We’ve talked with Caspian before - so it should come as no surprise that we’re excited for their return to Cincinnati for this year’s MidPoint Music Festival. Much like our first chat with the band in 2013, this appearance brings them back to Queen City closely following the...

Big Scary is an Australian musical duo formed in Melbourne in 2006, by Tom Lansek, and Joanna Syme. The story of Big Scary began in Melbourne, Australia, where duo Tom Iansek and Jo Syme, armed with just acoustic guitars and egg shakers, started playing songs together in the living room of...

Hip-Hop is meant to be progressive. Like every other genre, it can stagnate, it can lose its edge, it can stutter. Sometimes it crawls to a standstill. But like all genres, independent artists working within (or, without) that framework will always be there, have something to say, and prove...

Known for their cinematic orchestrations blending folk, pop and electronic music, Grandchildren have been steadily making a name for themselves since songwriter Aleks Martray founded the group in Philadelphia in 2008. Since then the band has evolved into a dynamic ensemble of musicians, lauded by...

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Wild Ones have crafted two recent releases that are among the best pop albums I’ve heard in the past few years. Between the two, the band - led by vocalist Danielle Sullivan - has toured relentlessly, making waves (and new fans) along the way.  Their...

Young Empires are coming back to Cincinnati to play MidPoint Music Festival! Young Empires are Matthew Vlahovich, Jake Palahnuk, and Taylor Hill. Their story began in the fall of 2009 with the help of Craigslist. Within two weeks of forming, the band began rehearsing and booked their first gig...

PUBLIC has gained notoriety through festivals like CMJ, Bunbury, and MPMF, in addition to supporting acts like WALK THE MOON, Twenty One Pilots, Neon Trees, American Authors, and Andy Grammar. PUBLIC also recently had a Daytrotter Session released. This local band is right on the verge of hitting...

Glam, rock, indie band, Automagik are amped and ready for MidPoint Music Festival next weekend. The band played with Matt and Kim at the University of Cincinnati’s Red and Black Bash in August. Just prior to that they released the amazing video for “Pop Kiss”. I can’t wait...

Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., 7:15 PM The Pale Horse arrived just in time. The debut LP by Lexington, KY quartet Ancient Warfare is an autumnal wonder, filled with crisp comfort and haunted harmonies. If there’s any single vibe they’ve managed to channel, it’s the spooked...

The Besnard Lakes seem incapable of thinking small. The Quebecois outfit’s four albums to date are elaborate, ornate affairs that exist in their own strange world between dream pop and post-rock. It’s as if mid-90’s Mercury Rev took a sharp right turn into shoegaze territory....

Born in Chicago and growing up in a family of musicians and artists, DeGenova began playing piano at age four and spent his childhood studying classical piano, the jazz and blues of his hometown, and the pop music of The Beatles and Stevie Wonder. By age 15 he was playing professionally in jazz and...

Ride should’ve filled stadiums. They certainly had the sound to pull it off. The quartet blasted out of the same Oxford, UK music scene as Radiohead on the strength of banshee walls of guitar noise and the endorsement of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Their near-perfect debut LP, Nowhere, predated...

Cincinnati pop princess Jane Decker started touring at age 16 with Belle Histoire, one of Alternative Press's “100 bands to Watch” for 2012. The success of Belle Histoire’s debut album earned Jane the opportunity to be on the hit TV show The Voice. Since then Decker has gone...

Sometimes location is everything. The Salad Boys came together at the end of 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand; a country whose infamous musical legacy is so woven into the fabric of modern independent music, many hardly realize it's there. The band formed as many do, with members Joe Sampson...

Elk Creek has undergone some serious changes for the good recently. Check out our talk with Jeremy Brown of Elk Creek for more details… Tell about your new lineup change…A few months ago we were faced with the unenviable challenge of replacing one of our founding members, whose...

Sylvan Esso is an addicting indie pop duo. Comprised of singer/songwriter Amelia Meath (of the Appalachian indie folk trio Mountain Man) and producer Nick Sanborn (who performs under the moniker Made of Oak and plays bass with psych-rockers Megafaun), the pair hail from Durham, North...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. kicks off this year’s festival with a free concert at 6 p.m., Friday, September 25 in the new MidPoint Indie Craft Village in Washington Park.  With the festival now operating Friday through Sunday for the first year ever, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will commence...

JSPH aka Joseph Nevels is a musical force not to be reckoned with. Nevels earned his Juris Doctorate at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law, where he focused on entertainment and contract law. He was a former football standout in Northern Kentucky. As a redshirt freshman at the...

Bully is a band that has quickly developed a reputation for its ferocious live shows. It's a curious name for a Nashville quartet that is transforming familiar '90s alt-rock into smart, sharp-edged millennial indie rock, but "bully" is certainly an apt description for the band's churning guitars,...