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The Spectacular Fantastic's 97Xposure nod. Mike Detmer is incredible. Between his lush songwriting and playing all of the instruments on his debut album, I'd say he's one of the most talented guys in the city.
Mallory's (pictured) Cincinnati Entertainment Award. A victory for all of the experimental and progressive Rock bands in the city. This Album of the Year award reinforces that you don't have to follow a formula just follow your heart.
Death in Graceland's performance at the
 Mallory
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The Spectacular Fantastic's 97Xposure nod. Mike Detmer is incredible. Between his lush songwriting and playing all of the instruments on his debut album, I'd say he's one of the most talented guys in the city.
Mallory's (pictured) Cincinnati Entertainment Award. A victory for all of the experimental and progressive Rock bands in the city. This Album of the Year award reinforces that you don't have to follow a formula just follow your heart.
Death in Graceland's performance at the cincymusic.com fifth Anniversary party. We had foolishly bet against them being able to pull off the power and intricacy that exist on their studio album in a live context, and boy were we wrong. They killed.
The MidPoint Music Festival's continuous improvement. True to Deming's 14 points, the Midpoint organizers learned from last year's problems and made a bigger and better festival. This crew is really in tune with everyone's feedback, which is the key to sustained growth.
A.M. Holiday at Southgate House. Great bands, great venue and superb organization. It's the perfect mix of established acts and talented newcomers.
Cincinnati Rock Machine keeps rolling. Providing a solid lineup of Hard Rock acts month after month, CRM has established itself as a institution. The January installment with The Fags was legendary.
Bagg goes out with a whimper. Makes the "best of" list because they all managed to get out alive. It's a miracle no one in this unstable group of savants drank themselves to death or worse. Only after the disc full of material they were working on surfaces will their true genius be revealed to the unbelievers.
Any time The Sundresses played the Southgate House Parlour. It's no wonder they recorded their CD up there: It's magical for them. Sweaty atmosphere combined with the filthy, off-kilter groove the band delivers is intoxicating.
Datawaslost and The Unlike Label compilations. These discs and their respective release parties were a great vehicle for the bands and labels. Showcasing great local and out-of-town Indie Rock, neither is far from my CD player for long.
Johnnytwentythree's live show. I'm a sucker for video backdrops, and J23 is the best I've ever experienced. Superimposing several reel-to-reel projectors plus their minimalist and destructive wall of sound equals sensory overload.
Ezra Waller is a reporter for CityBeat.
