Identity and self-empowerment imbued with fast punk-tempos and ferocious guitars: it’s “Zeros & Ones,” the brand new single from Detroit-based singer-songwriter Jon Mikal-Bartee, who leads the long-running genre-defying-yet-rock-adjacent project know as The Idiot Kids. That song is officially out this Friday, but WDET listeners got a sneak preview this week during MI Local.

Bartee joined me in studio to talk about the inspiration for the new single and why the conversation it strives to inspire around/about gender binarism was specifically planned for the start of Pride Month. Bartee also revealed that the band is in a period of transition; it’s been in existence for more than 12 years and inevitably band members’ lives change or new responsibilities crop up, thus Bartee is moving forward with writing and recording (he actually mixed the group’s 2nd full-length album, 2023’s Chapels, by himself).

You can see the Idiot Kids perform live, with a round up of talented local musicians backing up Bartee, including this Saturday over in Kalamazoo at Bell’s Brewery — for their Pride After Party — and then closer to home, at the Lager House in Detroit on Friday, June 20, with SeaHag.

Bartee co-founded the group in the early 2010s with high school friends, Nick and Ryan, drawing on a blend of punk, glam, and seminal rock ‘n’ roll, with a focus on cathartic crescendos, intricate solos, and high-energy live performances.

In late 2023, the Idiot Kids performed live, on-air, right here in WDET Studios. Along with “Zeros & Ones,” Bartee performed the title track from “Chapels” live, right here in-studio with me during this week’s MI Local, and we also re-spun one of the Idiot Kids live recordings from 2023, which you can find here.

Another highlight, this week, was the song “California” by the Ethan Marc Band, from that group’s debut album, “Bad Days,” which is out this week, with vinyl sales benefiting mental health nonprofit Common Ground. That fundraising intention is deepened by the lyrics of the Detroit-based singer-songwriter, Ethan Marc, with his candid reflections on his own battle with mental health and how making music helped him find clarity, strength and hope-threaded, as you’ll hear, over a rich mixture of indie-rock and pop influences. The Ethan Marc Band perform an album release party for “Bad Days“ on July 11 at El Club; you can also see them next Saturday, June 14, at Motor City Sound Board.

This week also featured exclusive premieres of local indie-rock groups like Ricochet the Kid, with a summer ballad titled “June.” The dynamic sister-duo of Jackamo also released new music, a poignant Americana-folk ballad titled “Second Best.”

As always, we get a rundown of can’t-miss shows happening around the region, in tandem with further premieres of new local music, including hip-hop artist Jah Connery, who you can catch next Saturday at Trixie’s in Hamtramck. 

Connery, aka Joshua Davis, released a new album this week titled “The Delicate Art of Love.” This week’s playlist also featured songs from Chirp (performing at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti next Friday), Sonic Smut (performing at Outer Limits Lounge this Friday), and Ladyship Warship, who just released a brand new single ahead of their upcoming show at the Lager House, this Saturday.

See the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

MI Local Playlist for June 3, 2025

• “June” – Ricochet The Kid
• “Second Best” – Jackamo
• “Renalien” – Grief
• “California” – Ethan Marc Band
• “Potters Wheel” – Ananda Murari
• “Tapiola II: Lord of the Forest” – Elyvilon
• “Clams” – Jah Connery ft. Pseudo Slang
• “Move” – Chirp
• “Mark the spot” – Ladyship Warship
• “Earache My Eye” – Sonic Smut
• “Zeros & Ones” – The Idiot Kids
• “Chapels” – Jon-Mikal Bartee (live on MI Local)
• “Nothing” – The Idiot Kids (live in WDET Studios, 2023)