This could be the worst weekend for me to try distracting you with recommendations on great local music… But why think of it as a distraction? Don’t worry about your finals…you’ve got this! You’ve earned this. In fact, you may need this. Integral to surviving the rigors of higher academia is a sensible scheduling of time to blow off some steam. And if you’re not a student, well, steam blowing stills comes highly recommended.
Let’s start with Truman. Open up the windows, let some sunshine in; this is a summertime rock ballad. The guitars smolder from the onset, riffing out enveloping reverberations, true power-chord valiance substantially announcing itself until it all pares back under lead singer JT Garfield taut, crisp and softened verse—“So what are you…? / Will you keep searching…?” Heavy questions to ponder as one propels into summer, inherently ripe as it is with enlivening possibilities, for adventure, for enlightenment, or just for more distractions.
Truman recorded this song at Brick House Recordings. It’s a single from their forthcoming album, which you can expect later on this summer. They’ll also be streaming a live version of “Splintered Mirror,” from their first EP.
More steam blowing with a excellent (and entirely FREE) concert at the Tap Room in Ypsi, featuring Black Jake & The Carnies, Patrick Elkins, Salt City and Las Drogas, Friday, May 1?
The First Fridays initiative bridges the scene’s talented musicians and artists with its burgeoning local business community by-way-of laid-back/welcoming evening programs of live music, hosted in unconventional performance spaces that defy the typical big-stage-under-boomlights-with-budweisers motif of most concert venues.
Now, the FFY folks are kicking it up a notch or two to celebrate a little more loudly than before—amped-Americana minstrels Black Jake & The Carnies, roots-rock quartet Salt City, the garage-scuffed, rockabilly-rugged trio Las Drogas, and the indefinable, sonic-experience conjurer Patrick Elkins. That’s a free show, everyone. Close the books. Call it a night. Blow off some steam. May is here!
First Fridays Presents Patrick Elkins, Las Drogas, Black Jake & The Carnies and Salt City on May 1st at The Tap Room (201 W. Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti), starting at 9:30PM / Free
Jeff covers music for Current, posting weekly show previews and highlighting new bands in the area.