The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is TOMORROW! All this week, CityBeat's music blog has featured samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer or Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Our next "sleeper" is Now, Now, performing Sunday at 3 p.m. on the Bud Light Stage.

Cacie Dalager and Bradley Hale, paired up as songwriters since 2003 when both were in high school marching band, officially started as a duo with the unwieldy handle Now, Now Every Children; their 2008 debut full length Cars was an indie sensation.

That success ultimately resulted in a moniker makeover to the sensibly edited Now, Now and the addition of second guitarist Jess Abbott, which broadened the band’s sound on its 2010 EP, Neighbors. Sporting an energetic Indie Pop vibe that could pass for Kathleen Edwards channeling Motion City Soundtrack, Now, Now teamed with veteran producer Howard Redekopp for its just-released sophomore full length Threads, an expansive album that throbs with an aggressive Ambience.

Here's "Thread" from Threads.

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury Music Festival can be found here.

Though there is a lot of it, this weekend's three-day Bunbury Music Festival isn't just dudes with guitars playing Alternative Rock music. You'll also find Folk, AltCountry, Post Punk, Blues, Pop and, if you're a fan of DJs and Electronic music, besides acts like RJD2 and Lights, there's a whole stage set up for you.

Self Diploma, the crowd-brining-and-moving local promoters behind the successful Beats Summer Music Series (which has packed Fountain Square every Saturday this summer with a mix of DJs, Electronic and Hip Hop artists), has booked Bunbury's DJ stage and assembled a great mix of local artists with a few marquee headliners.

The DJ/Electronica bookings will perform on the Red Bull Stage, which is the westernmost stage at Sawyer Point, right before the bridge underpass that separates the park from Yeatman's Cove (and next to the "Craft Beer Village"). Here is the full lineup and a little sampling from each day's headliner.

Friday
Ice Cold Tony (Noon); CJ the DJ (1:30 p.m.); Alex Peace (3 p.m.); DJ AMF (4:30 p.m.); Mixin Marc (6 p.m.); The Alchemist (7:45 p.m.)

The Alchemist has been an important player on the Hip Hop scene for the past two decades, from his early years learning under mentor DJ Muggs and producing Dilated Peoples and Mobb Deep, through his run in the ’00s producing some of the biggest names in Hip Hop (Ghostface, Snoop Dogg, Nas) through his acclaimed solo albums and DJing gig with Eminem. Al's latest project is the long-awaited Russian Roulette album, which features guest MCs like Evidence, Action Bronson, Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown and has drawn positive reviews for its progressiveness (and trippiness).

The album is due July 17. Here's a track with Big Twinz from the album.



Saturday
Davey C (Noon); DJ Etrayn (1:30 p.m.); Big Once (3 p.m.); DJ Ivy (4:30 p.m.); DJ Spider (6 p.m.); DJ Irie (8 p.m.)

When you’re dubbed the top DJ in the club-rich scene of Miami, it’s safe to say you’re also one of the best in the country. Miami Herald gave DJ Irie that distinction for his work not only as host of the No. 1 mix-show on Miami’s 99 JAMZ, but also for his crowd-pleasing, fully-energized club sets across the globe. Irie is often lauded for his ability to read a crowd and incorporate a variety of styles for any occasion. Irie could be the dictionary definition of a superstar DJ, having performed everywhere from Robert Downey Jr.’s crib to Miami Heat home games, where he’s the team’s house DJ.

Here's Irie doing a halftime showcase at a Heat game.



Sunday
DJ Prism (12:45 p.m.); DJ K-Dogg (2:15 p.m.); DJ D-LO (3:45 p.m.); Mr. Best (5:15 p.m.); Mick Boogie (6:45 p.m.)

Mick Boogie is one of the more popular on-call party/club DJs in the U.S., scoring gigs literally all over the planet at some of the top clubs in the world. He's done a lot of popular remixes and commercial work for campaigns by Adidas and Bing, so chances are you've heard him even if you don't recognize his name instantly.

In honor of Adam Yauch's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and subsequent passing earlier this year, Boogie put together a great Beastie Boys mixtape titled Grand Royal (after the group's boutique not-just-music label). Below is a sample (or you can download the whole thing here).



Tickets and full info on the Bunbury Music Festival can be found here. 

UPDATE: It appears there has been some shifting around on the Red Bull Stage. DJ Irie is now spinning Sunday at 5:15 p.m.; DJ Spider has his slot Saturday at Bunbury and the afterparty. Be sure to click here for the latest scheduling updates. And click here for afterparty details featuring several of the DJs from the fest.

If you're feeling a little adventurous this weekend, there are a pair of great music festivals in the region this that are less than a three hour-drive from Cincinnati. (Stay tuned for continuing previews of the Rock on the Range Hard Rock/Metal fest in Columbus this weekend, for those who like things a little heavier.)

• The Nelsonville Music Festival isn't named because it's some sort of tribute to Willie Nelson. Nelsonville is actually a small town nestled in the Wayne National Forest near Athens, Ohio, and within spitting distance of Hocking College. The eighth annual fest takes place this Friday-Sunday, with a warm-up concert set for tonight. The festival features several stages, an area for art vendors and a kids' section, and you are welcome to camp (though there are several hotels nearby as well).

The lineup for this year's Nelsonville fest is pretty eclectic, with current Indie faves Iron and Wine, Andrew Bird and M. Ward joining legends like Lee "Scratch" Perry, Guided By Voices, Roky Erickson and Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo. Cincy/Dayton duo R. Ring is also on the bill, along with acts like Mucca Pazza, Horse Feathers, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Kurt Vile, Charles Bradley, Dawes and many, many others.

Click here for the full lineup, tickets and further details.

• About an hour and a half southwest of Cincinnati, in Madison, Ind., the RiverRoots Music & Folk Arts Festival (formerly Ohio River Valley Folk Festival) goes down Friday-Sunday, with a lineup showcasing the many flavors of Americana/Roots music. Now in its seventh year, the festival features family activities, lots of folk artists (the "arts and crafts" kind) exhibiting and selling their work, storytellers and top-shelf music from Hayes Carll, The Black Lillies, The Band of Heathens and Cincinnati greats Over the Rhine.

Here's the full lineup:

Friday, May 18
5 pm Gates & Folk Art Village open
6 pm Carolyn Martin (Texas Swing)
8 pm The Band of Heathens
10 pm Searson

Saturday, May 19
11 am Gates & Folk Art Village open
Noon Music Workshop & Jam Session (in the Storyteller tent)
1 pm Joe Crookston w/Peter Glanville
2 - 6 pm Rivers Institute at Hanover College Traveling Exhibit open
3 pm Roosevelt Dime
5 pm Charlie Parr
7 pm Over the Rhine
9 pm Hayes Carll

Sunday, May 20
12:30 pm Appalatin
1:45 pm Michael Kelsey
3 pm Whiskey Bent Valley Boys
4:30 pm The Black Lillies

Click here for ticketing info and here for further details.

The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is just four days away. All this week, CityBeat's music blog will be featuring samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Our first "sleeper" is 1,2,3, performing Saturday at 2:15 p.m. on the Bud Light Stage.

Pittsburgh duo 1,2,3 (they go “full band” for live shows) took off fairly quickly, earning accolades in the U.K. that led to live shows abroad, all within a year of forming. One listen to the band’s debut LP for Frenchkiss Records, last year’s New Heaven, should make it clear why — 1,2,3’s songs hook listeners instantly with an uncanny sense of melody that suggests a lifetime of absorbing the magical Pop of the masters, from Bacharach and Nilsson to The Kinks and of Montreal. Add in Nic Snyder’s soulful and elastic voice and a dynamic backdrop of odd atmospherics, off-kilter beats and unexpected sounds and you have one of the more perfectly original Pop bands in America today.

Here's the band's music video for the track "Work":

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury music festival can be found here.

The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is just three days away. All this week, CityBeat's music blog will be featuring samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer or Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Our next "sleeper" is Alberta Cross, performing Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on the Globili Stage.

Alberta Cross is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist/vocalist Terry Wolfers, British expatriates now based in Brooklyn. The duo, fleshed out by a variety of rotating personnel, started the band six years ago and quickly secured some impressive gigs; in 2008, the band opened for Oasis on its massive UK tour and, in 2009, the year of their full-length debut Broken Side of Time, Alberta Cross played the festival trifecta: Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.

Stakee’s tremulous voice has been favorably compared to Jim James and Neil Young, a perfect complement to the band’s expansive Pop/Rock vibe that suggests a confluence of The Verve, Smashing Pumpkins and Brian Wilson. Songs of Patience, the anticipated sophomore album from Alberta Cross (the band’s name is an as-yet unrevealed anagram), will be released next week; advance notice hints that it could be among the year’s best.

Click here for the full stream of Songs of Patience (via Rolling Stone) or check out the album's first track, "Magnolia," below.

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury music festival can be found here.

The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is just two days away. All this week, CityBeat's music blog will be featuring samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer or Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Our next "sleeper" is The Silent Comedy, performing Saturday at 8:45 p.m. on the AliveOne Stage.

Imagine you’re in an old bar filled with the clinking and clunking sounds of ragtime piano music. Next, add in the sound of an electric guitar and rugged vocals. Now imagine that sound coming from four mustachioed bartenders and replace the tables with people packed to the rafters. If that doesn’t work, think "Baritone Ben Folds." The music and people you’re imagining are guaranteed to look and sound a lot like The Silent Comedy. The band consists of four dudes from California who dress like they belong in an old western movie, write modern lyrics and have an authentic, dusty Roots/Folk sound. Whether they’re singing about hookers, bad choices or hypocrisy in the church, The Silent Comedy’s music is always relatable and always good.

Here's a cool clip of the band performing for "The Living Room Sessions."

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury music festival can be found here.

Cincinnati has a wealth of music festivals, from MidPoint Music Festival, Cincy Blues Fest, Macy's Music Festival, Bunbury to new additions like the expanded One More Girl on a Stage event this fall, the recently announced MOXY Music Fest, scheduled for June, and numerous others. But for those who like to get a fresh sampling of some of the newest artists from Greater Cincinnati representing a wide range of genres, The Heights Music Festival has been your best option.

This weekend, The Heights Music Festival returns to venues in the Clifton Heights neighborhood for its eighth edition. Usually, The Heights fest is biannual, with an event in both the fall and the spring. But this weekend's HMF will be the only one in 2013. Organizer Rome Ntukogu of Far-I-Rome Productions says The Heights will definitely be back in 2014, bigger and better. He's simply taking a break to work on some new ideas for the event; understandable, considering large chunks of the Clifton Heights neighborhood (near the University of Cincinnati) are under heavy reconstruction now, part of a revitalization effort that should put HMF in a good position when it returns. The area will be almost like a new (and nicer) neighborhood by then.

The first Heights Music Fest (originally called the Clifton Heights Music Festival) was held in 2009 and was considerably smaller, with four venues and about 20 performers. Last year, The Heights featured over 75 bands in five venues and included a "Day Fest" on Saturday.

So Friday and Saturday's pre-hiatus is something of a return to the HMF roots, with four venues and around 30 acts. But it's the same eclectic mix of newcomers and up-and-comers from the local scene. And $5 gets you admission to all four venues — Rohs Street Café (the only all-ages venue), Baba Budan’s, Mac’s Pizza Pub and Christy’s Biergarten, a historic building that has been at the center of a battle over whether it should be demolished or sold off in the name of progress or preserved in the name of history (as many residents would like). You can purchase an all-venue pass at any of the four venues.

This year's Heights lineup once again runs a vast gamut of styles, from Reggae, World music, Roots/Americana and Hip Hop to Punk, Jazz, Synth Pop, Funk and various spins on Rock (from Indie to Hard).

Below is the rundown of performers. (Note: There have been some shifts in the lineup since CityBeat's Spill It column about the fest ran on Wednesday; check it out here for a playlist featuring several of the participating artists.)

FRIDAY:
• Rohs Street Café: The Freebies (8 p.m.); MC Forty (9 p.m.); Young Colt (10 p.m.); The Yugos (11 p.m.).
• Baba Budan’s: One Day Steady (9 p.m.); Wonky Tonk (10 p.m.); Brazilian Jazz (11 p.m.).
• Mac’s Pizza: Rachel Mousie (9 p.m.); Common Center (10 p.m.); Big Rock Club (11 p.m.); Olu, Crack Sauce (midnight).
• Christy’s: Zach Starkie & Guest (9 p.m.); The Newt (9:45 p.m.); AC The Entity, Citoak (10:30 p.m.); Filthy Beast (11:30 p.m.); Gold Shoes (12:15 a.m.).

SATURDAY:
• Rohs Street Café: Brent Stroud (9 p.m.); Moonbeau (10 p.m.); Little Lights (11 p.m.).
• Baba Budan’s: VanillaSake (9 p.m.); Sulla (10 p.m.); LZRPNY (11 p.m.); Horsecop (midnight).
• Mac’s: Koala Fires (9 p.m.); Emily and The Complexes (10 p.m.); Tana Matz (11 p.m.) and MJs Blues (midnight).
• Saturday at Christy’s: Jordon Schneider & Guests (9 p.m.); Baoku & The Image Afrobeat Band (10 p.m.); The Almighty Getdown (11 p.m.); The Killtones (midnight).

The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is just two days away. All this week, CityBeat's music blog will be featuring samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer or Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Today's "sleeper" is The Henry Clay People, performing Friday at 3:45 p.m. on the Bud Light Stage.

Glendale, Calif.’s Henry Clay People has been around in one form or another for over a decade, first as Vallejo By Knife in 2003 and then HCP in 2005. With an energetic sound that approximates an Indie/Classic Rock gene splice of Camper Van Beethoven, Pavement, Tom Petty and Crazy Horse, The Henry Clay People has released four full-lengths, a pair of EPs and a live album in the last seven years, including their last record, the freewheeling and well-received Somewhere on the Golden Coast in 2010, which was accompanied by their triumphant tours with Silversun Pickups and Against Me! in the summer and Drive-By Truckers in the fall.

The Henry Clay People’s hotly anticipated new release, Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our Lives, hit the streets late last month and it has all the earmarks of an HCP classic — brashly exultant, breathlessly eclectic and wildly original.

Here's a video for The Henry Clay People's great new-album cut, "Friends Are Forgiving."

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury music festival can be found here.

The inaugural Bunbury Music Festival — three days of top-shelf Alternative music at Cincinnati's riverfront Sawyer Point Park — is just three days away. All this week, CityBeat's music blog will be featuring samples from some of our "sleeper picks" for the fest, artists who some may not be as familiar with as they are Weezer or Death Cab for Cutie or Jane's Addiction.

Our next "sleeper" is Ume, performing Sunday at 4:30 p.m. on the AliveOne Stage

The appearance of Austin AltRock trio Ume (pronounced “oo-may”) at Bunbury makes for a mini-label showcase for the Modern Outsider label. The band’s set is sandwiched between labelmates (and two of Cincinnati’s finest) Pomegranates and Bad Veins, both also on the Texas label.

Anchored by a relentless, muscular rhythm section, Lauren Larson guides Ume’s charismatic sound with her uniquely compelling guitar work, knack for good but not pandering hooks and animated, sensual vocals. Ume’s most recent release, last year’s Phantoms, sounds like a 21st century update of ’90s Brit band Lush.

Here's a clip for Ume's song "Captive."

Tickets and full info on the Bunbury Music Festival can be found here.

The Big Pig Music & Arts Festival kicks off today in Ripley, Ohio (about an hour southeast of Cincinnati) at the Pisgah Hill Farm. The event runs from this afternoon until about sunrise Sunday morning (great local Electronica group Skeetones play a fest-closing set from 2-4 a.m. Saturday night/Sunday morn). Billed as "3 days and 2 nights of music, camping, fire pits and barbecue spits," Big Pig features a mix of national, regional and top-notch local acts, as well as a late-night DJ tent, food from Habanero, Buzz Thru Coffee and other area establishments and "fire performances" by the folks from Nocturnal Arts. Pre-sale ticketing is over; admission is $40 at the gate. The fest website emphasizes that there is a $10 fee per car for camping (car pool if you can) and there is no on-site ATM machines, so be sure to bring cash. Click below for the full lineup and videos from several of the acts. And click here for complete details.

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