Music festivals | Kate's Queen City Notes

September 6, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong Leave a comment

Midpoint Music Fest 2014 Must-See: Wussy

Months ago I agreed to take a weekend road trip to Nashville. I’m sure it will be fun. But Cincinnati seems to be at her best in the month of September, and any weekend away means missing some fun events. I just realized that I will be missing Wussy’s show at Motr on Sept. 12th. Balls.

While I have been listening to my Midpoint Music Fest playlist, I’ve really connected with one of their songs of Strawberry. Connecting with music for me usually starts with the sound, a good melody. At some point after listen number 10? Maybe it’s 12? I don’t know the exact number. I notice a turn of phrase in the lyrics that piques my interest. At the end of this rabbit hole, sometimes I find beautiful writing. It’s that beautiful writing that brings me to buying album after album. When a Death Cab for Cutie or National album drops, I purchase those without a single prior listen. I want the writing. It’s the writing that I come back for.

The line that caught my attention in “Waiting Room” was as follows.

Stand for the silent bride
Maidens in crimson drapes
Bottle it up inside til it explodes and washes over rows of everyone attending
Sad Midwestern baptist girl writes sorry on the mirror
Crying in the bathroom on the first night of the honeymoon
It numbs you like the colors in the waiting room

Then later I found this.

Out on a great crusade
Under a million stars
Focusing on your face with the lines increases coming on like US Grant to Richmond
Bona fide but trapped inside a shell that says to hell with you
You pour it out and hope that someone notices before it’s through
It rides you like the silence in the waiting room

Beautiful. Note that I couldn’t find any of their lyrics online, so you are reading what my ears could pick out. I could have made a mistake in there. What a gorgeous song about the quiet desperation in ordinary lives.

Under different circumstances I would be standing right in front at Motr watching these guys play on September 12th. Since that can’t happen I will be standing in front seeing them play at Washington Park on September 26th, as part of the Friday line-up of Midpoint Music Festival. If you are a Cincinnati native and you like experiencing new music, you won’t find a better event in the city. GO. If I ever move away, I will gladly come back every year for this weekend. You can read about my experience last year here, here and here.

July 13, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 1 Comment

Bunbury 2014: Sweat and Joy

The day started a little rough because I forgot my most important successory. Ear Plugs. I stopped in to just a bit of Miner, but then I had to run back to my place to get the cilia-saving foam devices.

After an additional trip to and from my apartment, I turned up to Big Fresh complete with a sweat-soaked shirt. Big Fresh was fun. They had a couple of brass players on stage. In the venn diagram of bands with horns and bands that I like, the circles are nearly on top of each other. If you aren’t a nerd, that just means that I almost always like live bands with horns. Of the lyrics that I could understand I got, “you’re such a hotty totty, I want to touch your body”. So, lyrics might not be their strong suit.

Bronze Radio Return wins for having my favorite song of Bunbury with “Shake, Shake, Shake”. These guys sounded great. They took a little time in their third to last song to jam and feature solos from the harmonica, guitar, and piano players. They are all great musicians. When they played “Shake, Shake, Shake”, it was clear from the crowd’s participation that they were already familiar with their music. Anytime you come around here, Bronze Radio Return, I will be coming to see you.

I peeked in on the Bonesetters before I headed to The River Stage for Kishi Bashi. I’ve been waiting to see Kishi Bashi since I missed him at Midpoint Music Festival last fall. Of all the Bunbury acts, I know his music best. It was worth the wait. He was spectacular. He did a solo version of “Manchester” with live sampling and looping. It was gorgeous. He covered “Live and Let Die” during which he dove into the crowd. After being passed around for a bit he was returned to the stage to close out the song. He’s travelling with a bassist, a drummer, and a banjo player. They all brought creativity to how they used their instruments. The banjo player was playing with a bow at one moment and then using mallets on his banjo for percussion. We got an excellent surprise at the end of the show. Kishi Bashi is coming back in late August to The 20th Century Theater. There’s no way I will miss that.

I stopped in for a moment to see Modoc. They sounded excellent, but I needed to cross the park to see part of Cults. Modoc is booked for Midpoint Music Festival, and assuming no critical conflicts I will see them there. I was expecting to like Cults more than I did. They sounded good. Their performance felt impersonal. That might be partially due to the fact that I was pretty far away, given that I arrived late. I would give them another go because I really like their music.

I headed back across the park to The Warsteiner Stage to see a few songs by Little Daylight. Then I continued on to Paramore. I actually didn’t intend on covering them. But I figured it would be the only time I would see that band, so why not see a song or two. I feel the same way about Paramore as I did about all my ex-boyfriends. I’m just not that into them. A couple of live songs didn’t change my mind.

The Pass and Andrew W. K. were next on my list, so I hiked across the park for the 4th time. The Pass got a tough billing. They were up against Andrew W. K. and Paramore. They deserved better than the sparse attendance they got. They sounded excellent.

Andrew W. K. was big dumb fun. His fans were engaged and very energetic. There was crowd surfing. Even the stoic photographers in the pit couldn’t help but smile. Is his music my thing? No. But it’s impossible to watch him and not smile. Andrew W. K. you win. I would totally see you again.

Foxy Shazam was excellent. Does that even need to be said out loud? Those guys have such a unique and big energy on stage. They packed The River Stage. No surprises there. It’s interesting to note that the other musicians came to see Foxy. Kishi Bashi and Patrick from Fall Out Boy were spotted in the back stage area watching their show. Seriously, if you live in Cincinnati and you love live shows, you must see Foxy Shazam.

Then Fall Out Boy happened. Their music isn’t my thing. I saw almost all of their show, and their music still isn’t my thing. I got some good pictures though.

*Note: I will have to edit this a little later. Sorry for the spelling and grammar problems. Cranking these out on a daily basis is challenging.

Miner.

Big Fresh. I know I said they had a horn section. I promise they are there. The shots that I have of them didn’t make my favorites. I will post them at some point in the future.

Big Fresh

Bronze Radio Return

The Bonesetters.

Kishi Bashi

I want those sunglasses. Banjo player from Kishi Bashi.

Kishi Bashi

Cults.

Little Daylight.

Paramore rocking out.

Yep. Boxing shorts.

The Pass

Andrew W. K. is getting ready to party.

Andrew W. K.

Foxy Shazam

Foxy Shazam needs water.

This is how Fall Out Boy entered the stage.

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz.

Fall Out Boy.

Fall Out Boy

July 12, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 2 Comments

Bunbury 2014: Friday Review

It’s a nice feeling when things go according to plan. It’s a wonderful feeling when things go even better than planned. At work, I was assigned a project that was running off the rails the day before the weekend of the 4th of July. Practically, I had 5 business days to get the project back under control and re-plan it.

I had planned to take yesterday off, so I could have a leisurely morning getting ready for Bunbury. Once I got this flaming project tossed in my lap, taking the day off was out of the question. After roughly 40 meetings and what felt like a zillion emails, and hundreds of problems solved this week, I was able to get a half-day off.

By some miracle, I was able to close out all of my pending work, and keep my four meetings of the morning on schedule. By noon, I was headed to Sawyer Point to get my press credentials. This task went quickly, and I had enough time to change out of work clothes and head back to the fest.

I bought my VIP passes at the fest last year. I had a good enough time that I felt confident about the purchase without knowing the line-up. I had since lost that email receipt. At will call they looked me up, and printed my tickets in less than 5 minutes. Then I headed to the media tent to get my camera sticker. This also took about five minutes. Getting into the fest on time: Success!

I headed to the River Stage to see Royal Teeth. They were just as adorable as I was expecting. They were shiny pop goodness with a dash of hipster. They sounded great, seemed happy to be there, and were really chatty with the crowd.

After a brief stop in the VIP tent for a 2 dollar beer, I headed to The Main Stage to see X Ambassadors. They’re music isn’t exactly my bag. But, my spidey sense told me that they would put up a solid performance. Plus, they have been regularly selling out their shows on this tour, so that’s got to count for something. They didn’t disappoint.

I wasn’t feeling particularly drawn to any of the bands in the time slot following X Ambassadors. I checked in on a couple of songs by Let It Be and Panama Wedding. Let It Be made me think of every pop punk show that I saw in the late 90’s. I think that could be interpreted as an insult, but that’s not what I intend. I like pop punk. I really like it when it’s tight, as they were. I was drawn off because I had to get back to The Main Stage, but I would happily go see them again.

Wild Cub was just as excellent as I expected. They were great the other two times I saw them, so there were no surprises there. The singer said that Ohio was special to them because a dj in Columbus was the first to play their song on the radio. This spawned a conversation later about how Ohio radio stations are less tightly controlled and thus makes Ohio a bit of a trend setter. I have never heard this before. When I have 5 minutes to blow this will be googled.

I stopped by at J Roddy Walston and the Business and Family and Friends. J Roddy was rocking. I will be seeing them again. Like X Ambassadors, their music isn’t my bag, but I always love a stellar performance.

I heard great things about Cage the Elephant. That great lip service is justified. At this point I thought, ah this will be the best performamce of the day. That turned out completely wrong.

I missed Bad Suns, but my friends that made it said they were great. Next up was Fitz and the Tantrums. I saw them this past fall. They have been touring for more than 7 months. They are great performers, but I have to say their vocals were a little worse for the wear. Fitz was clearly struggling. Their only option would have been to cancel, and I commend them for powering through it. Regardless of sounding a little rough, they were just as engaged with the crowd as they were early in the tour. The band sounded excellent. Net, not the best I’ve seen from them, but they get big ups for not disappointing their fans with a cancellation.

I am sure it’s nostalgia that makes so happy to see Heartless Bastards play in Cincinnati. I think of the many times I saw a then slightly different lineup playing the claustrophobic basement of the CAC, the original Southgate House, and Northside Tavern. It was around their inception and early shows that I started engaging in the local music scene. Zero regrets there. Erika Wennerstrom said it was good to be home, and it made me feel sappy and thankful for how good Cincinnati has been to me.

Last up for the evening was Empire of the Sun. When they were booked, I had thoughts. Thoughts like, what idiot booked this? I kept these thoughts to myself, because I wasn’t familiar with the band. I did some listening. I liked their sound. For the most part, feedback on social media was similar to my first thought. But there were sporadic dissenters suggesting that this booking was a huge win. “They never tour in the states”, they said. “They have an amazing live show”, they said. I skipped checking out any YouTube videos because, I do most of my listening via Spotify and can’t stream video at work.

The photography pit was packed. Empire of the Sun hit the stage. My mouth was agape. It took minutes for me to recover my wits from the awe I was experiencing. My words just aren’t good enough to describe what happened there. The pictures aren’t really either. But they’re all I have. I will say this, their show blew my expectations out of the water. If you can see them, MY GOD YOU MUST DO IT. I DON”T CARE IF YOU DON”T LIKE THEIR MUSIC.

In summary, Bunbury day one, you win. I freely admit, I wasn’t feeling your line-up this year. But, damn, if Saturday and Sunday are even half as good as yesterday, I am calling this fest a massive success.

Royal Teeth! Aren’t they cute?

See? Even cuter in this picture.

X Ambassadors

Not the instrument I thought he would play.

Let It Be rocking out.

Panama Wedding

Wild Cub!

J Roddy Walston and the Business

J Roddy Walston and the Business, and for some reason they remind me of Soul Asylum. Visually. They sound nothing like Soul Asylum.

Cage the Elephant

These guys put up an amazing performance.

Fits and the Tantrums.

Heartless Bastards!

The Warsteiner Stage

Empire of the Sun. I have so many more pictures of this show, but you will need to wait a few more days until I can process all of them.

July 10, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong Leave a comment

Bunbury 2014: IT’S ALMOST HERE!!

This has been one hell of a week at work, which makes me extra excited about all the live music that I’m seeing this weekend. I’ve been blogging about my not-to-miss bands for the past few months. Check out those blogs if you like.

Fitz and the Trantrums and Young the Giant
Kishi Bashi and Wild Cub
Bronze Radio Return and Bad Suns
Cults and Holy Ghost!

Plus, I’m super excited that I got a press pass this year. I have a pretty spiffy camera, and I was hoping I could get clearance to bring it in. Success!! I’m thrilled about all the amazing pictures that I’m going to share in the coming days.

Here’s my agenda for the weekend. Agenda. It’s so corporate. Regardless, here it is.

Friday:

2-245 Divided between Royal Teeth and Snowmine – Both these bands sound great, so it looks like I start the fest by sprinting across Sawyer Point.
245-330 X Ambassadors – These guys are regularly selling out their venues on this tour. Their horizon is looking pretty bright.
330-415 Let It Happen
415-5 Wild Cub Seen them twice, love them. 500 Miles to Memphis gets an honorable mention. This Cincinnati-based band puts on a great show, but I’ve seen them quite a few times. Oh, the burden of being a local at this fest.
5-545 Divided between J Roddy Walston and the Business and Family and Friends – I enjoy the sound of both of these bands. More sprinting.
545-645 Cage the Elephant
645-730 Bad Suns – If I have it in me, I might try and catch a song or two by Meg Myers and Lydia Loveless between Cage and Bad Suns.
745-9 Fitz and the Tantrums
915-1015 Heartless Bastards – Erika Wennerstrom’s voice is just spectacular.
1015-1115 Empire of the Sun

Saturday:

2-245 Miner
245-330 Big Fresh
330-415 Bronze Radio Return
415-5 Bonesetters
5-545 Kishi Bashi – I would have gotten tix to this fest just for this show.
545-645 Cults – Their songs sound straight out of the sixties and have lyrics about, well, cults. What’s not to like?
630-730 Little Daylight – This band drew me away from my original agenda at Governor’s Ball with their sweet, sweet sounds.
730-815 Molly Sullivan – Formerly the lead singer of the Know Know Nots, she’s got stellar vocals. I’m excited to see what she’s working on now.
815-915 Divided between The Pass and Andrew W. K. – Oh god, why are so many good things happening in this time slot.
9-10 Foxy Shazam – Their music isn’t really in my wheelhouse, but they are super performers.
10-1115 Fall Out Boy – They aren’t really my thing, but they have no competition. So, thks fr th mrms in advance.

Sunday:

2-245 Brick + Mortar
245-330 The Lighthouse and the Whaler – So much pop goodness. It’s marshmallow fluff for your ears.
330-415 The Easthills
415-5 Kopecky Family Band – Are they sure they aren’t a subset of Cults?
5-6 ZZ Ward
6-7 Robert Delong – This is dance-your-pants-off hour.
630-730 Bear Hands
7-8 Young the Giant
8-9 Holy Ghost! – They are so 80’s, and I love it so much.
9-1015 Flaming Lips – Thank Jeebus this thing ends at 1015. I will be beat-down by that point in the weekend.

Bring it Bunbury! I’m ready!

June 27, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 1 Comment

Bunbury 2014: Must See Fitz and the Trantrums and Young the Giant

I’ve seen both these bands before. They both put up solid performances. If you are looking for pop-candy goodness head to Fitz. If you are looking for indie rock with a slightly unapproachable sound head to Young the Giant.

See? Pop goodness. Prepare yourself, the woman that does backing vocals puts on one hell of a show.

See? Indie rock that is melodic yet slightly unapproachable. I will be seeing both of these bands again at Bunbury.

Next week, I will share my picks for the local bands that are book at the festival. I’ve seen most of them. Let me take the next few days to consider whether I will consider Heartless Bastards a local band given that they are currently out of Austin but started here in The Queen City.

April 13, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 5 Comments

Bunbury 2014: Must See Bands Cults and Holy Ghost!

I’ll admit it. I considered trying to sell my VIP Bunbury passes once the headliners were announced. With Forecastle snagging Beck, Outkast, The Replacements, and Jack White as headliners, that line-up is more appealing as far as headliners go. When I dig a little deeper in the Forecastle line-up there’s other gems like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Band of Horses. Regarding Bunbury’s headliners, I’m not terribly excited about Empire of the Sun or The Flaming Lips, and I dislike Fall Out Boy and Paramore. Bunbury’s second tier acts are typically my thing, and there are some bright spots there for sure. Kishi Bashi, Wild Cub, Fitz and the Tantrums are all solid. While Young the Giant and Foxy Shazaam aren’t in my wheelhouse my past experiences at their shows prove that their performances will be excellent.

Line-ups aside, there’s the pricing difference. Forecastle VIP passes are about 500 bucks each. Because I bought my Bunbury VIP passes so early, I paid 295 for each of them. The question that I have to ask myself is thus, Do I want to see Beck, The Replacements, Outkast, and Jack White enough to sell my tickets to Bunbury and fork over an additional 400 bucks for a couple of Forecastle VIP passes? I will need to factor in money to stay in Louisville, so that will probably drive the additional cost up to 700 bucks.

This is the context in which I started listening to the second and third tier bands in the Bunbury line-up. I spent a couple of weeks listening to this handy Spotify playlist. And all I can say is wow. The second and third tier stuff is great. In the interests of keeping this post to a manageable length I’m only going to talk about a couple of my finds. But, I’ve found enough good stuff that my Bunbury agenda is already packed. Needless to say, there is no way I am selling my passes. Here’s a couple of my favorites.

What happens when you combine 60’s pop sensibility with Best Coast and a sense of ominous darkness? You get Cults. I know I shouldn’t have been surprised that their video boasts footage of Jim Jones. But I was. It’s such a sunny sounding song against such a dark event. Given that I have a sweet tooth for cathartic art and music, of course I love it. I’ve listened to both of their releases, and I am excited to see them at Bunbury.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned my love of 80’s pop in the blog before. Let it be known that when “Africa” by Toto comes on my car stereo I am that lunatic enthusiastically singing along with the harmonies; 80’s pop is my cat nip. This admission will actually explain a number of my Bunbury favs. Given that I lived through the 90’s when indie rock was all guitar and little melody, and NEVER keyboards, I can tell you how happy I am that melody and the love of synth is back in new music. This brings me to Holy Ghost!. Seriously, I will take roughly 10 seconds of this video before my love of this band will be explained. Oh 80’s influence, I welcome you back. And clearly so does Holy Ghost!.

October 2, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 6 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review: Saturday

Welcome to my Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review, the Saturday edition. If would like an overview of what MPMF is read this blog post and then come back to this one.

Here’s the agenda that I started out with.

12:30 The School of Rock MPMF Midway
2:00 The Cliftones MPMF Midway
3:00 Twin Peaks at Washington Park
4:15 Tweens at Washington Park
5:30 Wussy at Washington Park
7:00 The Breeders
8:00 METZ at Grammer’s
8:00 The Locals at Main Event
9:30 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Grammer’s…
10:30 Bad Veins at the Taft
10:45 Wild Cub at Motr
12:00 Daughter at the Taft
12:30 The Wiskey Gentry at Japp’s

Here’s what actually went down. Several weeks prior to MPMF weekend, I agreed to volunteer at the Redwood Center in Kentucky from 9am to 1pm. I couldn’t bail on that commitment, so I planted daffodil bulbs all morning. By the time I had cleaned-up and eaten, it was 3pm. I skipped Twin Peaks to see the FotoFocus photography exhibition at the Art Academy and inadvertently caught the end of The Ridges’ set. This was a happy accident. I like The Ridges; I saw them open for The Seedy Seeds sometime back. The environment was intimate and complementary of The Ridges’ sound. Plus, we saw some great photography from Cincinnati music events, many of which I attended.

My first show was Tweens at Washington Park. They sounded solid, but their live performance was unremarkable. I feel like a day show in the huge park was not the best environment for them. I want to see them play in a smaller, dark venue. I think the vibe would suit them considerably more.

Tweens at Washington Park

Wussy sounded great. As a bonus, they were hanging around the VIP area along with The Breeders and Tween. Although, I regularly run into Lisa from Wussy, so that isn’t terribly remarkable. Kim and Kelley Deal are regularly found in Cincinnati, so that too isn’t terribly remarkable. There was a bit of a surpise when my friend John spotted the drummer for The National. He was gracious and posed for a picture. Turns out he lives in Cincinnati and is also a Breeders fan.

In celebration of Last Spash’s 20th anniversary, The Breeders played the album cover to cover for this show. It was outstanding. They sounded crisp and sassy. I thought hearing them play “Divine Hammer” would be the highlight of my night. Little did I know my night would have lots more awesome in it.

Kim Deal of The Breeders at Washington Park

I headed to Grammer’s for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I managed to get really close to the front without too much effort. There is always at least one band at this fest that excels at melting my face-off with rock and roll. BRMC is the undisputed winner. It felt like the sonic blast from the stage could make paint blister. I found myself uncontrollably screaming at the end of every song. I left that show thinking THAT was going to be the pinnacle of my night. I was still wrong.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Grammer’s

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club… and that security guy who offered to let me into the press area in front of the stage. I didn’t take him up on it because I felt like a douche bag.

I headed to Motr for Wild Cub. Motr was a shitshow of humanity. The bar was so packed I couldn’t understand how people were breathing. I squirmed my way past the bar. All hope was lost for getting a drink. I made it to the patio. I suspect I had a conversation with Brian Baker, the guy who covers Cincinnati’s live music scene for City Beat; we didn’t exchange names. We had a pleasant conversation about the fest. Here’s his review of this night. We heard Wild Cub was starting so both my new friend and I shambled into the stage area. Staying in the building until after Wild Cub started proved to be a mistake. It took me 3 songs to make it to the door to get out. Wild Cub sounded good, but it was really too packed for me to enjoy them. I will be on the look out for them to return.

I headed to The Taft in hopes of catching the last of Bad Veins. Unfortunately, I just missed them. There were concerns that The Taft would be difficult to get into for Daughter, due to the single venue tickets selling out for The Taft that night. I had no problems getting in. Once inside I ran into the guy that was standing next to me at BRMC. We discussed how mind-blowing that show was and the Cincinnati music scene in general. It was fun.

Daughter was the show that I was most excited about that night. When they took the stage, I was surprised about a couple of things. First, Elena Tonra is so very retiring and self-effacing. She tentatively approached the microphone. When she opened her mouth the sound that came out was just as divine as can be found on the albums. Their live show was every bit as nuanced and gorgeous as their album. The audience was entranced. This was the only show of the weekend in which the crowd was nearly silent aside from their rounds of cheering. The Taft was packed by the time the show started. It quickly got uncomfortably hot. Elena remarked on it and said that she needed 10 showers. She immediately blushed and mumbled, “why do I talk”? I think her shyness endeared her to the audience even more than how spectacular they sounded. I left this show gobsmacked. So, this was the pinnacle of my night.

Elena of Daughter at The Taft

I had considered heading to Bare Mutants after the Daughter show, but I felt too exhausted by awesome. I didn’t even know that could happen. Instead I went to Madonna’s for a beer with a couple of my fellow fest-goers. We had all been at the Daughter show and needed to decompress. We all agreed that this fest had been the best in memory. I was thrilled to be headed to my bed for much-needed rest, but I was forlorn that the fest was over.

This fest was blessed with randoms. All of the people that I randomly met were pleasant and great conversations where had. It seems strangely fitting that when I returned to my apartment a group of 18 year-old girls were in the foyer when I walked up. There was an abundance of twittering, but they were contentious enough to hold the door for me to pass through with my bicycle. One of the girls gushed as I passed, “I’m not saying this just because I’m drunk, but I think you’re really beautiful”. The first part of that statement was obviously false, but I decided not to look for the dark cloud in that silver lining and just accepted the unusual scenario as someone sharing a sweet sentiment and simply said thank you.

This was such a great three days. I just feel so grateful for the experience.

One little add on for the Cincinnati natives… I frequent the local music events. I’ve seen Bad Veins at least 10 times now. I always feel like a bad native at MPMF, because I generally pick acts that I haven’t seen over ones that I’ve seen before, even when I love them. I skipped The Seedy Seeds at many MPMFs because I wanted to see something new. Am I alone in this feeling? I suspect that I’m not.

October 1, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 5 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 in Review: Friday

Welcome to my Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review, the Friday edition. If you missed my last blog regarding MPMF, and would like an overview of what MPMF is read this blog post and then come back to this one.

Here’s what my agenda was at the beginning of the night. I was particularly excited for Youth Lagoon, Murder By Death, and The Head And The Heart.

5:30 Izzy And The Catastrophics at MPMF Midway
6:00 American Royalty at Washington Park
7:00 Black Owls at Grammer’s
7:15 Youth Lagoon at Washington Park
8:45 The Head And The Heart at Washington Park
9:30 Warpaint at Grammer’s
10:00 Saturday Looks Good To Me at Know Theater
11:30 Kishi Bashi at CAC
12:00 Murder By Death at Taft
12:30 Sugar Baron at Main Event

I turned up to Izzy, but found that that show had been cancelled. They ended up playing at 6:15 at a different venue. They also filled in for The Whiskey Gentry at their 12:30am slot on Saturday at Japp’s Annex. I was bummed about The Whiskey Gentry cancelling. I didn’t end up seeing Izzy at either of those times. I’ve seen Izzy several times; they are good performers. But with so many options, I wanted to see something new, so I skipped them.

American Royalty sounded good, but their performance wasn’t anything worth discussing. I skipped the Black Owls in favor of Youth Lagoon. The Black Owls are excellent, but like Izzy I’ve seen them several times. Plus, they will be playing Northside Tavern in December, and I will see them there.

Youth Lagoon. Words fail me here. I really like their records. I found the vocalist unpleasant live. Both his appearance and singing weren’t what I was expecting. I know full well his appearance shouldn’t matter. The music is the only thing that should matter. But in a live setting what the band looks like is part of the experience. I’m disgusted with myself for feeling this strongly about about his appearance. Even if I set his appearance aside, his warbling was unpleasant, and I suppose this is a good enough reason to pass on any future concerts. I listed to the album again, and I think there were two problems with this show. First, I am certain that Trevor Powers’s voice has so much reverb on it on the albums it takes the shrill edge off his vocals. As an aside, I think I noticed the same problem with Baths’s singer on Thursday. Second, like MGMT at Bunbury, I’m pretty sure the audience really could have been absent and the show wouldn’t have varied in the least. I hate it when artists do this. (I had to look up grammar rules around possessives just now. Writing is hard.)

I saw The Head And The Heart open for The Decemberists. They were stellar then; they were stellar at this festival. They sound great. They are fun performers. According to my less-than-scientific observation, they packed Washington Park more so than any other act in the fest. Since I had seen them before, I had planned on leaving their show for Warpaint after they played “Down in the Valley”. It’s my favorite song on that album. I’m pretty sure the chord progression that’s most attractive to me is used in at least one other song that I know well, and this might explain my immediate attraction to this tune. I’ve been puzzling over where it’s from for weeks. As They wound up their final song, I thought I was out of luck. I was so pleased when they played it as the final song of their encore.

The Head And The Heart at Washington Park. They were very sweet. They said they were excited that it’s still summer in Cincinnati, because it’s apparently already winter in Seattle.

I’ve been seeing live shows for more than 20 years, and this typically gives me a spidey sense of what a band will do live after hearing their record. Some recordings smell like studio creations that don’t fare well live. I suspected as much of Warpaint. I’m please to say I couldn’t have been more wrong. These women sounded excellent. I would absolutely see them again.

Warpaint at Grammer’s Stage.

I literally only saw half a song of Saturday Looks Good To Me, as they finished their set just as I arrived. I was a bit mesmerized by Warpaint and couldn’t pull myself away. Since I was already at the Know Theater I went up stairs to check out San Fermin. It was PACKED. Just getting in the door and out of the stairway was difficult, let alone get a glimpse of the stage. What I saw and heard was great. I’m not sure how much 30 seconds of listening is worth. I headed to Kishi Bashi.

The Contemporary Arts Center is an appropriate venue for this fest, but the room that they put the bands in is tiny. I think this venue is a train wreck of humans for at least one show of this fest consistently from year to year. This year’s train wreck of humans happened at Kishi Bashi. There were lines to get in. The venue was full and on a 1 in 1 out policy. Since I am a veteran of this fest, I’ve come to expect this. To say that the line of people waiting to get in were impatient is being kind. Although, in their defense the people working the venue weren’t communicating with the crowd. And if I were a first-timer I probably would have been frustrated too. Murder By Death was on my must see list, so I left the line at the CAC for the Taft; my friends who remained in line, got in about 5 minutes. Not bad. They also reported that Kishi Bashi said he’s returning to Cincinnati this year. Great! I will see him then.

Turns out I made a great decision in leaving the CAC. Murder By Death started early! These guys are from Bloomington IN, so I have no idea why I have missed them until now. They play Cincinnati regularly. First, the sound at the Taft was outstanding all weekend, so Murder By Death was no exception. Second, Murder By Death sounded great and put on a great performance. My friend Amanda summarized their sound in this way: it’s like Soundgarden and Morphine had a hillbilly baby. That sums them up nicely. I’m looking forward to the next time they turn up in Cincinnati. In the meantime, here’s my favorite song of theirs, which they played at the show.

Murder By Death at The Taft

Finally, I headed to Sugar Baron at the Main Event. This is the only venue that was consistently poor in terms of sound quality. I think Sugar Baron would be great in a different setting. I only caught a few songs, but what I did hear had over-amplified drums and indistinguishable vocals. I would give them another try in a different setting.

I was excited to find my way home. I was exhausted and very happy with my music experience. It was dawning on me that this years line-up might be the best to date in terms of the quality of the bands booked.

October 1, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 6 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 in Review: Thursday

If you are a regular reader, you know I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. You also know that music is a passion of mine. Midpoint Music Festival is a three-day event in Cincinnati that features ~200 indie rock bands at venues that are walkable in downtown. A three day pass to the event is only 69 dollars. Past artists have included Grizzly Bear and Andrew Bird. This fest is tons of new music for a really low price; it’s my Christmas.

I’ve been to this fest for at least the last 7 years. Before I get into the specifics on the artists that I saw, a word about the over-all experience. This year’s line-up was the deepest and most eclectic that I’ve seen to date. I saw about 30 bands, and not a single one of them were bad. This is a first. At fests like this I usually find hits and misses. I am stunned to say there wasn’t a single miss for me this year. So, the booking this year, really couldn’t have been better. In addition, the sound at the venues excellent, with the exception of Main Event. The sound there was just terrible. With fourteen of the fifteen venues nailing it, I can’t complain. Perfection is tough to achieve. I am crossing my fingers that they weed that venue out for future years. The stand out was The Taft Ballroom. That might be the best sound that I’ve ever heard at this fest.

In years past, the show times ranged between 6pm and 1230am Thursday through Saturday. This year they spread the show times out a bit with day shows at Findlay Market Friday through Sunday and shows starting as early as 1pm on Saturday. I love that they are spreading the music out a bit. Practically, I can see twice the bands with this new arrangement. I loved that, and I hope they keep it up next year. I suspect this move wasn’t intentional. The Cincinnati Symphony opened their season across the street from the Washington Park venue on Saturday night. I think they had to bump the show times up so that the fest noise wouldn’t disrupt the symphony. I hope this happens again next year.

Now then, on to the music. Here’s what my agenda was for Thursday.

5:00 Cincy Brass at Washington Park
5:30 Sidwalk Chalk at MPMF Midway
7:15 Cody ChesnuTT at Washington Park
8:45 Shuggie Otis at Washington Park
8:30 Sohio at Mainstay
9:30 Crystal Bright & the Silver hands at Japp’s
9:30 Fort Shame at Motr
9:30 Kurt Vile at Grammer’s
10:45 N…erves Junior at MOTR
11:15 Dead Gaze at Below Zero
11:30 Baths at Comtemporary Arts Center
12:00 The Thermals at Taft
12:15 Dent May at Below Zero

I basically managed all of that list except Dent May, Dead Gaze, and Nerves Junior. Dead Gaze was late starting, so I had to abandon them to see Baths. I missed Dent May because The Thermals were so excellent, that I couldn’t pull myself away. Nerves Junior had to cancel because they were stuck in a traffic SNAFU due to an animal fat spill on I-71. Yeah, you read that right.

Cincy Brass sounded great, but I haven’t heard them perform poorly yet, so no surprises there. The only unfortunate bit for them was their time slot. Five o’clock on a Thursday just isn’t the best time to get good attendance. Sidewalk Chalk’s music isn’t really my bag, but they sounded great. The bonus was the tap solos that the keyboardists would take at regular intervals. Cody ChesnuTT is an engaging performer fun to watch and great to hear. The only puzzling thing here was the backing vocals. The band was nailing it with their instruments, but their backing vocals were off-key. That took a bit away from the experience, but just a bit. Shuggie Otis and his band were consummate pros. These guys were so tight. The horns were killer. Like Sidewalk Chalk, Shuggie’s music isn’t my bag, but I love a tight performance. I was not disappointed. I only stopped into Sohio for a couple tunes, because I needed to go back uptown for Shuggie. Crystal Bright has an incredible set of pipes. In the age of auto-tuning, live performances have the potential to be disappointing. Crystal’s voice is all real. Fort Shame sounded good, but they didn’t really grab me. Kurt Vile sounded great. Although, something felt empty after hearing Shuggie’s bright horns.

Baths were weird. Weird enough that they get more than a couple sentences. It’s hard to make electronic music compelling to watch live. I can’t get excited about seeing a couple of guys fiddling with tech for an hour. On top of that, I found the singer’s voice off-putting in person. I don’t know what magic happens in the studio (reverb maybe), but it didn’t translate to a live experience. The singer came out looking like he was running a marathon. His shorts were Richard-Simmons short. Musically they nailed it. I loved their albums and will continue to purchase them. I probably won’t pay to see them live again though. If there was a disappointment of the weekend this was it. Of all the bands I listened to in prep for this fest, Baths was my favorite find. And it was the live performance that I liked the least.

The Thermals get a paragraph too. These were my surprise band of the night. I’ve seen so many punk shows. I’ve been to so many Warped Tours before it was Van’s Warped Tour. I’m a little jaded with the punk live show narrative. Moshing. Crowd surfing. Screaming. And often, but not always poor musicianship. The Thermals… They were super tight. There wasn’t a false note. And they were intense in this sweet, earnest way. I wanted to rock with them and give them a hug. I had intended to leave this show a bit early to catch the end of Dent May, but I couldn’t tear myself away. They seemed so genuinely happy that people in Cincinnati would turn up to see them. The drummer ended the show by diving into the crowd. It was sweet, raucous fun.

Friday Recap will come soon!

Kim Deal of the Breeders. Their show wasn’t until Saturday, so the review is pending. But I like the picture.

July 26, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 2 Comments

A Break from Books: Bunbury Music Festival in Review

I’m taking a break from books for this post. Bunbury happened a little over a week ago. I went. I had the most rock and roll experience in recent memory. Here’s what happened.

I live within walking distance of the park in which Bunbury takes place. I have been to other music festivals, Lollapalooza and multiple Warped Tours. I jumped at the chance to attend a festival that wouldn’t require travel and lodging, even with a line-up that wasn’t wholly in line with my tastes.

Bunbury distinguished itself from other fests by supplying free water and misting stations as well as abundant beer booths-including craft beers, local food vendors, shady napping spots, porta johns, and cell charging stations. In addition, the organizers had the forethought to issue color coaded wrist bands that indicated both what type of pass you purchased, but also your over/under 21 status, allowing you to leave your id at home once you’ve picked up your wrist band.

Bunbury 2012 was so enjoyable that I purchased VIP tickets for Bunbury 2013 without a single band announced and zero information on the VIP amenities. The VIP three day pass was $295 as opposed to $90 for the standard three day pass, so it felt like a risky decision at the time. I was not disappointed.

Before I get into the specifics of the shows, the VIP tickets were well worth it. First, there was a generous area sectioned off in front of the main stage, enabling me to walk to the front of any of the headliner shows. In addition, there were intimate shows in the air-conditioned VIP tent, after which the band members chatted, took photos, and signed autographs. The drink specials in the VIP tent included dollar water and sodas, 2 dollar beers and malt beverages, and 3 dollar wine and mixed drinks as well as free Street Pops (yum!) and free food around dinner time. Considering beers outside the VIP tent were 6 or 7 dollars, I estimate that the VIP tix saved me 100 or 150 dollars in food and drink for the weekend. To top it all off, the musicans cycled in and out of the VIP area, Brent Dressner from The National for example. This is where I ran into one of the guys from CAKE, who complemented by tattoo. Oh, and Peeta from the Hunger Games movies was back there.

Now then, these are the bands that I saw, followed by my abbreviated highlights and, in some cases, lowlights.

Friday: The Features, American Authors, Delta Rae, Tegan and Sara, Sky Ferreira, Walk the Moon, DeVotchKa, fun.
My thoughts: stand out shows were Walk the Moon for being adorably proud to be playing to their home town and DeVotchKa for being one of the best performance bands ever. Random discovery: Tegan and Sara are tiny women. If there was such a thing as pocket lesbians, they would be it.

Seriously. They are tiny, tiny women.

Saturday: Margaret Darling, Vacationer, Bears of Blue River, Taylor Alexander, Chairlift, Twenty One Pilots, Black Owls, We Are Scientists, CAKE, Atlas Genius, MGMT
My thoughts: Atlas Genius sounded excellent. Their show sounded almost exactly like their record; not a single note was missed plus loads of energy. Without question I will be getting tickets to see them when they come back in the fall. The Black Owls and CAKE sounded incredible. The guys in those bands appeared to be in their 40’s or 50’s and have the confidence and skills of seasoned professionals. Bears of Blue River get the award for sounding awful. They were a sloppy, out-of-tune mess. MGMT gets the award for being insufferable pricks for refusing to play “Kids”. Only Radiohead can get away with that crap.

Sunday: A Silent Film, Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, The National
My thoughts: A Silent Film was a wonderful surprise. They were great to watch and sounded like a pleasing combination of U2, “Where The Streets Have No Name” era, and Coldplay divided by Keane. Belle and Sebastian had adorable banter with the crowd. Yo La Tengo redeemed themselves for the abysmal performance they delivered the last time I saw them. Finally, The National melted my face off with rock and roll. Matt Berninger jumped off the stage for “Mr. November” and wandered through the crowd, all the while people patiently passed the microphone cord between them to enable Matt’s wandering. He walked right past me on his way back up to the stage. I have never seen a crowd simultaneously keyed-up and controlled. I was able to solve a longstanding mystery. How can he perform in a vest and button down shirt without melting? The answer is he sweats though all his layers of clothing. They finished with “Terrible Love” Matt wandered back into the crowd to dole out set lists, his half-finished bottle of wine, and improbably his microphone stand. I am curious to know who made it out of the gates with that last item.

Over-all, Bunbury was great. I was truly sad when it was over. I can’t wait until next year.

Matt Berninger sweat on me. That could be a command or a statement of fact.

Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

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