• This Friday-Sunday at Hannon’s Camp America facilities near Oxford, Ohio, the Ohmstead Music Festival returns for its 10th anniversary event. The festival was created by local Reggae/Rock band The Ohms back when the group was called Four Ohms. The fest has grown in stature, attendance and sheer size over the past decade. Camping, food and other vendors will join the eclectic lineup of performers for the three-day concert, which includes regional acts as well as a hefty dose of local talent both established and new (the fest features a “Discovery” stage exclusively for brand new acts). Local artists joining The Ohms at Ohmstead this year include The Cliftones, Skeetones, Pharaoh Loosey, Revenge Pinata, Baoku & the Image AfroBeat Band, Up Dog, The Banks and Elementree. Regional bookings include the Andy Shaw Band (Columbus), Tropidelic (Cleveland) and Akron Jam band Aliver Hall, featuring former Four Ohms guitarist Alex Hall. Some pre-sale tickets may be left for $25 online; at the gate, they’re still only $30. For full details, visit ohmstead.wordpress.com
• Those who are heading to the other big area music festival this weekend — the Whispering Beard Music Festival in Friendship, Ind. — will be able to catch plenty of Greater Cincinnati’s finest Americana, Roots, Folk and Bluegrass acts. Along with headliners like Hayes Carll and Todd Snider, beardos (as attendees are affectionately called) can witness local talent like The Tillers, Michael McIntire and the Marmalade Brigade, Jake Speed and the Freddies, Frontier Folk Nebraska, Comet Bluegrass Allstars, Wonky Tonk, Magnolia Mountain, Hickory Robot and many others. Tickets for the fest (running Friday-Sunday) and full details can be found at
www.whisperingbeard.com
.More Local Notes
• Friday’s free MidPoint Indie Summer Series show (the second-to-last one of the summer) features popular Midwestern Indie ensemble Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, “Folktronica” project Canon Blue and dynamic local soundscapists The Sleeping Sea. But another local musician will also have a presence, not on stage but behind it, up on the large video screen overlooking Fountain Square. Joe Hedges, singer with July for Kings, will have the latest music video from his solo album, Alchemy, world premiered on the screen Friday at around 9 p.m. The clip — for the song “Ladders” — was directed by Keith Rutowski. For those who miss it (or just want to watch it over and over again), the video will be posted on
HYPERLINK "http://www.joehedges.com/"
www.joehedges.com
later Friday.• On Aug. 16, successful Cincinnati Indie Pop quartet Pomegranates gave fans an unexpected treat — a new full-length album. The Poms’ In Your Face Thieves/Chestnut Attic was issued on iTunes and other e-retailers and on 12-inch vinyl from the band’s original label, Lujo Records, without warning. The project began as a planned 7-inch single but snowballed into a 10-song LP. The unusual title comes from the individual names of the two “fully realized EPs” that make up the release. Credited to the band and Caleb Groh (a Boston singer/songwriter and friend), the album is a somewhat sparse, lo-fi affair, recorded by the band members in a home studio. The on-the-fly, stripped-back approach shows the power of the Poms’ songs doesn’t come from studio tricks or walls of guitar effects. Pomegranates’ first local show since the sudden release is Saturday at Covington’s Radiodown (next to The Mad Hatter). The all-ages, 9 p.m. show also features music from The Yugos, Crown and Starfox. (pomegranatesart.tumblr.com)
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