Local artist Abiyah
— a poet, Hip Hop MC and Reggae DJ with
Queen City Imperial SoundSystem — is stepping up her “promoter” persona with a new monthly Hip Hop night at
Northside’s The Comet . After presenting shows in other local venues by various touring Indie Hip Hop artists, this Wednesday sees the launch of “
Abiyah Presents Hip Hop @ The Comet .” The series will run every third Wednesday of the month at 10 p.m. and admission is free.
According to the press release, “Each month’s curated event will feature a different theme, and performances by three to four acts/solo artists, in order to showcase the diverse range of talent and styles in the Cincinnati Hip Hop community, as well as to bridge race and gender gaps.”
The first “Abiyah Presents” night this Wednesday is being dubbed the “Classic Edition” and will feature several veteran artists who’ve help build the local Hip Hop scene. Joining Abiyah on the bill is KyleDavid
(of
Five Deez ),
CITOAK (
Watusi Tribe ) and
King Solomonic (
WannaBattle Elite ), with
DJ Bizzy Bizz spinning between sets.
To check out who’s performing in future months, visit facebook.com/abiyahmusic.
New Releases Celebrated
• Like Def Leppard and Hootie, veteran Cincinnati singer/songwriter Maurice Mattei
and his Rock band
The Tempers have gone Country. (Mercifully, the results are much better.) The Tempers’ C&W album,
Darker Angels (subtitled, “The Country and Western Music of Maurice Mattei and The Tempers” and tagged “The Sam Quentin Series Vol. 1”), amps up the twang and is painted with dripping pedal steel guitar, but is otherwise fairly in line with Mattei’s poetic songwriting of the past.
Check out a video for The Tempers’ new song, “Southern Lean”:
The band is presenting an afternoon “CD release show” Saturday at Everybody’s Records in Pleasant Ridge. The band will perform from 1-3 p.m. The Tempers — who will release two more themed albums later this year — finally have an official website, with previous releases, show info, videos and more: mmattei.com/TheTempers.
• Cincy Folk Pop faves Shiny and the Spoon
celebrate their new, limited-edition EP,
Someday , Saturday at Newport’s Southgate House Revival.
Brad Schnittger of The Sundresses and Columbus’ Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons open things up at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance (through
TicketFly.com ) or $10 at the door.
Here’s the EP track “Someday Love”:
The EP is a teaser for S&tS’s next full-length, Box of Bullets, the release date of which will be announced at Saturday’s show. The EP features a pair of songs from the new album, plus two songs exclusive to the EP. Hard copies of Someday will be available at Saturday’s show for a donation; download cards will be given away for free. (shinyandthespoon.com)
More Local Notes
• The sixth annual Northside Music Festival
returns to Northside Tavern this Saturday . Running from 7 p.m.-2 a.m., the fest again showcases local performers (and the occasional touring act) from varying genres on three stages (the back room, front room and an outdoor patio stage).
Performing at this year’s NMF on the patio stage are Little Lights
,
The Harlequins ,
DAAP Girls and
You, You’re Awesome . On the stage in the Tavern’s front room (with music starting at 8:30 p.m.), catch
Josh Eagle ,
The Great Depression , Louisville’s Joan Shelley and
Daniel Martin Moore . Music on the club’s larger back room stage begins at 9:30 p.m. with newcomers
New Tongues , followed by
Ohio Knife ,
The Guitars and Detroit rockers The Sights. The Northside Music Festival is a free event. Below are set times (subject to changes) for Saturday’s NMF:
• The latest installment of local singer/songwriter Kelly Thomas
’
Sacred Harp Sessions — an audio/video project featuring Thomas talking about some of her influences and performing/recording songs with some of her favorite area musicians — is a collaboration with Cincy rockers
Switchblade Syndicate on a pumped-up, soul-dripping version of the Everly Brothers classic, “All I Have to Do is Dream.” The accompanying video for this month’s song (the fifth in the ongoing project) was filmed at the American Sign Museum (
signmuseum.org ) in Camp Washington.
This Sunday at 5:30 p.m., Thomas’ Tammy WhyNots
and Switchblade Syndicate perform at a download release party at the museum. Admission is $5 (kids get in free) and the first 100 people in get a free download of “Dream.”
Take a peek at all five Sacred Harp Sessions (featuring collaborations with Arlo McKinley, Ricky Nye, The Mudpies and Jeremy Pinnell and the 55s) right here on kellythomasonline.com.
CONTACT MIKE BREEN :
mbreen@citybeat.com ,
@CityBeatMusic or
on Facebook here .
This article appears in May 15-21, 2013.