Get the Lowdown
Ryan Hall, Talk Low Music Festival
“Cincinnati has a deep history of being home for exceptional experimental music and for hosting forward-thinking events like Music Now and No Response Festival,” says Ryan Hall, the mastermind behind the inaugural Talk Low Music Festival. “As the city expands and as we've some of those annual events phase out, I think it is really important continually push for events that recognize Cincinnati's position as a welcoming home for the arts.”
The festival’s mission is to provide unique contexts for deep listening and thoughtful engagement with music. Pulling from ambient, jazz, indie rock, electronic and all the genre shadings in between, Talk Low will bring world-class artists to Cincinnati, many for the first time.
Highlights on the lineup include the legendary New Age / ambient artist Laraaji, Kenyan electronic artist KMRU, Peruvian turntablist / sound artist Maria Chavez, NYC House provocateur Galcher Lustwerk, composer and bassoonist ,Joy Guidry and “emo-ambient” pioneer claire rousay. As a new music festival in Ohio, Talk Low fuses the high concept approach of festivals like Big Ears with Midwest D.I.Y energy and roots.
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 8 p.m.
DSGN CLLCTV
4150 Hamilton Ave.
claire rousay (LA), Public Speaking (NYC), Mary Henry
Thursday, Sept. 26, 8 p.m.
DSGN CLLCTV
4150 Hamilton Ave.
KMRU (Nairobi Kenya), Desert Liminal (Chicago), Five Pointed Starts
Friday, Sept. 27, 10 p.m.
DSGN CLLCTV
4150 Hamilton Ave.
Galcher Lustwerk (NYC), DJ Boywife, RAW TIME
Saturday Sept. 28, 9 p.m.
Woodward Theater
1404 Main St.
Laraaji (NYC), Maria Chavez (Lima, Peru), SHERMVN
Sunday Sept. 29, 5 p.m.
Contemporary Arts Center
44 E. Sixth St.
Ambient Jam
Joy Guidry (NYC), Niecy Blues (Charleston), Johnson / Montgomery / Prymek Trio (Indianapolis / SLC / Nashville)
For more information visit talklowfest.cargo.site.
“The guiding principle for some of the larger acts was to book artists who are internationally renowned but who have never played Cincinnati before,” says Hall. “Without a festival like Talk Low, people may not get a chance to see these artists perform outside of a city like New York, L.A., or as part of a large festival like Big Ears. It's exciting to look at this line-up and think that a majority of these acts have never played here.”
Hall has organized music festivals similar in scale to Talk Low in Denver and Columbia, Mo., as well as setting up concerts in town.
Talk Low is set in three different venues in the city. DSGN CLLCTV, a Northside art gallery, is an intimate space that Hall says will break the walls down between performer and audience. The Woodward Theatre is a natural fit for someone like Laraaji's set on Saturday, and the partnership with the Contemporary Arts Center has been really incredible, according to Hall.
“I’ve seen some truly outstanding music performances in their Black Box performance space,” he says. “I think guests who attend Sunday’s show with Joy Guidry, Niecy Blues and the Johnson-Montgomery-Prymek Trio will see a truly unique performance in a space that truly centers forward-thinking and intersectional art.”
The festival grew out of a smaller festival that Hall developed in 2022 that served as a showcase for his label, Whited Sepulchre Records. Some of the artists performing at Talk Low – Joy Guidry, Desert Liminal, claire rousay, Public Speaking, Leon Johnson and Chaz Prymek – have released records on the label and have become friends of Hall.
“Receiving a Catalyzing Impact grant from Artswave allowed us to make our dreams of organizing a world-class experimental music festival in Cincinnati a reality,” Hall says.
Talk Low is organized by the Cincinnati-based label Whited Sepulchre Records and made possible through support from Artswave, Additional support for Talk Low is from C.U.L.T, Durham Studios, Downbound Books, Feel It Records, and Conveyor Belt Books.