When we showed up at Monolith, it had been almost two years since we had seen the guys from Mobius Band. They did a Lounge Act session for us at the tail end of September 2005 after they had released their excellent debut record “The Loving Sounds Of Static.”

We liked that album so much that when it came time to start creating a lineup for Monolith, we wanted to try and hook up with them again because we knew they we going to have a new album coming out. All of those conversations also led to us partnering up with the band to help sponsor their upcoming fall tour.

When they took the stage at Monolith, they tore through a 40-minute set that featured some of our old favorites along with some new tracks off their 2nd album “Heaven” (which hits stores next week).

Below you will find a video interview that Shiv did with the band after their set along with a few free downloads from the Monolith stage.

Mobius Band – Hallie (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Mobius Band – Starts Off With A Bang (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Mobius Band – The Loving Sounds Of Static (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

I think that we’ll always have a special connection to Ra Ra Riot here at WOXY. After all, before the folks at lala.com stepped in to save us, they were the last Lounge Act session that we thought we were ever going to have. After playing songs from a demo EP, they stopped into the Lounge in September of 2006.

A year later, a lot has changed for us and for the young band. Earlier this summer they visited our Cincinnati-based studios about a month after the tragic death of their drummer John Pike. They walked into Monolith with a brand new drummer (19-year-old Cameron Wisch) and they absolutely packed the room for the WOXY.COM stage.

Monolith brought them out to Colorado for the first time and and there is no question that their set was a highlight of the festival. Playing off the fervor of the crowd and, perhaps, more than a little influenced by the high altitude, the band’s set even included both of the 2 Kate Bush covers (”Suspended In Gaffa” and “Hounds Of Love”) that have become live favorites over the last year.

Ra Ra Riot are currently playing live dates across the U.S. with Editors. They will then head to England, where they just signed to V2 Records, to continue the Editors tour overseas. Once touring is completed, the band will head back into the studio and are hoping for a Spring 2008 release for a full-length album. We wish them all the best and look forward to many more Lounge Acts to come!

Ra Ra Riot – Can You Tell (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Ra Ra Riot – Each Year (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Ra Ra Riot – Everest (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Ra Ra Riot – Too Too Fast (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

In addition, check out this video interview Shiv did with the band….

Shiv speaks with the guys from Cat-A-Tac plus clips from their live show at the 2007 Monolith Festival in Colorado.

Here is one of many video interviews from the Monolith Festival. Shiv talks to Jonathan Visger of Mason Proper with a beautiful backdrop….

We’ve been enjoying Nashville’s De Novo Dahl since the release of their “Cats & Kittens” album a few years back. They’ve made a few visits to our Lounge and the last few times we’ve seen them play live, they blew everybody else out of the water. With the band on the verge of launching an extended tour opening up for Hot Hot Heat, we took the opportunity to get them out to play our stage at Monolith.

De Novo Dahl have always played shows in costumes. The first time they showed up at the station they were in old school matching swimsuits! The band have recently signed to Roadrunner Records and have a bit more of a budget to work with, so they now have custom matching suits (and a lovely dress for Serai). That is literally the only thing that has changed — they still have a blast, work the crowd into a frenzy, and have managed to tour quite a bit over the last year and win over crowds without even having a new album out for people to buy.

That is going to change in the new year, when they release a full-length album for Roadrunner and, presumably, continue to tour nonstop. They make converts wherever they go and if you haven’t heard them before, you should download the following live MP3s and get ready to shake your ass. You can also pick up their “Shout” EP at select indie stores nationwide.

De Novo Dahl – Be Your Man (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

De Novo Dahl – Shout (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

De Novo Dahl – The Funk (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

When we were asked to help curate a stage for the Monolith Festival, it was important to us to have some Denver-based bands on our bill. The first area band to play on our stage was Cat-A-Tac on Friday afternoon. We started playing the band’s debut EP back in 2005 and they headed out to Cincinnati and played in the WOXY.COM Lounge in January of 2006.

Since that time, they’ve released an extraordinary full-length album. The tracks you can grab from this performance are originally off this cd, which is called “Past Lies And Former Lives.” I had a chance to catch up with the band for a little bit before the day really got started in a video interview that will be posted around here soon.

Some of the live recordings that were made at Monolith turned out very bass heavy and this one definitely fits that bill, but the quality of the band’s songwriting and musicianship shines through. Check out these highlights from Cat-A-Tac’s live set at Monolith and, if you like what you hear, you can pick up the band’s music at a very affordable price through cdbaby.com!

Cat-A-Tac – All I Knew (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Cat-A-Tac – Needles And Pins (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Here we go! The first of many Monolith Festival Recaps here on The Futurist! First up, Shiv recaps the set from Mason Proper…..

When you are working or showing up to play at a festival like Monolith, there can be a lot of hurry up and wait. We had to show up quite early on Friday to start preparing for the live broadcast and the bands have to start loading in their equipment very early as well so that things are ready to go once doors are opened to the public. On Friday, it seemed like the time between when we arrived and when doors opened were a million miles away from each other. It must have seemed that way to the Mason Proper crew as well, because band member Matt Thomson took off and disappeared with their manager.

Somehow we ended up closing in on time for the doors to open for the public and the band’s stage time beginning when there had been no word of Matt. This did not bode well for the weekend. Among the five stages at Monolith, they were all set up and staggered so that you could catch different bands without a ton of overlap. We were told that the set times would be kept as tight as possible. This meant that Mason Proper was going to have to start their set missing a member.

I could see that Jonathan Visger, frontman for Mason Proper, was stressed out by the whole situation but that old mantra of “the show must go on” found the band kicking off our WOXY.com stage on Friday as a 4-piece. They played a few songs that they knew could be played without Matt and then, after about 15 minutes, he triumphantly returned. Both of the songs that you can download below are from after Matt leaped onto the stage and they were back to full power. All-in-all, they recovered nicely from this little snafu and played an energetic set of material from their debut album.

More photos from Mason Proper’s set and of Friday at Monolith can be found here. All photos done by Bryan Jay.

Mason Proper – The World Is Smaller Than You Think (Live On WOXY.com/ Monolith 2007)

Mason Proper – Chemical Dress Eliza (Live On WOXY.com/ Monolith 2007)