Since I took a sobatical last week, there is lots and lots to catch you dandies up on!
First of all, tonight at Club Bart Black Lodge is playing a free show with Pink Lightning as part of the Loco Gnosis Summer Showcase Series. This series is a really cool event every Wednesday and always features awesome bands. It's always free, and this week fucking Black Lodge is playing. Black Lodge is one of those unknown gems that i stumbled across at this year's Blowout. Awesome awesome post-punk danceable fresh wave. You can download their first EP for free right here! 
Speaking of Loco Gnosis, local band Spitting Nickels realeased an LP through the label earlier this year. When I opened up the -jr fan mail the other day, I found a big ass vinyl copy sitting in the pile of noods. The name of the LP is "Stop Don't / Yes". It was recorded by Jim Diamond over at Ghetto Recorders. Honestly, you couldn't put together a better marriage of sound engineer and band. Diamond excels with the gritty garage rock sound. Don't believe me? Listen to "Hot Dog" by The Dial Tones or any of the old White Stripes shit. This somewhat pigeonholes Spitting Nickles into specific genre, blues-driven garage rock. For what they are doing, though, they do it spectacularly well. Each song on the record is unique and some personal picks are "All Tied Up", "Tie One On", and "Detroit Leaning". "Don't Stop /Yes" on the whole is fast, upbeat, and danceable. Before you know it, you will have breezed through the record, covered in sweat, and ready to flip it over for more. To Purchase the LP in a number of different formats, visit Spitting Nickels here
This Saturday marks the 1st ever Echo Fest. Echo Fest is a Detroit Psychedelic Festival curated by local band Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor. The festival is taking place at PJ's Lagerhouse and is only $5. I'm looking forward to seeing Solar Temple Cult. This band features members of the now-defunct Friends of Dennis Wilson. If you know me, you know FODW is my all-time favorite Detroit Band. Anyways, I suggest you go to this on Saturday!
Finally, there is this new social networking site for bands and fans that is somewhat Detroit specific. It is called Knerd.com. I believe it is in the beta testing stage right now, but it's open for any band to get signed up with. I haven't played around with it too much. From the looks of it though, it looks like an amalgamation of last.fm and myspace music.
If you would like something revued by the legendary -jr, feel free to mail hard-copies to 11859 Sycamore, Plymouth, Mi. 48170....and I am partial to vinyl.
-jr
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-jr is a musician/dj/blogger/writer from Detroit, MI. He performs in the bands The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre and Sheefy Mcfly & The Delorean. He also writes a cultural blog covering the ins and outs of the Detroit Music Scence as well as pop culture. When Dj'ing he uses the handle DJ JCM. He has been an integral part of the Detroit Music mechanation for the past 10 years. He knows just about everything about music on both a local and national level. His opinon is gold and is infallible. This is what's been in my ear lately.