Shot through the heart

Though it didn’t seem possible, Stun Gun has stepped the whole femme fatale shtick up a notch with the completion of its second full-length studio album, Venus Envy. It features a fuller sound and clever design (a gun shooting a tube of lipstick on the inside back cover) — you might actually want to pick up a copy at the band’s CD release party. And not just for a chance to see a hot girl up-close at the merch booth. Chris and Drew Peters of Getaway Cruiser and Six Clips fame lent their production skills to the project and they succeeded in filling out Stun Gun’s traditionally simple-structured vamp pop with layered spongy vocals, fuzzed electro-effects and neo-New Wave keyboards. Things are looking up for the fearsome foursome, which has a bunch more gigs lined up in the coming months, including one at CBGB with Lanternjack in August. The Magic Bag (22920 Woodward Ave. in Ferndale, 248-544-3030) hosts the Stun Gun CD release party this Saturday. Six Clips and Octopus open the festivities.

Who’s to blame?

It’ll be a bittersweet farewell when the regulars and every-so-oftens bid a final adieu to that friendly bastion of warm beverage and super-cheap entertainment on Woodward Avenue this week. So be sure to get out to Bittersweet Coffee House and show your support to some really cool people who tried really hard and kept it going this long. Stop in all this week at 3921 Woodward in Detroit. We’re losing venues here, people. Although the phone was shut off when I called, it might get turned back on by the time you read this. Give it a try at 313-832-4719.

You give love

It would be hard to find a music fan in Detroit who’s not in love with Adult. after the incredible show the duo put on Friday night for a packed Magic Stick audience. Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus managed to have fun with a music that doesn’t always work well in live performance. And they didn’t have to run around like maniacs and hug everyone as some other IDM performers are wont to do. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just not their style. They’ve got more of a disconnected, monotone, poetic-politic thing going on. Electronica fans danced next to indie kids next to hip-hop heads. It was beautiful. And so punk-rock that I was inspired to buy a patch at the end of the set. The duo is finding love outside of Detroit as well. Neil Strauss featured them in his Critic’s Notebook in the New York friggin’ Times after a show they had at Fun in NYC earlier this month.

And get fined for it

My Ypsilanti peeps know that the Elbow Room is the place to hear some of the best underground punk and rockabilly on the West side. It seems as though the “Gold Dollar of the West” has been feeling some heat lately from the city for bands that promote their Elbow Room gigs by putting up fliers throughout the city streets. Turns out it’s illegal and the venue is getting fined because of it. They ask that you flier at the venue itself, or at Vinyl Joe’s, Mudd House, Fast Eddie’s or around the Blind Pig. “I know a law against band fliers is a common thing in places like Birmingham or Greenfield Village, but Ypsi ain’t essactly Carmel by the Sea,” wrote the Elbow Room’s Leighton Mann to the venue’s mailing list. Still, rules are rules, even if he really did watch a “hooker and smackhead” fall out of a downtown apartment while tearing down a flier last week.

Final note

If you still haven’t checked out what is possibly the most fun to be had in the city of Detroit music-wise, you must go to Motor City Funk. DJs Scott Craig and Brad Hales spin off-the-hook funk all night at detroit contemporary (5141 Rosa Parks Blvd., 313-898-4ART) on the last Friday of every month. And the best part — it’s free.

The next night is the fourth and final Gold Dollar prom. Dig out that horrid ruffled thing from your closet and maybe this time around you’ll actually get some. Just remember: I’m so much cooler now. I’m so much cooler now. Someone’s gonna ask me to dance. Someone’s gonna ask me to dance. …