After two years of hosting this show, I think I can say, with a somewhat-earned sincerity, that this one felt like a classic MI Local! We had guests from Ypsilanti and Detroit, we talked about music, we heard some amazing live acoustic performances, and we also took a tour around the further edges of the state, out west to Grand Rapids, and up north to Traverse City and beyond to Marquette!

We started the show with new electro-pop from the west side of the Mitten, with Empress Eyes, followed-up by dreamy electronica from the U.P. from producer Kristof Alexander. We also got a sneak preview of new music coming from the Ypsilanti-alt-folk duo Fern Whale and some transcendent dream-pop from Hail Your Highness.

We looked ahead to some upcoming shows, too, including alt-folk singer-songwriter Spencer LaJoye coming up at The Ark in Ann Arbor at the end of the month.

Speaking of The Ark, though: that’s where one of our in-studio guests will be performing an album release party, next Sunday, Feb. 22. Matt Jones has been around the Ypsilanti music scene for more than 20 years, now, with his band The Reconstruction, which features several talented artists from that neck of the woods, including Misty Lyn Bergeron.

Jones and Bergeron joined us to discuss Jones’ new album, “The Good Life,” including the gap between this release and his most recent (2014’s “The Deep Enders”) as well as sharing the story behind two of the songs that they performed live, “That Ripping Sound,” and “All The Missing Names.”

After that, the Ethan Marc Band hung out to discuss their new album of high-energy indie-rock/alt-pop, titled “Stay This Way,” which has its album release party at the Magic Stick here in Detroit next Saturday, Feb. 21.

Lead singer-songwriter Ethan Marc discussed the band’s busy year, the strength of the band’s camaraderie and the excitement to release their second record inside of a year, while guitarist Michael Seger shared even more about the band’s noteworthy work ethic, including a series of intensive songwriting retreats at Airbnb’s across the state.

Before the night was out, the Ethan Marc Band performed live, with an acoustic version of their song, “Misbehaving,” off the forthcoming album “Stay This Way.” 

I’ve had this theory that local scenes go through waves or phases lasting about 7 years. Don’t ask me to do the math or show my work or explain the science—I’m just saying that it feels like a certain vibe solidifies amongst a current crop of highly active local musicians at a given time.

I don’t want to over elaborate my hackneyed outline on this, come find me and I’ll give you the full pitch for what might become a book (?) but suffice to say that 2005-2012 really felt like a bit of an era, a moment, a fantastic wave of local music and I wanted to tap into that a bit on this week’s show.

We flashed back to the year in local music, 2011, for a few reasons: Firstly, how is 2011 already 15 years ago? Secondly, with that time distance, now, it’s fascinating to listen back to what the local music scene sounded like “back then,” and interesting, too, that many of the artists I played tonight are still active today. 

We heard “No Silver” from Chris Bathgate’s “Salt Year”, “The North Side of the Road” from Timothy Monger’s “New Britton Sound,” and “In Line with the Brokenhearted,” the title track from The Blueflower’s 2011 full-length album.

We also heard some blasts from the past from groups that aren’t together or aren’t as visible, the former being Prussia, a long lost indie quirk-pop band that would please any fans of Animal Collective; and Zoos of Berlin, an absolutely sonically sumptuous art rock ensemble that still periodically releases new music even if they don’t perform live.

Along with those flashbacks, we heard brand new music from The Ethan Marc Band, from their new album, “Stay This Way,” along with a new operatic darkwave single from Crune, and a funky jam from Chirp, off their new album, “Torque.”

As often happens, I had a guest in-studio! Singer-songwriter Carmel Liburdi came by to promote three upcoming shows. One of them is tonight at the Ghostlight; Liburdi is performing at a variety show, dubbed ‘The Basement Show’, a comedic variety show blending storytellers, stand-up, and sometimes music!

Liburdi is also going to be at the Paris Bar this Thursday, Jan. 15 for a line up of live music benefiting the ambitious facilitation of the expansive and immersive House of Tarot group show happening at the Boyer-Campbell building in Detroit’s Milwaukee-Junction Neighborhood, on Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.

Liburdi contributed an art installation to last year’s inaugural House of Tarot show, and will be back again, contributing to another piece and performing live.

You can hear the full rundown from Liburdi during our interview, including details of tarot’s connection to another annual art event: Imbolc, with Detroit artists of various mediums embracing an ancient Gaelic celebration welcoming the start of spring!

While in-studio, Liburdi treated WDET listeners to a live performance as well!

And, stay tuned for next week’s show, when I’ll share more details about NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, including some flash backs to previous events produced by WDET, the Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, which is essentially our version of the “Tiny Desk” where we shine some extra spotlights, with extra brightness, upon local talent!

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

• “Independent” – The Ethan Marc Band
• “In My Own Way” – Chirp
• “69 Forever” – Crune
• “Where To Begin” – Origami Phase
• “The North Side of the Road” – Timothy Monger
• “No Silver” – Chris Bathgate
• “Tamarind Sound” – Zoos of Berlin
• “In Line with the Brokenhearted” – The Blueflowers
• “She Turns On” – Jo Serrapere
• “Sister” – Prussia
• “Two Moons” – Ancient Language
• “Haze” – Android Automatic
• “69” – Carmel Liburdi
• “The Truman Show” – Carmel Liburdi