Local progressive hip hop/cross-genre veteran Abiyah and Grasshopper Juice Records helmsman/electronic artist Nick Mitchell (who performs under the moniker Juan Cosby) are pleased to announce the inaugural Catapult Music Festival, a free one-day post-rap and electronica-influenced music event to be held in Cincinnati’s eclectic Northside neighborhood on Saturday, May 3, 2014.

Headlining the festival will be forward-thinking NYC musicians louis logic and Tonedeff. Catapult will be held concurrently from 9pm until 2am at Northside Tavern (front room and back room) and Chameleon on Hamilton Avenue in the Northside Entertainment District. The event will also feature a DJ happy hour at The Listing Loon from 5 to 8pm that day.

Abiyah and Mitchell created Catapult out of a desire to move minds out of the “taking it back to that REAL hip hop” mode of thought into what hip hop is currently experiencing, both musically and sonically, as it matures. Much like how post- punk artists were influenced by the sounds and statements of punk and forged new approaches in a post-punk era, so it is now occurring with what was considered underground hip hop. Beats are increasingly electronic in nature, with many artists replacing traditional DJs with SP-404 samplers, while many underground hip hop legends are veering off into new genre territory, i.e., EDM, indie rock/pop, etc.

Two of these artists will be Catapult’s first headliners, NYC’S louis logic (who is moving toward indie rock/pop) and Tonedeff (who is increasingly relying on EDM), and will be joined by a slew of Cincinnati’s like-minded adventurous musicians, including Abiyah, Counterfeit Money Machine, Eugenius, Sudan Moon and B-Rad From The Breeze at Northside Tavern, while Chameleon will house several future-electronic/soul/experimental musicians, including Blackey Portland, Mulamba and Elysium, as well as members of Cincinnati’s electronic music and fine arts collective CINTHESIZER.

Both Tonedeff and louis logic have been firmly rooted in the national underground hip hop scene for the last 10 to 15 years. A truly daring boundary pusher and visionary, emcee/producer/singer-songwriter Tonedeff shatters the mold of conventional hip-hop, imbuing it with the sense of depth, honesty and self-sufficiency more attributed to an author than a rapper. Influenced by a diverse range of artists – Common, Tori Amos, Enya, The Prodigy and Bjork, for example - his fearless style is a seemingly impossible dichotomy of dense technical emceeing, emotive crooning, and cross-genre fusion. A true presentation of what Hip Hop is capable of if set free from the confines of stereotype and cliche. Tonedeff is finally poised to solidify his place in music as one of Hip Hop’s foremost innovators and unapologetic futurists. A future where unfiltered expression and individualism reign supreme. A future where genre is dead and Tonedeff is a mortician who whistles while he works. 

louis logic splashed onto the indie rap scene "party foul" style in 1999 with the drinker's anthem "Factotum". He spawned a laundry list of collaborations with artists like Jedi Mind Tricks, MF DOOM, Malik B of the Roots, and even pop rapper Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes. His 2003 debut Sin-A-Matic cemented him in listeners' minds as a standard for dark romantic comedy and shock rap. Louis' taste for musical exploration grew with the release of Misery Loves Comedy (2006), on which he officially partnered with longtime producer J.J. Brown. It was then that Louis executed his most mysterious and adventurous move yet, retreating into monastic seclusion to study voice, piano and music theory. When he emerged, it was touting a new Copenhagen, Denmark based live Surf/Hip-Hop/Balkan fusion band, Spork Kills, which he debuted with the Beaches Love US EP (2009) featuring the video that garnered his first MTV exposure, "Night of the Hip 'N Dead". He continued to tour worldwide throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, cultivating a theatrical live show that managed to amalgamate rapping, singing, piano playing and even stand up comedy. After 7 years of radio silence, music study, extensive touring and artistic exploration, Louis followed up his 2006 record with his first self-produced album on progressive indie label Fake Four Inc. Released in November of 2013, "Look On The Blight Side" is a rap record in an indie-pop, singer/songwriter style, completely sample free, with original arrangements written and played by Louis. This dark collection of songs gives fans a revealing look into his long journey of self discovery.

As the Northside Entertainment District continues to grow and develop in subsequent years, so will the festival. We intend to grow and expand as much as the post-rap world and the artist who live in it will allow us.

Get the full lineup and RSVP to the event HERE!

Saturday May 3rd
LISTING LOON
5p – 8p
FREE 

NORTHSIDE TAVERN
Front Room & Back Room
9p - 1:30a
FREE 

CHAMELEON
9p – 1:30a
FREE