Midpoint Hubbub: I’m gonna start making it…

One of the staples of early fall in Cincinnati is the Midpoint Music Festival. It’s no question that it is always a nice time and a really great way to see a lot of relatively unknown acts from around the country and, often times, the world. Right now, thanks to SXSW, many cities are trying to put these types of city-wide festivals together with varying results. In that light Midpoint is a welcome change. Not concerned with trying to pull as many big name acts as they can, the festival allows a huge amount of bands from all walks of genres to strut their stuff for the weekend. But c’mon, let’s face it, it would be pretty nice to have at least a couple big name headliners! Enter new management! Though who is coming is still leaking out, I thought I’d direct you over to their website to begin wading through the list of who will be preforming. You’ll notice that Robert Pollard’s new band Boston Spaceships is playing, as well as locals Pomegranates, Minnesotan group Mystery Palace and (not yet officially announced) San Francisco-via-Cincinnati act WHY?. It’s already shaping up to be a great festival and will surely jive well with downtown’s new spirit.

I’ve noticed a lack of mention of the festival as of late, especially after the announcement of the management shift. That’s ok, it is still a ways off, but in an effort to let it pop up on people radar sometime between that announcement and the actual dates, i just wanted to write a little something.

As we get closer I’ll be making my way down the almost unmanageable list and picking out things that I think sound good…to me, at least. I’m not really going to start doing that until September, I don’t want to use up too many of the very-few planned blog posts I have for this. Also, I don’t know where anyone is playing, which would be a helpful bit of information in the posts abut bands that I think you should see.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In an effort to get you ready for all this, I thought I’d put one band that is playing on your radar. As I made my way down the list I came across a great Mexican electro-pop outfit called The Mocks. Hailing from Monterrey, Mexico, they play some pretty catchy, totally danceable tunes. They have a free EP up as .zip file on their non-myspace website. I’m totally digging on it. Since it’s a free download, I’m sure they won’t mind me posting a track off of it just to whet your appetite. This is the first track off of their free EP, “M Is Correct”, and it’s called “Inamorata.” The chorus of this song has been wedged in my brain for about a week now.

The Mocks – Inamorata

ENJOY! GET EXCITED!

Love,

John

MPMF Website

The Mocks (including that free EP) website and at Myspace