SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 // MPMF.17 Fifth Street/Skyline Stage 9:15 p.m. Walk the Moon (Cincinnati) AltPop Rock
In 2010, Cincinnati’s Walk the Moon played a high-energy club show at the MidPoint Music Festival for a small but enthusiastic crowd of no more than 50 people. This year, Walk the Moon triumphantly returns to its hometown festival as headliners and superstars, rocketed into the mainstream music world with its single “Shut Up and Dance” off of its 2014 RCA Records release, Talking is Hard. With its engulfing live show and mix of earworm melodies, passionate vocals, echoing, U2-like guitars and danceinducing rhythms, the Cincinnati foursome isn’t likely to fall into “one-hit wonder” obscurity, something its consistently highon-the-poster festival bookings and loyal hardcore fan base seem to confirm. The band is revving up for the release of its third major-label album — due in November and advanced by the single “One Foot” — meaning hometown fans should get a little dose of Walk the Moon’s future during its MPMF performance.
8 p.m. Dan Deacon (Baltimore, Md.) Electronic/Indie Rock
There was a time when Dan Deacon lived hand-to-mouth, sleeping in his van
YDIIYD: Music that is orchestral and classical and synthy and blippy and all the other dwarves at Snow White’s rave. (Brian Baker) 7 p.m. Harbour (Cincinnati) AltRock/Pop
YDIIYD: Bad Suns, Colony House, Bleachers, Young the Giant. (MB) 6 p.m. Automagik (Cincinnati) AltRock
YDIIYD: Owl City produced by Jimmy Eats World. (BB) Greater Cincinnati altrockers Automagik came together in 2010 with a sharp, dynamic sound drenched in a gush of kinetic energy, catchy hooks, insistent grooves and an overall sense of fun and offbeat humor that combine for one of the more crowd-engaging live shows in the region. After a couple of self-issued releases, Automagik teamed with well-distributed indie label Old Flame Records for 2015’s Dark Daze EP, which spawned write-ups from national outlets like Consequence of Sound and Interview Magazine. Regular touring and appearances at festivals like Bunbury and South by Southwest have also helped Automagik spread its joyous Pop Rock playfulness to a broadening audience. Last summer the band released The Road, a four-song EP issued as a limited-edition cassette. YDIIYD: Cage the Elephant, Foxy Shazam, Weezer. (MB)
If you are looking for the next band out of Cincinnati with the potential to take on the Pop charts and follow in the footsteps of Walk the Moon, don’t sleep on Harbour, which was formed in 2014 by five friends in nearby Lebandon, Ohio. With its warm and infectious AltRock sound, the group has amassed a rabidly dedicated area following that has helped them sell out hometown shows. Harbour’s monster hooks and sonic charisma are primed for wider attention, something the members are trying to hasten with performances at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York and a touring radius that has extended to numerous college campuses around the country. This summer, Harbour hosted its own music festival to celebrate the release of its latest full-length, Heatwave.
Chimusoro has recorded and released his debut 4 Years EP, energized a couple of pretty big crowds at consecutive Bunbury Music Festivals, had a bit of a hit with 2015’s giddy “Lipstain” and earned a well-deserved nomination in the Alternative/Indie category at the last Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremonies. DiS has released a series of singles since the EP came out, including the new “Fool Me Once” — hopefully there’s a full album’s worth of Daniel in Stereo on its way in the near future. The world needs a full measure of his brand of happy in the worst way right now.
5 p.m. Daniel in Stereo (Cincinnati) Indie Rock
Mary Tyler Moore wasn’t alone in her ability to turn the world on with her smile. Daniel Chimusoro, better known to various and sundry as Daniel in Stereo, has a megawatt grin that could very easily power a small Midwestern city during a power outage and an infectious musical presentation that matches it step for bounding step.
4 p.m. Sphynx (Austin, Texas) Dance/Pop/Electronic
If you are in the groove to move at MidPoint, let Sphynx be your full-service disco (lightup dance floor not included… probably). The MPMF veterans’ entertaining live show and deeply funky, playfully retro ElectroPop sound made them one of the more popular live entities in Austin, Texas — one of the biggest music towns in the world — before the musicians decided to take their glammed-up show on the road, sprinkling clubs and festivals across the country with Sphynx magic dust. To crank up the party vibes, the group is known to pull out an ironic crowd-pleasing cover song or two, but after spending much of 2016 writing and recording new material, the current focus is on the new jams featured on the recently released Golden Garden album and a companion EP, Spacecamp. Still, you’ll never know if Sphynx would have played Steve Perry’s “Foolish Heart” at MPMF if you don’t yell it out. YDIIYD: Chromeo, MGMT, Daft Punk, Jamiroquai. (MB)
M P M F. C O M / / M I D P O I N T M U S I C F E S T I VA L 2 0 1 7 / / 11
You’ll Dig It If You Dig: ’80s influences like The Police and Talking Heads mixed with a Modern Rock verve, contemporary Pop charm and timeless passion. (Mike Breen)
and doing his avant DIY Electronic set in seedy clubs, basements and abandoned warehouses; in other words, anywhere. While an electro-acoustic/computer music composition student at SUNY Purchase, Deacon self-released instrumental and experimental Electronic recordings. But in 2007, he dropped his first widely available album, Spiderman of the Rings, and it was an immediate sensation, hitting the Top 25 of traditionally snarky Pitchfork’s Top 50 albums of the year (2009’s Bromst was similarly lauded). Over the subsequent decade, Deacon has moved toward analog synths, live instrumentation and vocal manipulation with equally stunning results, particularly on 2012’s politically charged America and 2015’s triumphant Glass Riffer. The 10th-anniversary release of Spiderman is a revelationm, and so is Deacon’s interactive live show, which is a lot like driving a car — pay attention and be engaged and involved every second or you’ll crash. Don’t forget your mosh pit belt.