Cincinnati’s Midpoint Music Festival is awesome. For 2011, the organization got their shit together and observed what works and what doesn’t with multi-venue urban festivals like CMJ and SXSW, while also making the three-day festival a uniquely Queen City venture. As opposed to past years, Midpoint condensed their territory to strictly the Central Avenue and 12th corridor between downtown and Over The Rhine. No venue was more than a 10 minute walk from MPMF’s epicenter – the Midpoint Midway, packed with visual artists, installations, delicious grub solutions, and a giant Connect Four game. This meant that non-venue spaces – art galleries, school amphitheaters, and usually underused spaces became concert halls, to usually pretty cool results. Additionally, while MPMF offered a diverse and packed lineup, at no point did anything feel overwhelming. You could catch some shows, then hang out for a bit and take it the sights and sounds without the mad rush of SXSW’s event over-saturation.  It that sense, it felt like a perfectly-sized, perfectly executed music festival. And judging from Friday and Saturday’s sold out showcases, it looks like the tenth MPMF was a great success. I’ll be returning next year undoubtedly.

Additionally, tweets tagged with #mpmf were projected in real time inside venues and on the sides of buildings. Obviously Bloggins had to have a little fun with that, pictured above. I actually have nothing against Vitamin Water. Some artist photos after the jump.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra in the live setting is proof that hypnagogic pop could use an injection of classical training. Rubin’s technical prowess is unfuckwithable.
Deerhoof with Cheyenne Marie Mize and a giant Biore advertisement (where art meets commerce and blackheads meet their doom). Cheyenne’s full electric folk versatility was on display, while Deerhoof offered unbridled energy and the shortest person I’ve ever seen that I would never cross.
Each Note Secure’s day party at the Hanke Building was packed with friends and volume, with both Total Babes and Louisville’s Nerves Junior testing the building’s structural integrity.
I wasn’t feeling Washed Out. Dude rode that disco tip too hard for my taste, but it’s still nice to see bedroom meditations realized as a full band. Grammers is a cool venue.Bachelorette, duh. Anabelle Alpers is tops.