Shane T. Mooney Jr., who performs as Junior the Jenius, raps about his style in the single “La Flambe,” off the 2024 full-length Flamin’ Hot Demo: “I go hard in the paint, Flocka Flame, 3D shades and a big Cuban chain.” It’s underground. It’s kingpin. It’s down and dirty Duluth hip-hop. Junior the Jenius started making music in 2016 at Denfeld High School. He’s played countless Duluth venues and collaborated with classmate Trip.e on multiple fronts, including a new label, TVSTATIC. He recently opened for Soulja Boy Tell ’Em and Do or Die.

Jumpsuit’s jam is bringing on the funk. Established as an instrumental act, the original fabric of this seven-piece outfit is Marshall Dillon and Emanuel Eisele grooving on guitar, Ian Hopp thumping drums, Calvin Lund banging bass, and Courtney Ellian backing on vocals and killing the keys. The band expanded its style in September by adding the sultry songstresses Erica Francois and Madi Phyle on lead vocals. Jumpsuit’s weekly Cedar Lounge residency at Earth Rider Brewery began in June but was paused in February to focus on writing fresh material.

In a dog and cat world, alt-rockers Joy and Melancholy are the platypus. Guitarist and vocalist Anna Stanley told a Wussow’s Concert Cafe audience in a video posted to YouTube that she doesn’t think people should be limited to two choices. “So I wrote a song about metaphorically being a platypus,” she said. Clearly Joy and Melancholy don’t fit into any box. The group is influenced by 1990s grunge, 2000s punk and today’s modern pop. Their songs are happy, sad, angry, funny and full of life — just like dogs, cats and platypuses. Drummer Eli Stanley and bassist and vocalist Lacey Osterlund round out the band.

Meet the new Jesse Unger. After two decades delivering hip-hop and rap lyrics, the MC formerly known as Jaze is now a DJ performing as Jesse Jaze. A steady stream of flips, remixes and mashups hit SoundCloud in 2024 and the performance schedule has been ramping up ever since. A few weeks after Homegrown, Jesse Jaze starts his new gig as DJ for the Duluth Harbor Monsters, an Arena League football team that won the ArenaMania championship in the inaugural 2024 season.