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Friday 7.28 Southgate House Ballroom
9 p.m.: johnnytwentythree “Some guitars, some drums, some violins, some visions, some rock, some flames.” That’s the brief description of j23 on their Web site, and it’s a fittingly blurry one. The local four-piece (five if you count their “films” guy, which they do) create extra-sensory experiences with their live shows, mixing moody, atmospheric and, yes, cinematic dreamscapes with artsy, homemade projections. In other words, the perfect Lite Brite band. (johnnytwentythree.com)
10:30 p.m.: Man Man
A Philadelphia-based traveling/recording carnival with an ever-growing cult following, Man Man is like the musical Chicago if Captain Beefheart had written it. Like some 1920s Eastern European cabaret where the absinthe consumption has gotten way out of hand, the five-piece twists a garage-sale array of traditional instruments (xylophone, clarinet, piano, trumpet) and the occasional electronic/synth quirk (just to make it more confusing) through the filter of a bizarre and moderately creepy songwriting approach. The mayhem continues on Six Demon Bag, released this year on Ace Fu. (wearemanman.com)
12 m. : Danielson
Musician/artist Daniel Smith has officially been making music since 1995, when he created “Danielson” as his art-school thesis. Since then, he’s used a variety of monikers, family members and friends to make recordings of frenetic, artsy Indie Pop, amassing a cult following and becoming the subject of a full-length feature film (Danielson: A Family Movie, released this year) in the process. Christian themes are deeply instilled in Smith’s jubilant songs, but his music proved too eccentric for the Christian Rock crowd.
Danielson’s new album, Ships (and the connected overflow 7-inch series), is the sound of the church choir gone avant garde, as Smith teams with new collaborators and old pals like Sufjan Stevens, Why? and Deerhoof. (danielson.info)
Southgate House Parlour
10 p.m.: Jonny Lives!
While the downstairs Lite Brite festivities tend toward the oddball side of Indie Pop, Friday, Jonny Lives! — from NYC’s Lower East Side — provides a more direct blast to kick off the Parlour fun. Making rockin’ sing-along Pop that’s brash, vibrant and chic (with enough dirt under their painted fingernails to keep it “real”), the quartet straddles the melody-encrusted line between Garage Rock and Power Pop. The energetic band has captured Britain’s heart via touring (including a stint with like-minded Kaiser Chiefs) and subsequent press raves. America is next: The band’s debut, Get Steady, hits stores stateside on Aug. 22. (jonnylives.com)
11:30 p.m.: Beauty Pill
When he’s not running his recording studio in Washington, D.C., Chad Clark finds time to reignite the artful Indie Pop splendor of Beauty Pill. Formed in the late ’90s after Clark’s band Smart Went Crazy went under, Beauty Pill’s output has been sporadic and they’ve gone through innumerable lineup changes. But when they’re back (as they are now), they’re not to be missed. Clark and his cohorts paint colorful, dream-like backdrops that incorporate Wurlitzer, trumpet, strings, noise and other elements, with Clark’s trickling guitar playing being the only constant besides his low-key vocals, which are always matched with a sensually-voiced female counterpart. Beauty Pill’s last album, The Unsustainable Lifestyle (on archetypal Indie imprint Dischord), came out in 2004, and a new one is currently in the works. (myspace.com/beautypill)
Saturday 7.29 Southgate House Ballroom
9 p.m.: Rodeo Queen
Ali Edwards has been the owner of one of the best, most original vocal presences (floating somewhere in the ether between Chan Marshall and Sinead O’Connor) in the Cincinnati music scene since the ’90s, when she fronted the Rock band Snaggletooth. In the new millennium, she’s carried on with the acclaimed, transcendent Indie band Ruby Vileos. Rodeo Queen is Edwards’ solo pseudonym, and fans of Ruby’s ethereal, twilight style won’t be disappointed. (myspace.com/midmaywest)
10:30 p.m.: Ampline
If you’re seeking Greater Cincinnati’s answer to Scottish instrumental juggernaut Mogwai, look no further than this dynamic, engulfing trio. Ampline has shifted lineups over the years before landing in its current arrangement, with founding member Kevin Schmidt on bass and Mike Montgomery and Rick McCarty (also of local bands Thistle and The Light Wires) on guitar and drums, respectively. Ampline’s broad, intense compositions are so adventurous, impulsive and shape-shifting, you don’t have time to realize there’s no vocals (though some singing has been added as another texture more recently). The group’s full-length follow-up to 2002’s The Choir is done; Rosary is coming soon from Shake It Records. (ampline.net)
12 m.: Mission of Burma
As one of Post Punk’s founding fathers, Mission of Burma probably could have done the old “go on the road, play the old songs, cash the big paycheck” thing when they reunited. Hey, it worked for The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. But the Boston-spawned band did something no one expected — they came back and made two albums as strong as their original, groundbreaking material (2004’s ONoffON and this year’s even better The Obliterati). A documentary about the band, Not a Photograph, screens Saturday at 7 p.m. before the music kicks off. See page 26 for an interview with MoB’s Roger Miller. (missionofburma.com)
Southgate House Parlour
9:30 p.m.: 24 Hour Flu
Another local act tailor-made for a Lite Brite appearance, this mysterious four-piece — featuring members of Northern Kentucky’s Hilltop Distillery — regularly mixes visuals into its live presentation. Sonically, they create progressive, ambient Post Rock that comes off like Free Jazz as played by Brian Eno. Look for Flu’s new CD in September. (24hourflu.us)
11 p.m.: Dead Machines
Ypsilanti, Mich.’s Dead Machines emit sparks of audacious Noise chaos in their battering live show, using an array of manipulated-beyond-recognition electronics (and whatever else is within arm’s reach). The Machines are the hubby/wifey team of John and Tovah Olson, who avant savants will better know as members of Wolf Eyes and Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, respectively. The duo has an album on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label, as well as more recent releases through the Troubleman Unlimited and Blossoming Noise imprints. (inzane.podomatic.com)
Sunday 7.30 Southgate House Ballroom
8 p.m.: Oh No! Oh My!
Sunday appears to be Lite Brite’s sunshine-y, twee Pop day, and Oh No! Oh My! is the perfect kick-off. The group began as a trio in Austin, Tex., not exactly setting the world on fire, before heading to Nashville for a spell, as two members went to school. Music bloggers began raving about the band’s inescapable melodies, word spread and things just steamrolled — fans downloaded their tunes feverishly and snatched up copies of their self-releases, the band picked up national distribution, added some members for road-work and landed tour dates with The Flaming Lips and a slot at Lollapalooza. Exhibit No. 1,327 in the case for how the big music label system will soon be obsolete. Oh my … oh yeah! (ohnoohmy.com)
9:30 p.m.: Georgie James
Formed just last year in Washington, D.C., John Davis (fresh off a long stint as drummer for Dischord dance-rockers Q And Not U) teamed with singer/songwriter Laura Burhenn to form Georgie James (chosen for its androgynous nature). Despite disparate backgrounds, the twosome create a harmonious noise that draws on the best Pop from the ’50s through the ’70s. Georgie James’ jaunty, harmony-laden debut CD, the seven-song Demos at Dance Place, features highlights like the AM Gold ballad “Aftermath,” the shimmying “Places” and the hand-clap/maracas-driven “Need Your Needs.” See page 48 for an interview with drummer and Cincinnati native Cale Parks. (georgiejames.com)
11 p.m.: Camera Obscura
Listening to Camera Obscura’s new album, Let’s Get Out of This Country, conjures images of those old ’60s Technicolor TV shows, when Connie Francis would come on, sing into one of those long silver microphones and bat her eyes into the camera as strings swelled around her. This Scotland-based band gets cross-referenced with Belle and Sebastian in most of their press clippings, but their vintage Pop is more “period piece” than their countrymates. It’s no less absorbing and addicting, though. The sextet has been around since 1996 and, before his death, they were championed by legendary Brit DJ John Peel. Their U.S. debut, Under Achievers Please Try Harder, came out on Merge Records in 2004 and made them instant Indie Pop heroes. (camera-obscura.net)
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2006.