MidPoint Day One Review

It’s Just Water, It’s Just Music

As Thursday afternoon rolled along in Cincinnati, Ohio, it appeared that the weather gods were not about to play nice with music fans by putting an end to the dreary weather. But the rain and sometimes-chilly winds didn’t stop the fans from coming out to celebrate the eighth annual MidPoint Music Festival’s Kickoff Party on Fountain Square. As Dan McCabe, MidPoint’s executive producer, kept putting it…”it’s just water, it’s just music.”

Singing In The Rain

New York’s Shayna Zaid and the Catch took the stage shortly after 5 pm, playing to an impressive crowd (despite the rain) of both young and older dedicated music fans. Zaid, a Malaysian-born singer and songwriter, formed the band in 2003, when she met guitarist Joel Dean at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The band’s mix of folk and pop served as a wondrous backdrop to the weather, with fans dancing in the rain to the mandolin and violin playing of Yan Izquierdo and the R&B vocal stylings of Zaid.

After Zaid and her band left the stage, a large group of choreographed dancers filled the area near the fountain, moving in sync to the sounds being played on the speakers. Their good vibes spread like the recent flu virus, which left the crowd excited that MidPoint 2009 was finally underway.

The rain seemed to slow down just a bit, as Nashville’s The Young Republic took the stage. Right from the get-go, this band full of former Berklee students was as tight as any band I’d ever seen, mixing slide guitar blues, country and folk into orchestrated indie-pop songs. Because of their cross-mixing styles, they were all over the place (which was a good thing), though it made it hard to pinpoint exactly who this band was. I talked to drummer Logan Linning after the show and he set me straight, noting they just like to play “American rock and roll music.” At times during their performance, the vocals of frontman Julian Saporiti seemed to remind me of a mix between Britt Daniel of Spoon and Will Sheff of Okkervil River, although the band was hardly like either. They may have won over some fans with their magnificent cover of The Beatles “Hey Bulldog”, however, as strong as they were, it wasn’t a necessity in their setlist.

Where To Go From Here

Downtown Cincinnati and Over the Rhine was flocking with herds of people in the early hours of Thursday evening. At 8 pm, nineteen clubs, restaurants, bars and other venues around town would begin showcasing the music of nearly ninety bands from around the globe. Fortunately, nearly all of these performances would take place indoors.

My brother and I decided on catching New York’s Aficionado at the Inner Peace Holistic Center, a day-to-day massage and waxing parlour turned music venue for the weekend. I didn’t think too highly of this place as a music venue, but then again it really doesn’t matter because all you really need is great music.

I’m not exactly sure just what I was expecting to get with this band; I had seen that they were described as a rock and roll circus, and while that seems to fit appropriately, I’m still finding it hard to pinpoint this band. Their influences cover the whole spectrum, ranging from rock and roll pop bands like The Beatles, to progressive rock bands like Yes and King Crimson, to psychedelic and choral symphonic bands like the Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree and alternative hardcore rock bands like Muse and At the Drive-In. I guess you could say that if you took little bits from each of those bands and mixed them together in a blender, the end result would resemble this band. My immediate thoughts led me to think of them as a punk version of the Arcade Fire, but looking back now I’m not sure how confident I feel about describing them in that manner. This nine-piece outfit that features a wide array of instruments like flutes and trumpets is definitely something you have to experience live. The live energy and spirit I felt with this band is something that all to often seems to be missing from too many bands today.

From there my brother and I went our seperate ways, but would meet up later that night. He took off to Arnold’s to catch a recently-reformed Stick Figure Drawings, featuring Max Fender and Sarah Davis of Alone at 3am, while I went on to the Segway Room to catch The Daredevil Christopher Wright.

The Daredevil Christopher Wright was pretty much a last minute decision for me, because over the previous months I had listed Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit right at the top of my must-see list and he was scheduled to take the stage shortly after the Daredevil. I’ve seen Jason several times with his former band the Drive-By Truckers and with his new band, so I opted for something completely unknown to me. The only thing I really knew about this band was that their debut album was produced by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and he is my greatest musical discovery this year, so I guess I’m putting a lot of faith in an artist I have a lot of respect for.

The Daredevil Christopher Wright is a trio from Wisconsin, like Vernon, and there was a definite Vernon-like influence in their sound. Not so much in the unique sound that Justin’s voice has, although the harmonies of this band’s vocals were also very mellow and somber at times, but just the experimentation and sometimes odd-signature timings the band used were Bon Iver-like. I don’t want to sound like I’m saying this band was a total rip-off of Bon Iver or Justin Vernon, clearly they weren’t, but this was definitely a band with their own unique sound that would appeal to Vernon fans. I should also mention that this band appeared to be one of the most well-received bands I saw the entire night. Applause and cheers after the show went much longer than any other band that played, and it seemed like at least half of the people in the Segway Room waited in line to get this band’s debut, In Deference to a Broken Back.

I could have possibly caught the ending of Jason Isbell at Grammer’s just a few blocks down from the Segway Room, but I was headed back downtown to catch part of the Lite Brite Test and The Seedy Seeds at the Contemporary Arts Center.

Contemporary Arts Center Offers Two Festivals In One

I’ll be honest and say that I’ve actually never attended the Lite Brite Test. I’m not so much of an independent film type of guy, although I feel like I’m a dedicated supporter of both music and arts. On a personal note, I’m trying to change some things in my life and become more balanced and rounded with a wider range of interests, so that is one of the one reasons why I wanted to bring to my life what Lite Brite has to offer. Needless to say, I didn’t really think that Lite Brite was set up as well as it could’ve been, but who knows, hopefully more people will support this over the next two nights.

Let’s Get Seedy!

So after seeing what Lite Brite had to offer, my brother and I made our way downstairs to the performance room of the Contemporary Arts Center for the Seedy Seeds. I was actually surprised at the turnout that this local electro, indie-pop band had, although I feel like I shouldn’t be. The Seedy Seeds have long been one of my more favorites of the local music scene, and it appears that they have come a long way since playing as a duo in one of the tiniest venues MidPoint 2007 had to offer.

Earlier this year, the Seedy Seeds expanded both their sound with the addition of drummer Brian Penick, as well as expanding their catalog with the release of the highly-adored and lovable album, Count the Days. I didn’t stick around for the Seeds entire show last night, but from what I saw (the old, the new, the cover of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You”), this show appeared to be one of the better-supported of any of the local shows I’ve seen in recent years. Glad to see and hear good things are coming the Seedy Seeds way, which has included a debut appearance at South by Southwest this past March and an upcoming performance next month at New York’s CMJ Music Marathon.

Accidents, Cancelations and Schedule Mishaps, Oh My!

I ducked out early of the stuffy, over-crowded room in the basement of the Contemporary Arts Center to catch Middle Distance Runner at the Blue Wisp. By the time I had made the trek a few blocks down there, I saw that the band was not onstage. I looked at the schedule in confusion because they clearly should’ve been onstage. I’m not exactly sure what happened; did they cancel or did someone else cancel and they played earlier than scheduled? Not really sure what happened but what can you do.

So I then walked back down to the Contemporary Arts Center in hopes of getting there by the time the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir would take the stage. I had been looking forward to seeing this band the most all day long. Come to find out they were involved in a serious van rollover on the highway in Indiana, coming from Chicago. Although I was a little let down, the important thing is to keep them in your thoughts and prayers and hope for a full, speedy recovery. Help out the band here.

After hearing about this sad news, I decided to head back over to the Blue Wisp for my favorite discovery of the day, The Young Republic. The first half of their set seemed to be a little different than what I caught earlier on Fountain Square, but by the second half of this extended set I had felt I had already known some of these songs and could sing along.

And that’s where my first day of MidPoint 2009 would come to an end. Time to get ready for day two!

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