This year’s Sounds Like Detroit Showcase is set for August 13, at Batch Brewing, and it will be my third year as your humble emcee. Now, we still need your help to lock in the line-up, so be sure to follow the link at the end of this article to vote for your favorite from our Top 10 Contenders, selected from recent submissions to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. That being said, tonight was a fun episode, because I welcomed dynamo soul/R&B singer/performer Drey Skonie into the studio, who, with the Clouds Band, headlined my first year as the SLD host. 

Drey Skonie was already on the rise when he received the most votes during the 2024 Sounds Like Detroit, and he and the Clouds Band have only gotten busier and better over the time since–including selling out Cliff Belll’s multiple times, and famously improvising an entire song on the spot at a recent Arts Beats & Eats performance where they were briefly interrupted by a passing train (the stage was set up right next to the railroad crossing), and that track became “Ride Me Like a Train,” which we sampled tonight. 

While he hung out, Drey also shared his thoughts on the importance of supporting local music through programs like SLD, along with other programs like Motown’s Amplify series, which also honored Drey in the past; we also chatted about Drey’s memories and experience at the 2024 SLD concert, and what that meant to him and his band. We closed with “Rippin’ & Runnin'” the song that wound up getting Drey to the SLD stage in the first place. 

Also on tonight’s show, organizers from the annual PUG Fest joined us to talk about that upcoming mega-music festival happening this weekend, featuring lots of intense rock music, from heavy indie, to midwest emo, to metal-hybrids and pop-punk powerhouses. This is an all-ages independent DIY music festival organized in partnership between The Crofoot and The Pleasant Underground. The upcoming event splits its schedule across Ferndale and Pontiac, with multi-stage spaces, giving fans a stacked marathon weekend of music.

Organizers Ian Cruz and Kyle Minch joined me in studio to talk about the line-up which includes local artists like Former Critics, Riot Course, FrostIsRad, and many more, including high profile artists who are touring in from other scenes! We also heard an exclusive premiere from the band Feast FOUR The Crows, who have a new album coming out soon.
PUG Fest splits up the week with a lineup at the Pike Room (part of the Crofoot complex) in Pontiac on Thursday, followed by a Friday night lineup at the Orchid Theatre in Ferndale, then back to The Crofoot in Pontiac on Saturday. Find more info here.

We also heard premieres, this week, from 800cc, Spa Day, and The Telephone Poles! All that and so much more! Make sure, btw, that you vote for our Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, HERE.

Over 150 Michigan performers entered NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert this year. Only 10 of them will be eligible to appear in Sounds Like Detroit. It’s a local musical showcase that’ll take place at Batch Brewing Company on August 13.

Before the concert starts, Detroiters have the chance to select the top five musicians who go on to headline the show based on their entry videos. 

The top 10 are below:

– IIAJIDE
– Michelle Held
– Aisha Ellis
– KTCHN
– Jubilee Jackson
– Checker
– Vaughn Black
– Rose St. Germaine
– Mild Pulp
– Laurie Love

Jeff Milo is the host of MI Local on WDET. He also is the coordinator and main host of Sounds Like Detroit. He joined The Metro to talk more about the chosen finalists and how they are shaping the local sound.

For more information, go to WDET.org/TinyDesk and cast a ballot before June 19.

– Hayley Gavigan contributed to this piece.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Listen to “MI Local” with host Jeff Milo Tuesday nights from 9-10 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.

Stating the obvious feels unavoidable: David Bowie, even 10 years after his passing, remains one of the most influential artists of all time. So, it feels like a silly question when I ask what motivated local musicians to arrange and then perform a tribute show to the late great chameleon of genre and aesthetic, doubly so when it’s spearheaded by a Detroit-based performance artist who, himself, has spent his 40+ year career creatively developing a particular alter-identity for the stage: the blend of punk, burlesque, rock and vaudeville in one white greasepainted package: Satori Circus. 

The artist behind Satori Circus has amassed several friends and collaborators over the years, including guitarists Rick Browarski, Jeffrey Cantwell, and Brandon Trenz, the latter of which actually did a lot of the rounding-up of additional musicians to form an ensemble, back on January 10, that performed a tribute show to Bowie at the Tangent Gallery (on the anniversary of his death). Now, this Saturday, they’re reforming, as Lads Insane (a play on Alladin Sane) for The Rise and Fall of Lads Insane, performing the entirety of Bowie’s iconic The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust. 

During our interview, we talk a lot about Bowie, of course, and about the rest of the musicians rounding out this group, including saxophonist Johnny Evans, drummer Bill Henrikson, and percussionist Jay M. Jones. The group will also be performing a few other choice cuts from Bowie’s 70s canon at the Tangent, along with other featured performers from the visual and performing arts scene. This is an all ages show, and you can find more info here. 

Also on the show, I played songs from five of the top 10 contenders for our Sounds Like Detroit Showcase! We recently announced the 10 local artists that WDET listeners will be voting on, to see who goes on to perform at our celebratory showcase at Batch Brewing on August 13, and you can find more information here. Voting goes live on June 3, but for now, on this week’s show, you can hear tracks from Laurie Love, Vahn Black, Rose St. Germaine, Illajide, and Michelle Held. 

Also on this week’s show, new music from Issac Burgess, who has an album release party at the Ghost Light on June 10, along with new pop-punk sounds from Haley & the Crushers, and a tender ballad from Kate Peterson, who you can see at this summer’s Sonic Lunch series in Ann Arbor.