MRKT & Brenda
Lenny’s Bar
15045 Mack Avenue, Detroit
Dec 21, 2024
I’ve got to be careful slapping the title “best band in Detroit” on everything.
And it’s hard to do, because the music scene in this city just keeps impressing me.
That’s coming from a writer who routinely says that 99 percent of local music is the worst thing you’ve ever heard.
Detroit’s 1% just happens to be that damn good.
And if we stay within the “punk” lens for the show Saturday night at Lenny's Bar, MRKT and Brenda are some of the best we’ve got to offer.
MRKT proved it on Friday to a small-but-into it crowd over on the eastside of Detroit. It’s a new name for an old dive that doesn’t seem to have lost the patina from the days when the streetlights didn’t work and grizzled dudes from nearby Jefferson Chalmers would wander over for taco night.
Performing as a three-piece with Benjamin Green of Harmolodics, MRKT is all prog-rock basslines and synths paired with thumping drums. I’ve been praising drummers for their ability to lay off and find some gentle dynamics on the kit lately, but with MRKT, this freight-train, high-aggression approach is perfect.
MRKT holds their own against the big names coming out of south London’s much touted experimental jazz scene, like Nubya Garcia, Ezra Collective and oreglo (there are many, many more).
Through their lens, MRKT brings in more punk influence and a heavy dose of organ than you’d hear overseas.
Throughout their set, I kept thinking about a warped record that somehow sounds better the more its manipulated. That’s a good description for MRKT’s whirling, hypnotic, driving sound.
And what a damn treat to have another Detroit band Brenda right after them. A true switch in vibe, but a perfect one-two punch for a local show on a Friday night at a dive.
Brenda describes themselves as “drug pop.” That’s damn close!
Namesake Brenda Mahler singing and banging on a simple set up of tom-and-snare standing up. Bassist Nick Cicchetti on a particularly crunchy bass for the evening. Guitarist and lead singer Matt Horne proving his guitar tone and songwriting are tough to top in the local scene.
Stand-out tracks included “Jenny” and “DRDR,” two of many robust rippers that this trio tore through at Lenny’s.
And that’s a good time to remind y’all that both bands have active Bandcamps, which is by far the best way to support local music. Either go to a show or buy some physical merch or music directly from them on Bandcamp. It’s that easy, folks.
So thankful this holiday season for local punk shows that push the boundaries of what punk should be sonically in deliciously dank dive bars.
This post was published in part with WDET.
