OFFICIAL GUIDE
MIDPOINT MUSIC FEST CINCINNATI
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MPMF.16
LE SINGY DA S ET TICK ALE ON S W! NO
PRESENTED BY
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23 :
FUTURE ISLANDS
TOKYO POLICE CLUB // ANTIBALAS // LANGHORNE SLIM & THE LAW INTO IT. OVER IT. // LAU // CEREUS BRIGHT THE JAMES HUNTER SIX // PUBLIC // ONA // JULIA JACKLIN
DEAD HORSES // HOOPS // MOLLY SULLIVAN // JOESPH // PLUTO REVOLTS LEGGY // ROYAL HOLLAND // SMUT // INJECTING STRANGERS // DARLA
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24 :
JJ GREY & MOFRO
REGGIE WATTS // WOLF PARADE // FRIGHTENED RABBIT KAMASI WASHINGTON // BOB MOULD // THE MOUNTAIN GOATS CAR SEAT HEADREST // THE BUDOS BAND // RUSSIAN CIRCLES HELMS ALEE // OH PEP! // LUCY DACUS // MIKE FLOSS // LUCKY CHOPS
MULTIMAGIC // THE HARLEQUINS // HONEYSPIDERS // SOUND & SHAPE // MALA IN SE BY LIGHT WE LOOM // KNIFE THE SYMPHONY // WILD PRXFITS // SMOKE SIGNALS... // NIGHTS ANIMAL MOTHER // BABY MONEY & THE DOWN PAYMENTS // ORCHARDS // HONDURAS RYAN FINE & THE MEDIA
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25 :
BAND OF HORSES
LUCERO // HOUNDMOUTH // FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS NADA SURF // JOSH RITTER // THE WOOD BROTHERS // AJJ
ELEPHANT REVIVAL // ALOHA // JOAN OF ARC // AUBRIE SELLERS POTTY MOUTH // AMBER ARCADES // VANDAVEER // PARSONSFIELD // KEEPS
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DINERS // KEPI GHOULIE // THE MOBROS // BLANK RANGE // YOUNG HEIRLOOMS THE EASTHILLS // COCONUT MILK // ALONE AT 3AM // MODERN AQUATIC // THE FERVOR DARLENE // US, TODAY
12TH & SYCAMORE | OVER-THE-RHINE | MPMF.COM
GET YOUR TICKETS AT TICKETMASTER.COM, THE TAFT THEATRE OR RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER BOX OFFICES!
FRee
ic s u M all weekend long at Presents
Eli’s BBQ stagE at Midpoint Music Festival
MPMF.16 Guide WELCOME 04 TicketS AND OTHER infoRMATION 05 Venue map 06 Getting Around 07 Full schedule 08
8:45 PM 7:45 PM 6:45 PM 5:45 PM 4:45 PM 3:45 PM
Into It. Over It. Pluto Revolts Leggy The Slippery Lips Royal Holland Smut
satURDaY 9/24 9:00 PM Russian Circles 8:00 PM Helms Alee 7:00 PM The Honeyspiders 6:00 PM Sound & Shape 5:00 PM Mala In Se 4:00 PM Knife The Symphony 3:00 PM Smoke Signals 2:00 PM Baby Money 1:00 PM Honduras
sUNDaY 9/25 8:45 PM 7:30 PM 6:15 PM 5:15 PM 4:15 PM 3:15 PM 2:15 PM 1:15 PM
Aloha Joan Of Arc Potty Mouth Keeps The Easthills Coconut Milk Darlene Us, Today
Sycamore & 14th (Lightborne Lot)
MPMF.com
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Band previews 09
FRiDaY 9/23
Welcome to MPMF.16
Three days of music celebration and discovery return to Over-the-Rhine Sept. 23-25, 2016 MidPoint Music Festival has developed a reputation as the place to discover contemporary music, find the next big thing and meet your new favorite band. Since 2001, the festival’s endeavor has been to embrace today’s emerging artists, all with the same spirit employed by Cincinnati’s celebrated musical pioneers, who always reached for something new.
Dirty Projectors, Speedy Ortiz, Lost in the Trees, Deaf Heaven, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Best Coast, The Walkmen, Dinosaur Jr., Tom Tom Club, Ralph Stanley, Andrew Bird, Cut Copy, The Joy Formidable, Okkervil River, Booker T. Jones, Phantogram, Surfer Blood, Caribou, TEEN, Lord Huron, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Cults, Lydia Loveless and Heartless Bastards.
For three days each fall, the beautiful and resurgent Over-the-Rhine neighborhood becomes a music-lover’s paradise. This year, for the first time, all stages are within two blocks, newly centralized to the Main Street entertainment district. This collection of young creative talent amongst an architecturally rich urban setting makes MidPoint a one-of-a-kind experience.
This year’s collection of artists will no doubt join this illustrious list in due time. Dig into this guide and research this year’s collection of performers — more than 80 in total, each previewed by CityBeat music writers starting on page 9.
Showcased performers year after year are those buzzed about in critics’ year-end lists for “Best Album” or “Best New Artist” in publications like Spin, Fader, Pitchfork, NME, Filter and Rolling Stone. Past performers include: Chromeo, The Afghan Whigs, OK Go, The Head and The Heart, The Breeders, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Real Estate, Tycho, The Raveonettes, Panda Bear, Rubblebucket, Kurt Vile, Kishi Bashi, Grizzly Bear,
On page 5, you can find ticketing information and a venue map of stages and nearby areas. Check out the Streetcar and Red Bike overview on page 7 for alternative forms of transportation. The full three-day schedule is available on page 8. And don’t forget to visit MPMF.com for full details on nearby food trucks, a Powerhouse Poster expo, VIP options and more. We love Cincinnati and the music scene here. We hope you enjoy experiencing all of the showcased talent, both local and otherwise.
THE
PELLÉAS TRILOGY
DON’T MISS THE CSO OPENING CONCERTS AT THE TAFT THIS WEEKEND!
PART ll: WATER
SEPT 30–OCT 1 0 4 / / M P M F. 1 6 G U I D E
TA F T TH E AT R E
Part ll of The Pelléas Trilogy is made possible by a generous gift from Ginger and David W. Warner
cincinnatisymphony.org • 513.381.3300
Photo: Quinn Wharton
Experience MPMF.16 Tickets and Other Information
MPMF has been relocated to the lots east of Sycamore between Grear Alley and Elliott Street. The no-wristband-required Elis’ BBQ Stage will be located at Sycamore and 14th Street. For the first time, the entire festival microcosm
TICKET OPTIONS: Single-day passes are $50 each day (plus applicable fees and taxes). Tickets will be redeemed for wristbands at the Box Office onsite, located near Sycamore and 13th streets. Tickets can be purchased online at mpmf.com/tickets or at Ticketmaster retailers including some Kroger locations and the Taft and Riverbend Music Center Box Offices. Be advised: The best way to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster is by downloading their app and creating an account. Tickets purchased in person will avoid the extra fees. Tickets are non-transferrable; all ticket sales are final. Refunds and exchanges are not allowed after a ticket is purchased. BOX OFFICE: The MPMF Box Office will be located onsite near Sycamore and 12th streets. There, staff will take care of all ticketing concerns. STAGES: Tickets are needed to view acts on the Skyline Stage, Elliot Stage and WNKU Stage, located at 12th and Sycamore. Tickets are not needed for the Eli’s BBQ Stage, located at Sycamore and 14th, thanks to the generosity of Eli’s BBQ. Re-entry to the ticketed area is allowed. No tickets are necessary to enjoy the Midway located on Sycamore between 12th and 14th.
VIP: If you want to feel like a superstar, we’ve got you covered! VIP ticket holders will have access to an exclusive VIP area with side-stage viewing access,
ATMs: ATMs will be available on site, but plan ahead! Bringing cash with you will cut down on the amount of time spent in line. Most vendors are cash-only. CHILDREN: The festival is all-ages; please bring the next gen of music lovers with you! Ages 2 and up require tickets. PROHIBITED ITEMS: One sealed 20 oz. bottle of water and empty plastic bottles and camel backs are allowed. Please visit MPMF.com for a full list of prohibited items. HOTELS: Some hotels that we like include 21c Museum Hotel, the Downtown Cincinnati Residence Inn and the Holiday Inn in Covington, Ky. We also think airbnb is pretty cool! INFO CENTER: At all entrances, event staff will be standing by to answer your questions and offer high-fives and moral support if necessary. PARKING: Parking may be difficult. We suggest sharing a ride with a friend or utilizing services like Red Bike or the Cincinnati streetcar. There are a ton of parking garages along the route of the newly operating streetcar. The JACK Casino’s lot is also a viable option and a short walk away.
SECURITY: Safety is our absolute No. 1 priority. We have public safety and medical staff on hand. We want everyone to have as much fun as possible within the civic code: don’t be a jerk to festivalgoers, don’t be a jerk to our staff and don’t attempt to inflict harm on yourself or anyone else. It will get shut down swiftly and justly. SERVICE ANIMALS: Individuals with disabilities shall be permitted to be accompanied by their service dogs in all accessible areas. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. Only service animals of the dog variety are allowed. Emotional support animals, comfort animals and therapy dogs are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not considered service animals. STREET CLOSURES: Sycamore will be closed from the north side of 12th to the north side of 14th. Twelfth Street will be closed from the east side of Sycamore to the west side of Broadway. WEATHER: We have no control over the weather. It might rain. It might be hot. Although less likely, it could blizzard, monsoon or quake. We apologize in advance for any and all of these conditions. Tune into your favorite local weatherman for the latest updates and be prepared! PLEASE NOTE that umbrellas are not allowed within the ticketed area. We recommend suiting up in a super-chic poncho in case of rain.
Free Music and Fun at MPMF Eli’s BBQ Stage to host free shows, food and fun at the Midway The Midpoint Music Festival this year will host a number of free shows at the Eli’s BBQ Stage located at Sycamore and 14th streets. Thanks to a generous sponsorship by local BBQ restaurant Eli’s BBQ, national acts like Russian Circles, local acts like Leggy and several other excellent outfits will perform for free throughout the weekend. Noise Pop group Smut will kick off MPMF 2016 with a free show at the Eli’s BBQ stage on Friday. Entry to this stage can be accessed from 14th. Adjacent to the Eli’s BBQ stage is the MidPoint Midway, where vendors like local favorites Dojo Gelato and Mazunte Taqueria will be serving. The Midway will be located on Sycamore between 12th and 14th streets and is also free to access.
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GATES: Gates open at 3 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The festival closes at 11 p.m. each night.
nightly receptions with food provided by local restaurants and caterers during specified times, complimentary snacks and beverages while supplies last and private restrooms. Vegetarian options and gluten-free beer will also be available to VIP pass holders.
is within two blocks — this change addresses a ton of logistical concerns, but, more importantly, guarantees a safer, more accessible festival experience overall. Change is scary, but you’re so brave and flexible! We dig that.
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Getting Around MPMF.16 Is Easier Than Ever The Cincinnati streetcar is set to start shuttling passengers around downtown and Over-the-Rhine Sept. 9 — the same week the guide you’re reading hits the streets. Cincinnati’s first rail project in more than half a century will add a safe and convenient means for concertgoers to get to and from the MPMF main stages in the Main Street entertainment district. There’s a streetcar stop just one block from the stages located at Sycamore and 12th streets. From there, you can head north toward Washington Park and as far as Rhinegeist Brewery before the route loops back around, heading south on Race, then cutting over to Walnut via Central Parkway. From here, it travels past Fountain Square all the way to The Banks before heading back up Main to MPMF. Most downtown hotels are within walking distance of a streetcar stop. The cost to ride is just $1 for two hours or $2 all day, and the streetcar runs until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights and 11 p.m. on Sundays. Metro, which operates the streetcar, recently launched an app called Cincy EZRide, which lets you purchase tickets and passes for Metro busses and the streetcar using your smart phone or tablet. In addition to the streetcar, Cincinnati’s bike sharing program has been a massive hit in just two years of existence. The program counted almost 15,000 rides and 568 annual members by the end of its first year and has added many new stations since that time. There are more than 50 Red Bike stations in total, most of which are downtown. Two are within one block of the MPMF stages: the Pendleton station at 1249 Broadway St. and Casino station at 362 Reading Road. You can check your Red Bike in at stations near most OTR and downtown amenities — visit cincyredbike.org for a map and list of rental station locations, plus fee details. (There are also Red Bike apps available in the Apple and Google app stores that help you find the nearest station.) Red Bikes are rented in 24-hour intervals, but they must be checked in to a kiosk every 60 minutes — this helps bikes get used by more riders rather than chained to a fence for hours, helping no one. Remember to follow all traffic laws and do not ride on sidewalks — bikes have the same right to the roadway as cars, but you should be aware of traffic, and Red Bike encourages users to wear helmets.
You can also get to the festival using Cincinnati’s Metro bus service (though be aware that late-night hours are limited). Find out if Metro will serve your MPMF needs by checking the schedules and routes at go-metro.com.
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1 The Banks 2 4th and Main 3 Richter & Phillips — 6th and Main 4 8th and Main 5 JACK Casino — Court and Main 6 Hanke Exchange — 12th and Main 7 12th and Vine 8 14th and Elm 9 Liberty and Elm 10 Findlay Market — Elm 11 Brewery District 12 Findlay Market — Race 13 Liberty and Race 14 Washington Park 15 Central Parkway 16 Public Library 17 Aronoff Center 18 Fountain Square
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Our 24-Hour Pass gives you a full day of unlimited 60-minute rides, allowing you to explore both Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Grab lunch with a friend in MainStrasse, take an energizing ride along the riverfront, grocery shop at Findlay Market, catch a Reds game — the possibilities are endless.
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MPMF.16 FRIDAY 23
SATURDAY 24
SUNDAY 25
SKYLINE STAGE
SKYLINE STAGE
SKYLINE STAGE
9:30 p.m.: Future Islands
9:30 p.m.: JJ Grey & Mofro
9:30 p.m.: Band Of Horses
7:45 p.m.: Antibalas
7:45 p.m.: Reggie Watts
7:45 p.m.: Houndmouth
6:15 p.m.: The James Hunter Six
6:15 p.m.: Kamasi Washington
6:15 p.m.: Nada Surf
5 p.m.: Molly Sullivan
5 p.m.: The Budos Band
5 p.m.: Aubrie Sellers
4 p.m.: Injecting Strangers
4 p.m. Mike Floss
4 p.m.: Amber Arcades
3 p.m.: Darla
3 p.m.: Lucky Chops
3 p.m.: The Mobros
2 p.m.: Animal Mother
2 p.m.: Blank Range
Elliot STAGE
Elliot STAGE
Elliot STAGE
8:30 p.m.: Tokyo Police Club
8:30 p.m.: Wolf Parade
8:30 p.m.: Lucero
7 p.m.: Cereus Bright
7 p.m.: Frightened Rabbit
5:30 p.m.: PUBLIC
5:30 p.m.: Bob Mould
7 p.m.: Frank Turner & THE SLEEPING SOULS
4:30 p.m.: Julia Jacklin
4:30 p.m.: Multimagic
5:30 p.m.: Josh Ritter
3:30 p.m.: Joesph
3:30 p.m.: The Harlequins
4:30 p.m.: AJJ
2:30 p.m.: WildPrxfits
3:30 p.m.: Diners
WNKU STAGE
1:30 p.m.: Orchards
2:30 p.m.: Kepi Ghoulie
8:15 p.m.: Langhorne Slim & the Law
WNKU STAGE
6:45 p.m.: Lau 5:15 p.m.: Ona 4:15 p.m.: Dead Horses 3:15 p.m.: Hoops
ELI’S BBQ STAGE 8:45 p.m.: Into It. Over It. 7:45 p.m.: Pluto Revolts 6:45 p.m.: Leggy 5:45 p.m.: The Slippery Lips 4:45 p.m.: Royal Holland
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3:45 p.m.: Smut
1:30 p.m.: Alone At 3am
8:15 p.m.: The Mountain Goats
WNKU STAGE
6:45 p.m.: Carseat Headrest
8:15 p.m.: The Wood Brothers
5:15 p.m.: Oh Pep!
6:45 p.m.: Elephant Revival
4:15 p.m.: Lucy Dacus
5:15 p.m.: Vandaveer
3:15 p.m.: By Light We Loom
4:15 p.m.: Parsonsfield
2:15 p.m.: Nights
3:15 p.m.: YounG Heirlooms
1:15 p.m.: Ryan Fine
2:15 p.m.: Modern Aquatic 1:15 p.m.: The Fervor
ELI’S BBQ STAGE 9 p.m.: Russian Circles
ELI’S BBQ STAGE
8 p.m.: Helms Alee
8:45 p.m.: Aloha
7 p.m.: Honeyspiders
7:30 p.m.: Joan Of Arc
6 p.m.: Sound&Shape
6:15 p.m.: Potty Mouth
5 p.m.: Mala In Se
5:15 p.m.: Keeps
4 p.m.: Knife The Symphony
4:15 p.m.: The Easthills
3 p.m.: Smoke Signals...
3:15 p.m.: Coconut Milk
2 p.m.: Baby Money & THE DOWN PAYMENTS
2:15 p.m.: Darlene
1 p.m.: Honduras
1:15 p.m.: Us, Today
FRIDAY SEPT. 23 SKYLINE STAGE
9:30 p.m. Future Islands (Baltimore) SynthPop/Indie Pop Baltimore trio Future Islands is what you need, when you need it, lyrically and musically. Vocalist Samuel T. Herring’s introspective lyrics are the group’s signature, intoned in a searing voice aching with romantic nostalgia and ageless optimism. The deftly woven accompaniment of guitar, grounding bass and drums and emotive synths from Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion propel you to soaring emotional heights or mournful solitary examination, depending on your mood. The band’s fourth studio album, Singles, made a splash in 2014, earning raves (Pitchfork named lead single “Seasons” the year’s best song) and culminating in a wildly exuberant Letterman appearance. Keep an ear out for two singles released in 2015 — they signal a more mature, even tighter sonic landscape from the group. You’ll Dig It If You Dig: Beach House grilling a steak with The War on Drugs while Twin Shadow catches fireflies in New Order’s backyard. (Leyla Shokoohe)
CRITIC’S PICK 7:45 p.m. Antibalas (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Afrobeat/Funk/Soul
YDIIYD: Daptone in Africa, starring Richard Roundtree as Fela Kuti. (Brian Baker)
CRITIC’S PICK 6:15 p.m. The James Hunter Six (London, England) R&B/Soul/Blues James Hunter is the real damn deal, an honest-to-God Soul singer, smoking hot guitarist and frontman for one of the most authentic and inspired R&B bands on the planet. Hunter’s résumé goes back to England’s club circuit in the mid-’80s and into the mid-’90s, when he sang live and studio backup for Van Morrison, who then accompanied Hunter on his 1996 album, Believe What I Say. But his fortunes fell in the new millennium and he split his time between a 9-to-5 laborer’s job and street busking, until he and the Six exploded into the global consciousness with their breakthrough, 2006’s People Gonna Talk. The band’s latest album, Hold On!, is his second collaboration with producer Gabriel Roth and first for Roth’s renowned Daptone label, and it further cements The James Hunter Six as one of the world’s premiere swinging, stomping Soul/R&B outfits. YDIIYD: The ghost of Sam Cooke partyhaunts Brian Setzer and Smokey Robinson. (BB)
5 p.m. Molly Sullivan (Cincinnati) Indie/Pop/Lo-Fi
3 p.m. Darla (Philadelphia, Pa.) Progressive Funk
Cincinnati native Molly Sullivan is one of the city’s most prolific artists. She’s performed with a number of local outfits, but her rise as a solo, experimental Indie/Folk Pop artist eclipses all else. Her multifaceted voice is the best complement to her potent lyrics, infusing them with an evocative, lush range of feeling and more than a bit of lo-fi melancholy matched with clean guitar playing. Sullivan sometimes performs solo or with a backing outfit of local musicians, providing sonic heft that further amplifies her aptitude for exploratory songwriting and candid performance. Listen to “So It Goes” — this song has been in her repertoire for a while and continues to evolve along with her.
Even though Darla is comprised of a relatively large contingent of eight members, the Philadelphia unit puts out enough sound and energy that you’d swear a shambling orchestra was responsible for it all. Rock power, Jam exploration, Jazz delicacy, Funk groove and Prog bombast are vital components of Darla’s presentation, as evidenced by its Traffic-meets-If-meets-The-Mummies instrumental stroll-and-roll through The Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” from the band’s most recent EP, Darla Comes Alive Vol. 2. The ambitious band has put out five EPs since its 2014 formation and is planning another one before year’s end, but don’t wait for that shoe to drop. The stage is where Darla does its best damage — dress appropriately for sweat absorption and extreme dancing comfort.
YDIIYD: Indie lady queens St. Vincent, Cat Power and Sharon Van Etten being jointelected as president of the United States. (LS)
YDIIYD: They say it’s “basement blender Funk”; we say Steely Dan, Blood Sweat & Tears, Phish, Funkadelic and Here Come the Mummies making a great margarita. Don’t forget the psychedelic salt. (BB)
Elliot STAGE
4 p.m. Injecting Strangers (Cincinnati) Indie Rock/Glam Pop It’s been four years since bassist Dylan Oseas and guitarist Peter Foley took their leave of Automagik and connected with drummer Chase Leonard and vocalist Richard Ringer to create the Glam-fisted goodness of Injecting Strangers. As theatrical as a Meatloaf/Alice Cooper Rock opera and as unhinged as a midnight showing of Rocky Horror, Injecting Strangers has been wowing fans with a tight but freewheeling live set filled with frenetic songs from the group’s EPs and 2014 full-length triumph, Patience, Child. Come, my little shooter-uppers, it’s time for your Glam Pop inoculation from the not-even-close-to-medical-professionals in Injecting Strangers. YDIIYD: Modest Mouse working with Danny Elfman on a tribute to Oingo Boingo. (BB)
8:30 p.m. Tokyo Police Club (Toronto, Canada) Indie Rock It’s been more than a decade since four Canadian friends rose from ashes of a band called Suburbia and reassembled as Tokyo Police Club. In that time, the atmospheric Indie Rock quartet has become a favorite on the festival circuit, opened for Weezer and Foster the People, made three appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and released four well-received albums and a trio of EPs, including the recently released (and fantastically titled) Melon Collie and
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Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the formation of Antibalas, Martín Perna’s 12-piece brainchild that is largely credited with shining a worldwide spotlight on the Afrobeat sound. Perna began the ensemble in order to tribute legendary Jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri and Nigerian Afropop superstar Fela Kuti, but the band quickly grew beyond that ambition to become one of the leading proponents of a hybridized version of Afropop that included Funk, Soul and Jazz elements. Anitbalas’ love for Fela Kuti
resulted in the 2008 off-Broadway production Fela!, which upgraded to Broadway the following year and earned a pair of Tony awards out of 11 nominations. Gabriel Roth, the band’s former guitarist and founder of Daptone Records, produced four of the band’s five studio albums, including its selftitled album from 2012. And if you’re looking for Pop cred, the Antibalas horns were featured on Mark Ronson’s global hit “Uptown Funk” and album Uptown Special. Antibalas will bring the Funk, you bring the noise.
MPMF.16 the Infinite Radness: Part One, which has an immediacy and frenetic energy that hearkens back to the band’s early days of dusting the rafters of seedy Toronto Rock clubs. Hey, one good Club deserves another. YDIIYD: The Strokes and Weezer tour the Great White North. (BB)
a Cincinnati Entertainment Award nomination for Best New Artist. Since then, the trio has worked and toured hard, opening for Walk the Moon, Neon Trees and Twenty One Pilots and hitting the studio for further proof of their Pop chops with a sophomore EP, Let’s Remake It, and a danceable new single, “Heartbeating.” Go PUBLIC… Everybody’s doing it. YDIIYD: Walk the Moon and Modest Mouse run for president and VP on the We’ll-KickYour-Candy-Ass-with-Sweet-Rock ticket. And win. (BB)
Lord, consistently tricks you into thinking you’re heading to one sonic destination when instead you find yourself, pretty happily, taken to another. Multi-instrumentalist of Pomegranates fame Joey Cook is the brainchild behind this blissed-out, delicately powerful album, piling on layers of synth, emphatic piano and dreamily reverbed vocals that point to ’60s Pop but take on a thoughtful, contemporary Shoegaze sheen, especially when coupled with guttural guitar licks and propulsive percussion. Cook brought on local music pals Pierce Geary and Devyn Glista to perform live. YDIIYD: Nick Drake and The Velvet Underground performing at a tent revival organized by Brian Wilson. (LS)
WNKU STAGE
7 p.m. Cereus Bright (Knoxville, Tenn.) Americana/Indie Folk Cereus Bright began when Tyler Anthony and Evan Ford bonded over their mutual love of writing and playing heartfelt songs. As a duo, Anthony and Ford crafted a pair of EPs — 2012’s Goldmine and 2013’s Happier Than Me — and toured around the South, playing any venue that would have them. They were soon joined by electric guitarist Jake Smith, bassist Matt Nelson and drummer Luke Bowers, whose Jazz backgrounds provided a fascinating structure for the viscerally intense frontmen. The past year has been particularly fruitful, with opening slots for Sturgill Simpson and The Lone Bellow and the release of the band’s debut full-length, Excuses. The future’s not just shades bright, it’s Cereus Bright. YDIIYD: Poi Dog Pondering meets The White Stripes at a Brit Folk hootenanny hosted by Mumford and Sons. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 4:30 p.m. Julia Jacklin (Sydney, Australia) Indie Folk Australian singer/songwriter Julia Jacklin asked her mother for singing lessons when she was 10 because she felt her accomplishments paled in comparison to Britney Spears. Since then, Jacklin has gone from learning her craft in a band to absorbing the work of women she admired to allowing her own voice to emerge from her wide-ranging influences. Jacklin’s been releasing songs in fits and starts over the past couple of years, but her incendiary appearance at this year’s SXSW got her noticed in a big way, as evidenced by the imminent release of her debut full-length album, Don’t Let the Kids Win. YDIIYD: Angel Olsen and Fiona Apple channel ’60s/’70s Folk singers then learn the Dave Dobbyn songbook. (BB)
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5:30 p.m. PUBLIC (Cincinnati) Indie Pop/Rock In six short years, PUBLIC has grown beyond the confines of their Cincinnati beginnings to become the object of teenage girl adulation without pandering to that demographic. In 2012, the trio — guitarist/ vocalist John Vaughn, bassist/vocalist Matthew Alvarado and drummer/vocalist Ben Lapps — established PUBLIC as a formidable force with its debut EP, Red, and
CRITIC’S PICK 3:30 p.m. Joesph (Cincinnati) Indie/Pop/Rock/Shoegaze No, you didn’t read it wrong — Joesph is spelled “Joesph.” That one letter out of place is a good thematic device for this Cincinnati trio, whose latest release, There Comes the
8:15 p.m. Langhorne Slim & The Law (Nashville, Tenn.) Americana/Folk/Soul After years of touring with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Langhorne Slim generated a huge buzz with a set at Bonnaroo and a subsequent slew of high-profile opening gigs that exposed him to audiences that fell hard for his brand of contemporary troubadour wisdom and wiseassery. The title track from Slim’s 2004 debut EP, The Electric Love Letter, found its way into Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Songs of the Year list and onto the Waitress soundtrack, while his debut full-length, 2005’s When the Sun’s Gone Down, made a good many year-end best-of lists. Since then, Slim and his band, the Law, have earned a pile of great reviews, made diehard fans of David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, scored music placement in films, television and commercials and toured relentlessly. Slim and the Law’s last album, last year’s The Spirit Moves, was his first recording to be conceived and executed while he was sober, and his journey on that path continues. YDIIYD: Bob Dylan if he’d been born in the Punk generation. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 6:45 p.m. Lau (Edinburgh, Scotland) Ambient Folk In an era of constant cross-pollination and hybridization, it seems odd that it’s taken so long for a band to effectively bridge the realms of Celtic Folk and Electronic music. Over the past dozen years and five releases, Lau has brilliantly blended the well-traveled guitar/accordion/fiddle tradition with an atmospheric Electronic texture that elevates the trio from simple Folk into a sonic environment that retains its ancient roots while absorbing and reflecting a uniquely contemporary buzz. Lau’s most recent album, The Bell That Never Rang, is an astonishing accomplishment, a confluence of two distinct genres that results in a strangely unique third musical style. Their fans call this area Lau-land, but we call it the home of the future. YDIIYD: Celtic Folk as envisioned by Radiohead, Wilco and Brian Eno. (BB)
5:15 p.m. Ona (Huntington, W.Va.) Indie Roots Rock It’s no wonder that even a cursory listen to Ona’s latest album, last year’s amazing American Fiction, will more than occasionally lean toward the squalling wonder of Crazy Horse and the contemplative intensity of its welltraveled frontman; the quintet’s self-avowed motto when working through a songwriting issue is “What would Neil Young do?” Initial proof of Ona’s boundless gifts were hinted at in their pair of two-song EPs, 2013’s Virginia Storm and 2014’s The Other Side of June, but American Fiction (featuring re-recorded versions of the EP’s tracks) brought Ona’s brilliance into sharp and satisfying relief. YDIIYD: Dawes moves to Appalachia and takes its cues from Wilco and Crazy Horse. (BB)
FRIDAY SEPT. 23 ELI’S BBQ STAGE
4:15 p.m. Dead Horses (Milwaukee) Americana/Folk Dead Horses is one of those bands that shows how magic can be created with just three superb musicians and a few simple acoustic instruments. Led by the gripping songwriting and voice of guitarist Sarah Vos, the trio has become one of Wisconsin’s favorite bands in its six years of existence. The group’s push to become more widely known will get a big jolt with the Sept. 30 release of Cartoon Moon, Dead Horses’ third album, which was produced by fan Ken Coomer (Wilco) and, if the first three sneak-peek tracks are any indication, shows the threesome at the height of their powers with a slightly expanded sound. YDIIYD: More modern Folk acts like Indigo Girls or Shawn Colvin going back to the Americana basics. (Mike Breen)
8:45 p.m. Into It. Over It. (Chicago) Indie Rock New Jersey Native Evan Weiss formed Into It. Over It. as a solo project after the young bandmates in his other groups didn’t show quite the same commitment to music as he did. Weiss’ first solo recording project showed his dedication — he wrote a song every week for a year, releasing them as the compilation 52 Weeks when it was all over. When the first Into It. Over It. albums started coming out in 2011, the project quickly found a loyal audience — enamored with Weiss’ emotive and melodic songwriting — and toured the world (with Weiss joined by a full band). Earlier this year, the best Into It. Over It. album yet, Standards, was released and praised for its depth and dynamic spin on Pop/Rock songwriting, as well as the insistent drumming of collaborator Joshua David Sparks. YDIIYD: Manchester Orchestra, Death Cab for Cutie, Modern Baseball. (MB)
CRITIC’S PICK 6:45 p.m. Leggy (Cincinnati) Indie Rock/Garage Pop Véronique Allaer’s brush with death three years ago rekindled her long-buried desire to be a musician, and she’s been pursuing that goal with a vengeance ever since. After dusting off her closeted guitar, Allaer formed Leggy with best friend Kerstin Bladh on bass and thunder-and-lightning beatkeeper Chris Campbell on drums, which quickly resulted in buzzy local shows amd their 2014 debut, Cavity Castle. In the interim, Leggy has toured incessantly and dropped a trio of releases: another pair of EPs, Nice Try and Dang, and a self-titled full-length that compiles the best of all the EPs with a fresh track, “Kick the Habit.” Leggy is Punk-tinged girl-group Pop, played in a stained garage with a curled lip and a casual fury, and its razor-sharp Cupid’s arrow will pierce your musical heart.
Singer and ringleader Benjamin James’ side project Pluto Revolts stepped directly into the musical spotlight with its inception in 2008, combining straightforward Alternative Rock attitude with Electronic experimentation for a familiar-but-fresh sound. James’ yearning vocals are powerful, at times stadium-Rock strong and other times Pop-ballad sweet, and the lyrics are simple, which play well with the energetic guitar, crashing drums and playful keys. Having cut his teeth in the do-or-die major label industry, James has earned the right to a creative rebirth with this passion endeavor. YDIIYD: Silverchair, Mutemath and Linkin Park playing a private birthday party. (LS)
YDIIYD: Thom Yorke tributes Elliott Smith at Leonard Cohen’s weenie roast. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 5:45 p.m. The Slippery Lips (Cincinnati) Rock/Punk
CRITIC’S PICK 3:45 p.m. Smut (Cincinnati) Post Punk
One of Greater Cincinnati’s most thrilling live acts, a Slippery Lips show is a bombastic display of theatrical nihilism loaded with equal parts over-the-top fun and on-the-edge danger. Frontwoman Jesse Fox (a noted local photographer and former CityBeat staffer) flails and flings herself across the stage with little regard to personal safety, while the rest of the band matches her explosive energy with sparks-inducing Punk volatility. Even though they’ll be performing in broad daylight, this will be one MPMF show you won’t want to miss because anything could happen.
With unbridled Post Punk energy impressively layered in various shades of harmonious guitar noise, Smut has emerged in the Cincinnati underground music scene in the just past couple of years. The band’s fivesong debut release, 2014’s Purse, lived up to the quintet’s description of its sound as Noise Pop, with snarling, fuzzed-out brashness and a lo-fi buzz driving the proceedings. But with this year’s four-song sam-soon release (both are available on the group’s Bandcamp page), Smut showcased a sharper, more in-focus approach, lifting the chaotic fog slightly and allowing those scruffy guitarscapes and singer Tay Roebuck’s engaging vocal swagger to be all the more impactful.
YDIIYD: The Stooges, X-Ray Spex, Twin Peaks. (MB)
YDIIYD: Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Savages in a blender. (MB)
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YDIIYD: Chillwave minus the electronics and plus more guitar glitter. (MB)
7:45 p.m. Pluto Revolts (Cincinnati) Alternative Rock/Electronic/Pop
For 14 years, guitarist/vocalist Matt Mooney fronted area bands until he came to the conclusion that his muse would be better served in a solo context. He adopted the nom du folke Royal Holland and embarked on his new lonewolf journey (although gradually assembling a small band for some gigs) with stunning local shows and his first EP, The Maze, which won the 2014 Ohio Music Award for Best Folk Album. It was the first installment of Holland’s “Unfolding” trilogy, which included 2015’s Flamingo and this year’s Program (all recorded by Brian Olive), a song cycle that examines the big questions surrounding love, loss and death, and the inevitable realization that big questions only generate bigger questions.
YDIIYD: Lana Del Rey starts a contemporary Garage Punk tribute to The Ronettes. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 3:15 p.m. Hoops (Bloomington, Ind.) Indie Pop The shimmering, atmospheric Indie Pop of Hoops has its roots in founder Drew Auscherman’s ambient solo recordings. He then spent the summer of 2014 finding the right musicians to bring the songs to life. With Hoops solidified as a quartet, the band began playing locally, then added regional tour dates, which, along with three self-released tapes, helped draw glowing attention from an increasing number of music press outlets (from My Old Kentucky Blog to NME). The group ultimately hooked up with Fat Possum Records, which released a dazzling self-titled EP in late August. Like a Shoegaze band forced to turn off their distortion pedals, Hoops makes blissfully trippy songs that are warm, breezy and often transcendent.
4:45 p.m. Royal Holland (Newport, Ky.) Indie Folk/Rock
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9:30 p.m. JJ Grey & Mofro (Jacksonville, Fla.) Rock/Funk/Soul/Blues The roots of JJ Grey & Mofro extend back two decades when Grey and friend Daryl Hance signed with a U.K. label and played European shows as Mofro Magic. The deal went south and the pair returned to Florida, shortening the name to simply Mofro, a nickname given to Grey by a co-worker. The band recorded two albums as Mofro, both steeped in Grey’s memories of his Florida upbringing, a constant theme in his songs. In 2007, he added his name to the marquee, and the newly christened group signed with Alligator Records and released Country Ghetto, featuring more slow Soul and amped-up Southern Rock. That was the start of a six-album stretch that exposed Grey and Mofro to a wider and appreciative audience. Last year’s Ol’ Glory was the band’s debut for Provogue Records, but it shines with the same singular hybridized take on Rock, Blues, Folk, Funk and Gospel. Mofro is the ultimate Grey area. You’ll Dig It If You Dig: Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers jam at a memorial for Otis Redding and Jim Reeves. (Brian Baker)
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CRITIC’S PICK 7:45 p.m. Reggie Watts (Brooklyn, N.Y., Los Angeles) Experimental/Electronic/Comedy Reggie Watts is a Renaissance man of oddness who has turned his unusual, innate sense of spontaneity and surrealism into quite an impressive career. After performing in bands in a wide range of genres (from Hip Hop to Jazz and beyond), Watts began experimenting with a loop pedal, which allowed him to layer vocal sounds over top of
each other to disorienting effect. The playfulness of his music was indicative of his sharp comedic mind, and Watts began incorporating comedy into his work and collaborating with comedians. His music-meets-standup shows and album releases made him a hit in the alt comedy world. Many came to know Watts through his vital role on Comedy Bang! Bang! (the podcast and then the IFC TV show). Last year, Watts brought his twisted sense of art and music to his role as the bandleader on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden. YDIIYD: Salvador Dali orchestrating a musical collaboration between Negativland, Tim and Eric and Michael Winslow. (Mike Breen)
CRITIC’S PICK 6:15 p.m. Kamasi Washington (Inglewood, Calif.) Jazz Kamasi Washington’s rise in music over the past two years has been unlike anything seen in the past few decades. In 2016, Washington has been a big draw at festivals like Coachella and Electric Forest, and his latest album charted well and was one of the best reviewed of last year, making the “Best of 2015” lists of both The Guardian and Pitchfork (among others). But Washington isn’t an EDM button-pusher or Indie Pop sensation — his success came on the heels of his mesmerizing nearly three-hour Jazz album, The Epic. The saxophonist’s brilliantly constructed, composed and arranged concept album is a dynamic and expansive masterpiece that incorporates varying shades of contemporary and vintage genres, but is still quintessentially a Jazz album. With The Epic, Washington — who has worked with modern greats like Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar — was unexpectedly able to enrapture a whole generation of fans (many of whom likely paid little attention to Jazz previously) by constructing an undeniably compelling piece of art that captured the same jaw-dropping thrill of hearing albums like John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme or Charles Mingus’ Mingus Ah Um for the very first time. YDIIYD: John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and other Jazz artists throughout history who dared to defy convention and expectations, reshaping the entire genre in the process. (MB)
With praise from Hip Hop blogs and appearances at the Bonnarooo and Made In America fests, Floss seems well on his way. YDIIYD: A tasty Hip Hop swirl of Southern bounce and Chicago soul, infused with boundless energy and a distinctive personality. (MB)
5 p.m. The Budos Band (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Soul/Deep Funk/Psych Since its formation a decade and a half ago, Daptone Records has become one of the premiere boutique labels for 21st-century Soul and Funk, and one the jewels in the Daptone crown is the Budos Band. The nine-piece instrumental outfit formed in 2005 around a mutual love of Soul-tinged Ethiopian music, which they accented with ’60 Pop Soul to create a signature sonic identity they called AfroSoul. The Budos Band’s first three albums, expeditiously titled I, II and III, combined its core sound with layers of Jazz, deep Funk and even hints of Metal, but the band’s latest album, 2014’s Burnt Offering, found it shifting to a swirling contemporary spin on ’70s Psychedelia. With the Budos Band, lyrics are unnecessary; its music does all the talking. YDIIYD: The essence of The Bar-Kays and Funkadelic rolled up into the world’s biggest medically legal joint. (BB)
3 p.m. Lucky Chops (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Soul/Jazz Thanks to our own Cincy Brass, we know a great horn combo can storm like an F5 tornado, and New York’s Lucky Chops is in on the secret as well. The sextet’s swingy yet nudge/wink marching band take on the Lipps Inc/James Brown mash-up of “Funkytown/I Feel Good” even throws in a measure or two of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” while its readings of Adele’s “Hello” and Ariana Grande’s “Problem” are played straight with their respective drama and swagger intact. Pinwheeling from second line New Orleans Jazz to New York uptown Funk to an Indie approach to Brass Rock (witness its medley of “I’ll Fly Away,” “Heart of Glass” and “Turn the Beat Around”), Lucky Chops hasn’t met the genre or song it can’t blow away. YDIIYD: Mark Ronson ditches his all-star address book and gets back to street-level energy. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 4 p.m. Mike Floss (Nashville, Tenn.) Hip Hop As artist exoduses to New York City and L.A. have long showed, living near the hubs of whatever art you trade in can be frustrating from a career standpoint. But being a little removed and isolated can do wonders for creativity. You can hear that in the gratifyingly imaginative sound of Nashville’s Mike Floss, a guiding light in the Country music capital’s strong but unheralded Hip Hop scene who has the style, skills and freshness to bring deserved attention to his city. If Floss’ elastic, dizzyingly musical sound on singles like “Kerosene” and the Don’t Blame the Youth mixtape continue to get the right exposure, there’s little doubt Floss and his inimitable work will make the jump to the next level with ease, much like, most recently, Bryson Tiller did with Louisville.
CRITIC’S PICK 2 p.m. Animal Mother (Cincinnati) Garage Jazz Self-described “Garage Jazz” trio Animal Mother is a welcome snap of exciting energy on the Cincinnati jazz scene (and for MPMF as well). Tenor saxophonist Josh Kline’s rich tone is the perfect complement to the adventurous lines he explores, utilizing drummer Matt McAllister’s keen precision and robust sound and bassist Jon Massey’s rhythmic foundation to navigate the group into
SATURDAY SEPT. 24 uncharted territory. Listen closely and you’ll hear notes of Punk and Rock influence, along with homages to legendary Jazz greats. Last year’s The Youth Will Rule is worth multiple listens and its songs are even better live — “Paraklete” is particularly a gem. YDIIYD: The Bad Plus and Neil Cowley Trio riding the same subway car Joshua Redman is busking in. (Leyla Shokoohe)
Elliot STAGE
songs and performing them under the name Frightened Rabbit, his mother’s childhood name for him due to his crippling shyness. His first album, 2006’s Sing the Greys, was essentially a solo album with brother Grant on drums, but they expanded to a trio with guitarist Billy Kennedy for 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight. Frightened Rabbit’s third album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, scored them an Atlantic Records contract, which spawned the commercial/critical success of 2013’s Pedestrian Verse. Burnt out from the road, Hutchison, Andy Monaghan and Simon Liddell recorded a side project called Owl John before commencing work on their amazing fifth album, the recently released Painting of a Panic Attack, with production by The National’s Aaron Dessner. YDIIYD: Snow Patrol and Travis shooting dice in the Gallagher brothers’ alley. (BB)
8:30 p.m. Wolf Parade (Montreal, Canada) Indie Rock/Post Punk Wolf Parade, the early-2000s critically acclaimed Indie Rock quartet from Montreal, Quebec, finally shrugged off a self-imposed 2011 hiatus to re-emerge with its beloved Post Punk offerings to the delight of hungry ears everywhere. Frontmen Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug trade off songs, with Boeckner leading more of the straightforward Rock numbers and Krug commanding attention with his intricate, more experimental musings. Both are combined with taut drums and heaving guitars for a big ol’ serving of contemplative, at-times Shoegaze-y and always-eloquent songs that linger long after they end. Wolf Parade - EP 4, its latest recording, displays the group’s musical talents and reminds listeners what’s been missing for the past five years. YDIIYD: Tapes ’n Tapes climbing a mountain with Spoon to meet Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on the other side. (LS)
Scottish guitarist/vocalist Scott Hutchison found the perfect vehicle for working out his internal struggles when he began writing
Cincinnati-based quintet Multimagic, featuring local music scene regulars Coran Stetter, Brian Davis, Sebastien Schultz, Mia Carruthers and Ben Hines, crafts Dream Pop anthems and ballads that soar and simmer in equal measure. The band has been honing its hypnotic sound over the last two years, performing locally to much acclaim and taking a dip down to SXSW in 2015, but the group hasn’t released an album yet. Sneak a peek at the band’s tantalizing live WKNU sessions (with great songs like “Little White” and “Move On”) and you’ll see what the buzz is about. YDIIYD: Arcade Fire, The Killers and Death Cab undertaking a group journal exercise. (LS)
YDIIYD: Brilliantly loud, loudly brilliant music. (BB)
Raised in Queens and Brooklyn, lifelong Hip Hop fanatics and deft MCs Louie Tha Profit and Wxlfman have deep love for the music from New York that inspired them over the past 30 years. To show that love, the pair formed Wild Prxfits, which they use to try to connect with the community with fun and positivity. On social media, Wild Prxfits talks of “ushering in the future of Hip Hop by combining elements from every era,” something the rappers have a head start on given their obvious lyrical abilities and deep-Funk-laden tracks. The duo is off to a good start; Wild Prxfits played its first show this past April, released some solid singles and an EP on Soundcloud and is prepping its next release, PrXphecies. YDIIYD: EPMD, Redman, A Tribe Called Quest. (MB)
CRITIC’S PICK 5:30 p.m. Bob Mould (San Francisco) Indie Rock For the better part of the last three and a half decades, Bob Mould has been one of the most viscerally influential figures in music. With Hüsker Dü and then with Sugar, Mould created a guitar sound and an anthemic attitude that rippled through ’90s Alternative Rock like the sheets of sound emanating from his amps. As a solo artist, Mould has refused to be bound by his reputation or anyone’s personal or professional expectations of what he should be writing or performing. Mould’s first solo album, 1989’s Workbook, was an exuberant and atmospheric album that rejoiced in his newly minted sobriety, while his most recent album, this year’s Patch the Sky, finds him darkly musing about the ends of things, particularly relationships and life. In between, Mould has created a malleable but consistent catalog of high-energy songs that make morose and heartbreaking observations about the human condition; it might even be singalong therapy, especially his last two, 2012’s Silver Age and 2014’s Beauty & Ruin. His best-known song is probably Workbook’s “See a Little Light,” but for as long as we can remember, Bob Mould has thrown off much more light than he’s seen.
2:30 p.m. Wild Prxfits (New York) Hip Hop
CRITIC’S PICK 3:30 p.m. The Harlequins (Cincinnati) Garage Rock/Psych Gleaning the best from the heady, colorswirled era of ’60s Psych Pop influences and modern Garage Rock vibes, The Harlequins deliver their unique “Midwest is best” sound in a giddily palatable and always exciting package. Lead singer Michael Oliva is a consummate musician — no frills, all passion. His guttural yelps and esoteric lyricism lead the careening ship, swaying with alternately driving and spacey guitar, fuzzy, guiding bass lines from Alex Stenard and ever-intense drumming by Rob Stamler. The group just released One With You this June — a sharper, more precise sound that doubles down on the energy the group is known for. Close your eyes and trust The Harlequins will take you somewhere inventive and wonderfully trippy. YDIIYD: The Cramps and Tame Impala playing glow-in-the-dark laser tag with Ty Segall. (LS)
1:30 p.m. Orchards (Cincinnati) Indie Pop It’s been three years since schoolmates Austin Tracy and Evan Wagner crossed paths at a Tame Impala show and turned their chance re-meeting into a guitar/drums duo. Dubbed Orchards, the pair booked gigs and played sessions for close to a year before inviting bassist Kyle Stone into the mix, and that’s how it stood until Stone opted out of the band earlier this summer. His place has been capably filled by Chris Cavanaugh, who points/counterpoints Wagner’s psychedelic tribal beat-keeping and Tracy’s six-string fuzz-stomp rain dance. The trio reently signed with Old Flame Records, presumably meaning there will be an Old Flame record. Soon, perhaps? YDIIYD: Blue Cheer and Hawkwind debate the merits of Sgt. Pepper vs. Pet Sounds. (BB)
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CRITIC’S PICK 7 p.m. Frightened Rabbit (Glasgow, Scotland) Indie Rock
CRITIC’S PICK 4:30 p.m. Multimagic (Cincinnati) Indie Pop/DreamPop
MPMF.16 WNKU STAGE
8:15 p.m. The Mountain Goats (Durham, N.C.) Indie/Folk/Rock John Darnielle intended to be a writer for a living. And though his words have been presented in different forms, he’s become a very successful one by any measure. He put his words to music beginning in the ’90s and, once his Mountain Goats began to release studio albums built around Darnielle’s concepts and stories in the early 2000s, it became a critical darling with an ever-growing and loyal fanbase, inking deals with respected label 4AD and then beloved indie imprint Merge. The Mountain Goats have continued to top themselves with each new release — last year’s Beat the Champ, a concept album about pro wrestling — was another career highlight. When Darnielle finally used his writing gifts to craft his first novel, 2014’s Wolf in White Van, it was nominated for a National Book Award (a second book is reportedly due early next year).
YDIIYD: Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Diet Cig hiding out in a basement during a winter solstice party. (LS)
3:15 p.m. By Light We Loom (Cleveland, Ohio) Indie Pop 5:15 p.m. Oh Pep! (Melbourne, Australia) Indie Folk/Pop Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs are most assuredly not wasting their youth. The Down Under duo, operating under the banner of Oh Pep! and not quite in their mid 20s, has been accumulating accolades with the release of a trio of EPs, leading up to the summer release of their debut full-length, Stadium Cake. Two years ago, the pair was crowned Young Folk Performer of the Year by The Age Music Victoria Awards and has been nominated in successive years for Best Folk Roots act. Stadium Cake could very well force Oh Pep! to clear some mantle space for more industry hardware.
After the dissolution of Indie Rock sensations Bethesda (which appeared at several MidPoint and Bunbury festivals), husbandand-wife frontduo Eric Ling and Shanna Delaney decided to shift gears away from their Mumford-and-Sons-go-Pop direction. Eschewing the band format, Ling and Delaney found everything they needed in loop technology and each other, creating head-bobbing grooves and dreamy melodies as By Light We Loom. The duo’s two EPs — last year’s The Ignition and this year’s Caught in the Tide — are beautiful advances on a sound that Ling and Delaney had already mastered. YDIIYD: Kate Bush as a dreamy Midwestern Synth Pop chanteuse. (BB)
1:15 p.m. Ryan Fine & The Media (Cincinnati) Pop/Jazz/Soul Ryan Fine & The Media is a Cincinnatibased 10-piece Pop/Jazz ensemble featuring students and graduates of the acclaimed University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. With diverse instrumentation including trumpets, saxophones, bass, percussion, drums and guitar, the group has the freedom to explore many different genres, laying in pure Rock guitar riffs and bombastic horns with smooth Jazz sax and percussive elements to create a specialty blend of exciting musicality, oftentimes led by Fine’s capable Pop-leaning crooning. YDIIYD: Michael Bublé and Chicago covering Justin Timberlake on New Year’s Eve. (LS)
ELI’S BBQ STAGE
YDIIYD: Arcade Fire fronted by Jane Siberry and Suzanne Vega. (BB)
YDIIYD: When a band’s lyric sheet is as important any musical note played. (MB)
2:15 p.m. NIGHTS (Ohio City, Ohio) AltRock/Dream Pop CRITIC’S PICK 4:15 p.m. Lucy Dacus (Richmond, Va.) Indie Rock
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6:45 p.m. Car Seat Headrest (Seattle) Indie Rock Will Toledo’s Indie Rock project Car Seat Headrest is so named because he recorded the vocals in the backseat of a car for privacy. There’s not much of that privacy present lyrically — luckily for us. His 2016 release Teens of Denial uncovers petulant emotions and wry observations, laying it all bare on a silver platter of precision guitar and heavy drums. Based in Seattle by way of Virginia, Car Seat Headrest has a prolific back catalog; Teens of Denial is the first recording for a label (Matador) and the first made in a professional recording studio.
There is an almost breezy Jazz quality to Lucy Dacus’ tremulous voice and elongated phrasing, but the truly startling aspect of her presentation is her incisive, insightful and brutally honest lyrics, made more impressive in light of the fact that Dacus has just recently reached the age where she can drink in the clubs she plays. Her debut album, the recently released No Burden, explores the full spectrum of emotional experience with a breathtaking maturity and the kind of wisdom that typically comes after too many traumas and a lot of hard fought healing. YDIIYD: Erika Wennerstrom and The Heartless Bastards singing and playing with forceful restraint. (BB)
The hypnotic lull of Northern Ohio’s NIGHTS’ ambient Pop representative of the band’s take-your-time/get-it-right origins. Guitarist Frankie Maraldo formed the band in 2009 with a male singer, but the project started falling apart. Enter singer/artist Jenna Fournier, whose own band had just split. The two songwriters clicked and, with inspiration from The Smashing Pumpkins’ early swirling dynamics, NIGHTS recorded its debut album, Whisper. Then they scrapped it. The band tried again and was still unhappy with the album’s sound, but NIGHTS managed to catch the attention of Tragic Hero Records, which signed the group and arranged for Whisper to be tweaked by accomplished producer Jim Wirt. Four years in the making, the label released the album nationally last fall. YDIIYD: Lush, Silversun Pickups, Slowdive, The Cranberries. (MB)
9 p.m. Russian Circles (Chicago) Post Rock/Prog/Metal If you’re wondering how a Chicago band wound up with a name like Russian Circles, the instrumental Prog/Metal trio christened itself after an ice hockey practice maneuver. The Blackhawks would approve, we think. Since its 2004 formation, Russian Circles has released six full-length albums, including the just-issued Guidance, and an EP, touring incessantly. The threesome — guitarist Mike Sullivan, bassist Brian Cook and drummer Dave Turncrantz — create a fascinating loud/soft dynamic by combining Prog deliberation and nuance with Post Rock/Metal ferocity and intensity. Even more amazingly, Russian Circles deftly employs pedals, loops and samples to expand and enhance its live presentation. Shout it from the clock tower — the Russian Circles are coming. YDIIYD: Orchestral Post Rock from a loud whisper to a conducted scream. (BB)
SATURDAY SEPT. 24 YDIIYD: Slint and The Afghan Whigs collaborate on the soundtrack to a film about clouds that rain blood. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 8 p.m. Helms Alee (Seattle) Experimental/Progressive/Metal Before “Grunge” became a marketing term to describe every band from Seattle, the underground bands in the city actually did have some commonality, but less in sound and more in approach, with musicians meshing Punk, Garage, Metal and whatever else they felt like into unusual variations of snarling, sludgy Rock. It’s a tradition carried on faithfully by powerful and creative trio Helms Alee, which, in the course of four albums (including the brand new Stillicide), has confounded pigeonholers at every turn, craftily infusing its heavy, pummeling Doom/ Sludge/Metal base with Math rhythms, Prog arrangements, engulfing and engaging melodies and harmonies, Post Rock atmospherics and Post Punk idiosyncrasy. YDIIYD: Deafheaven, The Melvins, Torche, Earth. (MB)
CRITIC’S PICK 7 p.m. Honeyspiders (Cincinnati) Rock/Psych
6 p.m. Sound&Shape (Nashville, Tenn.) Rock/Progressive Sound&Shape, a prolifically touring fourpiece Progressive Rock band based in Nashville, is evidence of the Music City’s nurturing support system. The group has undertaken a musical evolution that has yielded a great balance between thoughtful lyricism and intricate musicality, with its latest release, 2014’s Bad Actors, produced by fellow Nashville talents, Grammy Award-winning engineer/ producer Casey Wood and lauded producer Matthew McCauley. Vocalist Ryan Caudle’s contemplative delivery melds seamlessly with frenetic guitar riffs, wandering bass lines and raucous drums, each musical voice speaking in turn for a fully realized soundscape that never loses pace or energy. YDIIYD: Coheed and Cambria solving a Rubik’s cube with TesseracT in a coffee shop while Muse plays overhead. (LS)
5 p.m. Mala in Se (Cincinnati) Post Hardcore/Progressive/Metal
YDIIYD: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club going shot for shot with early Sonic Youth in The Toadies’ basement. (LS)
YDIIYD: High on Fire plays Wizard’s Chess with Lightning Bolt and The Boredoms take on the winner. (BB)
Deeply steered by the SST/Touch & Go/Dischord Hardcore scenes of the ’80s and ’90s, Knife the Symphony assembled a decade ago with the sole intent of moving forward and making a momentously visceral noise along the way. Mission accomplished. KTS has been sporadically consistent over its 10-year history, gigging often and compiling an impressive catalog of scathing sheets of cacophonous splendor. KTS’s last full-length, 2009’s heart-stopping yet nuanced Dead Tongues, has been followed by an album’s worth of splits with the likes of Mala in Se, Lauren K. Newman and others, and Knife the Symphony continues to rage against the dying of the light, playing with a ferocity that could tear kneesized holes in the universe’s well-worn jeans. YDIIYD: Jawbox and Unwound get their master’s degrees in diversity and divinity. (BB)
3 p.m. Smoke Signals... (Newport, Ky.) Post Rock/Math/Prog Smoke Signals... roared out of northern Kentucky a half-dozen years ago and has been making waves on both sides of the Ohio River ever since. Guitarist/vocalist Rev. Chauncey Grizzly blends musical styles the way a bartender mixes a $20 drink, shifting from Math precision to Prog expanse to Post Rock blister, sometimes in the same solo. Meanwhile, bassist/vocalist Seth Langland and drummer/vocalist Jims provide the only possible rhythm section for Grizzly’s schizophonic guitar environments. The trio has posted the results on Bandcamp and released physical copies through And Recordings and Phratry, but clearly the best way to experience to brutal wonder of Smoke Signals... is to let the sound wash over you in the front row. It might be better than a chemical peel.
2 p.m. Baby Money & The Down Payments (Chicago) Rock Chicago-based Baby Money & The Down Payments is a Bluesy outfit that distills the essence of ’60s Motown and a jangly Johnny Cash aesthetic into a contemporary tincture of earnest Rock. Fronted by soulfully voiced leader Pamela Maurer, this trio of rocking women combines coy harmonies and wistful lyrics with precision drums and vibrant guitar and bass lines for a kiss-with-a-punch experience. The four-track Shy-City Vol. 1: Pyramid was released in February, with promises of two more volumes before the end of the year. YDIIYD: Tennis playing an acoustic show with Best Coast and The Shangri-Las. (LS)
1 p.m. Honduras (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Haze Punk Brooklyn four-piece Honduras is equal parts earnest and thrashing, resulting in a quicksilver “Haze Punk” combination that is undeniably infectious. Lead singer Patrick Phillips, along with childhood pal and lead guitarist Tyson Moore, formed Honduras in 2012, swiftly emerging on the DIY scene as ones to watch. Its brand of well-articulated Garage Rock is intensified with high-energy guitars and vocals, steady bass lines and chaotically controlled drums. The group was chosen as the subject of a new video documentary by music-streaming service TIDAL in August 2016 and is touring in support of its 2016 release, Gathering Rust. YDIIYD: Parquet Courts challenging Deerhunter and The Sex Pistols to a game of high-stakes, three-way ping-pong. (LS)
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Members of Honeyspiders can finally shrug off comparisons to their old bands and stand on their own black-booted feet. They’ve spent the last few years spinning a dense web of Post/Psychedelic Rock, studded with heavy, droning guitar, crashing drums and thick bass lines that enchant and entrap. Lead singer Jeremy Harrison’s seductive drawl coats the group’s exploratory lyrics in a smoky haze that accelerates in intensity, culminating in a noholds-barred, face-melting sound. The band’s self-titled debut won the 2016 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Album of the Year.
Jazz/Metal may not be a definable musical genre, but that could be simply because Mala in Se is the only band doing it. Dissonance that (almost) gives way to melody, odd time signatures that migrate into rocksteady pulses, howling volume that dissipates into vaporous quietude, blinding speed that downshifts into a funereal plod; these are Mala in Se’s tools of the trade, and they wield them alternately like a surgeon’s scalpel and a laborer’s sledgehammer. The trio’s 2010 self-titled debut full-length is a brutal musical Hadron Collider where genres are crashed into each other at light-speed to see what results after the molecules settle.
CRITIC’S PICKS 4 p.m. Knife the Symphony (Cincinnati) Post Rock/Post Punk
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Toupin (whose vocal harmonies gave the band an Emmylou Harris/Gram Parsons dynamic) had left the band, but Houndmouth has soldiered on as a trio, sometimes adding a horn section to punch up its live shows. YDIIYD: The Band, Drive-By Truckers, Alabama Shakes. (Mike Breen)
9:30 p.m. Band of Horses (Charleston, S.C.) Indie Rock Band of Horses began in Seattle more than a decade ago as an Indie Rock reaction to frontman Ben Bridwell’s long Chamber Pop stint with Carissa’s Wierd. After a brief period of personnel fluidity and a relocation to his native South Carolina, BOH began operating within a sonic framework that successfully intersected Americana, Psych Folk and Indie Rock. BOH’s lineup solidified nine years ago, but the band’s catalog on the whole has remained amazingly consistent, a testament to Bridwell’s steady creative vision. The third Band of Horses album, 2010’s Infinite Arms, was Grammy-nominated for Best Alternative Album and was its most commercially successful release, but the follow-ups, 2012’s Mirage Rock and the just released Why Are You OK, both did well on a global scale. Because Band of Horses is perfect stargazing music and the stars look the same around the world. You’ll Dig It If You Dig: A dreamy, spacey, desert campfire with The Shins, My Morning Jacket and Spiritualized. (Brian Baker)
CRITIC’S PICK 6:15 p.m. Nada Surf (New York City) Indie Pop/Rock The fact that Nada Surf is still standing after its massive and ironically titled mid-’90s hit “Popular” and subsequent label meddling and malfeasance is a testament to the creative glue and perseverance of founders Matthew Caws and Daniel Lorca, along with their synergy over the past 21 years with drummer Ira Elliot. When Elektra dropped them, they took day jobs and self-released The Proximity Effect, then signed with Barsuk for the acclaimed Let Go, featuring the hit “Inside of Love,” which was used in commercials, television and film. Similar accolades were accorded to 2005’s The Weight is a Gift, 2008’s Lucky and 2010’s covers-only If I Had a Hi-Fi. The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy found the band expanding to a quartet with the 2012 arrival of Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard. This year’s You Know Who You Are continues the Nada Surf trend of consistent Indie Rock excellence. YDIIYD: James Mercer and Coldplay do America’s Got Talent in disguise, give Simon Cowell the finger. (BB)
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7:45 p.m. Houndmouth (New Albany, Ind.) Indie Roots Rock Formed as a quartet in 2011 in a town across the river from Louisville, Ky., Houndmouth has built a reputation around the country for a great, rollicking live show and its infectious, roots-rockin’ boogie. A 2012 South By Southwest appearance led to a contract with Rough Trade Records, which has released the band’s first two critically acclaimed albums — 2013’s From the Hills Below the City and last year’s lively, soulful Little Neon Limelight. Earlier this year, the band announced that keyboardist Katie
Jay Hawkins, CCR and Neil Young could self-identify as a Country artist, but Aubrie Sellers exists, with a vengeance, in the Venn diagram intersection of her amped-up Rock influences and her Country heritage as the daughter of superstar Lee Ann Womack. Sellers understands the power of music regardless of label — she draws a line between Ralph Stanley’s raw banjo style and Punk energy — and no matter which mode of interpretation she inhabits for a particular song, she pegs the sonic and emotional needles to equal shades of red with a crack band and a crystalline voice. Her debut album, New City Blues, is a perfect synthesis of everything Aubrie Sellers is and loves, and her live shows are better still. YDIIYD: Buddy and Julie Miller in a Nashville tribute to Led Zeppelin. (BB)
4 p.m. Amber Arcades (Utrecht, Netherlands) Alternative Folk/Pop After releasing an EP of pretty Folk songs in 2012, Annelotte de Graaf poked around for info on her favorite records and found Punk producer Ben Greenberg, then shot her life savings on a trip to New York to have him produce her full-length debut, the just-released and aggressively atmospheric Fading Lines. The resulting album is an exhilarating pastiche of Folk/Pop set to a soundtrack of ’60s/’70s AM Pop as translated by a contemporary Indie Rock band with a deep knowledge of New Wave and melodic Punk. Fading Lines features stretches of excruciating beauty punctuated with hints of darkness and dissonance, but Amber Arcades aims higher than superficial sonic techniques and momentary gratification. This is an album and artist to love. YDIIYD: Suzanne Vega on a Dutch holiday with The Soft Boys, busking for coffee money. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 5 p.m. Aubrie Sellers (Nashville, Tenn.) Alternative Country It’s startling that anyone who cites influences like Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Screamin’
CRITIC’S PICK 3 p.m. The Mobros (Charleston, S.C.) Rock/Soul/Roots Kelly and Patrick Morris are brothers (“Mobros” is short for Morris Brothers) from South Carolina who’ve been exploring their musical chemistry since childhood, singing harmonies together and sharing a love for the music of greats like Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers and The Band. That chemistry translates to the bros’ instrumental compatibility as well — Kelly plays intricate, soulful guitar lines with Patrick’s drums effortlessly flowing along. The telepathic bond between the two gives their rootsy Soul/Rock sound an organic feel that seems to be as much based on emotion and instinct as it is on musical precision (though both are stellar instrumentalists). The duo (joined by a bassist live) was hand-picked by B.B. King to open a series of dates in 2013 and in 2014, The Mobros released their debut album, Walking With A Different Stride. The band has been showcasing newer material in its sets, so another release appears to be imminent. YDIIYD: The Black Keys bred on equal parts American Soul and brotherly vocal phenoms like the Bee Gees and Everlys. (MB)
2 p.m. Blank Range (Nashville, Tenn.) Indie Roots Rock Just ask Einstein; time is relative. After all, look what the members of Blank Range have done in just three years. Four Illinois college grads hotfooted it down to Nashville and formed Blank Range with an acquaintance from St. Louis. Later in 2013, the quintet released an EP and a 7-inch, and the following year was highlighted by the band’s win in a Nashville talent contest called The Road to Bonnaroo, first prize being a prime slot at the iconic musical gathering. At some point, their St. Louis bassist opted out, but
SUNDAY SEPT. 25 Blank Range replaced him and continued to craft new material for its (hopefully, very) imminent full-length release. YDIIYD: Blitzen Trapper and Pavement challenge Spoon and Drive-By Truckers to a three-legged softball game. (BB)
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8:30 p.m. Lucero (Memphis, Tenn.) Country/Punk/Southern Rock Not since Alex Chilton’s Big Star has a band so thoroughly understood the correlation between Rock, Soul and Country as Ben Nichols and Lucero. By the time the band signed its short-lived major label deal with Universal for 2009’s stellar 1372 Overton Park, the group had been around for a decade and released or self-released a half-dozen amazing albums. Since signing with ATO Records four years ago, Lucero has notched a trio of excellent releases — Women & Work, Texas & Tennessee and All a Man Should Do — and cemented its reputation as one of the hardest-driving bands in America. YDIIYD: Steve Earle and John Doe conjure the spirit of Alex Chilton with Mike Ness’ Ouija board. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 7 p.m. Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls (Hampshire, U.K.) Punk/Folk
YDIIYD: Billy Bragg on steroids and a 24-hour caffeine drip. (BB)
5:30 p.m. Josh Ritter (Woodstock, N.Y.) Indie Folk Josh Ritter has been a critic’s darling from his first major exposure, his excellent sophomore album, 2000’s The Golden Age of Radio. Driven to buy his first guitar after hearing Bob Dylan’s duet with Johnny Cash on “The Girl from the North Country,” the Idaho native studied neuroscience at Oberlin College, recording his eponymous debut at a campus studio. Discovered at an open mic by The Frames’ Glen Hansard, Ritter opened for the band in Ireland; his third album, Hello Starling, was a huge Irish hit, debuting at No. 2. From the start, Ritter’s albums have veered from quietly contemplative Folk to louder, more forceful Roots Rock, culminating with his last and best album, last year’s Sermon on the Rocks featuring the shamblingly brilliant “Getting Ready to Get Down.” Josh Ritter is all your favorite artists in one amazing singer/songwriter. YDIIYD: Bob Dylan and Todd Snider singing each other’s songs at Johnny Cash’s gravesite. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 4:30 p.m. AJJ (Phoenix) Pop/Rock “Folk Punk” band Andrew Jackson Jihad was one of Arizona’s more popular underground musical exports. And it still is, though a few things have changed since cult classic albums like 2007’s People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. Early this year the band announced a name-change to AJJ (citing members’ discomfort with both the word “jihad” and Andrew Jackson). The new moniker may also be a reflection of the band’s evolving sound, which has largely moved away from raw Anti Folk/Punk, into something more expansive and adventurous. But as shown on this summer’s engrossing full-length, The Bible 2, the group hasn’t changed everything — it’s still quirky, clever, smart, monstrously catchy and blissfully weird.
2:30 p.m. Kepi Ghoulie (Sacramento, Calif.) Punk/Pop After a nearly 25-year run that included nine albums, five EPs, a dozen singles, six splits (one with The Donnas), two tribute albums and 20 former members, The Groovie Ghoulies finally called it a day in 2007. Since then, frontman Jeff Alexander, aka Kepi Ghoulie, has remained active with a string of full-lengths (two in 2008, American Gothic and Hanging Out) and singles (including semi-annual Valentine’s Day tracks) and even a kids album (Kepi For Kids). Kepi’s last full album, 2011’s I Bleed Rock ‘N’ Roll, featured a title track with a melodic line lifted from the Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” and an exuberant Punk pogo bounce. YDIIYD: The Dictators summon the spirits of The Ramones to haunt the John Varvatos store at CBGB’s. (BB)
YDIIYD: Andrew Jackson Jihad, Titus Andronicus and Dead Milkmen all grown up. (MB)
CRITIC’S PICK 3:30 p.m. Diners (Phoenix) Indie Pop Tyler Broderick writes the kind of timeless Pop hooks that can only come from a life immersed in the study of legendary Pop Rock composers. With dashes of Psychedelia, splashes of warm textures and loads of upbeat charisma, the music of Broderick’s band Diners is instantly likeable and memorable. This month, Broderick and his rotating cast of co-conspirators release Three, their first on the Asian Man label. This ain’t your everyday lo-fi bedroom Indie Pop — Diners’ songs are lush and deceptively intricate, while still letting the power of a great melody shine through like a beam of sunshine on every song. YDIIYD: SMiLE-era Beach Boys, Harry Nilsson, The Zombies. (MB)
1:30 p.m. Alone at 3AM (Cincinnati) Rock/Roots For nearly a decade, Max Fender wrote darkly cool songs and translated them in a sporadic fashion with his rotating collective, Alone at 3AM. But as the band gelled with the additions of bassist Joey Beck, keyboardist Sarah Davis and drummer Chris Mueller, Alone at 3AM’s quality, fortunes and consistency all rose at a steady pace. Just in the past six years, the quintet (now including guitarist Andy Hittle) has produced three acclaimed albums — including last year’s astonishing Show Your Blood — established solid fan bases outside the area and proved to be one of the scene’s most reliable showstoppers. Good bands endure lean times, great bands thrive in spite of them. Alone at 3AM is a great band. YDIIYD: The Gin Blossoms, The Wallflowers and Gomez wax melancholic about their respective homes. (BB)
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After the breakup of his Post Hardcore group Million Dead, Frank Turner decided to maintain his touring regimen as a oneman acoustic outfit about the same time he discovered Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (subsequently and thereafter he’s worked with his full band, The Sleeping Souls). Turner’s debut full-length, 2007’s Sleep Is for the Week, told the story of a year in his
life which was largely marked by drug use at that point. In 2008, Turner released his wildly popular Love, Ire and Song album and began his odds-and-sods documentation with his The First Three Years collection. His next two releases, Poetry of the Deed and England Keep My Bones, further focused his role as political poet laureate for the U.K., but his first American-recorded album, 2013’s Tape Deck Heart (featuring its brilliant rehab anthem “Recovery”), and last year’s Positive Songs for Negative People have broken him wide. Turner’s “classical liberal” stance nets him 100 death threats a day and you can bet he’s got some opinions on the presidential race. Go ahead, ask him — he’ll sing you all about it.
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etc.), what they do with those instruments is refreshingly unexpected and often exhilarating thanks to the exploratory songwriting and arranging. The group’s breathtaking new album, Petals, was released in April through Thirty Tigers. YDIIYD: The Head and the Heart, Trampled By Turtles, The Happy Maladies. (MB)
new drummer. After learning its name held an unpleasant racial connotation, the group rechristened itself after the geographic location of its rebirth. Parsonsfield’s musical expansion continues at a big-bang pace on its just released Blooming Through the Black, featuring the potent response to Donald Trump’s immigration policies, “Barbed Wire.” YDIIYD: The Avett Brothers and My Morning Jacket beer-pissing on Daniel Lanois’ electric fence. (BB)
8:15 p.m. The Wood Brothers (Nashville, Tenn.) Folk/Americana
Monster, their accurately titled first EP, is an outing of six dreamy songs that utilizes the band’s full strength of solid Rock guitar lines, plucky bass, lullaby-esque vocals and hazy drums to create the perfect beach-day soundtrack. Single “Blondie” is especially engaging, with thoughtful vocals and impressive musicality. Formed in 2015, the group has already supported a strong roster of local bands, notably fellow MPMFers Multimagic and Cincinnati Entertainment Award winners Dawg Yawp. Catch the band this year so you can say you saw Modern Aquatic before it was big. YDIIYD: Local Natives covering The Strokes at Vampire Weekend’s Labor Day backyard barbecue. (LS)
Brothers Chris and Oliver Wood bonded over a love for music growing up, but their musical studies took them in different directions. Oliver fronted a band called King Johnson for several years, playing a blend of Blues, R&B and other styles, while Chris formed the popular progressive Jazz group Medeski Martin & Wood. But the brothers decided to give collaborating a shot in the mid-’00s and came up with an Americana-based sound that landed them a deal with Blue Note Records. The Wood Brothers (joined by multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix) would go on to build a loyal fanbase and release several well-received albums, including last year’s dynamic Paradise. Though steeped in Folk traditions, The Wood Brothers’ brand of Americana is loaded with unexpected twists and turns that help set them apart from other contemporary acts.
After the dissolution of Lexington, Ky.’s Apparitions, Mark Charles Heidinger created a new Folk identity for himself as Vandaveer. Quickly adding the complimentary talents of vocalist Rose Guerin, Vandaveer turned out 2007’s Grace & Speed and 2009’s Divide & Conquer, channeling the atmospheric brilliance of kindred souls like Sparklehorse, Richard Thompson and The Band. After a 10-year run that has included four full-lengths and a handful of great EPs, Vandaveer dropped its masterpiece this year, the dusty and beautifully vibrant The Wild Mercury.
YDIIYD: A backwoods writing retreat with Lyle Lovett, The Jayhawks and Ray LaMontagne. (MB)
YDIIYD: Eef Barzelay and Stevie Nicks play Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris in an off-Broadway musical. (BB)
5:15 p.m. Vandaveer (Washington, D.C.) Indie Folk CRITIC’S PICK 3:15 p.m. Young Heirlooms (Cincinnati) Indie Folk/Pop Young Heirlooms possess the improbable ability to look back into bygone musical traditions and translate those antiquated ideas and modes of expression into a sound that is as contemporary as an IKEA living room. Kelly Fine and Chris Robinson sing, play mandolin and guitar and provide the timeless songs that anachronistically span the ages, while a murderer’s row of musical friends make a gorgeous racket around them. Young Heirlooms’ 2013 eponymous full-length debut was a master class in everything the band does exquisitely well, and one can only hope that much more songwriting has filled the intervening threeyear gap.
The Fervor began more than a decade ago with husband-and-wife Ben and Natalie Felker presenting her melancholic songs in a duo format, until the band’s ranks swelled and the arrangements took on a fuller dimension. From the start, The Fervor’s dynamic has been a soft-to-loud transition, whether the context has been the Midwestern Indie Roots Rock of its early work or the grittier, harder direction of its later material, particularly the latest EP, Nightfall in the Kali Yuga.
YDIIYD: Nickel Creek and The Civil Wars go into couples counseling with Dr. Ralph Stanley and Dr. Neil Young. (BB)
YDIIYD: Timbuk 3 and Crazy Horse take over for post-retirement Black Sabbath and tweak the catalog just a bit. (BB)
1:15 p.m. The Fervor (Louisville, Ky.) Indie Rock
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ELI’S BBQ STAGE CRITIC’S PICK 6:45 p.m. Elephant Revival (Nederland, Col.) Progressive Indie Folk/Rock
CRITIC’S PICK 4:15 p.m. Parsonsfield (Northampton, Mass.) Folk/Americana
With elements of Chamber Folk, Classical music and numerous other genres in the mix and an experimental spirit that allows it to extend beyond any sort of genre barriers, Colorado ensemble Elephant Revival creates an ambient, often cinematic brand of modern Americana that is unlike much else in the genre. While the decade-old quintet uses the traditional tools of the trade (including banjo, fiddle, washboard, upright bass,
Parsonsfield is the gentility of atmospheric Folk filtered through the visceral power of Rock, but it wasn’t always so. The quintet began as a contemporarily tinted string band with typical Bluegrass/Folk influences under the name Poor Old Shine, but the group recorded a pair of albums with producer Sam Kassirer at his Parsonsfield, Maine studio and wound up retooling its sound with Kassirer’s assistant engineer as the band’s
CRITIC’S PICK 2:15 p.m. Modern Aquatic (Cincinnati) Indie Rock Combining sunny, beachy vibes with a generous helping of reverb and Indie sensibility, five-piece Cincinnati-based band Modern Aquatic is poised for big things. Beach
8:45 p.m. Aloha (Kansas/Ohio/ Washington, D.C.) Indie Rock The fact that Aloha has released just seven albums in its 19-year history shouldn’t reflect on the band’s work ethic. Cale Parks
SUNDAY SEPT. 25 has done a number of solo recordings and has sessioned and toured with several bands, including Joan of Arc and Passion Pit, while T.J. Lipple is an in-demand producer. But when they get together with band founders Matthew Gengler and Tony Cavallario, Aloha possesses the magic of their Hawaiian name, translating the joy of hello and the sweet sadness of goodbye into a hauntingly melodic Synth/guitar Pop singularity. Aloha’s just-released seventh full-length, Little Windows Cut Right Through, its first in six years, is a pastiche of its best Post Rock/Jazz/Pop moves, a lyrical triumph and a career high point. YDIIYD: Tortoise and Broken Bells with more sadness sprinkles and a thick layer of self-aware hot fudge. (BB)
7:30 p.m. Joan of Arc (Chicago) Indie Rock Joan of Arc’s roots go back over a quarter century to the breakup of the Kinsella brothers’ somewhat overly lauded Cap’n Jazz project, which morphed into Tim Kinsella’s long-running and wildly diverse Joan of Arc in 1995. With Tim Kinsella as its only constant member, Joan of Arc has created a monumental catalog of 23 studio, live and EP releases and a handful of singles that run the gamut of Indie Rock experimentalism and eclecticism, touching on minimalism, sonic collage, guitar Rock, Electronic atmospherics and sampling in a broad variety of applications and executions. Recent song-based albums like 2011’s Life Like spurred a return to touring, but the band continue to pump out esoteric projects like an original score to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc and Testimonium Songs, a soundtrack for experimental theater company Every House Has a Door. JOA’s new album, He’s Got the Whole This Land is Your Land, will be released at the end of the month.
CRITIC’S PICK 2:15 p.m. Darlene (Cincinnati) Alternative/Indie/Rock
6:15 p.m. Potty Mouth (Northampton, Mass.) Punk Potty Mouth began with the veteran rhythm section of bassist Ally Einbinder and drummer Victoria Mandanas, plus two guitarists, Abby Weems and Phoebe Harris, who had barely touched a guitar. That Punk learning curve resulted in their raw and naive 2012 debut, Sun Damage, a blistering six-track evocation of passion and fury, and the 2013 full length follow-up, the slightly more accomplished yet still bare-bones fist-pump Punk of Hell Bent. Harris left in early 2014 to concentrate on her design career, and the remaining trio soldiered on, producing its selftitled five-track EP last year, a melodic yet still elementally visceral slice of Punk anthemics. YDIIYD: Sleater-Kinney plays Veruca Salt in the Lifetime film, I Don’t Have Balls and I Have More Balls Than You. (BB)
4:15 p.m. The Easthills (Rushville, Ind.) Rock If you’re known by the company you keep, The Easthills are pretty bloody well known. The Indiana quintet’s résumé is stacked with opening gigs for Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blues Traveler, Tesla and Candlebox, and this summer found them sharing stages with The Doors’ Robby Krieger, Grand Funk Railroad and Cracker. And their recently released full-length, Fear and Temptation, boasts guests like REO Speedwagon’s Neal Doughty, Georgia Satellites’ Rick Richards and Nada Surf/Guided By Voice’s Doug Gillard. Needless to say, The Easthills earned their place in this good company by establishing themselves as granite-solid proponents of blister-inducing heartland Rock with healthy dashes of Pop melodicism.
Local music scene stalwarts Dana Hamblen, Rob Deslongchamps and Jane Jordan combine their powers in Darlene, a relentlessly energetic Indie Pop/Rock group formed in 2009. The trio’s fast-paced offerings are guided by upbeat vocals, underpinned by frequent guitar shredding, whirlwind drums and one heck of a solid bass delivery. Darlene’s live performance is viscerally thrilling, with Deslongchamps and Hamblen trading off vocals and Jordan working herself into the best kind of infectious frenzy. YDIIYD: Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo in a drag race competition; winner plays Guided By Voices. (LS)
YDIIYD: Kings of Leon fever dreams itself into a Classic Rock reunion concert. (BB)
CRITIC’S PICK 1:15 p.m. Us, Today (Cincinnati) Experimental Post Rock
CRITIC’S PICK 5:15 p.m. Keeps (Nashville, Tenn.) Indie Rock Nashville duo Gusti Escalante and Robbie Jackson’s band Keeps necessitates many adjectives, but first and foremost should be “talented.” The pair effortlessly genre-cross, dipping into dreamy Pop melodies while maintaining Indie Rock chord structure and dropping whiffs of ardent Garage Rock and spacey Psychedelic inspiration. Consistently interesting guitar and bass lines and strong vocals are a signature that transcends whichever influences they happen to be mining. Keeps has been a Nashville scene mainstay, popping up on the national radar as a supporting act for bands like Tennis, Craft Spells and Horse Thief. The band’s 2016 release, Brief Spirit, belies the title and hangs around long after the last note fades.
3:15 p.m. Coconut Milk (Cincinnati) Indie Pop Over the past couple of years, Coconut Milk has emerged on Cincinnati’s club scene with a refreshingly radiant, wistful Indie Pop sound with a warm-breeze vibe that lives up to the group’s self-description as “Beach Rock.” With gloriously endearing melodies and harmonies, introspective lyrics and a spacious soundscape filled out by sparkling keys, clean guitars and creative rhythms, the band’s live shows and 2015 EP, I’m Sorry, helped it earn a Best New Artist nomination at the 2016 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. YDIIYD: Belle and Sebastian relocate to Brian Wilson’s beach house. (MB)
Over the past six years, the evolution of Us, Today as a force in the Cincinnati music scene has been breathtaking. Its first two self-recorded albums, 2011’s RH Sessions and 2012’s Beneath the Floorboards, hinted at the band’s potential, but with 2015’s TENENEMIES, the trio — vibraphonist Kristin Agee, guitarist Joel Griggs and drummer Jeff Mellott — eschewed its improv roots and carefully composed and arranged the songs, allowing the members’ Jazz and Classical training to meld their wide-ranging musical influences into a cohesive and thrilling unit. If you’re wondering how that went, the press has been loving TENENEMIES and the band won this year’s Indie/Alternative award at the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. So, pretty good. YDIIYD: Brian Eno conducts an orchestra comprised of Can, Don Caballero and Tortoise. (BB)
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YDIIYD: Electronica, esoterica, eclectica, erotica, elastica. (BB)
YDIIYD: Wild Nothing, The Cure and Kurt Vile watching Brazil at a midnight screening. (Leyla Shokoohe)
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