MI Local: Spotlight on Underflow Records and new tracks from Bevlove, Rory Moon + more

This week, we listened to three artists with ties to a unique Detroit-based music collective/record label, known as Underflow Records, including Quells, Big Mess, and Of House.

Adam Fitzgerald records a blend of indie rock, shoegaze, and dream pop under the moniker of Quells, and we featured that band’s latest single, “Ice Temple,” on MI Local. It was Fitzgerald who, several years ago, first founded Underflow Records as a collective that could support and celebrate a variety of independent artists around the metro area music scene, but when he first relocated to Edinburgh for a few years — then later to Colorado — he began inviting more and more artists that he met along the way to join the Underflow family, turning into an international label.

Underflow Records’ raison d’être is ultimately to show “a love for under-appreciated artists who deserve more attention,” and that includes Big Mess, a five-piece band born out of the Livonia suburbs that’s been together for more than a decade, featuring longtime friends and musicians Scott Allen, Rob Carden, Pat Carden, and Mike Carden, with Scott’s father Brad joining earlier this year. Big Mess makes a cinematic composite of swooning, contemplative baroque-pop, and we heard “‘I Am Loved’ By The Losers” from their latest album …from Sheldon Hall to Wonderland Mall.

Underflow has several other artists who have recently released new music, or are on the cusp of doing so, including Pesky Kid, Almost and more.

Meanwhile, just about five minutes into this week’s show, we received a visit from the incomparable Detroit-based R&B artist known as Bevlove, aka Beverly Johnson, who stopped by the studio to chat with us and premiere, in person, her brand new single, “Remember Me.”

You never know what might happen during a live MI Local segment. And, along with that, you’ll also get a variety of genres from across the local music scene, including classic garage from the Gories, contemporary punk from 208, and even some dazzling indie pop from Ypsilanti-based quartet Tanager.

MI Local Playlist for Sept. 24, 2024

• “Stay Away” – Little Visits
• “Someday” – Rory Moon
• “Remember Me” – Bevlove (+ in-studio interview)
• “Haunted” – Tanager
• “Undead” – The Microplastics
• “Paris From Tokyo” – Late
• “DUDE” – Say Something Kind
• “Jim Roll” – For You
• “Gories” – Cry Girl
• “208” – Tantrum
• “Quells” – Ice Temple
• “Big Mess” – I’m Loved (By The Losers)
• “Of House” – Heart About To Give Out