The MidPoint Music Festival returns to Over-the-Rhine (including inside the newly unveiled Washington Park, which hosts the main "Main Stage") Sept. 27-29. After weeks of speculation, we now we have the first lineup announcement for MPMF.12, which features, once again, top-line Indie artists — from new buzz groups and some current, critically-acclaimed favorites to a few true Alt music pioneers.

Longtime supporters Dewey's Pizza had the scoop on the announcement this morning. Visit them here on Facebook.

Below are the first 19 acts to be announced. About 150 to go! Stay tuned.

Grizzly Bear
The Dirty Projectors
Sleigh Bells
Dinosaur Jr.
Best Coast
Cloud Nothings
Imperial Teen
Willis Earl Beal
Frankie Rose
Tennis
Julia Holter
Laetitia Sadier
Craft Spells
Seapony
Lord Huron
The Black Belles
Zeus
The Growlers
J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Be sure to visit mpmf.com for all the latest updates and to score your tickets. VIP and “Early Bird” (read: discounted) all-access passes are available now through cincyticket.com here.

If you’d like some face time with the MPMF authorities, just head down to Fountain Square this Friday for the free MidPoint Indie Summer concert at 7 p.m. The event is a world tour of music, kicking off with local Ska/Reggae/Soul masters The Pinstripes, who join Malian artist Khaira Arby and Funk/Soul headliners The Dynamites.

[Further Thursday coverage: 172 photos here and multimedia show here.]

14. At the risk of getting too wordy, I’ve decided to do a list to keep myself under control. (Insert reader’s furious clapping here.) Why? Because people love lists. And I love lists. I’ve noticed that band members particularly love lists. Set lists, lists of things they need to take to the show, lists, lists, lists. So in the spirit of Rock & Roll and lists, here is my list. Wait, the list has already started. Stay with me.

Read More

One of the more popular features at this year's MidPoint Music Festival isn't a band or singer/songwriter — it's a truck. The "Rolling Record Store" used by (and stocked with releases from) Jack White's Third Man Records will be at MPMF Sept. 28 and 29, between visits to the Muddy Roots Festival and New York City's CMJ conference/fest.

An extension of White's tiny Third Man record store in Nashville (connected to his label's HQ), the record truck stocks all kinds of Third Man releases, including limited edition vinyl, as well as various Third Man merch. There is also reportedly a DJ station so visitors can spin tunes and a sound system was installed so that bands/musicians can plug in and play. White himself has performed a few times along the Rolling Store's travels (but it's not a guarantee).

The Third Man Records Rolling Record store — which debuted last year at South By Southwest in Austin, Tex. — will make a great addition to the growing MidPoint Midway, the outdoor area featuring vendors, a side-stage, poster exhibitions and other cool "pop up" projects. The bright-yellow truck even has local ties — it was built by Erlanger, Ky.'s C. Cook Enterprises, a car restoration and metal fabrication shop.

I visited White's Third Man headquarters in Nashville a few weeks ago and got to check out the cool merchandise on sale in that closet-sized shop. The Rolling Record Store was parked in the parking lot. I didn't get a tour, but even from the outside, it's a pretty striking vehicle (and I took a few photos, like the one above). Can't wait to see inside at the end of next month!

Here's White playing a "B show" (side gigs on his current solo tour) next to the truck during the recent Outside Lands Festival.

OK, so which Babylonian weather deity did we collectively blow like a $5 crack whore to assure us of an entire weekend without getting firehosed by the kind of precipitation generally associated with tropical monsoons? Because I want to get his number in our rolodex for next year. Another absolutely gorgeous night for another spectacular evening of musical diversion and awesomeness. That’s right, awesomeness.

Read More

Several of the national/international acts booked for the upcoming MidPoint Indie Summer concert series (where an average of three bands team play for free on Fountain Square every Friday throughout the summer) were announced a week ago at the MidPoint "Reveal Showcase" at the Contemporary Arts Center. Check out a review of the Reveal concert here at Each Note Secure and some thoughts on what was revealed here at Broken Mic. UPDATE: The full summer lineup is now posted here.

Read More

Some sad news on the MidPoint front. Chicago "Chamber Pop" band The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were involved in a serious highway accident on the way to their MPMF show last night at the Contemporary Arts Center. The Seedy Seeds, playing to a packed room in the slot right before SYGC's, said a few words about the accident during their set (and played a little longer, to the disappointment of no one) and the news has hit the media in the Bloodshot recording artist's hometown.

Read More

Some details about the 2010 MidPoint Music Festival were unveiled last night at the Contemporary Arts Center, where Indie bands Aloha and Pomegranates performed at the MPMF10 "Reveal Showcase." Several artists already booked for the big September fest were announced, as were some of the bigger acts lined up for the free summer-long MidPoint Indie Summer shows every Friday on Fountain Square.

Read More

It was an eerie evening leading into the MidPoint Music Festival 2010’s kick-off night Thursday. A gigantic, gorgeous sunset was soon followed by a huge, neon-lit moonrise, which guided my path down the highway to the festival. Once downtown, the streets resembled their usual non-weekend selves — nearly empty, save a couple of neighborhood locals scrambling about. And, while the threat of rain is usually the weather event MidPointers fear most, tonight’s air was dry, humid and record-breaking hot. Who would have thought a music festival on the first weekend of the fall would be met with 95-degree temps (in the daytime, at least)?

Read More

If you attend tonight’s free MidPoint Indie Summer show on Fountain Square, you’ll not only have a chance to check out some excellent local bands (Buffalo Killers, The Guitars, Soapland and The Lions Rampant), but you’ll also be among the first to see the brand new Lions Rampant music video for the song “Crazy or a Liar?,” to be screened on the Square’s giant video board.

Read More

An avalanche of information about this year’s MidPoint Music Festival reveals the event’s growth and focus entering its 10th year. The full schedule of performances — from an eclectic assemblage of artists that includes Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones, rising Australian Indie Dance champs Cut Copy and clever Pop duo Mates of State — is available now at mpmf.com. Many of the popular features from recent MPMFs are returning Sept. 22-24, but there are plenty of brand new ones being introduced, all designed to make the MidPoint experience even better.

Read More