Seedy Seeds Show, Goodbye Southgate House!

This past Thursday, the Seedy Seeds delivered a wonderful performance at the Southgate House in Newport, Ky. The Seedy Seeds are a fun folky/electronic band from Cincinnati. With a mixture of drums, banjo, acoustic guitar and recorded beats, they put on a show that makes you want to jump and dance. They played a good amount of my favorites including "My Roots Go Down" and "Oh, Cincinnati." Click here to view Metromix Cincinnati's photos of the show. There are some good ones in there.

The Southgate House is closing after their last hurrah tonight. The Southgate House is an old mansion turned bar and concert venue in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. For Cincinnati music fans, the Southgate House is a mainstay, a staple. I've seen many good shows in the parlor and the ballroom of this amazing venue. And I know I won't be alone in saying that I'll miss the Southgate House. So thank you for all that you've given to the amazing and vibrant music community of Cincinnati!

Upcoming Tour Dates for the Seedy Seeds:

• 1/19, Dayton, Ohio, South Park Tavern, 1301 Wayne Ave. 9 p.m.
• 1/22, Chicago, IL, Reggie's Music Joint, 2105 South State St. 7 p.m.
• 1/25, Columbus, Ohio, The Summit, 2210 Summit St.

Los Campesinos

I think I have been a bit late on this one....by about three months. I am blaming a very disappointing second album for my tardiness.

Back in 2007 I absolutely loved Los Campesinos!, my favourite single of 07 was a tie between their 'You! Me! Dancing!' and Mumm-Ra's 'She's Got You High'.

Then in 2008 they released their debut album 'Hold On Now, Youngster...' and EEP 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' both of which I adored. Their second album proper 'Romance is Boring' seemed to fall flat though, it felt a bit, well, bland, shouty, devoid of any heart. That was what I kind of loved about them, there seemed to be soul and fun and tune in their tales of hearbreak, rather than just being depressing.
They fell off my radar, that was until recently when for some reason I thought I'd see if they had anything new out, onto Spotify and boom! Third album. I thought I'd give it a try.
Surprisingly, and happily 'Hello Sadness' is a return to form and harks back to their early songs, full of life and poppy riffs, but with tales of sorrow and sadness. It's a more developed sound, less frantic and, well, if you were talking about a person, I guess you'd say 'they've become a more rounded individual'.

Since finding the album 4 weeks ago, I think I've listened to it pretty much every day, it's certainly making my top 5 for 2011 list, and the lead single, 'By Your Hand' is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite single of the year. The chorus does sound a bit like they've been listening to a lot of Passion Pit, but that's not a bad thing ,not at all.

Heartless Bastards Announces Tour Dates

With new tour dates, and a new record entitled Arrow and set to come out February 14, 2012, there's a lot going on with the Heartless Bastards. Click here to hear "Parted Ways," their first single off Arrow. If you'd like to listen for free, go to their Soundcloud page here. The song felt in some ways like a trip back to the 70's. Although it also has indie-rock tones and influences, reminding me that yes, it is indeed 2011. I enjoy Erika Wennerstrom's voice. Some bands have a strong, unique and memorable lead singer and I'd have to include the Heartless Bastards on this list of strong and memorable lead singers (others on the list include Band of Horses, The National, among others).

Upcoming tour dates:

February 7 Little Rock, AR Juanitas 8 St. Louis, MO Firebird 9 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall 10 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry 11 Madison, WI High Noon 13 Louisville, KY Headliners 14 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall 16 Columbus, OH The Basement 17 Cincinnati, OH The Madison Theatre 18 Indianapolis, IN Radio Radio 19 Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe 20 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern 23 Boston, MA Middle East - Downstairs 24 New York, NY Webster Hall 25 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 27 Baltimore, MD Otto Bar 29 Charlottesville, VA The Southern March 1 Chapel Hill, NC Cat's Cradle 2 Atlanta, GA The Earl 3 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge 6 Birmingham, AL Bottletree 8 Fayetteville, AR George's Majestic 9 Fort Worth, TX Lola's 10 Houston, TX Warehouse Live

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