We’re moving next week, and when the truck is unloaded, everything in its right place and regular broadcasting back to normal, we’ll take Labor Day weekend to celebrate.

If you’re in Austin, please join us Sunday, September 6 at the Scoot Inn for our party. We’ll have live music from Black Before Red (members of Okkervil River and Shearwater), TV Torso (new SOUND Team project), Martin Crane (of Brazos) and English Teeth. We’ll also have DJ Polecat spinning his favorite hits WOXY Vintage-style all evening, in between BBQ, Tito’s & Sweet Leaf and beer.

It’s only $5 and starts at 6 pm. -See you there!

How about ending the summer the way we started it?

Beginning August 31st, join us for the 20th annual MODERN ROCK 500, this time on the main WOXY channel. Starting at 9a EDT each day, we’ll count down some of the greatest music in the history of modern rock, alternative and indie music until we get to #1. We’ll repeat each day’s segment of the 500 at 7p EDT.

Mon., Aug. 31: #500 – #376
Tues., Sept. 1: #375 – #251
Wed., Sept. 2: #250 – #126
Thur., Sept. 3: #125 – #1

Want more 500 action? How about a Labor Day race? It’ll air at the same times, beginning at 9a and repeating at 7p EDT, over the Holiday.

Fri., Sept. 4: #500 – #376
Sat., Sept. 5: #375 – #251
Sun., Sept. 6: #250 – #126
Mon., Sept. 7: #125 – #1

All other WOXY specialty programming will be pre-empted during this time.

These United States returned to our Lounge for their third session with us to celebrate the release of their third album Everything Touches Everything. Not only was it a repeat performance for the band, but it marked the last Lounge Act that we hosted in our Longworth Hall studios before the move to our new home in Austin, TX.

The band spend a lot of time on the road and the early promo set up for the new record is no exception. They played for us before kicking off a tour at the Southgate House which will find them crisscrossing the country through the end of October (including a stop on the WOXY stage out at the Monolith Festival in mid-September). Jesse was quick to point out that those are just the dates already booked and that they’ll probably be out playing the record for folks through the end of the year.

Track Listing:
I Want You To Keep Everything
Will It Ever
- interview -
Preface Painless
The Important Thing

These United States – I Want You To Keep Everything(Live On WOXY.com)
These United States – Will It Ever (Live On WOXY.com)
These United States – Preface Painless (Live On WOXY.com)
These Unites States – The Important Thing (Live On WOXY.com)

These United States – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

We hit a milestone on this episode of Local Lixx as we air episode #40. Once again, it’s a great bunch of local artists representing that which we think you will love. Listen to this week’s new episode of Local Lixx.

The Seedy Seeds “Tired Enough To Dive”

Toy Band “Centaur Of The Universe”

J Dorsey Blues Revival “Huckabuck”

Eat Sugar “Run The Company” (WOXY Lounge Act)

The Lions Rampant “Cigs & Gin” (WOXY Lounge Act)

The Read “Party Lines” (WOXY Lounge Act)

Local Lixx – Episode 40 (full episode download)

White Denim are an Austin-based trio specializing in gritty psych rock. Fits is their third full-length. It continues the thread of rambling guitar rock that we’ve seen on Workout Holiday and Exposion, but rambles in a more succinct way. James Petralli has learned how to use dozens of ideas in one song without ever forcing an unwilling epic. The tunes are to the point: and the rhythm section proves its worth by keeping up with all the manic mood changes their frontman delivers. Don’t be mistaken, however, in thinking that Steve Terebecki’s bass playing and Josh Block’s drumming exist just for support — both players lock horns with each other and the guitar (sometimes looped) throughout, picking up and discarding hundreds of moments that tease and tickle the listener. There’s some Kinks, some Beefheart, some Allman Brothers and some Zeppelin here, but there’s also something totally magical and endlessly rocking that comes from the trio when they’re together. Sample some tunes at Imeem and watch the video for “I Start to Run”.

The Dodos are a folk pop outfit from San Francisco, California. Time to Die is their third full-length record, the second on label Frenchkiss. Meric Long has come a long way since starting as a solo project called Dodobird. The duo recently turned into a trio when an electric vibraphone was added to the instrumental fold. On the new record, the Dodos continue in the same direction as previous efforts, tightening and perfecting stompy pop tunes with a newfound precision. The previous album’s long-winded and sometimes self-indulgent meanderings have been reigned in and we’re seeing a highly talented group of musicians move forward in exciting new ways. Produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes), Time to Die will see official release in September. Until then, stream it at Time To Die.net.

They’ll perform this year’s Austin City Limits festival October 4.

CONTEST CLOSED – THANKS FOR ENTERING!*******
It’s time! Time for the 2009 Monolith Festival in at beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrisson Colorado! This is the third Monolith Festival, and the third time WOXY will be affiliated with the fest as well. Have a look at some of our great experiences from 2008 and from 2007. The WOXY stage will be rocking again this year as well, with a stable another great bunch of bands playing September 12th and 13th.

And again this year, we want you to come to the festival, for free. That is correct, we have tickets for the festivities to give away, here is what is up for grabs.

A Pair of VIP GOLD Passes
2 Sets Of Tickets To Saturday & Sunday

All you have to do to qualify is hit up the good ole contest email address at woxycontests at gmail dot com. Give us your most sincere plea and we will announce a winner in about a week! Good luck!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The Postmarks are an indie pop outfit out of Miami, Florida. The band has released a debut album that was criminally overlooked by most back in 2007 and a fun but thin covers record in 2008. Almost as if those two albums were warm up acts, it now seems like the headliner is taking the stage with their second proper album, Memoirs At The End Of The World.

Memoirs is as good throughout as their previous efforts were at their highest points, and melds the warmth of their Miami home along with a backing sound that employs a wide array of sounds and instruments. Think Trish Keenan of Broadcast fronting indie pop mainstays The Concretes. Memoirs At The End Of The World is a coming out party for The Postmarks, of course you are all on the guestlist, just be sure to attend.

The album hits store shelves August 25th from Unfiltered Records.

The Postmarks – Go Jetsetter

For his fourth full length album Catacombs, Cass McCombs employs the same tactics and sounds that have served him so well in getting to this point in his career. Carefully penned lyrics that speak to the listener and a gentle yet emotional vocal that pulsates with sincerity and grit.

Each trip through a McCombs record feels this way, and each one seems to get better. While out on the road supporting their friends Band Of Horses, Cass and his band dropped into our studios for this excellent performance.

As fans of his work for years now, it was a real pleasure to be able to host them for the first time, and we think you will agree after listening. Within the set are three new songs from Catacombs, as well as an older gem called “Equinox.”

Track Listing:
You Saved My Life
Don’t Vote
- interview -
Equinox
Lionkiller Got Married

Cass McCombs – You Saved My Life (Live On WOXY.com)
Cass McCombs – Don’t Vote (Live On WOXY.com)
Cass McCombs – Equinox (Live On WOXY.com)
Cass McCombs – Lionkiller Got Married (Live On WOXY.com)

Cass McCombs – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

(Generationals At Waterloo Records In Austin)

We’ve been friends with Grant Widmer & Ted Joyner since their days in The Eames Era. Their new band, Generationals, has earned some great reviews for their debut album Con Law, which just hit stores recently. The guys have hit the road on a Park The Van tour across the west coast and have been making periodic updates from the road exclusively for The Futurist. Here’s their final update…

We’re back home and we had such a fun time. What a great tour!

We left off the story in Tucson, Az, last Tuesday night. That night, we plaid at Club Congress which is an amazing hotel and venue in downtown Tucson. Along with Schuba’s in Chicago and Cafe du Nord in San Francisco, Club Congress is one of the top mid-sized clubs we’ve played in all our travels. They really go out of their way to welcome bands; they even gave us a hotel room to sleep in for the night. That kind of hospitality will get you a lot of goodwill from touring bands.

Our labelmates Golden Boots are from Tucson. They headlined the show that night and they drew a big crowd there to welcome them home, which is not easy to do on a Tuesday. The show was excellent and we spent several hours in the hotel lobby drinking and telling stories with Floating Action, who by this time had become our very good friends. We love them.

(Tess At Caroline Collective in Houston)

The drive from Tucson to Austin, Tx., for the next show was divided up over two days, so on Wednesday we set our sights on Balmorhea, a small town in West Texas with a beautiful hot spring. We made it there by sunset and we all got to swim in the spring for about an hour before the park guards came to kick us out. Texas is a beautiful state, it’s a shame we haven’t made the effort to visit there more often. We will be back soon.

We finished the drive into Austin on Thursday morning. By the early afternoon, we were loaded in and ready for our in-store showcase at Waterloo Records which is one of the country’s best and most celebrated independent record stores. It was a real honor getting to play at Waterloo. Their staff was very nice to us, they even bought a keg of beer for everyone. The crowd at Waterloo was great too, we spent at least an hour after the show talking to fans and friends.

The show that night was at Stubb’s Barbecue in downtown Austin. Stubb’s is a great restaurant with an even better venue built into it. Anyone who’s been to SXSW in Austin can tell you that Stubb’s is one of the best-attended clubs in Austin. We were thrilled to be there. We had so many good friends come to the show, including WOXY’s own DJ Shiv himself who was in Austin hunting for a new apartment. One of the best things about a tour is getting to catch up with so many great friends who have spread out all over the country. So many of our friends have moved to Austin over the years (we had 21 guests on our guest list), and it’s easy to see why Austin is such an attractive destination for young people. The town is beautiful, relatively walkable and full of innovators and interesting things to do. It’s truly one of America’s great cities. With so many friends in the room, our show was a lot of fun. We stayed up into the wee hours that night hanging out with friends and walking the streets of Austin. None of us can wait to get back there.

(Eating At Alabama Ice House In Houston)

When we set out for Houston on Friday morning, there was a palpable eagerness to get home. After driving all the way to Seattle and L.A., it’s a weird feeling knowing you’re just a few hours from home but not quite their yet. That said, we knew Houston would be a blast. Ted and I have an old friend there named Matt Wettergreen who we met back in 2004 when we were touring with The Eames Era and he was a DJ at KTRU, Rice University’s radio station. In the years since, Matt has made some major strides toward making Houston a great place to live. For one, he founded a place called The Caroline Collective which is a non-profit, collaborative workspace where entrepreneurs and artists from all over Houston can take advantage of all the resources of a traditional office for free, and in a really cool and interesting facility. It really is a great resource for motivated people in Houston. Matt gave us a tour of the place then led us over to KTRU’s studio on Rice’s campus where Ted and I performed a few acoustic songs on the Friday afternoon radio show.

After KTRU, we rushed over to Cactus Records for another in-store performance with Floating Action, then we moved on to a local “icehouse” (like a barbecue party with a bar) called Alabama where we killed a few hours before our show that night at Super Happy Fun Land. After a short stop at the high school where “Rushmore” was made, we headed to the venue. Somewhere between the icehouse and the stage, we decided with Floating Action to set up both our drum kits onstage that night and turn our bands’ two set into one extended set.

That was the best idea we ever had. It was so much fun. Our bands get along so well and love each others’ songs. We had all been contributing some guest-performances to each other’s sets throughout the tour so it was only a matter of time before the lines between our sets got completely obscured. That trend continued at our homecoming show at the Hi-Ho Lounge in New Orleans an Saturday night and it was one of the most fun shows we’ve ever played. We played to an amazing, sweaty, packed house in our hometown and sent Floating Action on their way back to Asheville. If everyone could have the experience that we just had on our tour, I’m pretty sure everyone would start a band and hit the road. I can’t wait to start it all over again. Talk to you then.
-Grant

Generationals Guest Tour Blog Entry #2

Generationals Guest Tour Blog Entry #1