It’s another stacked show this week on MI Local, with three guests from the local arts and music scene stopping by to chat about upcoming releases, events, and ongoing projects! That, plus a chance to hear some brand new recordings and some exclusive live in-studio performances!

This week’s guests include singer-songwriter JonPaul Wallace, who has a new EP, Lemon Days, out this week. We spun his track, “Addicted to Love,” and then he performed his song “Loving You” live, keyboard in tow.

I spoke with Wallace about his latest album and his inclinations toward high-energy, “fun” pop music, including his collaboration with producer Bryan Hugo Iglesias. You can see Wallace perform live next Saturday at the Detroit Fall Beer Fest.

After Wallace, we welcomed the unique performance artist and vocalist known as Satori Circus, who has performed at countless burlesque and/or vaudeville-themed shows and concerts across the last three decades, notably with an ensemble of talented jazz musicians formerly known as the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra, now simply The Bazaar Orchestra. Several of those players comprise another group known as the Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club; saxophonist/clarinetist Joshua James leads both outfits.

I spoke with Satori about his various collaborations, how his performance style has evolved over the years, and we heard plenty of details about his upcoming show, this Saturday at Batch Brewing: Sinners’ Ball 2, featuring The Bazaar Orchestra!

We also spun a couple of amazing jazz arrangements by the ANPC and heard an exceptional a cappella performance by Satori, covering Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah!”

Our third guest of the night was singer/songwriter Nicholas Thomasma, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Michigan Music Alliance. I spoke with Thomasma about the MMA’s mission to deepen the connections between local musicians and strengthen the state’s broader independent music community. We also spun a track by Thomasma, “Bus Life,” and heard an exclusive in-studio acoustic performance of his song, “Love Is Love.”

It was an oops: all guests night on MI Local, so it’s a shorter playlist this time. Bonus, though: some great interviews!

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

• “Addicted To Love” – JonPaul Wallace
• “Loving You” – JonPaul Wallace, live in WDET Studios
• “Little Red Riding Hood” – The Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club
• “Hallelujah!” – Satori Circus, live in WDET Studios (Leonard Cohen cover)
• “You Rascal You!” – Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club
• “Bus Life!” – Nicholas Thomasma
• “Love Is Love” – Nicholas Thomasma, live in WDET Studios
• “Kindness of Strangers” – Nicholas Thomasma

I always get hung up on genres! I can’t help it—it’s just that they’re such an effective cue to describe, or at least set expectations, as to what a band sounds like, what their style is, etc. It’s kind of like the music journalist cheat-code. Anyway, I’m really stoked to introduce WDET listeners to MRKT this week on MI Local, a band that I attempted to describe as prog-punk-space-jazz-fusion. 

MRKT is comprised of Ben Van Camp on vocals and drums (and occasionally other instruments,) Nolan Tillis on Moog bass, electric piano, synthesizers, and Lowrey organ), and their newest member, Ben Green on an electric wind instrument, which is, basely-put, a synth that you play like a saxophone.

Now, when it comes to the experience of seeing MRKT live, we won’t mince words: it’s intense! It’s intense to behold them, as performers, and it’s quite a trip for your ears and your mind! But it’s also captivating, because in that sensibility of jazz, the trio seems to have an almost telepathic connection amidst furiously fast tempos, breakneck time-signature changeups, and detours into improvisational jams.

Tune in to the show this week to hear the band discuss their process, as well as premiere their brand new single, “Monotropia.” We also talk about just what genre, exactly, this band might fit into, if any at all!

You can see MRKT live this Saturday at Third Man Records.

We also heard new music from:

• Soul-pop singer/songwriter JonPaul Wallace, with “In Your Head,” a new single from his forthcoming EP, Lemon Days, with collaborator/producer Bryan Iglesias.
• New dreamy electro vibes from the super-melodic bedroom-pop songwriter known as Street Pattern, with “Sunshower.”
• The premiere of a new subdued ballad of heart-heavy confessionals from the pop-rock ensemble, The Ethan Marc Band, with “Familiar Hell.”
• A rocking cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” from Detroit-based rock trio The Pandys, off their new EP.
• A stellar prog-rock track from the newly re-energized Detroit-based group known as Art In America, with “Running By.”
• We also double-dipped into the Marquette music scene, with experimental indie-sounds from Liquid Mike and adrenaline-pulsing pop-rock from Addicus.

Stream the show above, where you’ll hear my interview with MRKT, and find the full playlist below!

• “Sunshower” – Street Pattern
• “In My Head” – JonPaul Wallace
• “Everybody Knows” – The Pandys
• “Familiar Hell” – The Ethan Marc Band
• “A Better Day” – Tim Kish
• “Reach Me” – RAWHIDE GIRL FIGHT
• “Seeing Double” – C.A.D. & the Peacetime Consumers
• “Sorry! I Forgot Again” – Addicus
• “Crop Circles” – Liquid Mike
• “Running By” – Art in America
• “Monotropia” – MRKT
• “Ring Round with the Yellow Page” – MRKT
• “As the Matchsticks Fall” – MRKT