Podcasts about cincinnati music

In her new book, Laur remembers her days on tour and the many musicians she's befriended along the way.

In her new book, Laur remembers her days on tour and the many musicians she's befriended along the way.

David A. Parrilla has been involved in music all his life. He became intrigued with music around the 3rd grade. In high school leading up to college, he played trumpet with the CSYO and has played for many Cleveland State Commencements. Alongside those years he also sang in the Cincinnati Boychoir (toured Chicago and California) and then the Cincinnati Children's Choir (toured New York, China, & Italy). Recently he has been making his own music and is working on building his own band to get back on the road once again. David shares his story of catching the passion for touring and music at an early age and how that journey has now set him on a trajectory to create his own music. We talk song creation, band development, and our mutual love for Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish. Connect with David here: Put in his insta handle. instagram.com/convexmetal103Find him on tiktok here: or search Puertoricanboii103https://www.tiktok.com/@puertoricanboii103?_t=8Vhn1sSY1pW&_r=1Pre-save Miguel's band Run With It's upcoming release called At Least You Tried here:https://ffm.to/atleastyoutried______To contact Miguel Antonio for feedback or inquiries about the show - email booking@JustTheMiguel.comCheck out Miguel's band Run With ItRunwithitband.net#liveandcreate podcast is where the host Miguel Antonio (Singer Song-Writer and Entrepreneur) talks to artists and entrepreneurs about what it means to live a great life and create great things. Live and Create Conversations dive into guests' personal stories and inspiration. They often touch on the practicalities of either business or creation and then build into a philosophical discussion about life and creating art, music, and a better world. Miguel Antonio is the frontman for the band Run With It, and the host of #liveandcreate podcast.

Its hard to write an intro about a guy who has given so much to so many. I feel like no matter what I say here is going to be good enough. After growing up in the foster system Kick Lee decided he's gotta give back and love those around him the only way he knows how- through music. He started The Cincinnati Music Accelerator with the dream and vision to empower other artists like himself by teaching them alllll the stuff no one tells you you gotta know to be successful in the music industry.  From negotiating classes to pop-up concerts, Kick is on a mission to create a watering hole of culture for musicians and artists alike right here in Cincinnati. A deep soul and even bigger heart, enjoy Kick Lee.

Blending blues, rock 'n' roll, punk and early American music with modern forms, Austin, Texas-based duo Ghost Wolves is no stranger to MOTR Pub. The band has made the Cincinnati music venue a repeat stop during its almost eight years of touring. This time is a little different. The group returns to MOTR Friday fresh off the release of its three-song single "Crooked Cop" on Jack White-founded label Third Man Records . For singer and guitarist Carley Wolf, the partnership with Third Man was a big deal. "We're just fans of the label," she said in a news release. "They have so many of our heroes in their catalogs, people like Muddy Waters, Wanda Jackson, Dead Weather, Jerry Lee Lewis, the White Stripes. It's mind-blowing that our music will be there alongside them. It doesn't feel real, it feels like a dream." Carley and drummer Jonny Wolf, who have been married for seven years, wrote and recorded the songs against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty in their personal lives. Immediately before the recording, the Jonny traveled to visit his terminally ill father in Connecticut. "I was up there almost a month when they first hospitalized him," Jonny said in the release. "When he stabilized somewhat, I went back to Austin to take a break and be home briefly, and that's when we recorded this. So we were creating with all of that hurt going on in the background. It was therapeutic for me in a way, to be there with these people, working on art. And I think it came out on the record. It's definitely darker and more intimate than our previous albums."

Erika Wennerstrom, the lead of Heartless Bastards, released her debut solo album, “Sweet Unknown,” in March of 2018 on Partisan Records. Wennerstrom’s solo songs are built on the same blues and folk foundations as her songs with the Bastards, but her flirtations with both psychedelic sounds and pop sensibilities are both ambitious and clear on “Sweet Unknown.” Although the break with the band was mutual, Wennerstrom seems to be basking in newfound freedom, singing “I walk around this crowded town / I had to re-find my way / You know I couldn't remain the same / What it is, what it is, what it is / Don't fight the change within” on her song “Good to Be Alone.” Set List: Extraordinary Love Twisted Highway - interview - Staring Out the Window Letting Go Wennerstrom also performed a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Be Here to Love Me" that is available on the WCPO Lounge Acts YouTube channel. -- Erika Wennerstrom's second WCPO Lounge Acts session was recorded on June 14, 2019 in the WCPO Digital Lounge in Cincinnati, OH. WCPO Lounge Acts features intimate in-studio performances and interviews from outstanding musical artists. Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

Set List: Dennis Quaid - interview - Shouting Matches The Waiting Room Taylor Janzen's WCPO Lounge Acts session was recorded on May 31, 2019 in the WCPO Digital Lounge in Cincinnati, OH. WCPO Lounge Acts features intimate in-studio performances and interviews from outstanding musical artists. Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

No Bones about it... Raised on gospel and country in rural Missouri, Bones Owens ’ sound is far more hard-hitting than the music of his upbringing. With a simple band setup of drums and a guitar, led by Owens’ powerful vocals, it’s exactly the kind of music you’d expect to hear on the stages of Nashville. Bones released his debut EP, Hurt No One, in the fall of 2014, featuring guest appearances by the likes of Butch Walker, Matt Thiessen (Relient K) and Caleb Crosby (Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown) among others. He followed this with another EP in 2017, Make Me No King , and firmly cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with. His lyrics are intimate and relatable: recently-released single “Bout Time” covers the frustration of indecision in a relationship (we’ve all been there). Combined with commanding riffs and passionate vocals, Owens’ sound is equally at home in the intimate bars of Nashville and arenas across the country. Set List: White Lines Keep it Close - interview - Long Long Time Bout Time Bones Owen's WCPO Lounge Acts session was recorded on March 22, 2019 in the WCPO Digital Lounge in Cincinnati, OH. WCPO Lounge Acts features intimate in-studio performances and interviews from outstanding musical artists. Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

To listen to Triiibe is to know their causes: love, peace, community, prosperity, faith, self-sustainability. Triiibe, an acronym for True Representation of Intellectual Individuals Invoking Black Excellence, is comprised of three talented members: Pxvce (pronounced “peace”), Siri Imani, and Aziza Love. Together, they create their own brand of “artivism” - combining powerful lyrics, smooth melodies and rhymes, all laced with their principled beliefs. Activism is what brought the three of them together - the music followed naturally. As Pxcve, who raps and creates beats for the group puts it, they’re creating “soul music.” It’s more than just songs to bop along to--although you will. It’s the product of three souls with common goals and beliefs coming together to create something bigger than themselves. If it sounds lofty, that’s because it is. But the members of Triiibe don’t take the responsibility lightly. They’re putting their time where their mouths are, too: when not creating music, they spend time running after school programs like Raising the Bars, which helps Cincinnati Public School students learn how to express themselves through writing, poetry, and even rapping. They’re ever-cognizant of the obstacles they’ve faced in their own lives, and active in taking steps to inform and educate so those barriers are different for younger generations.  Cincinnati is taking notice of the great work that Triiibe is producing. Their first full album, “iii am what iii am” was released in October 2018 to rave reviews, and they regularly play shows all over the city and beyond. They even snagged to major awards at CityBeat’s 2018 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, going home with the Hip Hop and Artist of the Year awards. They’ve also been invited to take the stage for a set at 2019’s Bunbury Music Festival, an honor they’re eager to take on. Not bad considering they’ve only been performing together as Triiibe for just over a year. Needless to say, Triiibe is staying busy. Making music, performing, sharing, teaching and learning. How do you sum up all that they’re doing, and all that they stand for? Love puts it best: “Speak truth, always truth, and walk and live in that truth. To be who you are and to be proud of your roots is alright, and that’s beautiful. Live in that light always.” Set list: "You Can't Stop the Movement" "Green Thumb" - interview - "Gossip" "Feel Good" Triiibe's Lounge Act was recorded on February 19th, 2019 in the WCPO Digital Lounge in Cincinnati, OH. WCPO Lounge Acts features intimate in-studio performances and interviews from outstanding musical artists. Mixed by Brian Niesz. Video by Mike Strotman, Chris Gastright, Kyle Rhodes and Brian Niesz Hosted by Emmalee Smith with Clyde Gray.

Oft-compared to the ethereal warblings of Florence Welch and Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries, Natalie Carol’s voice is unforgettable. As the frontwoman of Valley Queen, she’s the driving force behind a sound that is quintessentially California. To round out their lineup, she’s accompanied by Neil Wogensen (bass/vocals), Shawn Morones (guitar/vocals) and Mike DeLuccia (drums). Their latest album, Supergiant, features songs like “Chasing the Muse” with a rolling rhythm and steady guitar riffs: it’s a classic-meets-modern kind of rock perfect for this millennium's Fleetwood Mac lovers. Like the album’s name, Valley Queen is a bright shining star - a “galactic perspective” for an earthbound force, Valley Queen wraps up a nationwide tour this May in their home state of California. Set list: "Supergiant" - interview - "Ride" "Razor Blade" Mixed by Brain Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

In 2014, Brooklyn-based duo Weeknight released its debut album " Post Everything ." Nearly five years later, the band's founders, Andy Simmons and Holly MacGibbon released Weeknight's second album "Dead Beat Creep" on Feb. 1. The second album features band mates Russell Hymowitz and Jasper Berg, who joined the band in 2017. With Hymowitz on base guitar and Berg on drums, " Dead Beat Creep " marks a radical approach to recording for a band whose sound is described as "dark synth pop." Weeknight recorded their second album using all analog instruments and by writing each song so they could perform them live without backup tracks. Online publication Brooklyn Vegan described the new album's first single "Holes in My Head" as "a cinematic piece of synthpop noir that, lyrically, is about Holly’s father who died in 2017 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s." "It was written from his perspective, and says what I imagined he would have wanted to say to me if he was able to," MacGibbon told the publication. Set list: "Holes in My Head" "Outside the Pale" - interview - "Settle Down" "Done With Me" -- Weeknight's Lounge Act was recorded on Feb. 14, 2019 in the WCPO Digital Lounge in Cincinnati, OH. WCPO Lounge Acts features intimate in-studio performances and interviews from outstanding musical artists. Mixed by Brian Niesz. Video by Emily Maxwell and Brian Niesz. Hosted by Brian Mains.

"We can miss almost everything amazing about art when we think of it as a competition" In this episode, I met up with Darby O' Dooley to talk about different art forms and their generational shift. We also discuss how we feel personally about the state of art around us.

Jules Hale, the frontwoman of Washington D.C.-based Den-Mate, is a force to be reckoned with. She’s previously described the character behind “Charlotte,” the opening track on Den-Mate’s most recent album, as the "insecure mannerism that we all revert to when we are feeling misheard, misguided and misunderstood,” but to hear Hales sing, you wouldn’t know she were capable of such feelings. Her voice is at once powerful and dreamy, a perfect complement to the genre-bending music behind it. A mix of dark pop and electro sounds, their most recent album, Loceke, is strong - both in musicality and energy - from start to finish. Written as a continuous storyline, the album explores worldviews and emotions in a completely unique, deeply honest, way. Each song adds a chapter to reveal more about Hale, weaving an intricate web that keeps you intrigued. Set list: "Paradise" "XOSO" - interview - "Sick" "Still Life"

Everyone loves a good post-breakup anthem. We’ve all been heartbroken in one way or another, and it seems to help when someone far more musically gifted is able to put those feelings into music and lyrics. Somehow, hearing a musician play out their own heartbreak in a way that mirrors yours can be cathartic, even if you’re not post-breakup. Allyse Vellture, also known as pronoun, is such a musician: following a strenuous breakup, she wrote, recorded, and produced “There's no one new around you,” her debut EP filled with delicate, deeply personal tracks. The Tinder-savvy will recognize that phrase as the end of a search on the dating app - a comical nod to the subject matter at hand. Somewhere between indie rock, post-punk and soft electronic, pronoun’s sound easily pulls you in: it’s emotive without being weepy, and raw without feeling unfinished. Her EP is getting noticed, too: she’s been covered by Billboard, Highlight Magazine, and Atwood Magazine, just to name a few, and is currently wrapping up a US tour before heading to Europe early next year. Clearly, she’s winning this break up. Her latest single, "you didn't even make the bed," dropped just a few week ago in October. Set list: "just cuz you can't" "wrong" - interview - "a million other things" "run"

Bridging the gaps between punk and indie rock, Grace Vonderkuhn is smart, sharp and deeply melodic. The frontwoman of a three piece outfit for the past two years, Vonderkuhn brings formidable vocals and guitar slayage to every song, with a magnetic energy that can’t be ignored. The band’s first EP was recorded on an 8-track cassette recorder and subsequently released on Instacrush Records. Since its release in 2015, they’ve tirelessly toured up and down the East Coast, joining the likes of Titus Andronicus, Lower Dens, Sheer Mag, Alice Bag, Ought and more on stage.  “Reveries,” Vonderkuhn’s first full-length album, was released earlier this year to glowing praise. The album's lead single, "Worry" is a powerful pop tune drenched in messy garage tones. With a follow-up invitation to showcase at South By Southwest 2018, Vonderkuhn has drawn comparisons to music icons like Joan Jett and Liz Phair.  Set list: Candy Buttons Bad Habits - interview - Cellophane Worry

Country music singer Jeremy Pinnell traveled hundreds of miles before returning home to perform at the Octave in Covington. The Northern Kentucky native spent the last four weeks driving out west and then back again for the western leg of his 2018 summer tour. The tour promoted Pinnell's second full-length studio album "Ties of Blood and Affection," which the singer released on SofaBurn Records last August. Saturday's show is the first time that Pinnell will perform a local set with his full band, the 55s in more than a year. Rolling Stone Magazine described Pinell's sound as, "no frills honky-rock with plenty of pedal steel, Western swing and vocals as smooth as the highest dollar whiskey" in an October review of his latest album.  The article also noted that the tracks on "Ties of Blood and Affection" were "a stellar collection that could earn Pinnell comparisons to Sturgill Simpson." That praise builds upon the national recognition the Elsmere, Kentucky native received in 2014 after the release of his first solo studio album "OH/KY."  “I definitely felt more freedom in making this album," Pinnell told Rolling Stone when discussing "Ties of Blood and Affection." "Just accepting who I was and what I sounded like." Set list: "The Ballad of 1892" "A Different Kind of Love" - interview - "Take the Wheel" "Feel This Right"

Formed in 2009 right here in sunny Cincinnati, Vacation is a formidable foursome bringing you a classic, grunge-influenced sound. Comprised of guitarist John Hoffman, drummer Dylan McCartney, vocalist/guitarist Jerri Queen and bassist Evan Wolff, they self-describe their sound as “grit pop.” It’s an apt description, as their sound is distinctly basement punk with just enough pop influence to keep even non-punk rockers engaged.  Contrary to their placid name, Vacation has been working hard, churning out an impressive number of tracks and LPs over the last decade. To complement their relentless production of music, they seem to be on the road nonstop. They’re certainly no stranger to owning the stage, but they’ve opened for some pretty impressive acts as well, including The Breeders, Screaming Females, Black Lips, No Age, and more. Their show this weekend at MOTR Pub in Over the Rhine will kick off a string of shows all over the country. It’s also the official release of their latest full-length, Mouth Sounds #2699. Produced by John Curley of Afghan Whigs fame, Noisey called the album "a breezy 26 minutes of loud, grungy rock." For their WCPO Lounge Acts performance, the group played a couple tracks from the new album as well as a couple older favorites. Set list: "The All" "Action Road" - interview - "Deflector Head" "Sharptooth Tinsel Town"

Picture it: you’re taking in a show from a cool local band. The lead singer rocks a blonde mullet and one long earring, and the petite keyboardist dances and harmonizes along. The music is upbeat, danceable pop, filled with synthesizers. If you think you’ve been transported back to the 1980’s, guess again. It’s 2018, and this is Moonbeau, a Cincinnati-based band giving you layered music and fun performances you can’t help but dance along with. Their love for nostalgia and new wave is evident, but their sound is still distinctly modern. Paired with relatable lyrics and foot-tapping rhythms, hear them once and you won’t soon forget Moonbeau.  Originally a one-man-band project by frontman Christian Gough, Moonbeau now plays as a foursome, including Claire Muenchen, the aforementioned keyboardist with impressive vocal chops herself, Alex Murphy-White on drums, and Kyle Kubiak playing bass.  Though their sound and look are retro, they’re actively looking forward. Several of their singles are already available to stream, including the winsome love songs, "Are We In Love Yet?", (which was featured on an episode of MTV’s Catfish last year) and "Like The Night." The latter includes adorably catchy lyrics like, "I see stars when you’re on my mind, and you’re on my mind all the time." (The romantic side of their songs is no surprise when you learn that Gough and Muenchen are engaged to be married. Insert all the heart emojis here.)  Set list: "Complicated" "Lover/Fighter" - interview - "Like the Night"

It would be easy to be skeptical of an all percussion foursome, but fear not: The Kraken Quartet brings a lot to the table. Comprised of Chris Demetriou, Andrew Dobos, Taylor Eddinger and Sean Harvey, the Austin-based band met in college, and over the years they’ve found interesting and unique ways to layer their instruments to create an all-encompassing sound. Highly energetic and engaging, their style blurs genre lines, with notes of everything from indie, post-rock, electronica -- even math rock. To create the wildly expansive sounds they do with primarily percussion instruments is a testament to not only the oft-underrated power of percussion but to the talent of The Kraken Quartet’s members. They also incorporate other electronic instruments like keyboards and synths, rounding out their vibe to create an ambience that It Djents described as “a cozy, soft and warming sound blanket”. A blanket indeed, it’s not hard to get lost (in a good way) under their soundscapes. "The Gates" "Hook and Loop" - interview - "House 11" "Chance the Dog (The Song)" Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

If you’re looking for tunes to soothe your soul, look no further than Freedom Nicole Moore & The Electric Moon. With clear influences of soul, funk, and indie sounds in their music, this Cincinnati-based group with have you singing along in no time. That said, good luck matching the smooth warmth of frontwoman Moore’s voice. With introspective lyrics that are hard not to relate to, FNMTEM sings truth for the everywoman -- and man. Moore got her start singing background vocals for local acts, and claims she left a funk group because she didn’t have the vocal stylings they were looking for (big mistake on their part, if you ask us). Before forming the collective Electric Moon around her, she performed as a solo singer-songwriter under her previous name, Marisa Moore. With layered sounds of smooth funk and upbeat indie, the group sounds as if they’ve been playing together for decades. There’s no question: listening to this group will make you feel good.  Set list: Everytime Pink Sugar - interview - Road Trip Your Friend Too Morning Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

Blending overlapping layers of electronic sounds, upbeat rhythms, and minimalist vocals, Us, Today is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Recently, they added an enthralling lighting element that makes their performances visual standouts as well--see their performance in the WCPO Lounge for proof. Their eclectic sound is reflected in--and largely influenced by--the eclectic background of the band members themselves: Kristen Agee, the band’s queen of the vibraphone and keyboard, also plays drums in a folk rock group. Drummer Jeff Mellot’s background is in playing modern jazz, and guitarist Joel Griggs’ tastes are self-described as “all over the map.” The three of them getting together is an experiment in and of itself, so it comes as no surprise that their sound and overall experience is highly experimental, and a full body experience to consume. As Agee explains it, they’re playing acoustic instruments with electronic influences, without being fully electronic nor fully acoustic.

More than just another band, Cincinnati’s own A Delicate Motor is a music composition and performance project like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Launched by Adam Petersen, the group utilizes keyboard, vocals, and completely unique percussion loops to create ambient sounds that the give same improvised, untethered vibe of good jazz music, with the energy and newness of electro-pop. A Delicate Motor’s latest, Fellover My Own, releases later this month, and will feature no shortage of sonic imagery. “This work posits to express the experience — trifling, humbling and humouring — of the conundrum of human effort,” explains frontman Petersen. “By endeavouring to cultivate higher self, or spiritual awareness, or better person, we paradoxically inhibit ourselves within our very striving.” Set list: "Fall Out" "Bottom" -interview- "Durham" Mixed by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

Like a warm cup of coffee, Maryland folk musician Michael Nau’s music will simultaneously relax you with cozy folk vibes and invigorate you with vibrant, expressive lyrics. Formerly the frontman of Page France and Cotton Jones, Nau sounds like your really talented friend playing for you in the living room. In fact, Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread was recorded with friends in a one-bedroom apartment. That LP won’t be released until August 3rd of this year, but the first single, “Less Than Positive” is available now on iTunes. It’s a blissfully sweet love song that will have you toe-tapping along, even on a first listen. Much like other Nau songs, cheerful keys carry the tune and complement Nau’s soulful, uncomplicated vocals for a fully approachable, feel-good sound. Set list: Shadow On Diamond Row - interview - Wonder Light That Ever Hosted by Emmalee Smith. Mixed by Brian Niesz.

The panel reviews the new release by the critically acclaimed Cincinnati OH band Wussy! Matt and Mike Kevill join the panel. Wussy.org shakeitrecords.com

If you ever find yourself looking for something deeply cinematic or intensely moody, Fotocrime has just what you need. If there were a universal soundtrack to represent film noir, Fotocrime would be it. If you like your music on the dark side, but maintaining a high level of mastery when it comes to song writing and style, Fotocrime is just the ticket. Fresh off two EP’s last year, "Always Hell" and "Always Night," both of which were well received, post-punk trio Fotocrime is now touring with brand new music in the form of a new album, called "Principle of Pain." Frontman R/Pattern (aka Ryan Patterson) joins with Shelley Anderson and Nick Thieneman, "Principle of Pain" unites a uniquely synth-meets-metal vibe with deeply personal lyrics for a sound all its own. The members of Fotocrime have established themselves as big players in the post-punk world, and were called "darkwave heaven" by Revolver Magazine. Set list: "Don't Pity the Young" "The Rose and the Thorn" - interview - "Infinite Hunger for Love" "Gods in the Dark" Mixed by Brian Niesz Hosted by Emmalee Smith

Set list: "Slow Down" - interview - "Lives for a Season" "The Morning" “Created with love in Over-the-Rhine.”  That’s how Jess Lamb’s music is described on her website. If you’re thinking it might sound more like the description of a piece of art than a style of music, you probably haven’t heard Jess Lamb’s music. And if you’re in Cincinnati and you haven’t heard Jess Lamb’s music, you haven’t been paying attention.  Lamb has been a mainstay in the Cincinnati music scene for years, and her unique style that is equal parts soul, pop, and R&B makes her memorable to audiences lucky enough to hear her. She punched a ticket to Hollywood on the 2015 season of American Idol, and even memorably “jammed” with then-judge Harry Connick Jr.  The “love” piece of her “created with love” description is evident in all her work, and she’s often seen teamed up with other Cincinnati-native acts. Currently working and writing out of the Harrison Skydeck Studio, Lamb continues to perform as much as she can, including an ongoing series playing every Thursday at Revel OTR Urban Winery. 

Set list: "Another Chance" "Rising Star" - interview - "A Million Pearls" "Champagne" When it comes to musical trades, it seems like Shara Nova has set out to prove that she can be jack of all trades, master of… all. With an upbringing surrounded by evangelical music followed by formal education in operatic voice and classical composition, Nova, now performing as My Brightest Diamond, produces explorative sounds described as “electronic, chamber, and art pop”. Layered with her airy, soulful voice, Nova’s technical proficiency and diverse background are on full display throughout her music. Her classical training has hardly held her back from delving into a wide variety of musical genres, proving her to be quite the exception to the unspoken rule that artists should are generally either classical or modern. To give a clear idea of the full depth of Nova’s experience, she has provided vocal support to artists including Sufjan Stevens, Laurie Anderson, The Decemberists, Bryce and Aaron Dessner, composer David Lang, Sarah Kirkland Snider, David Byrne, Fat Boy Slim, Bon Iver, and The Blind Boys of Alabama, among others. Outside of performing, she has also composed music for orchestras, as well as marching bands. Most recently, Nova has performed via her band concept My Brightest Diamond. Their latest EP, Champagne, was released in April of this year, and it’s just the sort of synthy-layered goodness you’d expect from this talented frontwoman. Nova’s voice takes center stage, powerful and finely tuned, but doesn’t overpower the music behind it. The title track is upbeat and bright, while “A Million Pearls” creates an emotive, introspective vibe, perfectly supported by Nova’s ethereal crooning. The EP also contains three variations on Champagne, two of which add even more electro sound to the tune. In both the original version and the remixes, the lyrics seem to be a narrative for the trajectory of My Brightest Diamond and Shara Nova:“Like bubbles in champagne, no one can stop what’s coming up. I cannot go halfway, no I will not stop, going up, going up” - Mixed by Mitchell Graham. Hosted by Emmalee Smith.

Northside-based percussionist Ben Sloan is beating on a standard drum kit, but the oscillating chords, birdcalls and Star Trek-esque bleeps sound anything but typical. "It's more like you're curating a set of sounds," the UC College-Conservatory of Music graduate said. "It's on the cusp of being a full composition and then also just improvising with the colors and sounds. Sometimes I don't really know how it's going to unfold. I have an idea and so sometimes if I hit it and it doesn't make the sound, I'm like, 'Oh, gotta roll with it that way.'"  A sensory percussion trigger composed of a tiny mirror and light sensor sits atop each drumhead, which Sloan has mapped out into regions that produce various sounds, effects and loops when struck. Tapping the drum's rim acts like a keyboard's shift key, bringing up a whole new range of samples that Sloan has preprogrammed and created with audio software.  "It allows you to play electronic music with the same dynamic flexibility that you get when you're playing a live drum set. I have them on these mesh heads, which are silent, but you can also put them on actual drum heads," he said. Sloan's stop by WCPO Lounge Acts is only the second time he's ever performed with this new technology, which he got the opportunity to explore when drummer Bryan Devendorf asked him to be artist-in-residence for the new National Homecoming festival coming to Smale Riverfront Park this weekend. "I've been doing a lot of production work and sitting in my room, which is also my studio with cables everywhere and crafting stuff and just making little ideas," Sloan said. "It was an opportunity to take that material and bring it to A Delicate Motor, which is a band I perform in under the leadership of Adam Petersen ... and collaboratively expand upon these little tiny ideas." "Mostly I'm really motivated by the fact that (Bryan Devendorf of The National) enjoys what I'm doing. The inspiration is like encouragement from somebody who is at the top of this kind of world. And he's like, 'You got it. You're good!'" Growing up in a musical household, Sloan was destined to gravitate toward the arts. His dad fed him a steady diet of good music and helped him set up his first recording studio, while he inherited his stepfather's drum kits and instincts. His mother founded ArtWorks, the nonprofit responsible for splashing murals across town for more than two decades, meaning he was "steeped in the arts" by the time he wrote his Walnut Hills High School entrance essay proclaiming Jimi Hendrix's drummer Mitch Mitchell as the historical figure he'd love to meet. "Maybe he would give me his drumsticks?" Sloan laughed.  Since studying jazz at CCM, Sloan has played in several local and national music projects, including WHY?, Lazy Heart and Fresh Funk. He also teaches percussion at MYCincinnati, a free youth orchestra program in Price Hill.  Last year, Sloan transformed scrapyard junk into children's gold when he dreamed Price Hill's Percussion Park into existence with a $10,000 grant from People's Liberty. Propane gas tanks became drums and pipes morphed into a marimba for kids to jam on at a formerly vacant lot on Warsaw Avenue. "It was a cool way to tie in what I do with my students at MYCincinnati with the neighborhood at-large. And then also we travel there every once in a while to play," Sloan said. Keep an eye out for A Delicate Motor's second album, Fellover My Own, coming in June. Sloan said they'll also record his work as artist-in-residence for The National Homecoming and make that available online. Set list: Since you asked u n e a s e -- interview -- run More at https://www.wcpo.com/entertainment/lounge-acts/sensory-percussion-triggers-let-drummer-ben-sloan-curate-otherworldly-set-of-electronic-sounds

In a meteoric rise to popularity, electronic rock duo Missio had dozens of record labels come calling the same day Sirius XM's Alt Nation picked up their breakthrough single"Middle Fingers" a year ago. Just a couple months later, RCA Records released the Austin, Texas-based pair's debut album "Loner" in May 2017. "At first glance, most people will say it's a pretty dark record, but as you listen it's not just dark," producer/instrumentalist David Butler told WCPO Lounge Acts co-host Gil Kaufman last year. "It's taking an honest look, and hopefully people will feel an acknowledgment that life is hard and there are lots of dark parts to it and that this is the real s--t that happens in everyday life." More specifically, it happens in lead vocalist Matthew Brue's life. Loner's 11 tracks are filled with brutally honest looks into Brue's struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism after more than six years of sobriety. Exhibit A: "Everybody Gets High." "Whiskey was his friend, he didn't have another. Vicodin his vice, his real and only lover," Brue achingly croons over wailing synths. "Music became my way of writing in a diary. You have to do something so you're not constantly wrestling inside of your mind, just telling you to do stuff," Brue said in Missio's 10-minute "Skeletons" documentary produced by Jeff Ray. "You spend so much time focusing on money, success, goals, fans. But I didn't start writing songs for them. I started writing songs because it was my way to express how I felt." And his feelings have certainly resonated with fans. At every show, Brue and Butler stare out upon a sea of middle fingers wagging at them, even once including Brue's own mother at a Houston festival. "You would assume it's a 'f*** you' to the world. It's actually not. In a way, it's a song about unity. It's not f***you; it's f***this situation, which everyone can apply to their own lives," Brue said in the band's biography. "There's no better feeling than seeing hundreds of people from different religious and political backgrounds forget about everything and raise their fingers together. Flipping the bird can unite us." Hook-y music and killer beats are important to Missio, but a vulnerable honesty lies at the crux of their mission. "As a whole, all of the songs revolve around being in seclusion," Brue said. "There are so many people out there who feel that isolation. Being in a band with this sort of lyrical content, it's all about reaching listeners, meeting them at shows, hearing their stories and helping them feel like they can relate to someone. Maybe we can make the world feel not so alone." Missio's next challenge will be to avoid the sophomore slump. In their Skeletons documentary, Brue revealed that struggle - whether with drugs, alcohol or conflict - has become a sort of crutch for his songwriting.  "Going into record No. 2 sober scares the hell out of me," Brue admits. For all of the harmony between Brue and Butler, their backgrounds couldn't be further apart. Born and raised in Colorado, Brue studied classical piano as a kid and toured the world in a choir. In Houston, Butler "grew up in the least musical household ever" and didn't touch a guitar until he was 16. Butler escaped the Office Space-style corporate world in order to pursue a career as a producer and audio engineer, while Matthew spent a year living in a remodeled 1974 Airstream, "learning how to write better songs." They had crossed paths many times in the Austin music scene, but their initial collaboration led to a larger commitment than most bands.  "When we were in the studio, we just started talking about our lives," Butler said. "Completely unplanned, I mentioned that my wife and I were looking for a roommate." It just so happened that Brue was ready to move out of that trailer, and they've been roommates as long as the band has existed.  Since Loner, Missio has released two EPs with each containing four acoustic versions of their songs and a previously unreleased song. In October 2017, that new song was the heart wrenching "Can I Exist?" whose music video provides a tear-jerking and timely commentary on America's epidemic of police brutality against black men.

Fresh off the Feb. 2 release of their fifth full-length album, Fruition stopped by the WCPO Lounge with a stripped-down, acoustic set that tackled heartbreaking love lost with just a dash of hopefulness.  For the band, "Watching It All Fall Apart" represents far more than a collection of break-up songs. Like a dying tree that falls in a forest, new hope and new life eventually spring forth from the wreckage. "It describes the feeling of letting go of a sweet love, or of watching the political climate be super gnarly, or watching rainforests get mowed down, or whatever it is, and just being a spectator as well as a participant," said guitarist and vocalist Kellen Asebroek. Fruition's last Tri-State visit was as a supporting act to Greensky Bluegrass, whom mandolinist Mimi Naja called their "crazy uncles." All that time on the road with the Michigan-based jamgrass band rubbed off on them, said lead guitarist and vocalist Jay Cobb Anderson. "We are the culmination of every influence that we've had. You try to just use your voice to express feelings that most people have felt before or can be sympathetic with," Anderson said, noting lead singer Paul Hoffman's writing particularly resonates with him. "When you're around a songwriter enough, you start to ... things just get embedded in you. You can pick up on one's style." In a significant shift from their DIY style on 2016's "Labor of Love," Fruition teamed up with producer Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, First Aid Kit) to weave his golden thread through every song and make their newest album sound like "magic" in just 10 days' time at Portland's Flora Recording & Playback. A good producer captures the essence of what a band is going for, and Anderson said that's just what Martine did. "It was nice to have that captain of the ship, but he was one of those captains that let the crew think they were in charge. We're just out there doing our thing, and that's what he wanted," Anderson said. Jeff Leonard on bass and Tyler Thompson on drums and banjo round out this folk rock crew. As Fruition tackles its biggest supporting act yet this spring, opening a five-show stint with Jack Johnson, it may be that intimate shows like Saturday's visit to Octave come fewer and farther between. Set list: Eraser Northern Town - interview - Turn to Dust Let's Take it Too Far

She made a big statement with her debut EP "Life/Death/Life" last fall, but now the Queen City's own neo-soul artist Lauren Eylise is sharing her "unapologetically feminine and soul-stirring vibes" with an R&B-loving crowd Thursday night at Downtown's Aronoff Center. The songwriter and her band, the Part-Time Lovers, are celebrating Valentine's a day late by opening up The R&B Love Show, featuring Pretty Ricky, Lloyd and J. Holiday. Earning a 15-minute slot opening for these Billboard-charting artists will be one of her most prominent opportunities so far this year, but Lauren Eylise explains it's not the only one of this caliber so far in her career. Alongside local shows at MOTR Pub and the Southgate House Revival, she opened for R&B artists Linkin' Bridge, Raheem DeVaughn and Tank in 2017. Although she's been performing for more than six years, it wasn't until September 2017 that she released her first EP. Using her ability to translate raw emotion into song, "Life/Death/Life" is Lauren Eylise's interpretation of her own healing. Having learned of the unplanned conception of her son while pursuing her music career in New York City, the singer narrates her journey through the perceived death of her dreams, the life of her child, the end of some relationships and the beginning of her career. Each of "Life/Death/Life's" seven tracks draws from loves lost, lessons learned, plans diverted, black womanhood and the natural relationship between loss and gain. "While I am excited to share this project with you, I must admit, it is for me," she wrote on her blog in August 2017. "This project is from me, to me, for me. It is a mirror for me to look on and within myself for healing and the reminder of all I’ve made it through and all that I am. I hope it can be a mirror for others as well." Lauren Eylise's witty lyricism gives off the matter-of-fact tone of Lauryn Hill and the unapologetic savagery of SZA’s "CTRL" layered with vulnerability that is purely her own. While the EP is an ode to Lauren Eylise’s own personhood, she hopes any woman can pick it up and see herself. But with blatantly transparent lines sung in a sultry voice to her own guitar strumming, not only women and R&B fans will find themselves identifying with the themes of "Life/Death/Life." This is an album for us all. Set list: Loud Afternoon (Part II) Petals - interview - Peaks and Vallies Part-Time Lover

From first listen, Adron's hypnotically voiced songs grip you with their unconventional blend of Brazilian samba, Bossa nova and Tropicália in multiple languages punctuated by birdcalls, whistles and rainfall. Her music may sound odd to some, but therein lies Adron's appeal. Folk sounds have elbowed their way into the mainstream over the past decade, yet hers is still something undiscovered.  "I do a lot of musical acrobatics, and the lyrics are not quite what you expect," Adron told the University of Georgia's student newspaper in 2012. "A lot of times the lyrics are funny or sardonic, but still optimistic. I want the music to be something that you can subjectively enjoy and manipulate and make into something you like." Wondering about that Tropicália mentioned earlier? You're not alone. It was a short-lived '60s movement fusing Brazilian and African rhythms with rock 'n' roll and humorous lyrics in protest of Brazil's totalitarian government. As a teenager poking through a record store, Adron stumbled upon one of the movement's ringleaders, Os Mutantes. "There was some tag on it that said the 'Brazilian Beetles.' I just felt really at home in a lot of that music, even though I don’t speak Portuguese, and I don’t know the cultural context," Adron told The Red & Black. This discovery led her to explore other Tropicalia artists and start creating what she calls "righteous tropical pop music" in English, Portuguese and French. “(As) a songwriter who listens mostly to non-English-language music -- after a while, you start to feel like English just often isn't the right instrument for the vibe you want to get across,” she told Flagpole magazine. “Language is textured and musical all by itself.”  Alongside her sonic artistry, Adron insists on personally creating the visuals for her album art and merchandise. For 2011's Organismo, she drew inspiration from the artwork of the Huichol people of western Mexico to produce an intricately beaded heart sculpture and mask. Adron has been slowly recording material for her next two full-length albums since at least 2013: a concept album about death and mazes called Thanatrópica and a follow-up to Organismo entitled Water Music. Set list: When I Leave You Low Key - interview - Wase Ave Maria

Since 2000, this five-piece group out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has been picking its own version of bluegrass imbued with a rule-breaking spirit and a concert light show to rival any rock 'n' roll act. "We bring bluegrass to people who aren't familiar with it. Often I’m told, 'I don’t even like bluegrass, but you guys are great,'" mandolinist and lead singer Paul Hoffman told Rolling Stone. "We're the gateway for some people; I think that's an important tradition." Greensky Bluegrass began more traditionally. Over the past two decades, though, this "jamgrass" band has delved into original writing and exploratory jams, even winning the Telluride Bluegrass band competition in 2006 as a last-minute (and sleep-deprived) addition. The group's latest studio effort, 2016's Shouted, Written Down & Quoted, contains 11 tracks running the gamut from freethinking improvisation to focused songwriting. "There's a flow to this album, just like there's a flow to our setlists," Hoffman said. "There are some aggressive, rocking moments. Some bouncy, funky moments. An acoustic think piece or two. It's a balance of moods and textures that we create as a band, almost like a mix tape." Joining Hoffman on a grueling tour schedule that can top 175 shows a year are Anders Beck on dobro (an awesome resonator slide guitar), Michael Arlen Bont on banjo, Dave Bruzza on guitar and Mike Devol on upright bass. "We play two sets of music every night with a big light show and really care about creating a large-scale production," Bruzza said, adding that "the goal isn't just to play important music. We want to cultivate an experience, where people can escape from their everyday lives for a minute and put their worries aside." Set list: Room Without a Roof - interview - Fixin' to Ruin

The holidays are a great time to come together, reconnect with friends and family, share sumptuous meals, exchange gifts and, after all that face time, get far, far away from home and check out some awesome music. This year, we are doubly blessed. Local favorites Pearlene are celebrating the 10th anniversary of one of the best albums ever written and recorded in Cincinnati, For Western Violence & Brief Sensuality, with a free show at the Northside Tavern Friday night. The blues-spiked Americana rockers are offering fans the first-ever double-disc, 180 gram vinyl version of the 2007 album, which comes with the Rosemary Girl EP and some unrelated tunes from their Sons of Anarchy album -- featuring songs from the popular TV show -- on the local We Have Become Vikings Records label. The limited-edition copy of the classic release features the original 9 tunes plus the bonus material in a double-gatefold, gold-stamped cover version with only 300 copies available for sale. Setlist: Watch the Way We All Get Off - interview - Hosannah Bones on my Back High & Dangerous

Breaking up can be soul-crushing. But for Alex Cohen writing, and singing, about it one way to help ease the pain. The frontwoman of four-year-old Brooklyn-via-Austin indie rock band Alex Napping channeled the hurt, confusion and distress of a painful romantic split into the band’s excellent second album, "Mise En Place," which came out on the Father/Daughter Records label in May.  Speaking to Paste Magazine earlier this year, Cohen explained the inspiration behind the album’s nine emotionally rich songs. "While I was writing the songs on this record, and what a lot of the songs are about this time in my life where I was really unhappy; I was in a relationship that I was making a lot of personal sacrifices to be in, and I felt like I had lived my whole life on this idea that if I do things a proper way then things will turn out the way that I want them to,” she said. "I feel like while writing this record I slowly began to realize that things are way more chaotic and unpredictable than that.”  So she did what so many young, creative seekers do with her broken heart: she wrote a song about it. A whole album, really, some of which she shared during her visit to the WCPO Digital Lounge for the latest Lounge Acts session. The emotionally fraught collection from the four-piece — which also includes guitarist Adrian Haynes, bassist Tomas Garcia-Olano and drummer Andrew Stevens — is anchored by Cohen’s feathery voice and clear-eyed, direct lyrics. One of the finest examples is from “Fault,” where she sings the laceratingly direct couplet, “There’s a pause in your breath, I know it/ There’s a fault in your step, I can tell/ If nothing is wrong then you’re lying/ The water’s all gone from your well.” With a mix of alt rock sway and spare, sometimes icy arrangements that lift Cohen’s voice over the Haynes’ fuzzy guitar lines, the songs on "Mise" put her story front and center, bringing to mind the expansive sound of such beloved ‘90s shoegazer bands as Slowdive and Lush. From the subtle bubble of “Tender” to the loud-quiet-loud guitar rock of “You’ve Got Me” and the blistering “Temperamental Bed,” Alex Napping will feed your head and your heart. Setlist: Fault Leave It - interview - Heart Swells 2.0 Hear Me Mixed by Brian Niesz Hosted by Gil Kaufman

If you’ve never seen Philadelphia’s Low Cut Connie live, let’s just say your nights have been kind of boring so far. The excitable boogie-woogie rockers have been crisscrossing the country for the past seven years baptizing ever-increasing crowds with their patented high-energy tunes, propelled by wildman singer Adam Weiner and his trusty upright piano, “Shondra.” Yes, she has a name, and by the end of Low Cut Connie's set you will know it well. Think Jerry Lee Lewis fury meets Replacements-like gutter punk bounce on tracks such as signature shout-along anthem “Boozophilia” from 2012’s "Call Me Sylvia" album. (Not for nothing, but former Pres. Barack Obama put the song on his 2015 Summer Playlist, which landed Weiner and his wife a lunch at the White House.) Rounded out by drummer Larry Scotton, bassist Lucas Rinz and guitarists James Everhart and Will Donnelly, the band’s unique sound was born a decade ago when Weiner began landing gigs in old age homes, gay cabaret bars, children’s ballet classes and dive bars, perfecting his unique combination of '50s rock and punk attitude in front of any audience that would have him. In addition to the Obama co-sign, the group got the ultimate 88-key stamp of approval earlier this year when the real Rocket Man, Elton John, kicked off an episode of his Rocket Hour Beats 1 radio show with the song “Dirty Water” from the group's latest album, "Dirty Pictures (Part 1)." That was topped off by John interviewing Weiner on the show and pledging to join the group on stage when Low Cut Connie plays in England in December. "Dirty Pictures" is perhaps the best example yet of the group’s versatile sound, bouncing from the four-on-the-floor handclap young man blues of “Death and Destruction” to a Talking Heads-like new wave cover of Prince’s “Controversy” and the moody Memphis rumble of the title track.  Set list: Dirty Water Death and Destruction - interview - Am I Wrong? Mixed by Dave Chale Hosted by Gil Kaufman

Acclaimed Cincinnati songsmiths Young Heirlooms take you on a nostalgic journey with their sentimental, heartfelt original tunes. Music and lyrics composed by Kelly Fine and Chris Robinson are based on family history, personal experience, and adventures on the run. Set list: Silverglade Bury Me (With My Hammer) - interview - Jellico Over & Over

We all have vices, but few among us neatly package them into a sonic tour of our indiscretions.  But thank the Lord for Suzanne Santo, who's fronted the duo HoneyHoney alongside Benjamin Jaffe for a decade. When her solo debut "Ruby Red" dropped in August, it sent listeners see-sawing through 11 tracks alternatively filled with vice and redemption.  “There’s a lot of sex and booze on this record,” Santo told her hometown's weekly alternative paper, Cleveland Scene. "Just about every song has this common thread of accountability and reconciliation and sifting through parts of ourselves that aren’t savory." Combining raw soul and honest Americana, Ruby Red marks an edgy change of pace for Santo from the album's very first line: "I want to smoke, I want to drink and screw every time I think about you." Ruby Red borrows its name from producer Butch Walker's studios in Santa Monica, California, where Santo contributed vocals, guitar and banjo to his tour and latest album. Santo said she'd always been somebody else's bandmate, so she found time on the road with Walker to explore her own identity and forge it into Ruby Red, drawing inspiration from greats like Erykah Badu, David Bowie, Townes Van Zandt and Alabama Shakes. "This record is so f***ing sexy, I can't deal," Walker said. "Proud to have been in the room when these songs were going down. Put it on and turn out the lights." Set list: Ghost in My Bed Handshake - interview - Better Than That Best out of Me Hosted by Austin Fast Mixed by Brian Niesz

With a layered and deeply texture sound, San Fermin stands out in the current indie pop scene with its eight-member ensemble that utilizes trumpet and saxophone and violin and guitar and trombones and synth. The project is the brainchild of composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, who writes and arranges all of San Fermin’s music. The Brooklyn-native formed San Fermin in 2011 and the band made its self-titled album debut in 2013, followed by "Jackrabbit" in 2015. The band's third recording, "Belong," came out on April 7 of this year. New Yorker magazine music reviewer Jia Tolentino wrote San Fermin's new album "often sounds like a wall of flowers blooming at once. It feels lovely, just now, to be swallowed up by a baroque arrangement, in a rush of sweetness and sincerity." Ludwig-Leone said on the band's bio page that his songwriting has evolved from stories about fictional characters into explorations of themes and issues personal to him. “As I’ve become more confident as a songwriter, I decided that I could drop some of the artifice and write something more direct," he said. “Anxiety is something I’ve dealt with since I was a kid, but on this album I talked about it more explicitly than I ever had before." Set list: Cairo Bride - interview - No Promises Belong Mixed by John McRae

Indie synth pop trio DYAN took a few years to settle into their own songwriting from scoring film and TV projects, but once they did, people paid attention. The title track of their July 2016 debut album "Looking for Knives" topped a half-million plays on Spotify's Viral Chart within a month's time. Frontwoman Alexis Marsh (vocals/guitar/bass) had been composing film scores out west with Samuel Jones (guitar/synths), but she told Billboard she moved back to Cincinnati to focus on writing "Looking for Knives." "I was getting anxious about having this open-ended project so I took some time out," Marsh said. "I had thought writing the songs would be a type of exorcizing of memories. ... at a pivotal moment of anguish, my grandmother told me I didn’t owe my happiness to anyone else. There’s so much freedom in not giving a damn." Alexis & Sam's transformation into DYAN was complete when they brought on Dan Dorff Jr. (drums/synths), who Marsh knew from attending the University of Louisville. The resulting 12 tracks are filled with self-described minimalist synths, atmospheric guitars and driving rhythms. -- Set list: St. James Days Upon Days - interview - Looking for Knives What Fiction is For

At a time when raucous, highly produced pop, amplified arena rock and jittery electronic jams are the musical currency of the day, Azniv Korkejian is a tranquil pond. The Hollywood-by-way-of-Aleppo folk singer is a throwback strummer whose tour de force single “Solitary Daughter” contains what might be her mission statement: “I don’t need your company to feel saved… I don’t want your pity, concern or your scorn/ I’m calm by my lonesome/ I feel right at home/ Leave me alone to the books and the radio snow.”  Think about how punk rock that notion is as you ponder the latest outrage from Washington or headline about a deadly natural disaster. Fittingly, Korkejian has adopted Bedouine as her stage name, a feminized version of the word used to describe nomadic Arab tribes who traditionally live in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East.  And, as you will notice when she plays at this weekend’s 2017 MidPoint Music Festival and visits WCPO’s Digital Lounge on Saturday morning for a Lounge Acts set, she is a one-woman tour de force who doesn’t need rattling studio tricks to drive a point home. A serene singer whose calm nature is an antidote to the over-caffeinated popular music of the day, she chose the name as a symbol of her own peripatetic life. "Moving around so much caused me at some point to feel displaced, to not really belong anywhere and I thought that was a good title,” she explains in her bio. Born in Aleppo, Syria, to Armenian parents, Bedouine grew up in Saudi Arabia before her family settled in Boston and then Houston. Los Angeles; Lexington, Kentucky; Austin, Texas; and Savannah, Georgia were all stops along the road before she moved back to Hollywood to work as a dialogue and music sound editor.  "I just kept meeting the right people, who were professional musicians, and even though they were going on these big legitimate tours, they were still coming back to this amazing small scene, still demoing at home, and I immediately felt welcomed to join in on that. L.A. actually made me less jaded," she says. It was the constant motion, the inhalation of so many cultures, sights and sounds that inspired the classic 1960s folk-meets-1970s-country-soul sound on her self-titled debut, which was released in July on singer Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb label. The gauzy album has hints of bossa nova and clear inspirations from Joni Mitchell’s forthright storytelling to Brazilian samba singer Astrud Gilberto’s groove and the melancholy of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen.  It was crafted with a crack team of side players, including longtime Beck/Tom Waits guitarist Smokey Hormel and bassist/producer Gus Seyffert (Beck, Norah Jones). But it is 32-year-old Bedouine’s clear-eyed, confident storytelling that rises above the lush arrangements. "While the rest of the record dazzles with sweetness—'like a lamp in the light of day/Drowning in summer rays,' as she puts it—the centerpiece is a haunting protest song," writes Sam Sodomsky for Pitchfork of the song emotional “Summer Cold,” Bedouine’s reaction to America’s role in the chaotic civil strife in her native Syria. To drive the point home, the singer uses sound samples she found to sonically recreate her grandmother's street in Aleppo. -- Set list: One of These Days - interview - Nice and Quiet Solitary Daughter

ClockworkDJ, born Garrett Uddin, got his start more than 16 years ago DJing at his high school dances. He moved his way up to playing parties and clubs while attending the University of Cincinnati and eventually landed a world-class gig as rapper Mac Miller's DJ. He has traveled around the world in the years since, but Uddin is brimming with excitement about showing off a whole new look for his hometown friends and fans. "I'm really psyched about what I call my 'hybrid' DJ set," said the former Corryville resident, who now calls New York home. "I've been going around the world, practicing in the lead-up to Ubahn, so for me to showcase this in Cincinnati … I'm hella excited. A lot of people haven't seen me rap in Cincinnati." Clockwork said he came up with this new concept a year ago while on the road and he has been working out the kinks ever since on a set in which he DJs his own performance. "I DJ, but I'm also blending my own records. And then I run to the front of the stage to perform, and then I go back to DJ," he explained. "It's just me on stage, but the way I figure it out is I have a pretty smooth way of running the show." Although the School for Creative & Performing Arts alumnus attended Ubahn last year, Clockwork has never performed at the festival. He said he can't wait to show the city his musical growth and possibly debut some tracks from his upcoming full-length independently released debut, due out next month. The album, not yet titled, will, of course, feature his pal Mac Miller, as well as Speed and other hometown friends. "I take Cincinnati with me wherever I go," he said. "I just got back from China a week ago, I'm going to Australia next month, and everyone that knows me knows I'm Cincinnati. I want them to see that this is someone who came from Cincinnati, and I'm coming full circle to bring it back to you at the main stage at Ubahn Festival!"

Unhurried, buzzy guitar melodies noodle their way through 11 songs on Keeps' debut album "Brief Spirit," which Cincinnati's own Old Flame Records dropped in March 2016. Gusti Escalante and Robbie Jackson, both on guitars and vocals, bonded over their shared fear of falling into Music City's pop-country trap when they met on freshman move-in day at college. They wrote a song together each day for the week after, drawing inspiration from classic artists like Bowie, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Jesus and Mary Chain, according to Old Flame Record's website. The second track, "Translucent Girl," digs into the tragic phenomenon of loving the concept of something more than the reality of it. "Reality is lost to me inside her mystic gaze/ Then suddenly I'm heavy. My own thoughts reflecting/ Why even try? She'll never be mine," Escalante croons through the reverb-saturated choruses. "It’s definitely not based on anyone in particular, OK? Please stop asking, mom," Jackson told Paste Magazine. Even though he dodged on the real-life source of all this self-doubt and deprecation, we've all been there. Two tracks down on Brief Spirit, this theme re-emerges in "Everyday," which the duo also turned into their first music video. They'd always been terrified by the idea of music videos, they told The Fader, but that's exactly why a song about how intense self-doubt "can cloud the entire purpose behind what it is you're doing" was perfect for the task. Keeps recruited their musician friend Josh Gilligan to produce what was also his first music video. "We knew he’d be the right man for the job because he'd able to help create something goofy and ridiculous. We recorded the whole thing in the matter of a day, and are really pleased with how it ended up. Hopefully just the right amount of cheese," Keeps told The Fader. -- Set list: Spine Writing (unreleased) Everyday - interview - Pride (unreleased) Translucent Girl Hosted by Austin Fast Engineered and mixed by Brian Niesz

Lillie Mae has yet to climb out of her mid-20s, but the singer/songwriter has already spent more than a decade fiddling her way through the honky tonks of Music City’s Lower Broadway and backing Jack White. Just a couple months ago, she stepped out on her own to drop her debut solo album “Forever and Then Some” on April 14. “What isn’t interesting about her?” Stacy Vee asked a Los Angeles Times reporter. Vee is director of festival talent for Goldenvoice, which organizes the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. “Seriously, the way she’s singing, the way she presents her art, I haven’t seen it performed like that. … It’s completely fresh, it sounds way older and way newer, masculine and feminine at the same time. It’s going to be a really fun project to watch develop.” Back in 2008, Lillie Mae fronted the four-piece string group Jypsi alongside two sisters and a brother as they released an album on Arista Nashville and then played South by Southwest, Stagecoach and Bonnaroo. After Jypsi broke up, Lillie Mae supported White’s solo project until she journeyed into White’s Third Man Records studio with few expectations. “There was no plan to make a whole album,” Lillie Mae told the Los Angeles Times. “He asked me to come in and record a few songs, and after we got done with three, he said, ‘You got any more?’ ” Indeed she did. The album ranges across 11 tracks, many of which feature backing instrumentals from her musical family members and interspersing more traditional country licks with rugged rock riffs born out of her time with White’s band.  “I was spending time with hip-hop drummers, crazy psychedelic keyboardists, classical, unbelievable (players). If I didn't get that gig, I never would've met those people or been turned onto so much more music. It's just this huge, eclectic variety of musicians,” Lillie Mae told WXPN’s World Cafe. Set list: Wash Me Clean Honky Tonks and Taverns -interview- Loaner These Daze

In 2006, brothers Chris Wood (upright bass) and Oliver Wood (guitars) joined forces after years of playing (respectively) with Medeski, Martin and Wood and King Johnson. They eventually added a third member in drummer and all-purpose instrumentalist Jano Rix. "Chris and I had such a great time playing together and realizing that we’ve been doing the same job for the last 10 years. I think that was a turning point, we realized that we wanted to do this together. So we started writing songs together and it turned into something more,” Oliver told The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y. The most recent result of their collaboration, 2015’s “Paradise,” digs into how our longing for fulfillment ironically keeps it just out of reach. “That’s why we chose that image of the donkey and the carrot (for the album cover),” the band told David Dye on the World Cafe. “I don’t know for sure, but sometimes we think it’s only when you give up on trying to get rid of your desire that you find salvation. You just accept it, so in a way that’s what the image can express.” The trio’s ongoing Wheels of Soul Tour has them playing alongside Tedeschi Trucks Band and Hot Tuna, which Oliver said is winning them new fans who truly value their music. "It’s when people come up to you and say ‘Wow, you really got me through a tough time’ or ‘Your concert made me so happy,' you realize that there’s healing powers to the music and that there’s compassion in the music that really connects people,” Oliver told The Daily Gazette. "It’s not about the glory, it’s about the connection.” Setlist: Chocolate on My Tongue  Keep Me Around - interview - Pay Day Twitsted For more on the Wood Brothers visit thewoodbros.com For more Lounge Acts visit wcpo.com/LoungeActs

For most punk rock bands making their home in Washington, D.C. now would probably be a particularly opportune time to rage against the machine. Especially if your previous work had a decidedly political bent and you prided yourself on taking a stand against injustice and inequality, which is why the first full-length album from D.C.'s Priests, January's Nothing Feels Natural, was a refreshing but surprising new take on the band's strident sound and message. Speaking to the Guardian recently, singer Katie Alice Greer said the group was frustrated by critics who insisted that the lyrics on the album -- with sharp, spiky songs entitled "Pink White House," "Leila 20" and the crackling, post-punk title track -- were some kind of a reaction to the current political climate, especially since the group -- which also includes drummer Daniele Daniele, bassist Taylor Mulitz and guitarist Jaguar -- started working on it in 2014. The band has waded into political territory before with songs about the corrupting nature of power and the difficulties of navigating a consumerist culture on their two previous cassette releases and an EP, but on Nothing they turn their focus inward a bit, along with adding some new flavors to their smash-face, notoriously take-no-prisoners sound courtesy of oboes, piano, saxophone and a few disco beats. Their DIY nature comes naturally as owners of their own label, Sister Polygon, but be careful about trying to lock Priests into labels like "feminist punk" or even "punk," for that matter. "I don't have weird feelings about accidentally commodifying a subculture that benefits me way more than it benefits the subculture," Daniele told Spin shortly after the album's release. Mulitz added, "I think we isolated ourselves for a while out of distrust of not wanting to be used as a tool to sell the idea of counterculture or the image of it. But if anything, through making this record we've come to learn that it's OK to let your walls down." In short: Don't label Priests, just sit back and let their throbbing musical attack wash over you. Setlist: JJ Pink White House - interview - Lelia 20 Nothing Feel Natural Mix by Brian Niesz. Hosted by Gil Kaufman. For more on Priests visit 666priests666.com. For more Lounge Acts visit wcpo.com/LoungeActs.

Garage punk group Le Butcherettes debuts new material for WCPO Lounge Acts. Mexican-American songwriter Teresa Suarez Cosio made a name for herself performing splattered in blood, most often fake but apparently once a real pig’s blood at a Mexico City gig in 2009.  It paid off, though, quickly leading to tours with big-name acts like The Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Much of the garage punk band's inspiration, including its French-sounding name, comes from outrage about women's treatment in Mexico and the horrors of female circumcision. It’s not all feminist angst though for 26-year-old Suarez, who performs under the alter-ego Teri Gender-Bender. NPR’s Tiny Desk describes her as a curious, engaging young woman who transforms "from a soft-spoken and insightful person into a rock 'n' roll beast on a dime." She even confessed to The Los Angeles Times that she sometimes worries fans expect ever-more-outrageous onstage antics and feels occasional “guilt that her rock ’n’ roll activism isn’t yet changing the world.” Le Butcherettes have swapped out quite a few members and dropped three albums over the past decade, but Alejandra Robles Luna on drums and Riko Rodríguez-López on bass guitar now round out Suarez’s vocals and guitar. Set list: Malcolm (unreleased) Spider Ways (unreleased) La Uva Sold Less Than Gold [interview] Shave the Pride To read more and find videos from this session visit: http://bit.ly/2sTHRdj  For more on Le Butcherettes visit: https://facebook.com/LeButcherettes For more Lounge Acts visit: http://wcpo.com/LoungeActs Recorded and mixed by Brian Niesz in the WCPO Lounge in Cincinnati, OH on June 22, 2017.

For their WCPO Lounge Acts session, Surfer Blood performed an acoustic set of songs new and old. Indie-rockers Surfer Blood saw a huge buzz breakthrough with “Swim” in 2009 before hitting a rough patch as frontman John Paul Pitts’ dealt with personal drama and the tragic loss of 27-year-old guitarist Thomas Fekete to his battle with cancer. The February release of their fourth album "Snowdonia" represented a fresh start as Pitts and drummer Tyler Schwarz added high school buddies Michael McCleary and Lindsey Mills into the mix as guitarist and bassist. Pitts wrote specifically with the new member’s talents in mind. Set List: Frozen Floating Vibes [interview] Into Catacombs Matter of Time To read more and find videos from this session visit: bit.ly/2rVBvL4  For more on Surfer Blood visit: http://surferblood.com For more Lounge Acts visit: http://wcpo.com/LoungeActs Recorded and mixed by Brian Niesz in the WCPO Lounge in Cincinnati, OH on June 22, 2017.

The Colorado-based quartet Slow Caves offers a relaxed and surfy update to '80s synth, '90s jangle and early 2000s indie rock on its EP Desert Minded, which dropped in March on Cincinnati's own Old Flame Records. Danish-born brothers Jakob and Oliver Mueller handle vocals and guitars, rounded out by their childhood friends David Dugan on guitar/bass and Jackson Lamperes on the drums. You'd swear the music video for "Glares" was yanked off reel-to-reel film footage they found at a thrift store, but they captured the fuzzy, nostalgic-looking scenes last summer on the final day of a trip across the pond in Denmark. "We wanted the video to reflect how we are as a band internally, and kind of give people a taste of what it’s like to hang out with us. So, we handed the camera to our cousins, Kristian and Martin, and just kind of goofed around," the band told New Noise Magazine, which premiered the video in April. "We shot most of the footage at their school in Silkeborg (where Oliver and Jakob were born). The scenery there is unreal. We think the vibe of the video matches the song and our personalities really well." Setlist: - Desert Minded - 2 Hrs! - Girlfriend/Boyfriend - Speaking in Tongues Find more from Slow Caves at http://slowcaves.com Find more from Lounge Acts at http://wcpo.com/LoungeActs

This New York City trio rounds out Lounge Acts' Bunbury trifecta hot off the May 25 release of their synthy smooth single “So I Met Someone.” “After a lot of dark, synth heavy disco-rock numbers, we wanted something with a different kind of energy,” VHS Collection told Billboard. “Our sound naturally evolves every few months, and we don't see any need to fight that.” Members James Bohannon, Connor Cook and Nils Vanderlip have released two EPs since forming VHS Collection in winter 2014 and are looking forward to dropping their debut LP later this summer. The group subscribes to a solitary confinement strategy of week-long bouts at a cabin in upstate New York to hash full songs out of the bits and pieces they’re constantly shooting back and forth digitally. “During these sessions, the three members collaborate on every element of the song, with each member playing various instruments on the tracks. The band then weeds out the best of these home produced tracks to bring into the studio,” the group’s biography reads. WCPO's Emmalee Smith caught up with VHS Collection after their performance at Bunbury to discuss their songwriting, breakups, and their favorite dumplings.

Minnesota-born singer/songwriter Cobi performs new material for WCPO Lounge Acts. His debut solo single “Don’t You Cry For Me” hit No. 1 last June. With a bluesy sound and inevitable Hozier comparisons, Cobi croons “Please help me chop this tree down/Or hold me from underneath/Words never once cut me down/Oh don’t you cry for me.” The emotionally charged black-and-white music video concludes with the hanging of a black man after a white policeman gets shot in a scuffle. “The song was written around the time when Michael Brown was killed, Baltimore was uprising and people around the country were protesting,” Cobi told Huffington Post. “There’s no denying the epidemic of police shooting unarmed black people. I hate seeing my friends living in fear and just had to speak what was in my heart and say what I felt needed to be said.” Oscar Wilde thought “life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” but this is a seemingly clear case of the latter. Cobi has said he feels his job as an artist is to reflect the times we are living through. Cobi followed up with an equally soulful second single “Prophet Story” in January. Set list: - "Church of the Lonely" - "Burning One Down" - "In the Arm of a Goddess" - "Underneath" For more about Cobi, visit cobimusic.net For more Lounge Acts, visit wcpo.com/loungeacts Mixed by Jonathan Barghout Hosted by Austin Fast

There are big ships and small ships, but the best of all is Frenship! This Los Angeles-based electro-pop duo met selling stretchy ladies’ garments at Lululemon and experimented with their sound before honing in on the ’80s-inspired, high-energy dual vocals that now define them. James Sunderland and Brett Hite’s single “Capsize” went viral in June 2016, streaming more than 18 million times on Spotify within a month of its release and earning a nod as a contender for Spotify's Song of the Summer. “Once the song came out and we started playing concerts, we realized how big it had become because the houses were packed and everyone was singing along,” Hite told The Fairfax Times. “We had this big song and we weren’t really prepared for it.” By the time Frenship released its debut EP “Truce" and dropped the video in September, Capsize was (unfortunately) on its way to being named among Billboard’s 20 most underrated pop songs of the year. Going platinum just two weeks back, though, may bring some consolation. Set List: - "1000 Nights" - "Carpet" - "Kids" - "Capsized" For more, visit wcpo.com/loungeacts

Colin Rigsby of colorful pop band Vesperteen performs live and chats for WCPO Lounge Acts. What is it about Columbus that’s inspired so much joyous, colorful pop music lately? From world-beating duo Twenty One Pilots to up-and-comers Vesperteen, our neighbor to the north is doing something very right. Fronted by drummer/singer Colin Rigsby, Vesperteen channels the glammy vibe of Queen shot through with the sexual energy of 1980s Australian pop-rock icons INXS and the electronic bent of contemporary groups like Bleachers and The 1975. The band’s self-titled 2015 EP features their signature digital pop anthem, “Shatter in the Night,” a rousing track that mixes programmed drums and keyboards under distorted vocals and guitars for an epic song that belongs in front of massive festival crowds even as the group makes its way up the musical ladder in sweaty rock clubs. The other tunes on that six-track effort stir in elements of gospel (“I Never Knew How to Love You”), ambient rock (“Obsess/Possess”) and the aforementioned INXS-like pop (“Feathers so Hollow”). It makes sense that Twenty One Pilots drummer Josh Dun has tweeted out props to Vesperteen and worn the group’s merch, as he and Rigsby both drummed in the Columbus Christian-associated band House of Heroes before moving on to to their current projects. (They also reportedly share the same drum tattoo on their arms.) After writing, recording and touring the world with House of Heroes for a decade, Rigsby took a break, only to find himself working on new music that turned into his solo project. The one-man-band’s name is a play on the word vespertine, which, fittingly, refers to something that flourishes in the evening. You know, like a rock band. The mash-up sound has clearly made an impression on the group’s many followers (known as the Vesperteam), who were tapped earlier this year to star in a crowd-sourced video for the bouncy new wave single “What We Could Have Been.”

Whether it’s finishing work on his long-awaited third solo album or finding the perfect spot for a new recording studio, Brian Olive is a man of infinite patience. That explains why the sessions for his upcoming effort, Living on Top, took close to three years, as the retro sound-loving former member of beloved Cincinnati garage rock icons The Greenhornes and Detroit’s hard-charging Soledad Brothers toiled to make sure it sounded just right. Based on a preview of four songs Olive played on the latest edition of WCPO’s Lounge Acts podcast, the results are well worth the wait. Asked when he started working on Top, Olive was pretty sure it was 2015. But then he was reminded by a band member that it was actually the year before, explaining that “a few things” were getting in the way. “It was worth taking the time to do because I like the way this one worked out,” he said. Taking over the Digital Lounge with an all-star band that included Yusef Quotah (Halvsies, You, You’re Awesome) on keyboards, Tim Seiwert (Whiskey Shambles, Casey Campbell) on drums, bassist Andy Jody (Barrence Whitfield & the Savages) and back-up singers Beth Harris (The Hiders, the Perfect Children) and Kristen Kreft (The Perfect Children), Olive rocked the room with a heavy dose of his patented Motown-influenced soul. The album’s title track is a propulsive choogle that mixes the blue-eyed soul of Steve Winwood’s Traffic with such Motor City legends as Mitch Ryder and Bob Seeger, with Olive handling both the chicken scratch lead guitars, yearning vocals and playing a wicked, frenetic saxophone solo. For more from Brian Olive: http://www.brianolivemusic.com For more from Lounge Acts: http://wcpo.com/loungeacts

The power duo has met its match in Nashville’s Smooth Hound Smith. The duo consisting of guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Zack Smith and singer/percussionist Caitlin Doyle makes a righteous noise with a boot-stompin’, tear-in-your-beer fervor that earned them a spot opening for the Dixie Chicks last summer. Drawing comparisons to everyone from fellow power duos the White Stripes and Shovels & Rope to Little Big Town and Jack Johnson, Smooth Hound Smith credit the eclectic musical soundtrack of their youths for the genesis of their unique approach. More from Smooth Hound Smith: smoothhoundsmith.com More from Lounge Acts: wcpo.com/lounge Hosted by Gil Kaufman. Mixed by Brian Niesz

Yoni Wolf of the alternative hip-hop group WHY? performs for WCPO Lounge Acts. If Yoni Wolf had been born 20 years earlier he might have fallen into the same slipstream as poet/singers like Leonard Cohen, or been greeted as a kind of politically agnostic Bob Dylan. The longtime leader of Cincinnati-bred hip-hop/folk group WHY? definitely deals with politics on the band’s recently released sixth album, Moh Lhean. But they’re not the politics of street protests or the anti-anti-immigration polemics of songs like A Tribe Called Quest’s pointed Trump takedown, “We the People.” Wolf is concerned with the politics of the heart, the legislation of figuring out where he stands in the world and where to find some light in all that darkness. It’s a topic he’s explored in depth over the group’s nearly 20 year career, but on Moh Lhean some of the cynicism and skepticism of the past is put on a shelf in favor of a more optimistic outlook. “I would say this album is less… maybe it’s melancholic, but it’s less dark than previous WHY? albums,” says Wolf of the hope embodied in the image on the cover, a hand reaching skyward from under the water. Some people have seen it as a snapshot of man drowning, but for Wolf it’s the opposite: a stretch up, a sign of resilience. “I think there’s [also] a joyfulness and a rejuvenated… a new lease on life.”

Dead Meadow's buzzy wash of words and jams make this music for lighting up incense in a dark room and just chilling with a bottle of bourbon (or other preferred mind-altering substance). Nearly two decades and six albums along, Dead Meadow’s singer/guitarist Jason Simon, bassist Steve Kille and on-again-off-again drummer Mark Laughlin are self-recording their seventh album when they’re not on tour. Laughlin’s lawyer day job keeps him from the road, meaning Juan Londono of the Strangers Family Band is filling in for this trek to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Jason Simon performs a solo acoustic session for WCPO Lounge Acts.

Northern Kentucky rockers Frontier Folk Nebraska's name is “basically just words” that singer/guitarist Mike Hensley said popped out to them as they got their start a decade ago. As they kick off their Warpig EP SXSW Tour on Thursday, March 9th in Nashville, the rock 'n' roll foursome leaves no false pretenses about the reputation they’ve earned as a set list-shunning live band. “(Not having a set list) scared him to death when he first started,” Hensley said, pointing to bassist Matt McCormick, who came on in 2014 with drummer Mark Becknell. “This is who we are. We can’t get up and try and morph into something else. It’s either going to work or it’s not for everybody else. We’re there. We’re just going to be ourselves.” Taking the stage at the largest music festival of its kind would give anybody stage fright, but Frontier Folk Nebraska is staying super chill about its swing through the Deep South before hitting South by Southwest on March 18 in Austin, Texas. The 11-stop tour celebrates the release of their four-song EP Warpig, available March 24 via digital download and on cassette tape. Yes, you read correctly. Cassette. Too bad my dearly departed 2000 Pontiac Grand Am now rusting at a Tri-State scrap yard is my closest existing link to a cassette player. Setlist: - Girls Like Wine - Cut You Loose - interview - - Sunken Ship - Ghost on a Tap

Brooklyn-based singer Anna Wise earned a Grammy in February 2016 for best rap/sung collaboration for the ethereal vocals she lent to rapper Kendrick Lamar’s “These Walls.” Lamar scooped Wise up as a collaborator on several of his albums after listening to "Nursery Boys" from Wise's duo Sonnymoon on YouTube. In the most professional use of Facebook stalking skills I’ve ever witnessed, Billboard reports Lamar asked around until he discovered her phone number. Wise and her bandmate Dane Orr were on the road when he reached out, but they immediately detoured to California to spend some time in the studio with Lamar. Wise blazed her path as a solo artist with the April 2016 release of her seven-song EP “The Feminine: Act I,” followed up by the 11-track “The Feminine: Act II” out Feb. 17. Both records delve into the everyday challenges of being female (of which I won't pretend to be an expert as a male). "B--chslut" from Act I presents the infuriatingly contradictory reasons women are called either epithet, ranging from "cause you said no/ cause you slept around" to "cause you played games/ cause you lost your head." Act II opens with "Coconuts," an otherworldly, synth-heavy track calling for female unity and trashing the arbitrary rules of womanhood. "The governors of status quo know that they're old/ That ship is sinking/ Go for it. You know when we're together/ Baby, there's nothing that we can't do/ So ignore the disapproval," Wise croons. Her Queen City visit comes courtesy of local sitar- and synth-infused folk duo Dawg Yawp, whose friendship with her stems from their days at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Sitarist and vocalist Tyler Randall toured with Sonnymoon and says he’s excited for Cincinnati to see Wise perform since she is “the best singer I’ve worked with.” Set List: - Coconuts - Self on Fire - interview - - Precious Possession - BitchSlut Find out more about Anna Wise at http://www.annathewise.com

Folk pop songwriter Tristen performs some new songs from her forthcoming album and chats about poetry and funding her latest album through Kickstarter. Tristen broke her drought of new music with the December release of her seasonally appropriate single “In Winter Blues.” Right in tune with the holiday spirit, Tristen devoted all proceeds from the baleful, piano-driven tune to benefit the International Rescue Commission. Founded by Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC responds to humanitarian crises and delivers healthcare and support to people fleeing conflict and natural disaster. While the hauntingly beautiful song doesn’t explicitly mention the Syrian refugee crisis, her Bandcamp page does. Lyrics like “Crazy arms longing to hold you/ To bring you back where you belong” that could signal unrequited love require no large leap of the imagination to also conjure images of Syria's turmoil and other countries embroiled in crisis. Between touring with singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis and southern rockers The Weeks over the past two years, Tristen found time to pen an 18-poem volume titled "Saturnine" that delves into a “dystopian world where apathy uncovers empathy” and “the heart speaks kindness through the ugliness sometimes.” For more visit wcpo.com/loungeacts

There are one-man bands that are known for making a holy ruckus all on their own. And then there's Banners' Michael Joseph Nelson. Instead of trying to cram as much sound and fury into a track as possible with just his own musical know-how, the Liverpool, England-native singer/songwriter opts for the opposite: dreamy, airy arrangements anchored around his haunting falsetto and lyrics that aims to soothe the soul.

Since leaving the Cincinnati area a decade ago to live in the music mecca of Austin, Texas, Erika Wennerstrom has released four critically acclaimed albums with her band, including last year's Restless Ones. The group's signature mix of high energy rock and Wennerstrom's wailing, urgent vocals have made them one of today's most riveting live acts. But for this WCPO Lounge Acts session, Wennerstrom stripped it down to play three unreleased tracks that laid bare her emotions in a whole new way, digging into what she called her odes to "self love" and the search for, as she sings in the striking "Extraordinary Love," a place to call home."

Dawg Yawp perform a set from their debut album in the WCPO Lounge and chat with host Austin Fast about their unusual instruments and journey to becoming band.

Whether you call him an educator, activist or poet, Malcolm London has left his mark on projects all over his native Chicago since first winning the Louder Than A Bomb poetry slam contest as a high school senior in 2011. Add an official album debut to that list of accomplishments. London’s 12-track debut album features guest spots by Vic Mensa, Jamila Woods, Donnie Trumpet, How to Dress Well, Cam O’bi and more.

The music of Philadelphia's Beach Slang alludes to a feeling of youth and vulnerability. Sounding equal parts punk and pop, their similarity to artists such as The Replacements can't be denied, but they're fully rooted in the present. Now Beach Slang find themselves at a crossroads. Shortly after drummer JP Flexner left the band, guitarist Ruben Gallego was fired amid controversy. Committed to carrying on, frontman James Alex has embarked on a tour supporting "A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings" performing by himself. Recently Alex told fans on Facebook "If you come to a show, know that it's going to be just me, my electric guitar and my amplifier—loud and loose and unyielding."

Self-described "Cincinnati lush punk" trio Leggy have quickly honed in on a punky, garage-rock sound inspired by post-2000 bands such as the Vines, Strokes, Interpol and Death Cab For Cutie and collected their angsty anthems on a string of EPs, culminating with May 2016's release of their self-titled debut full-length, a compilation of their three previous releases.

Long Island, New York rock duo The Glazzies break the seal. Singer/guitarist Peter Landi and drummer Dave Horn swung by WCPO's Digital Lounge on Thursday for the first-ever broadcast of the brand new WCPO Lounge Acts podcast. The duo performed live in the Lounge and chatted with Lounge Acts host Gil Kaufman (Billboard, MTV News).