I didn’t know very much about Seabird before shooting these videos. I knew I loved the poster for the show that I would be shooting, and I was excited to be aboard the Belle of Cincinnati Riverboat, but didn’t really know what to expect. It’s pretty obvious why these guys are signed to a major label. They write catchy and pretty songs with sing-a-long choruses, well documented by the number of fans that were singing along to nearly all of their songs.

Like the last Wussy videos, here’s 3 songs from this nights performance. HD videos can be found either at Vimeo (linked directly underneath the embedded videos) or below next to the iPod downloads.

Seabird - Falling For You from Soft City Lights on Vimeo.

Seabird - ‘Til We See The Shore from Soft City Lights on Vimeo.

Download Video:

LET ME GO ON
HD 720p (1280×720 167mb) | Medium (640×360 21mb) | iPod (240×120 21mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube
FALLING FOR YOU
HD 720p (1280×720 160mb) | Medium (640×360 21mb) | iPod (240×120 12mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube
‘TIL WE SEE THE SHORE
HD 720p (1280×720 156mb) | Medium (640×360 29mb) | iPod (240×120 26mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube

I had shot these videos a little while back when Wussy and The Turnbull ACs had opened for Okkervil River at The Mad Hatter in Covington. It was a day chock full of shooting, but was happy to do it since it was three bands that I love. I had sort of forgot about the footage with so much going on right now, and while packing for a move, The Ass Pony’s came up on random and reminded me about it. Something sparked and I finished these in about 3 days.

Chuck Cleaver does such a great job of getting a midwestern feel in his songs. With Wussy, that feeling is even amplified with Lisa Walker sharing the lead duties. Somehow, you can almost feel the cicadas and humidity in the summer (like right now) or the dirty snow lining streets in the winter right there in the music.

The following two videos round out the trifecta of Wussy songs that I chose to edit down, mainly based on the fact that I love these ones so much. Included is a new one, that I expect might be on the next one they’ll be starting to record sometime soon.

Soft City Lights presents Wussy: Yellow Cotton Dress from Soft City Lights on Vimeo.

Wussy: Death By Misadventure from Soft City Lights on Vimeo.

Side note: I wanted to put the QuickTime videos in here but ran out of time, so I embedded the Vimeo. Click the link below the videos to view the true HD versions. They only allow embeds up to 400px and I size them up to 640 for aesthetics but they come out pixelated. Or download it below.

06/20/08 *The iPod links were wrong before, they should be fixed now*

Download Video:

SOAK IT UP
HD 720p (1280×720 94mb) | Medium (640×360 43mb) | iPod (240×120 16mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube
YELLOW COTTON DRESS
HD 720p (1280×720 111mb) | Medium (640×360 51mb) | iPod (240×120 19mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube
DEATH BY MISADVENTURE
HD 720p (1280×720 118mb) | Medium (640×360 53mb) | iPod (240×120 20mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube

Full disclosure: I’ve known the guys in The Host for around 7 or 8 years now. I became friends with them back when they were in bands called Levelnine and Dropshadow, which was probably some of my first introductions with the local scene in Cincinnati. It killed me when I knew their bands dissolved because of how talented they were. When I first heard some of this new stuff, I couldn’t believe how much the sound had matured. There’s something about the dark, brooding, epic sounds that they create that quite literally give me chills sometimes.

If you, reader, are in the Cincinnati area, I hope this video might convince you to go out and see them live. They have a release party on May 17 at The Madison Theater for their latest EP Transmit. This video features 3 songs from each dual EP that they’ve released, Receive and Transmit.

I’d also like to recognize and thank Andy Nick (nickad.com) for creating the titles at the beginning of this piece.

Download Video:

HD 720p (1280×720 248mb) | Medium (640×360 112mb) | iPod (240×120 35mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube

I realized before heading down to WOXY last Thursday that Okkervil River is the only band that I own all of their albums not only on CD, but also on vinyl. So needless to say, I was pretty excited about going into the studio to shoot this. If you were listening, you know that the lounge act was wonderful, especially one of my favorites, A King and A Queen.

There’s something that really freaks me out about meeting the people that create the music that I love so much. And in the past year, I’ve met and hung out with some of my favorites; Augie March, Frightened Rabbit and Okkervil River, among others. Thankfully, none of the experiences of meeting them have ruined the music, which has happened to me before.

As great as the lounge act was, it wasn’t until later that night at the Mad Hatter, when they started playing So Come Back, I Am Waiting, that I remembered why I went back and re-bought all of those albums on vinyl. From that moment on, I was able to step away from having met and filmed them earlier in the day and just enjoy it.

Download Video:

For now, if you are vimeo member, you can download the video in quicktime here:
Vimeo HD
Any user can view it in HD there.

While we finish up the last couple of WOXY SXSW lounge sessions, I figured I’d post one of my favorites to witness and edit. This is Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit, a band I got unhealthily obsessed with at the turn of the year. Here they perform the single off their newest album, The Midnight Organ Fight, which was released April 15th. While it’s still early, it’s the best album I’ve heard so far this year.

There’s a wealth of material I’ve been shooting recently in Cincinnati that I’m trying to edit as quick as I can to get online. These projects keep amassing and I’m starting to struggle with keeping up. Not only do I have this side project outside of work, but I’ve also started a musical project called You, You’re Awesome, among numerous other projects creeping up. Keep your eyes ahead.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT website

Download Video:

For now, if you are vimeo member, you can download the video in quicktime here:
Vimeo HD
Any user can view it in HD there.

The first of many videos from the WOXY SXSW 2008 sessions shot at EAR Studios in Austin, TX are now being posted at the WOXY blog, The Futurist. The two posted so far are Zykos and The Kills. Keep an eye on The Futurist for postings and there will be a few other ones that I will be writing about here, but for now, enjoy these.

I’m also pleased to announce that Soft City Lights (err, me) is now a member of THE PROJECTMILL. More to come on this later, but I’m really excited about it. I joined forces with them to create all of these WOXY SXSW videos. Our crew was Mandy Levy, Joshua Mattie, Pete Ohs and myself.

THE KILLS website

Download Video:

For now, if you are vimeo member, you can download the video in quicktime here:
Vimeo HD
Any user can view it in HD there.

OK, back to Cincinnati bands finally. Here we have The Lions Rampant, a rambunctious Northern Kentucky quartet I had the pleasure of shooting a few weeks ago in Dayton, OH. They were playing with friends The Northwest Ordinance who were hosting a CD release party (which you should check out). The night turned into quite a crazy spectacle and I was really impressed with the turnout and enthusiasm from the City of Dayton. Dayton brought it. The bands brought it. & I got really drunk.

The Lions Rampant are:

• Stuart MacKenzie
• Nate Wagner
• Ross Dolan
• Nick Vogelpohl

I decided to make this a quick one song video as a document of that show and performance. I hope there will be more of these type of things while I work on some of the longer profiles that simply just take more time to shoot and edit. Heading to SXSW this weekend with some talented friends and I expect you’ll see some special things in the next couple of weeks.

– Kevin Bayer

Download Video:

HD 720p (1280×720 75mb) | Medium (640×360 39mb) | iPod (240×120 14mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube

It’s been tough sitting on this video for a couple of weeks, but I’m glad to finally make it live. Ra Ra Riot is an insanely talented young band who performed for a small audience on a cold winter night at the WOXY studios. There is a ton of extra footage that didn’t make this video, including a charming tour story from Ali and Rebecca about their recent Canada misadventures. There’s not much else I can say about this band that hasn’t been said before, so I’m not going to reduce to nonsense this time… how I have a friend nicknamed La, how Cameron is taking over the drums wonderfully, how i think they deserve to go places, etc, etc. I won’t do that to you. Just watch and listen.

– Kevin Bayer

Download Video:

HD 720p (1280×720 173mb) | Medium (640×360 89mb) | iPod (240×120 33mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube

While this video may not focus on a Cincinnati subject, it’s roots are buried deep in the Cincinnati culture. If you’ve never heard of WOXY before, well, let me introduce you to, arguably, the best online radio station in the world. Yes, they are based here in Cincinnati. They’ve had a long history with a lot of ups and downs and I won’t get into that here, but let me at least say how much of an impact they’ve had on me personally. They’ve introduced me to not only some of the greatest people that I know, but also some of my favorite bands, as far reaching from Cincinnati to Australia. They allowed me a visit to record the Philadelphia by way of Washington DC group Jukebox the Ghost on January 10, 2008 when the visited the WOXY lounge. I left work not really knowing what to expect to happen and I think the results speak for themselves. Not only were the WOXY guys more than cordial, but Jukebox the Ghost were some of the kindest musicians I’ve ever met. It was weird filming it, since I wasn’t wearing headphones to listen to it live, that when I imported the footage and matched the audio recorded by Brian Niesz, how much it absolutely blew me away even more than the EP of theirs I had heard. It made it really easy to piece together which clips I wanted to use. I hope to make these a regular collection of the Soft City Lights programming, and like I said, it may not be necessarily Cincinnati bands, but it’s a huge part of what makes this city tick. And anyone who’s lived through the radio stations various deaths and reincarnations, knows exactly what I’m talking about

– Kevin Bayer

Download Video:

HD 720p (1280×720 180mb) | iPod (240×120 23mb) | Vimeo HD

The snow is changing to rain and back again in Cincinnati, OH. Every window gleams white and cold. And every year on the first snow it brings back these feelings of nostalgia and loss. It’s a perfect moment to listen to Bad Veins. Maybe because hidden within the sounds of old, scratched vinyl, there’s an element of comfort in the honest lyrics, that can be self-aware enough to admit that you are completely and utterly believing in the lie. And though it sounds modern, it still sounds as if its continuing a story that left off in the 1960’s. That even though it’s moving forward, it’s still very much connected to the past. And maybe that’s where some of the comfort lies. Timeless music has a way of transcending the ordinary, dull moments of our lives. And as Steve Earle brilliantly pointed out, most people avoid “transcendence at all costs, mainly because the shit hurts.” But if you stick with the journey long enough, you start growing because of it. This capsule of moments from spending time with Ben and Sebastien will hopefully give you a glimpse of what and why they are making the music that they are making. The songs they are creating are big and grand and from the unreleased tracks I was granted to hear, I truly believe they’ll be going to bigger and grander places. Affecting and transcending the lot of us along the way.

– Kevin Bayer

Download Video:

HD 720p (1280×720 169mb) | Medium (640×320 80mb) | iPod (240×120 35mb) | Vimeo HD | YouTube