Let's pause for a moment about my Cincinnati shenanigans and talk about songs. Specific songs tied to specific places. I never had a Chicago song, but I did have a bevy of songs that represented perfectly my mental state at certain moments in time (as you may have noted by a certain mix). If I had to sum up Chicago in one of them, it would be fun.'s "Be Calm". Melodramatic? Sure. But apt, nonetheless. From the opening lines ("As I walked through the streets of my new city...") to the Broadway-esque chorus (featuring such affecting lines as "You hate your pulse because it still thinks your alive."), "Be Calm" was a snapshot of feeling alone in an unfamiliar place and that, to me, is Chicago in a nutshell. A poppy, catchy, fantastic, 3 minute nutshell.
Cincinnati, within weeks, already had a song. It has a lot of them but one, in particular, has struck quite the chord with me. At least for now.
The National is a band I never quite fell in love with in the way many of peers did. For vast amounts of National love, check out any number of Blisslist's National themed posts. Cincinnati, as the National's original home, has an incredible ammount of love for the band and the Hot Half Life Headquarters is currently stationed right in the thick of it.
Namely, the Hot Half Life HQ is currently living in a household where "Mr. November" is the unofficial theme song.
Fittingly, the song begun to get play shortly after November began and while that month's drawn to a close, the fact that every single person in HHHQ seems to relate thoroughly to it's sentiments has kept the song a favorite. I, in fact, twittered about missing my roommate while at the bar last night when the song came on.
To me, the song is a picture of transitioning from being a pretty shitty psuedo-adult to a fairly competent actual adult. Sure, it's a little bittersweet but that's growing up for you. I do wish that I believed in fate (For the record, I think I don't.) and I did used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders. Not literally, of course, although that would have been pretty boss but rather in the sense that as an adolescent, I showed so much potential that maybe I'm not necessarily living up to now. But I'm doing the best I can. And that counts for something.
Interviewing Sara Lov was interesting for a couple of reasons. First off, I had never interviewed a female musician before. It might just be because the majority of music I listen to is made by men. That's not a conscious decision on my part - It just seems that for whatever reason, the music that strikes a proverbial chord with me is written by fellas and I'm lucky enough to almost exclusively interview bands I am a fan of. That doesn't leave a lot of room for me to interview ladies. Also, I'd never interviewed anyone who had been kidnapped before. Nor to my knowledge had I ever interviewed anyone who had a parent that committed suicide.
Sara Lov, interestingly enough, was kidnapped. And not only was she kidnapped but she was kidnapped by her father who later committed suicide. Obviously, Sara is also a lady, making all the things I listed above suddenly pertinent.
Stories of parental issues tug at my heartstrings, especially when the tales involve a dead dad, but somewhat strangely, it was probably Sara's gender that had me the most nervous about the interview. To say I'm most comfortable around the opposite sex is an understatement. I would go so far as to say that girls make me feel occasionally uneasy. Plus, the fact that I can't flirt my way to a good interview is unsettling to me (Well, there's my big secret to a successful interview, folks). Within ten minutes of talking to Sara, however, I discovered she was as lovely as her music is. Plus, anyone who delivers a stellar cover of an Arcade Fire song is alright by me.
My interview with Sara Lov is live at TRACER now, and being reminded of it has put me in a very Sara Lov mood for the time being. She calls her songs simple and sad with a shot of scotch and I can't think of a more apt way to describe her sound. After a kidnapping and a dead dad, Sara Lov has everything in the world to be sad about but her music isn't depressing per se - It's more about the overwhelming sense of longing that creeps up from time to time when you realize life isn't always how you imagined it being.
While "Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming" is the track off Sara's debut that's received the most play in Hot Half Life HQ, it's her song "Animals" that first drew me to her. I'll admit that the reason I checked her out was not my own doing - In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Sea Wolf's Alex Brown Church guests on the song, I'm sure Sara's cd would have sat on my ever-growing pile of "discs to listen to eventually" for a lot longer than it did. But who am I to resist the call of a Dangerbird Records artist? I came for the Sea Wolf but I stayed with the album due to the intricate lyrics, the gorgeous guitar, and the dreamy, vaguely sad sensation that the music left me with. Like I said - Sara Lov is full of longing and at the time when I first heard her album, so was I.
"Animals" is a special song. It's so special that it almost makes me want to date a boy, fall madly in love, have it all gone horrifically bad, and be left heartbroken just so I can make a mix cd that sums up my relationship with said fictional boy and include this song as the centerpiece.
(Note: It has crossed my mind that Sara Lov and I would make a ridiculously cute lesbian couple if only for the fact that we could both hyphenate our last names to 'Valentine-Lov'.)
What's a Friday night without a good old fashioned rock concert? Granted, rocking knows not a weekend from a weekday and I've seen my fair share of memorable Tuesday night shows but there's something about Friday that awakens my inner dancing queen, whether or not Abba is included in my "Fuck yeah, weekend!" playlist. So when I found out local fellas Koala Fires would be less than a mile away from Casa De Amber, playing with Charlie Hustle for their video premier party, it wasn't a question of if I would be there but rather a question of how soon 9 p.m. would come.
Having procured myself a copy of Koala Fire's forthcoming debut, I was already familiar with their music and everyone knows a concert is all the better when you can sing along. Delivering a more raw sound than their LP, Koala Fires busted through a solid set at downtown Cincinnati's Mainstay Rock Bar that included some of my personal favorites off of The Beeping in Our Hearts, which comes out in just a couple short months. The guys laid back appearance and darkly catchy indie rock make the band seem like guys I'd love to hang out with. The fact that they're my new neighbors just make them all the cooler to me, giving me a sense of pride and community when they got on stage.
I'm adding Koala Fires to the growing list of Cincinnati acts I desperately want to see succeed and I'm sure that after the band's January cd release, they'll start making waves (Daytrotter session, anyone?) because despite the fact that part of the reason I may love them is because I've transplanted myself to their city doesn't by any means mean that their appeal is strictly local. Ideally, Koala Fires would fit beautifully on a bill with the significantly sunnier but just as wonderful Miniature Tigers (toss some Young Coyotes or Dear and the Headlights on the prospective tour and you've got yourself an all-animal themed zoo tour!), bringing their sound to a more national audience, giving them some of the attention they deserve.
I hadn't a clue who headliners Charlie Hustle was until their video, "Toiler", began to play and while my memories of the band's sound may be slightly skewed from Mainstay's cheap tallboys of PBR and excessively strong mixed drinks, I stand by my slightly fuzzy surmised opinion that Charlie Hustle is awesome.
Lead singer Tyler Kottman (who may or may not bear a striking resemblance to fun. front man Nate Ruess) lead the band through a rambunctious set before taking a break, only to return to the stage and perform a set of covers including some Racounteurs ("Steady As She Goes"), Strokes ("Hard To Explain") and the always fantastic "Hang Me Up To Dry" by the Cold War Kids. Like I said, concerts are always b etter when you can sing along to the songs and hearing seminal hipster favorites like that one MGMT song everyone knows just endeared Charlie Hustle to me all the more. Exactly how much did I like Charlie Hustle? Well, I'm actually glad to not be going home for Thanksgiving so I can hit up the band's set at Bootsy's on the 25th from 9 'till 11. Which, naturally, means The Hot Half Life's presence will be graced by the presence of these Charlie Hustle fellows a lot more in the future.
The biggest and best adjustment I've had to make moving to Cincinnati has been the local scene. It's no secret that when I moved to Chicago, the one thing I was most looking forward to was a great base of local talent, bands on the verge so to speak. I soon learned that while Chicago has a ton of big name bands traveling through, sweet Chicago based bands were few and far between. That isn't to say there weren't any, of course. Currently recording their debut full length, Chicago boys Archie Powell and the Exports are friends of the Hot Half Life for, well, life but instead of finding myself in the midst of a booming rock scene in that "windy city", I found myself consumed by the press releases of dozens of touring bands and little else.
Cincinnati, however, seems to have a bit of the opposite going on. The amount of bands visiting places like the Southgate House pales in comparison to the acts that hit Schubas, Lincoln Hall and the Empty Bottle on a nightly basis but the local scene here is off the proverbial hook. Coming in, I was already on quite good terms with those Bad Veins fellows and knew that bands like the Pomegranates and the Seedy Seeds called this "queen city" their home but upon my arrival, it was apparent that the Cincinnati scene blows Chicago out of the water. (Yes, I expect to be e-crucified for that statement but I stand by my words. Bring on your nails and cross, Chicago.)
The short list of awesome local bands is something I fully intend on exploring further here so I won't bog you down with a list of my top five favorite Cincinnati acts... Yet. Instead, I'm just going to shed some light on a band I've taken quite a shine to recently, You, You're Awesome.
Rocking one of the coolest band names around, You, You're Awesome is a duo comprised of Yusuf and Kevin, two guys that took CMJ by storm this year, named one of 25 bands to see by Spin. Combining live drums, electronic audio and some sweet graphics, You, You're Awesome's live set is something I've yet to experience but from what I've heard, it's quite the sight. Plus, as made obvious by the band's press photo, the guys obviously have a sense of humor. Catchy and fun, to say that You, You're Awesome has been a refreshing break from the lo fi acoustic music I've been rocking this fall is an understatement to say the least. And the fact that they're local just makes me want to support them even more.
Heads up to Cinci residents: You, You're Awesome will be releasing their third ep and playing the Northside Tavern on December 18th. Better still? It's free. So mark your calendars and count the days. First, however, dig "Don't Jump, I Brought Pancakes" off the band's debut EP, You're My Superhero, featuring some guest vocals from Bad Vein's Benjamin Davis.
I discovered Ola Podrida the way alot of folks did- Through his work on Okkervil River's Stand In's project, a youtube experiment that blew up the blogosphere the summer before last when Okkervil River got some of their most prestigious friends and tour mates to cover their most recent album track by track. Bon Iver's "Blue Tulip" took most of the attention, as did Will Sheff's duet with AC Newman on Lost Coastlines, but one of my personal favorites was Ola Podrida's take on Calling and Not Calling My Ex. I would even go so far as to say that Podrida's version of the song eclipses Okkervil River's original and if you know me, you know that's saying quite a bit. Not to sound like a mega-creep but I may or may not describe handsome men as "Sheffian".
I wasted no time after discovering Podrida's existence, delving into his album and memorizing a vast majority of the gorgeous, understated songs so when it was announced over the summer that Podrida would be returning with a new album in November, I did all but start counting down the days, anxiously checking and rechecking my e-mail for an advance copy of the album as the release date steadily approached.
Sure enough, when I finally received Belly of the Lion, I was not disappointed.
While the melodies do occasionally border on unremarkable (Album opener "The Closest We Will Ever Be" could, musically, be anyone from M. Ward to AA Bondy and while that isn't a bad thing, it doesn't do much to have the song stick in your head, either), Podrida's atypically beautiful voice and meticulous lyrics make the album interesting enough to join the ranks of Timber Timbre as part of the Hot Half Life's Autumn Soundtrack Collective. Ola Podrida - Lakes of Wine
There's something about autumn that puts me in a folk noir mode and Podrida fits the bill perfectly. While the album only has a few immediate stand outs, the longer you live with Podrida's sophomore effort, the more it takes hold of you. From the precious sentiments and the charming melody of "Sink or Swim" to the interestingly romantic lo fi "Lakes Of Wine", the more you listen to Belly of the Lion, the more it reveals itself to you.
Hopefully, before long Podrida will hit the road and make his way to the Midwest for an interview with yours truly. Until then, repeated listenings of Belly of the Lion are in order.
My name is Amber and I'm a girl who writes about music. I also write for TRACER Magazine and contribute to Radio Free Chicago. I like to eat unwiches, drink coffee and dance. What do you like to do?
The National is a band I never quite fell in love with in the way many of peers did. For vast amounts of National love, check out any number of Blisslist's National themed posts. Cincinnati, as the National's original home, has an incredible ammount of love for the band and the Hot Half Life Headquarters is currently stationed right in the thick of it.
