Nat Tracey-Miller's Profile

For years, French electronic outfit M83 toiled quietly, crafting critically beloved albums for Mute Records that never quite cracked the broader consciousness. But as they steered the ship towards their own brand of new wave-infused dance rock, culminating in their breakthrough hit “Midnight...

In its fifth year on the Cincinnati waterfront, the Bunbury Music Festival finally feels right at home. Its first three years were plagued by a sprawling layout and an overabundance of acts and stages, leading to major sound bleed issues and sparse crowds during many sets. Last year, the first...

M83 is proof positive that sometimes hard work pays off. The barely-classifiable French electronic ensemble, fronted by Anthony Gonzalez, was five LP’s deep, a whole career for some bands, before Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming landed like a bomb in the summer of 2011. Buoyed by the...

On paper, it just shouldn’t work. “Dawg Yawp plays garage-y folk rock augmented by sitar and electronics.” Huh? Locals know what’s up, though. Barely a year after playing their first show, Dawg Yawp have become one of the best-loved and brightest stars in the Cincinnati...

With HAIM, there’s a distinct chance that we’re witnessing the early years of one of America’s alltime great rock bands. With a debut record that played like a greatest hits album and fans ranging from Taylor Swift to Jay-Z to Pitchfork, the sky seems to be the limit. The three...

There’s nothing too out of the ordinary about seeing Heartless Bastards or Old 97’s. Neither band is a stranger to Cincinnati, what with Heartless Bastards forming here 13 years ago and the 97’s making perennial stops at Southgate House and now its Revival. But they’re also...

Once in a while, an artist comes along whose very unwillingness to bend to industry rules or creative expectation leads to their success. Prince and David Bowie both come to mind. It’s far too early to tell if Grimes’s career will have such an impact, but like St. Vincent and Janelle...

It’s pretty tough to put together a good coheadlining tour. The two acts have to be of similar stature in the music world, a difficult balance to strike, and complement each other well enough share a stage (and have their fanbases coexist). But when a promoter nails it, it’s a rare...

You think of Tom Petty and only one band comes to mind: The Heartbreakers. Over the last four decades, he’s filled stadiums and knocked out hit after hit with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. But before the world fell in love with “American Girl,” Petty played bass for a group...

Savannah, GA metal quartet Baroness occupies a unique place in the music cosmos. They are metal scene demigods and critical darlings, with four stone-cold classics under their belts, but they also have significant crossover appeal, which has led to packed festival stages and increasingly larger...

Baroness are less than a decade into their remarkable career, but they command an almost peerless reverence in broader music circles. They arose from the same Georgia metal scene that birthed Mastodon and Harvey Milk, and released their first full-length, Red Album, in 2007. The original...

Some bands don’t need to reinvent the wheel. When The Darkness landed on the airwaves back in 2003, they were a big, colorful throwback to the heyday of 1970’s glam-rock. Original? Hardly, but it was pastiche done better than anyone else--often besting the very bands they were...