This weekend was full of live music. After Sidewalk Chalk and The Almighty Get Down on Friday, I headed back to Motr for The Black Owls and The Sundresses. I’ve seen both these bands before. They play regularly around Cincinnati given that they are both Ohio bands with The Sundresses based in Cincinnati.

I digress. I’ve been listening to my 2014 Bunbury playlist for the last few weeks. Every time Fall Out Boy comes on (which seems to happen with disproportionate frequency), I am fumbling for the skip button. That very thing just happened. Perhaps it’s time I just purchased some of my favorites to get away from this abusive Spotify relationship with Fall Out Boy. That’s settled. I will make up for missing record store day with a trip to buy a bunch of my favorite bands’ records at Shake It.

Back to the topic at hand, The Black Owls came prepared mic swinging and all. They sounded really great on the new sound system at Motr. I am still marveling at how much better the sound is in there. I could understand most of the lyrics, which is a feat at most live shows let alone ones with so much crunchy guitar sounds. Mic swinging might have caused a bit of a microphone crisis, but all was handled gracefully.

The Sundresses added a drummer a couple of years ago. I feel like this really added some punch to their live shows. The past arrangement was that Jeremy and Brad would alternate on percussion duty. That inevitably meant a bit of a lull between songs. Granted they situated themselves damn fast, but still. The addition of a drummer lets them pound though one song leaving barely time to catch your breath before the next tears out. It’s gratifying.

And gratifying it was. They sounded really great. The only hiccup was with one of the mics delivering at random intervals a shock to Jeremy’s mouth. I don’t know what that would feel like, but by the looks of it, it was quite painful. This situation was tolerated until the end of the show, which is more than what I would have endured had I been getting zapped in the mouth.

Cincinnati, you are getting out of control with all the local music. This weekend is looking like more of the same… I can’t wait.