarist who started Tears of a Martian. This has been Bardoni’s songwriting project that has attracted a revolving cast of band members over the years, but she’s also just performed live under the moniker as well, blending elements of indie-rock, R&B, and soul.

During our interview, Bardoni revealed the origin of the name, and talked developing the project and aligning with fellow talented local artists and songwriters like Carmel Liburdi and Shannon Barnes. Bardoni also treated WDET listeners to an exclusive sneak preview of her new single, “Spotless Mind,” which is officially out this Friday.

Next, Bardoni performed a live acoustic version of another new single, “Real,” which, like “Spotless Mind,” are both featured on her new release, her first full length, “light II dark,” which is out on May 8.

You can see Tears Of A Martian live this Friday night at the Outer Limits Lounge, for a release party, where you can get copies of the album on CD.

A few other notable tracks this week: new hook-heavy instrumental noise-rock from Callie Simon, a hard-driving, hard-rocking ballad from The Hourlies, and slick surf rock from Ann Arbor’s The Vicissitones.

Listen to the full episode using the media player above for up to two weeks after it airs.

There’s so much energy in the local arts and music scene. There is always something to experience, from the next big thing hiding in a dive bar, to a stand-up comic about to break through, to a visual artist in a DIY gallery about to sell a piece to a buyer in Europe.

There also could be a huge all-local music festival, too, bringing together more than 160 bands into 11 venues over the course of three wild, music-filled nights, or there might also be a comedic musical, filled with terrific arrangements, catchy choruses, and gusto performances, inspired by the plot and characters of “Jurassic Park.”

The seventh Corktown Music Festival kicks off Thursday night, hosted entirely in the neighborhood of Corktown, with venues like The Lager House, The Gaelic League, Nancy Whiskey, and more, with dozens upon dozens of bands and artists, like Carmel Liburdi, Mild Pulp, Anthony Retka, and my in-studio guests, Go Tiger Go and, by extension, The Plultophonics!

Ameera Bandy is a singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of the Plutophonics, but she’s also the VP of the Corktown Music Festival. She’s spent the last few months helping to organize this vast multi-day event.

Bandy talked about her passion for the local music scene, the origins of this festival, and some of the things local music fans can anticipate. There are wristbands you can purchase online, and all proceeds go to benefit the Hamtramck-based nonprofit Passenger Recovery.

Ameera’s band, The Plutophonics, are playing the same night as another indie-rock group, Go Tiger Go! That quartet is led by singer-guitarist Paul Corsi, who formed the band in the early 2010s and went on to release a slew of sleek, well-produced, high-energy pop ballads threaded with a signature complex guitar style.

Go Tiger Go performs live on MI Local on April 21, 2026.Go Tiger Go are experiencing a bit of a comeback this year, after a period of time away from the stages. Corsi is joined by guitarist Adam Toolin, bassist Ethan Hunter Smith, and drummer Brian Moore.

The entire band was hanging out in-studio to talk about their latest single, “Tokyo Rain,” and then treated WDET listeners to an exclusive premiere of their next track, “Paint.” To wind out the night, the band performed an acoustic version of their first breakout single, “Inhale.”

Along with these interviews, we heard new tracks from the Americana indie-folk duo Payton & Annabelle, and an awesome cover of “I Am The Walrus” by Jemmi Hazeman.

We also heard a recording of the cast from “Jurassic Park: the Musical,” with the song “Never Together,” from the ongoing show that you can catch at Plant Ant, described as “An original comedy where dinosaurs, disaster, and show-stopping numbers collide.” And the song is an absolute gem! I love all of this creative energy surging through the metro Detroit area, week-in and week-out!

On this week’s show, we heard new tracks by Craig Benedict Valentine Badynee, formerly of Pas/Cal, along with a new Allman Bros. cover by Jill Jack and a groovy pop song by Pesky Kid!

We had some in-studio guests, including Deadbeat Beat, who brought some new music to spin. We also talked about Detroit X Detroit happening this weekend with Danny VanZandt.

Deadbeat Beat’s new album and upcoming release party

Deadbeat Beat sprouted from a teenage friendship between drummer-vocalist Maria Nuccilli and guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Alex Glendenning, leaning into an intersection of garage rock drive and indie-pop catchiness. The band was rounded out by bassist Zak Frieling, who came from the Flint scene to join these high energy east siders as a power trio, releasing an album and touring fairly extensively.

There’s been new energy, though, over the last couple years, with the addition of Pete Steffy on keyboards and synthesizers. Deadbeat Beat’s 2019 album “How Far” was recorded by Jeff Else in his North End home studio, where Steffy lived at the time, and during these sessions he gave valuable advice.

The band talked about the ideas and stories behind the album’s title, and it’s two new singles, one of which was exclusively premiered on the show tonight.

Deadbeat Beat also discussed moving away from the well-prepared-yet-quickly-executed style of basement recordings to the more deliberate process of working with celebrated engineer Chris Koltay at High Bias Studio.

Deadbeat Beat have their album release party at the Paris Bar on June 12, which will be followed up by some touring and some more high-profile gigs that they also detail during our interview.

Detroit X Detroit this Saturday

Also, the annual Detroit X Detroit Showcase is Saturday April 15, 2026 at the Loving Touch.

This is a super-fun concert with more than a dozen local bands doing short, high-energy cover sets of other notable Detroit and Michigan artists. These contemporary bands and songwriters can choose to do covers of icons like Stevie Wonder or Bob Seger, or they can select a set of later trailblazers like The White Stripes.

Singer-songwriter Danny VanZandt, who performs solo but also has a full band, will be doing a set of Seger covers, with his group, at the event.

On the show, I also spun a track by the artist, Annemarie Jo, who will be doing a set of Marvin Gaye covers.

In the middle of our interview, VanZandt treated us to a live cover of “Night Moves.”