Royal Rockers Visit Covington

For those of you in the Cincinnati/Covington area tonight, The Black Keys are blowing through the Madison Theater. The show is sold out, but hanging around restlessly outside for a few hours for a glimpse of the Ohio natives could score you a visual of the Keys, or maybe even Knoxville based band The Royal Bangs, who are scheduled to open for them.

The Royal Bangs are gearing up for a woxy lounge act as I type, and boy do they rock! Really. Experimentation with electronics- and one killer vibe-sensitive, light up bass drum devised by singer Ryan Schaefer- over garage rock riffs and Schaefer's smooth, power vocals will certainly set the tone for a Black Keys performance, but are also worth checking out all on their own. The band rereleased their 2006 album We Breed Champions this year on Keys' Pat Carney's label Audio Eagle Records. Hopefully, we'll hear more from them soon- keep an eye on 'em!

Annual Bears

Chris Vineyard of Big Hassle Media was nice enough to pass the new Minus the Bear Acoustics EP on to me this week. The EP features six songs off of several previous albums and one new track called Guns and Anmo which you can download for free here. This slowed down set has more warmth than MTB's typical experimental electronics and will of course lend itself to more intimate settings. I still love the original Pachuca Sunrise off of Menos el Oso released in '05.



Minus the Bear kicks off another tour tomorrow, Oct. 8th, and a list of dates and cities can be found here. They're touring with a band called Annuals, who COINCIDENTALLY are also releasing a second album today called Such Fun. The song Brother off of their debut album Be He Me is definitely worth a listen if you aren't familiar with the band and can be found here. Side note: these guys have visited here in Cincinnati before and met up with the woxy boys for a lounge act-

	Annuals - WOXY.com Lounge Act
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Like whatchya hear? These two bands just might be coming to a city near you!

Sound Garden

Two posts in and I've fallen off of the blogging wagon already! It's been a busy week for sure; not just for me, but for Department of Eagles as well. Today marks the release of In Ear Park, the long awaited album from Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) and Fred Nicolaus. This gruesome twosome began working together in 2000, but work was interrupted when Rossen joined Grizzly Bear in '03. FORTUNATELY for all of us, the NYU roomies are back with a sparkly new record. Feeling a little noisy? Check out No One Does It Like You. Feeling melancholy? Phantom Other is a nice listen, but most of the album has that far off feel, as it's dedicated to Rossen's deceased father.

School of the Secret Machines

Welcome to a little blog I like to call An Apple a Day....! A first post seems to be in order, so here we are. Well, things sure have been HAPPENING here in Cincinnati recently- Midpoint Music Festival occurred in the downtown area last weekend and things seemed to go over really well this year. A lot of exciting musical performances were held and I was lucky enough to catch The Flux Capacitors, several bands on the Lujo record label, Toads and Mice, The Koala Fires, and The Lions Rampant to name a few. The Scion street cars were certainly a nice idea and word on the street is that Bootsy Collins was hamming it up at the secret Radio 4 show....only in Cincinnati..

*Side note- this is Bootsy's latest project, done for the Cincinnati Bengals:


The self-titled third album from The Secret Machines, which leaked in mid-September, has made its way into my hands. It's still space rock and it's worth a listen. Check out the single 'Atomic Heels' here. Though Benjamin Curtis left the band in March of 2007, I was happy to learn that he has been working on a new collaborative project with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza from On! Air! Library!. The new band is called School of Seven Bells and it's beautiful. You can listen to their single 'Half Asleep' from their album out on Oct. 28th here. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy!