Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Tag Archives: cincinnati music scene


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MPMF15 Must See – Matthew E. White

Is it an accident, that Matthew E. White shares his last name with Barry White? Maybe, but I am going to continue thinking that it’s a natural inheritance of funk and soul passing across generations from a large furry black man to a large furry white man. Is this concurrence a thing? Maybe not, but it comforts me, so I am going to continue thinking it exists.

There’s a solid representation of Americana and Soul in this year’s MPMF line-up. My next pick (spoiler alert?) is another soul act, The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers. Who can resist gospel/soul backing vocals? And I have to concur that “rock and roll don’t have no soul… and everybody likes to talk shit…”

Warning: I can’t find him on the schedule so this could be a recent drop from the fest. The only weird thing is his tour stuff still says he’s coming. So, I dunno. I know that if he turns up, I am seeing him.


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MPMF15 Must See – Zola Jesus

Shimmering, rich vocals backed by dark expansive synth beats and lyrics to burn; this is what Zola Jesus brings. The kid in me that was captivated by Bauhaus, Souxie and the Banshees, and Kate Bush is crushing hard on this music. The fact that I still return to these artists more than twenty years later speaks to the void that they left.

Put on your black eyeliner and black boots. Moody goth dancing is going to happen at 1215 in the Taft Ballroom on Sept 26 at Midpoint Music Festival. See you there.


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MPMF15 Must See – Sylvan Esso

And here it is. My favorite song discovered in my MPMF15 listening.

I love this song so hard I want to marry it. That might be an exaggeration. That song would be difficult to cuddle with.

I am not often a fan of seeing electronic music performed live. Watching people work at computers isn’t a compelling visual for me. As one of my photographer friends said at Bunbury this year, “What’s pleasing to the ears is not necessarily pleasing to the eye.” And no better phrase can sum up my thoughts on seeing DJs or any other performer doing things with technology.

But I am curious to see what Amelia Meath makes of her vocal performance along side producer, Nick Sanborn. The duo come together in the most acoustically pleasing way with Meath’s vocals floating across time by laying the past on top of Sanborn’s modern beats. The contrast is alluring. If you love Portishead, this performance is a must.

Join me at Sylvan Esso on Saturday Sept. 26th at the Christian Moerlein stage at 1045.


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MPMF15 Must See – Strand of Oaks

I climbed a mountain today. On the way down the mountain I saw a woman carrying what appeared to be a swaddled baby in her arms. The climb was strenuous. My first thought was – what the hell is happening here?

That was also my thought when I listened to TImothy Showalter’s, the dude behind Strand of Oaks, top four songs on Spotify. “Goshen 97” gives “Summer of ’69” a run in terms of a nostalgic anthem for all things about making music and being young. “Shut In” is dripping with big Bruce Springsteen feels. “JM” is all Iron and Wine goes electric that morphs into dark, pulsing rock. “HEAL” is a synthed-out Orgy/Bauhaus baby. See for yourself.

You will have to go to Spotify for the others. But that should be enough for you to pick up what I’m throwing down. So, back to my thought, what the hell is going on here? I don’t have an answer to that question. But I do know that I want to see this guy. I’m curious to see how the show holds together with music that is running across the board. Plus, Showalter’s lyrics are punching me right in the feels.

I do know what the hell was going on with the woman headed up the mountain with a baby. She wasn’t holding a baby. She had her jacket wrapped up in her arms and was cradling it, which killed my curiosity immediately. Maybe I never what to know what the hell is going on with Strand of Oaks and just enjoy it.


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Midpoint Music Festival 2015

This is always the sequence of emotions I experience with the MPMF line-up. Every. Year. EVERY. STINKING. YEAR. SINCE 2005.

  1. I am disappointed because I am thinking of all the indie acts that are on tour that weren’t booked.
  2. I am slightly disturbed by how few of the bands I recognize considering how much indie rock I listen to.
  3. I wonder if the fest has gotten smaller. (This has been true some years. At some point the fest had close to 300 bands. Last year the fest had just under 150. This year it’s just over 100. Net, this is a year where the fest got smaller.)
  4. I start listening.
  5. I notice a few things I like.
  6. I listen A LOT.
  7. I realize that I like most of the acts.
  8. I listen even more.
  9. I start to get excited to see a lot of this live.
  10. I literally listen to the MPMF playlist for weeks on end
  11. I notice the variety of music represented in the line-up.
  12. I start to love a bunch of the acts.
  13. I can’t wait for the fest.
  14. I am certain the fest will be spectacular. (This typically happens in early September.)

I am on step 14, and I haven’t written a single blog entry about what I am going to see. In my defense, I did just move across the country. So, it’s not like I was just playing video games and time got away from me.

I have a little less than three weeks until MPMF15 kicks off. My goal is to blog daily from now until then about what I’m pumped about seeing. And go!

Here’s the Spotify playlist that I made for MPMF15. Have a listen if you wish.

You wanna see past MPMF pictures and such? I have you covered.
MPMF14 – Saturday
MPMF14 – Friday
MPMF14 – Thursday
MPMF13 – Saturday
MPMF13 – Friday
MPMF13 – Thursday


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Midpoint Music Festival 2015: Music’s Holy Days Are Coming

It’s a little late to start browsing Midpoint’s line-up. With around 150 bands to check out, time is critical. I put together a Spotify playlist, set it to shuffle, and heard the first sweet sounds of MPMF15. And sweet they are. While I appreciate Bunbury, The bookings that MPMF snags are on a whole more to my liking. And after months of Bunbury prep, it feels soooo good to be back home. Add the playlist if you are so inclined. More to come.


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Elk Creek at MOTR, also Seattle

I saw Elk Creek play at MOTR on Friday night. Some late in the set sound issues aside, they sounded good. I think they were short a lead guitarist, so I am excited to check them out again with a full band.

Bobby Bare Jr. played afterward. Man. He was really spectacular. Three piece bands have it tough. There simply aren’t enough bodies on stage to create layers of sounds to keep the audience interested. Bobby Bare Jr. used all the tools as his disposal including some really dynamic pedals as well as his snapping fingers and rangy voice. He was really great to watch. Seriously, go seem him if you can. He makes me think Nashville still has a soul.

Elk Creek at MOTR Pub

Elk Creek at MOTR Pub

Seattle winged varmint.

Seattle winged varmint.

Seattle

Seattle

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How I Spent my Christmas Vacation: Music

The Southgate House, a local music venue, closed for the last time on New Year’s Eve. The historic building housed a large two-level ballroom for regional/national acts, a mid-sized Parlor complete with a full bar, and a small barroom for duos and small bands. The venue offered free live music every night in the barroom, and provided a medium venue for artists who prefer not to sign their lives over to TicketMaster or Live Nation.

The ballroom has hosted NOFX, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Queers, They Might Be Giants, The Black Keys among others. The venue is closing due to a dispute. It’s encouraging that Cincinnati has nurtured this business, and the closing is due to reasons aside from lack of financial support.

Although no confirmed announcements have been made, the rumors abound that the venue will reopen in another location. There is talk that the new venue will remain in Newport and open in another historic building as early as February of 2012. I am hopeful that this gaping hole in the local music scene will be filled so quickly.

My fingers lack the fortitude to type all the shows I’ve seen at The Southgate House. I will focus on the highlights; DeVotchka, The Seedy Seeds, The Heartless Bastards, Mates of States, Jupiter One, the now defunct Young Republic, She Wants Revenge, and Bad Veins all put on amazing shows. The DeVotchka show is among my favorite shows of all time.

The Seedy Seeds put on a hell of a performance; it was fit for my last show at The Southgate House. The show was packed. They played a couple of originals about The Southgate House, one was an ode to their signature shot the Tommy Gun, Jameson with a pickle juice chaser. The Seedy Seeds perfectly curated a joyful celebration of everything The Southgate House was. They wrapped up the show with a cover of “I’m Sailing Away”. They invited the audience on stage to contribute to the song. The stage was overwhelmed with lusty singers, their faces bright and shining with joy. It was a beautiful last moment in a place that was the context for wonderful experiences.

Thanks to The Seedy Seeds. Thanks to the people who worked hard to make The Southgate House what it was. Thank you for your commitment to music. I look forward to your next work.

NOTE: I wrote this on January 1, 2012. Some things have changed since this was written. The Seedy Seeds are now defunct, but The Southgate House reopened. It’s now called The Southgate House Revival, and it’s still hosting really great music just as it did. 

While editing this, I realized I have changed as a writer. I was hoping that my writing would change as I continued to engage with it. Turns out, that hope is proved true. Hell, maybe even one day, I will become a competent editor. A girl can dream.  


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Bunbury 2015 Must See: Multimagic

Huzzah for local music! I checked out Multimagic at MOTR pub this past winter. In the dark, packed bar they hammered out their indie pop tunes. Here’s a link to my blog about this event. That night ran off the rails, but that was independent from how great Multimagic sounded. The Cincinnati local music scene has those of us who are out many evenings of the week checking out shows. It also attracts weekend warriors who are just looking for lots of drinks and a good time. This latter group was out in full force that night, and rowdy is an appropriate word to describe their behavior.

I’ve already covered Wussy and Walk the Moon. If you preferred the pop sounds of Walk the Moon over Wussy, Multimagic is the show for you. They have just as much pop goodness, and less of a young and rambunctious following. They don’t have anything up for sharing on Youtube, so this Spotify link to one of their songs will need to suffice. They play at 3 on Friday of Bunbury 2015.


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Bunbury 2015 Must See: Father John Misty

This is going to get weird. Watch this and listen to the lyrics.

I had to fall in love with Jeff Buckley’s cover of “Hallelujah” before I could wrap my brain around Leonard Cohen. Cohen’s style felt unapproachable to this punk kid. His songs were way too slow and employed way too many instruments for me to relate to them. Once my musical pallet was attuned to Cohen, I fell in love with him. But my warm-up to him took years. I will follow a similar process with Father John Misty. My age and experience has only gifted me the good sense to see him now anticipating my future love.

Yeah. Right? I’m not going to say this show will be fun, exactly. I think it will be something worth seeing. Any man that writes “save me white Jesus” in a song is worth watching. Father John Misty plays at 4 on Friday of Bunbury 2015.