Milo Minute: What To See Memorial Day Weekend That’s Not Movement

Here are the local shows to catch outside a certain electronic music festival that floods the metro Detroit concert schedule this time of year.

Click the audio player above to hear the full conversation. CultureShift airs weekdays 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit Public Radio.

Brian Rozman

Longtime Detroit music journalist Jeff Milo’s byline appears in publications locally and globally. He’s been plugging ears into the Detroit scene for years with his prolific Deep Cutz blog and his YouTube series, The Milo Show.

Each week, Milo gives us a rundown of can’t-miss shows in and around the Detroit area. 

 

Friday May 24

“Officially Unofficial” Movement pre-party at Ant Hall in Hamtramck, Mich.

It’s the annual Movement electronic music festival, where global superstars mix with stellar local talents to create some excellent and danceable music in the realms of techno, electronica, trip-hop, hip-hop and beyond.

There will be pre-parties as well as after-parties, but for Friday, at the very start of this holiday weekend, we’re looking at a facetiously titled event, the “Officially Unofficial” pre-party, hosted at Ant Hall in Hamtramck. It’s got a sizable lineup of local artists that includes Ancient Language, Mega Powers, Peace To Mateo, James Linck, Holiday Flower, Klyph and DJ Fibonacci.

Also on this lineup is one of my favorite emcees, the outside-the-box wordsmith Goldzilla.

Here’s a song he just put out, produced by Eddie Logix.

Julie Beutel and Michelle Held in Ann Arbor, Mich.

One of my favorite places to experience live music in the Ann Arbor area is actually a bookshop. There’s an independent bookseller and tearoom called Crazy Wisdom, downtown on Main Street, and it features calming ambiance, soft lighting, cozy chairs, book-laden shelves and, when you head upstairs, you’ll often encounter acoustic music in the folk, neo-folk and indie-folk genres. Two Detroit-area natives are headed to Ann Arbor, Julie Beutel and Michelle Held. Beutel is a multifaceted music maven, singing, teaching, song-leading and has spent lots of time abroad working in activism campaigns like Witness for Peace. Held, meanwhile, has this commanding and soulful voice, a lot of emotion and earnestness woven into her poetic lyrics — she was acknowledged as an emerging songwriter in both 2018 and 2019 by the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Here’s a song by Michelle Held called, “How’d Your Hair Turn Grey?”

Saturday May 25

Third Wave Music’s Daytime WavyRavy

For the last couple of years during Movement, I’ve taken refuge from the big crowds in Third Wave Music. This is a spot that hosts music tutors as well, and on occasion, live performances. This is the third time that the owners, in partnership with Every Woman Music, are hosting “Wavy Ravy,” featuring Rebecca Goldberg and Tammy Lakkis. And you can get the chance to win their raffle, a miniature analog stylus-operated synthesizer.

Here’s Tammy Lakkis, “This Is How It Goes.”

BAVE at Trixie’s in Hamtramck

BAVE is probably like nothing you might hear on the radio. The group practices in the cryptically titled genre “Math Rock,” an adrenaline-pulsed distant cousin of jazz. Their music may seem like improvisation, but with rock drums and gnarly guitars it’s more like controlled chaos.

Here’s BAVE’s “Sunshine & Daisies.

Author

  • Jeff Milo
    Jeff Milo is the host of "MI Local" on 101.9 WDET. He's a longtime music journalist documenting the Michigan scene for 20 years.