The scatterbrained, deconstructionist folk-rock created by Ohtis is a study in contrasts. Crisp, serene strings and soothing vocal melodies flank intense layers of instrumentation and harmony, like a more deliberate and less overdriven Neutral Milk Hotel, or Frank Zappa with a little bit longer attention span. The songs on the Normal, Illinois, band's album, If This Country Had a Heart, That's Where I Was Born, display a rare combination of concise premeditation and occasional madness. -Shae Moseley of St. Louis's Riverfront Times Ohtis' Website [...]
OHTIS Response to my interview: ZME Music, a blog I know nothing about but am told is "very popular," interviewed Seaby and I (Adam). They posted it at http://www.zmemusic.com/fe ature/interviews/ohtis-int erview/ Before you read, be forewarned that this interview is hilariously flawed in many ways. While Mary Kate was a [...]
http://myspace.com/ohtis http://ohtis.com OHTIS ia pop/folk band from Bloomington, Illinois which includes band members Adam Pressley, Sam Swinson, Nate Hahn, Seaby Bess, Jim Coleman/Zane Ranney. They are currently unsigned but managed by undertow music. They have two albums that they released themselves: If this country had a heart that's where I was born and Saving the Planet. Their new album, If my country had a heart that was where i was born , has received press from Daytrotter which I thought was pretty sweet. I [...]
Thanks to the miracles of technology and ThaBombShelter's own Man In The Field, THE Dave Hanson , brings us the second half of his SXSW Report: Deertick : Big crowd. Soft mellow folky vibe that could use a little deodorant. See again? No. The Rosebuds : Friendly North Carolina three-piece husband-wife band doing jangly, smart songs. See again? Yes. Crowd talked them into "one more," to the ire of: mp3: "I Better Run" The Rosebuds [...]
After spending two years at ISU , it's just my luck that the first half-decent indie show that comes around, is the year after I leave. Thankfully, Bloomington/Normal is less than an hour drive away from me, and it was pretty fun heading over to my old stomping grounds, the Coffeehouse (I used to do much of my studying here) to catch up with some friends and see one of my favorite indie pop bands, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelstin . From the big crowd that showed up it's a wonder more bands don't come around here [...]
Here are the photos and videos from the SSLYBY/Ohtis show on Monday. Enjoy! Ohtis SSLYBY [...]
As some of you may have seen on my Twitter feed, this concert started out decidedly bad, through no fault of the bands involved. You see, my friends and I showed up just before 9PM Monday evening (this after coming by just before 8PM and finding out that the show was actually supposed to start at 9, a simple, yet important detail which no one employed at the Coffeehouse seemed to be aware of) and we quickly took a seat mere feet away from the stage at the rear of the shop. We sat, we drank Diet Cokes, [...]
Great news if you're in the Central Illinois area. Tonight you can enjoy the gleeful exuberance of indie excellence in the form of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin at the aptly named Coffeehouse in Normal, IL. They're playing out with local boys Ohtis and the show will apparently start at 8PM. According to Ohtis' MySpace page , tickets will be 5 bucks at the door, which is a steal. I spend a fair amount of my time on Fridays working from The Coffeehouse, so I can personally vouch for it's awesomeness as an intimate [...]
JAMES JACKSON TOTH ( MySpace ) When: 9 p.m. tonight at the Billiken Club Playing with : Wye Oak Sounds Like: "'Cocaine and bourbon, pinball and pool,' sums up James Jackson Toth — or nearly sums up, as the former lo-fi, acid-folk leader of Wooden Wand pawns his last bag of 'shrooms for a walk on Lou Reed's wild side and a bender with John Lennon slurring in his ear. On this year's solo debut, Waiting In Vain , the New York-born [...]
A good time was had by all last night at The End. Thanks to the handful of you who came out. It was a lot of fun to finally get to see Ohtis play, Prussia was a pleasant surprise on my radar, and Lylas never dissapoint. Be sure to catch the tour in it's final days, stopping in Bowling Green tonight, with a few more dates before winding up in Bloomington (IL). On to some photos! PRUSSIA [...]
Whatever you're doing tonight, it's not as important as seeing Nashville's best band that could accurately call themselves something with "folk" in a genre description play with one of my favorite bands in the world - Ohtis . You might remember Ohtis from their track on Peace on Earth last year (for download below in case you forgot), they are truly one of my favorite bands in the entire world, and I'd imagine the pride of their native Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. They also happen to be [...]
Ohtis is a band from Normal, Illinois. That is about the extent of my knowledge on the assembly of musicians that I am currently listening to. However, I can tell you that I have now listened to the song American Christians 7 times in an hour. It's a stirring piece of dust-bowl Americana, so steeped in sepia toned strum-and-sing it's almost transcendent. It sort of paints a picture of a back porch sing along circa 1950, somewhere in the sprawling landlocked midwest...I guess that makes sense considering the location in which it was (presumably) [...]
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