Mittenfest V + Top 36 Locals

Mittenfest comes but once a year - ...usually the end of the year. The full line up for this Ypsi-set celebration of all-things-Michigander-Music - was announced last week (info here).

Savoy / 23 N Washington St / Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Thu Dec. 30th, 2010 - Sun. Jan. 2nd, 2011

@4PM Every Day

Music from 5PM to 2AM + Late Night Dance Party on NYE

$7/night or $25 for 4 Day Wristband

All Proceeds Go To 826michigan's Programming in Washtenaw County.

~

and, since it is that time of year again - that end-of-year time... my mind has already shifted into "year end list-"-mode. And I started thinking back on all the great songs coming from artists 'round SE-Michigan...

As I attempted last year, here's this year's "top songs" from local artists... and by "top" I just mean those songs that were particular favorites of mine... - So,...yes, highly subjective, (or, just random...sometimes its just the luck of the show, the serendipity of catching some of these songs live and thus having my ears turned...)

DC's Favorite Locals - 2010 Red #'s = Scheduled Mittenfest Performers

(i love all these songs - this list coulda been way above 50... good work detroit)

36. Slowdance - Matthew Dear
35. Zoos of Berlin - Movie On August Ray
34. Mister - That That

33. 52-Week High - Market Dictates

32. Juliets - Evolve Into

31. Fur - I Want to Let You Down
30. Dutch Pink - Corn Palace Heirs

29. Red Iron Orchestra - Song for the Unnamed Band

28. Frontier Ruckus - Silverfishes

27. Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas - Neck Tattoo

26. Conspiracy of Owls - Raving Mad

25. The Ruggs - Savage Henry

24. Pewter Cub - Wallflower Mourner

23. Breathe Owl Breathe - Dogwalkers of the New Age

22. Robin Goodfellow - Susannah You See Beyond

21. Electric Lion Soundwave Experiment - Vote @ 7-11

20. Lettercamp - First Kiss

19. Child Bite - Odd In

18. Legendary Creatures - It's Got Soul
17. Drunken Barn Dance - A Winter's Tale

16. Rogue Satellites - Mix Tape Club

15. Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr - Vocal Chords

14. Fawn - Hip Parade

13. Deastro - Genesis Weapon

12. Illy Mack - Squirrels

11. Oscillating Fan Club - Hide & Seek

10. Silverghost - D.N.A.

Pure kinetics - a propulsive tune showcasing the duo's vascillatings between new-wave and post-punk with Mothersbaugh/Newman recalling monotonish/robot-y vocals painting ominous dystopias of technological advancement gone wrong (all with a shredding guitar and whirring spaced-out synth).

9. Marco Polio & the New Vaccines - Ghost

A mesmeric synthesized bass line washes over the listener and locks them into a house groove as acerbic, theremin-mimicing guitars haunt the nooks and crannies. "If I were a ghost," as the chorus goes, "I wouldn't even want to haunt you."

8. Prussia - Sister

"Sister" starts minimally, a curling melody over curtseying string pizzicatos, but the bass and drums start hammering under a keyed-up piano and soon the snare starts getting chopped up and suddently it's movin' and morphin into a fractured flamenco, roused nicely with some brass.

7. Black Lodge - Paper Money
With an indelible bass line shimmying in an almost ESG-flavored hybrid of garage and disco, "Paper Money" is like the post-punk version of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" - with a viscerally motor-mouthed regaling of "a day in the life of a dollar bill..."

6. Bars of Gold - The Husle

Yes, in fact, a banjo and a scream/sing throaty vocalist can facilitate a dance song... and yes, this is...well, almost...a dance song. (In fact, the devestating beat, made almost industrial sounding with its relentless march, is actually a match of the beat from the classic disco single of the same name.

5. The High Strung - Barn Party
There are nights where I feel I attend "parties" similar to the one described in this spooky, tall-tale-ish indie-rock shuffler.

4. 800-Beloved - 1992

The shimmering guitars seem descended from Cure's "Pictures of You," but once you get past that, perhaps you'll realize this is an endearing homage (perhaps aiming towards that year as a fateful marker of the certain endpoint for the goregous, gooey, austere and jangly pop/rock that sustained us through the 80's, from the Smiths to the Sundays... ("Sunday, baby, is the name I give to you / later, maybe, after 1992...")

3. The Satin Peaches - Red
Their best song to date. As Jen David (of Illy Mack) put it, it's almost like a resurrection of that atl-rock glory from the early-ish 90's, - elaborate riffs, driving drums, soaring guitars and vocals that cut into both nostalgia and cathartic release. (think "Cherub Rock" with a lot more fire and 90-mph drums)

2. Secret Twins - Dead Heart

A running beat and a jittery yet melodic guitar make a graceful grind - plus that melody after the second tempo-shift has been stuck in my head for 300-days straight. Songs like this assure me that these two understand what Lou Barlow was going for (be it Sebadoh or whatever) of blending beautiful melodies and heartfelt sentiment with a healthy amount of shambolic rock and noisy shredding.

1. Macrame Tiger - Lucy Sue
It starts out simple, a twangy country sway that takes its time, like its waiting for the rabble of the crowd to simmer down. Then Pedro's vocal melody with its lilting, rubbery vibratto hovers over a waltzing beat and we all get comfortable. Then the synthesizer comes in and links up with Lu's hazy "oohh oh oh wooh oh" and you have what might be the most indelible chunk of musical magic my ear's have heard thus far this year... so simple, so pretty - and then it builds....and builds... reaching a Hey-Jude-ian sing-along that's wound up assuring that I listen to the full 7 minutes each time I spin it...