Authors

Jerilyn Jordan

Jerilyn Jordan is an untamed writer with an insatiable affinity for vivid descriptive detail and pushing the boundaries of traditional music journalism. In addition to her music coverage, Jerilyn also writes heartbreaking and comedic autobiographical essays that likely originated as sporadic sentences written on bar napkins.

Playing Detroit

Anna Burch Keeps It Cool With Polyvinyl

And as of last week, we aren't the only ones to be enchanted by Burch's brand of pretty pain and ennui. Polyvinyl...

Playing Detroit

Folkie May Erlewine Charms with "Never One Thing"

Okay, so she's not from Detroit proper, but we couldn't help but feel moved by small-town folk songstress May Erlewine's video for "Never One Thing," the first single from her forthcoming record Mother Lion. Erlewine comes from a deeply musical family - her father Michael founded AllMusic - that...

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Playing Detroit

Prude Boys Get Frisky in "Talking to Myself" Video

What do you get when you cross a water balloon fight and karaoke with one of Detroit's most beloved dive bars? Well, you might get the latest video from garage rockers Prude Boys. The visual for their latest single "Talking to Myself" finds DIY babes Caroline Myrick, Quennton Thornbury and Connor...

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Playing Detroit

JRJR "Clean Up" Nice on New Track

There is an undeniable Paul Simon Graceland vibe veiled in the stripped down honesty of "Clean Up," the latest track from indie pop darlings JRJR's unofficial forthcoming record. The band (Josh Epstein, Dan Zott, Bryan Pope and Mike Higgins) have shifted their focus inward and in doing so has found...

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Playing Detroit

Tunde Olaniran Goes a Shade Darker on "Symbol"

Since then, we have been waiting with bated breath for new music. Earlier this month that wish was granted as Olaniran released the incredibly slinky and oceanic...

Playing Detroit

Tart Returns as a Trio on New EP Toothache

Sweet, sour and glittering with adrenaline (appropriately named) transcendent Detroit trio Tart have made a reputation for themselves by deconstructing new wave and electroclash to spawn their genre-defying sound. Together, vocalist Zee Bricker, guitarist Adam Michael Lee Padden and drummer Donny...

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Playing Detroit

Valley Hush Bid Summer Farewell With "Goodbye, Sweet Mango"

The last time we heard from indie pop duo Valley Hush, they had just released a melty, celestial self-titled debut LP that explored ambition, passion and the art of getting out of your own way. This time around, singer Lianna Vanicelli and producer Alex Kaye explore longing and loss with a soaring...

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Playing Detroit

White Bee Adds Neo-Soul Buzz to "Beat State"

The term neo-soul has been popping up around the Detroit music scene more and more frequently these days. Used to describe a blend of R and B, soul and non-traditional inclusions of jazz and hip-hop, neo-soul is becoming more of an overall aesthetic than just a sonic nuance. And no one embodies this...

Playing Detroit

Mona Haydar Debuts "Dog" with Feminist Bite

Poet, activist and rapper Mona Haydar is flipping the script with "Dog" (ft. Jackie Cruz), the first single from her forthcoming EP. Haydar, a Flint native best known for her much-publicized "Ask A Muslim" project - in which she and her husband opened the door to strangers' questions in hopes of...

Playing Detroit

Frontier Ruckus Share "Enter the Kingdom" Video

Frontier Ruckus has been dishing out deeply personal, heavy-hearted folk rock for fifteen years. Their latest installment of polite devastation comes in the form of Enter the Kingdom. Their fifth record (released in the February of this year) comes full circle with the striking visual for the...

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Playing Detroit

Nydge x Greater Alexander Release Stunning Visual for "Mask"

It's been a hot minute since we covered an Assemble Sound creation but this recent release in their Sunday Song series was too jarring to ignore. A unique collaboration between New York born, Athens raised, and now Detroit-based artist Alexander Vlachos (Greater Alexander) and synth darling (and...

Playing Detroit

Baby Spice Haunts Deadbeat Beat in New Video

Back in 1996, five women with idiosyncratically branded personalities took the world by storm as the Spice Girls, and their demands were simple: "I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig ah." Those iconic words by (perhaps) the greatest girl group of all time...

Playing Detroit

Thunderbirds Are Now! End 10-Year Hiatus with Trump Protest Anthem

Pioneers of Detroit's early 2000's caffeinated punk movement, Thunderbirds Are Now! shake off unofficial retirement to rework an old track for the new regime. "Outsiders" finds our riotous foursome angrier than usual and not at all rusty as they hauntingly remind the elected puppeteers that “we are...

Playing Detroit

DeJ Loaf Soars With "No Fear"

Detroit based hip-hop goddess DeJ Loaf returns with soft edges and a warm-hearted willingness to compromise with the whimsical visual for "No Fear" her first single from her major label debut, Liberated, due out later this year. Our beautifully braided, Gucci-clad heroine finds sunshine in...

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Playing Detroit

Blood Stone "Friends 'Til the End"

Detroit's DIY rock scene has developed a penchant for teenage nostalgia and candy-coated wickedness. Clumsy with playful misconduct, Blood Stone is the latest quartet to make lo-fi faux innocence their M.O. Their newest track, "Friends 'Til The End" could be sweetly committed or in need of being...

Playing Detroit

Summer Solstice Playlist

Ypsilanti power-pop trio Lightning Love may no longer play together, but their 2012 gem "So Easy" will always be a perfect summer jam. School is out, bare skin exposed and the sense that anything is possible is undoubtedly in the air. Yes, it's summer in the city. While we may all have our ideal...

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Playing Detroit

Ancient Language Share "Until Recently"

There's something to be said for a track that is suitable for dancing, crying, cutting and running and climaxing. Released earlier this spring, dream-pop trio Ancient Language delivered a well-rounded taste of their forthcoming record with "Until Recently." Complex, though never overwrought or...

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Video · Playing Detroit

Jena Irene Asciutto debuts "Cold Fame"

What if I told you that a former American Idol runner-up wrote a power ballad about medical marijuana? And what if I told you that this same, 20 year-old reality TV competitor released one of the most well-rounded, wildly mature pop records just last week? Okay, okay. Last hypothetical. What if I...

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Video · Playing Detroit

Mango Lane Share Cheeky "Sex" Video

If Detroit had palm trees and if palm trees had a theme song we would have to assume that Mango Lane's chilled out, shimmering L.A. afternoon make-out session "Sex" would be most fitting. Channeling Washed Out, with hints of Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset," "Sex" feels more like a post-coital...

Playing Detroit

TRIP METAL FEST 2017

Memorial Day weekend means one thing and one thing only for most of Detroit: techno. For the past 17 years (on and off due to regulatory restrictions, budgeting issues and exponential crowd growth) Detroit celebrates its role as the birthplace of true, nitty-gritty electronic music. From the likes...

Playing Detroit

Shady Groves Releases Romantic Short Film "Stay Strange"

With their short film "Stay Strange," Shady Groves gives us the love story we need - a sweetly cinematic tale of new lovers (that likely met by swiping right), refreshing in its lack of cynicism. The film bookends the title track with two other songs ("Me and You" and "Dysthymia"), resulting in a...

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Playing Detroit

Britney Stoney Holds Tight with "Grip"

This time around, Stoney shares a newfound intimate inflection with “Grip,” an unofficial sad-girl prom anthem. “Grip” masterfully and...

Playing Detroit

Pretty Ghouls Go Ultra-Goth On New 7"s

“Grab your socks and comb your locks. Let’s go!” instructs Detroit’s delightfully sinful goth-punk trio Pretty Ghouls.Sure, they seem sweet and saccharine at first glance, channeling the likes of The Shangri-las, but it is their muddy, bloody graveyard grit and grime that solidifies the act as a...

Playing Detroit

Mother Cyborg Teases Debut LP

Mother Cyborg by Ara Howrani For Diana Nucera, a.k.a Mother Cyborg, it's been a long time coming. Her long-awaited debut album Pressure Systems drops this week, and based on the two teaser singles "Earth Dreams" and "3souled Women" we are all wildly ill prepared (but so ready) for the journey....

Playing Detroit

Will Sessions Tease New Album, Deluxe

The word “fusion” doesn’t begin to skim the surface of the rich and diverse stylings of Detroit’s hardest working band, Will Sessions. Not easily categorized, Will Sessions' influence spans decades and their accumulative sound swells with an authentically reimagined funk renaissance. Equal parts...

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Playing Detroit

ADULT. Return with Avant-Garde Video

Over the course of 20 years, electro-clash duo ADULT. has challenged the conventional with avant-garde prowess and an unmatched affection for letting their freak flag fly. Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller returned last month with an experimental collaboration and their seventh record Detroit...

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Playing Detroit

JR JR "Same Dark Places"

The first taste from JR JR forthcoming fourth record, “Same Dark Places” follows suit with what the duo does best: hook-dependent melodic pop menageries that feel more clever than sincere. If the duo’s 2015 hit “Gone” was a movie trailer for some generic teenage girl coming of age tale, then that...

Playing Detroit

A Springtime Playlist

There is an undeniable shift in self when the clocks return to their forward position and warmer days begin to outnumber the cold ones. Spring, though different depending on your geographic specifics, happens under the same sky at just about the same time. Perhaps you're like me and mending a...

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Playing Detroit

Sheefy McFly "Neon Love Affair"

Electrified funk master Sheefy McFly blessed us this week with "Neon Love Affair," a fresh futuristic time-warp that channels the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog (ala rumored composer Michael Jackson) with a serious dose of technicolor sass. Released as a companion piece to his solo art exhibition of...

Playing Detroit

Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas Release New Bilingual Track

She and her band The Deltas have recorded a double LP, Telephone/Telefono (the same record recorded twice, in...

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Playing Detroit

New Band Alert: Foster Muldoon

It started as simple bluegrass jam session and turned into something the band is calling "Michigan Downgrass." Call it whatever you like, but folk trio Foster Muldoon is just getting started. Although they don't have any music released, their recent performance at the Hamtramck Music Festival...

Playing Detroit

Deadbeat Beat Deliver New Two-track Cassette

Lo-fi DIY nostalgia-pop babes Deadbeat Beat delivered some much needed fuzz and feels by means of two new live tracks released on cassette earlier this month. Both were recorded live at Lo! and Behold Records and Books for The Milo Show (Detroit's premiere music web-series, hosted by local beat...

Playing Detroit

Dear Darkness Slays on Latest EP

Dear Darkness photo by Elise Mesner Stacey MacLeod and Samantha Linn are distressed to impress, sharing their wonderfully warped worldview as as post-punk kitsch queens Dear Darkness on their latest EP She's That Kind of Person, but I Like Her Anyway. Released last month, their latest effort...

Woman of Interest

Detroit Designer Lindsay Cashews

You can call Lindsay Cashews many things; designer, visual artist, passion provocateur, digital warrior, pussy enthusiast, art princess. Though the list is extensive, one thing Lindsay is not is fearful. A courageous voyeur of female identity and explorer of empowerment and kink, Lindsay Cashews is...

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Playing Detroit

VESPRE "Siren"

A soothing and heavenly departure from her history as a folk artist and frontwoman of The Normandies, Kaylan Waterman slipped into new waters with her latest project VESPRE. Introducing this new exploration with the track "Siren," VESPRE produces an aural shimmering pool of blurry constellations,...

Track Review

Future Islands "Ran"

Two years ago, Baltimore trio Future Islands had a huge breakthrough with poignant single “Seasons (Waiting on You),” finding the success they'd been seeking since 2006. Hoping to continue that momentum, they released a teaser single from their forthcoming record The Far Field just last week....

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Playing Detroit

Best Exes Release "Cactus" Cassette

It's strange to think of ex-lovers in terms of how they rank compared to one another, but perhaps there's some truth and treasure in having a "best ex." It could be a former partner who will jump your car when your battery dies, or one who has no ill intent when comforting your hurting heart with...

Playing Detroit

Frontier Ruckus "Our Flowers Are Still Burning" Video

Frontier Ruckus Matthew Milia and his gaggle of lovelorn folkies - otherwise known as Frontier Ruckus - return with a sardonic make-out party prelude to their forthcoming record Enter the Kingdom. The sad, sensual clip for latest single "Our Flowers Are Still Burning" offers a camcorder view of...

Playing Detroit

Prude Boys "The Outlaw"

The Outlaw, though only two tracks long, make for a grungy Lee Hazelwood x Nancy Sinatra reboot while garnering imagery of seduction and escape with their uniquely refined and playful nostalgia.

Playing Detroit

Bonny Doon "I See You"

What do you get when you mix emoji-filled birthday texts from mom, a drunken journey through liquor store shelves and conflicted selves, plastic cup inebriation, and happy-to-be-alive appreciation?

Playing Detroit

Flint Eastwood "Oblivious"

Flint Eastwood’s latest video for “Oblivious” a track from last year's "Small Victories" EP is a beautifully hyped visual for a song that begs to brace for change with a tumultuous fluidity.

2016 Year End Lists

Staff Picks - Jerilyn Jordan: The Playing Detroit Awards

In wake of what most consider one of the most turbulent years in recent memory, 2016 carried a heavy weight. From the death of idols, poets and American democracy, this year challenged our collective patience and sanity leaving no stone unturned. That being said, 2016 reared its resilient head by...

Playing Detroit

Stef Chura "Spotted Gold"

Quickly rising as Detroit's DIY pensive pop priestess, Stef Chura and her captivatingly peculiar lo-fi sensibilities shine and burn playfully in her latest video for "Spotted Gold."

Playing Detroit

Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas "Hot Damn"

A firecracker personified, Jessica Hernandez (and her Deltas, respectively) embodies the grit, the groove, and the gloriously kaleidoscopic rock nuances that Detroit is best known for.

Playing Detroit

Fred Thomas "Voiceover"

Fred Thomas has a lot of feelings (and he really wants to talk about them).

Playing Detroit

Humons "Try it for Me"

Enjoy the video for “Try it for Me,” a stunning visual marriage of organic and digital landscapes, both of which reflect the sincere duality of the EP Spectra bringing Humons’ vision full circle.

Playing Detroit

Zoos of Berlin "Instant Evening"

Instant Evening is a mystifying abstraction and a perilously purifying journey that renounces gravity in the same breath from which it praises it.

Playing Detroit

Handgrenades "Tunnels"

Alt-indie five-some, Handgrenades delivered their sophomore LP Tunnels earlier this month, a diversified, hook-laden kaleidoscope that explodes with disciplined revelry.

Playing Detroit

PLAYING DETROIT the Mourning After: Martha and The Vandellas "Dancing in the Street"

If you were like me, you likely stayed in bed this morning a little too long wanting nothing more than to wake up but without ever having to open your eyes.

Premieres · Playing Detroit

PLAYING DETROIT PREMIERE: Nydge "El Segundo (ft. Kim Vi)

"El Segundo" is the latest sonic story from Assemble Sound resident producer and synth-pop artist Nydge who is as masterful as a collaborator as he is a solo entity.

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