Michigander

One Liner: Fun low-key but super catchy rock 

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, going to go with rock and indie rock
Home: Detroit

Poster Position: 18
Weekend Two Only.  Saturday.

Thoughts: Love the band name.  Even if I've never been to Michigan, and actually had lunch yesterday with a young woman who had absolutely zero things good to say about her last two years living in the State, I dig the punny combo that allows me to consider the wonderful word "gander."  Everyone should use the word gander more often.  BUT, when you search that term in Wikipedia, it just says that this is the generic term for a person who is from Michigan.  Which is also funny.  Imagine if they called us Texaganders.  Freaking sweet.

The guy's name is really Jason Singer, and he's the lead singer and writer and frontman and all that.  I read a background of him that was cute, talking about growing up and just becoming fascinated with music.  One good quote: "I would rent CDs from the library and rip them to my computer, sorry everyone."  I did that with record albums back in the day.  I'd go borrow some musty ass Beatles album, bring it home to the Panasonic 4-in-one, and make a cassette tape of some "Twist and Shout" era tunes.  Good times.  I also like Jason's take on streaming - that for a smaller musician like him it is a big positive, because his music is out there in front of so many people and so he can sell merch and shows that he likely couldn't do if he was just trying to push CDs.

He's from - shockingly! - Michigan.  Kalamazoo.  But he moved to Detroit somewhat recently now that the music thing is taking off.  The group started as a solo thing, but now he has an actual band.  Guitar is definitely the centerpiece of the tunes.  They got to play Lollapalooza last summer, and it sounds like the show was a smash.

He has no actual albums, just a pile of singles and three EPs that have come along over time.  His first single was in 2016, called "Nineties," and it kind of blew up for the guy.  2.4 million streams now.

Kind of a Bright Eyes feel in there, or maybe just solo Conor Oberst.  Nothing totally ground-breaking there, but good lyrics, driving beat, cool little horns.  I like it.  He cleans up the sound a little bit since then.  His most streamed one is a 2019 single called "Misery." 6.5 million streams.

Dude has some serious hair-styling.  The comp that keeps popping into my mind is Catfish and the Bottlemen.  But it also sounds kind of like Portugal. The Man as well.  That is a really solid song.  Poppy and catchy, but also solidly in the rock mode.  I could absolutely go jam this in a big crowd with all my sweater stranger friends.  And the fireworks in that video are kinda badass too.

Another sweet gift from the world is that he also joined up with fellow poster-buddies Manchester Orchestra to create a new single - "In My Head."  Maybe they'll take the stage together and shred.

Yeah, buddy.  Get me some more of that tasty business.  I'm pumped to see M.O. again, and would definitely go take a gander at the 'gander.