It’s February and that means it’s time for another by:Larm festival in cold but beautiful Oslo, Norway. Wait, you have never heard of the by:Larm fest? And yes, I said Norway, as in Scandinavia. Well, we here at the Future Of Rock N’ Roll are always trying to bring you the best of whats next, and sometimes, we travel far and wide to bring it to you. That’s why next week, Joe will be traveling all the way to Oslo, Norway, along with Larry from Future Sounds to bring you coverage from this years by:Larm festival.

The event itself has been taking place since 1998 in Norway, finally taking permanent residence in the capitol city of Oslo in 2008. It’s a music festival by night and a conference by day, so you might say it’s a smaller, colder, Scandinavian version of SXSW, or at least it has a comparable format, minus the day parties of course. The lineup for the festival is a great batch of interesting bands, although we know most of them you won’t be familiar with, at least not yet. So to get you more acclimated, here are the bands we are most excited about seeing next week in Norway along with some of their music for you to sample.

Seabear – This 7-piece band hails from Iceland and is getting ready to release their second album, We Built A Fire, in March on the Morr label. What started out as the lo-fi solo project of Icelandic singer/multi-instrumentalist Sindri Már Sigfússon’s (aka Sin Fang Bous) has now morphed into a full on indie pop celebration. In addition to playing by:Larm, Seabear will be making their US touring debut this year during SXSW.

MP3Seabear – Lion Face Boy

Oh No Ono – Quickly becoming a WOXY favorite already, Oh No Ono are one of Denmarks most promising art-pop bands. Under The Radar magazine had this to say about the band.

“The second album by this Danish five-piece is the first to be released in the U.S., and it’s about time. Oh No Ono creates fantastical, experimental pop that knows no boundaries.”

Oh No Ono’s second album, the first to be released in the US, is out now from Friendly Fire Recordings.

MP3 – Oh No Ono – Helplessly Young

Serena-Maneesh – Probably the most well known act on the bill, at least to us here in the States, has got to be Serena-Maneesh. After the success of their debut album in 2006, we haven’t heard much from the band, but the timing could not be better for this showcase in their home city because Serena-Maneesh have a brand new album on the way titled No. 2 : Abyss in B Minor due out March 22nd on 4AD Records.

MP3 – Serena-Maneesh – Ayisha Abyss

***Serena-Maneesh***

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Follow That Bird! began as an instrumental duo when Lauren Green and Tiffanie Lanmon were still in high school. The band evolved into a trio, vocals were added, and the current lineup took shape when Mitchell Tellstrom took over bass duties last year.

They’ve quickly become one of our favorite bands in Austin and their 10″ EP on Monofonus Press last fall earned a fair amount of airplay here at the station.

Now, they’ve got the lead track on Matador’s Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010 compilation and are at least looking in the direction of a full-length album.

In this performance you’ll hear a few brand new tracks, a tune from their debut EP, one from the Monofonus Press 10″, and their recently released song, as featured on the Casual Victim Pile release, called “The Ghosts That Wake You.”

View the entire photoset here.

Follow That Bird! – Antlers (WOXY Lounge Act)
Follow That Bird! – Where They Rest (WOXY Lounge Act)
Follow That Bird! – Stable Sound (WOXY Lounge Act)
Follow That Bird! – The Ghosts That Wake You (WOXY Lounge Act)
Follow That Bird! – When You Get Home (WOXY Lounge Act)

Follow That Bird! – WOXY Lounge Act (full session download)

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This week on Local Lixx Cincinnati, we focus on the new album from Columbus, Ohio, collective The Super Desserts. The band just released a brand new album called Banjo Forever, and we have two new songs from the record to share. In addition, you get more new stuff from You, You’re Awesome, The Bellevue Project and our very first “Local Lixx Look Back.”

Super Desserts – “Yr Heart”
You, You’re Awesome – “Guess What? Shun!”
The Bellevue Project – “Maybe It’s Nothin”
Super Desserts – “Banjo Forever”
The Light Wires (Local Lixx Lookback) – “The Hum Of Black Machines ”

Local Lixx – Episode 47 (full episode download)

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Will Johnson is probably best known for his role as frontman of the band Centro-Matic, who have been putting out quality albums since the mid 1990’s. In the past year or so though, Will has had his hands full with several other really interesting projects. Among them was a role as a touring member of Monsters Of Folk, where Will played drums and travelled across the world with the super group.

Will also stayed busy working on solo recordings and putting together a great record with fellow musician and friend Jason Molina. The Molina and Johnson album was put together over a couple weeks by the two prolific artists and sees them collaborating and creating some incredible songs. In this solo set with Will, we are treated to two songs from that record, one unreleased tune from an upcoming solo album and another new song that was originally written by Woody Guthrie that will be a part of an upcoming project Will is involved in along with Jay Farrar, Anders Parker and Jim James.

View the entire photoset here.

Will Johnson – Almost Let You In (WOXY Lounge Act)
Will Johnson – Twenty Cycles To The Ground (WOXY Lounge Act)
Will Johnson – Chorine, My Sheba Queen (WOXY Lounge Act)
Will Johnson – Blood Can Push (WOXY Lounge Act)

Will Johnson – WOXY Lounge Act (full session download)

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In the fall of 2009, another buzz band was emerging from the very fertile New York scene, although not from the Brooklyn area for once. Freelance Whales claimed a different borough as home in Queens, and brought with them a melodic and layered pop sound that had us charmed immediately. One of the ways the band became well known in New York was due to the fact that they had a regular location and time slot to perform their music in the Subway tunnels. Then in the fall they were one of the more talked about new bands at CMJ and stopped by our studios in December to lay down this excellent session.

They treated us to 4 songs off of their debut album Weathervanes, which the band self released in the fall of 2009 and will be re-releasing in the spring of 2010 with help from Frenchkiss/MOM + POP Records. They also unveiled a brand new track that we are happy to bring you in this session as well. Enjoy the set and get ready to hear alot about Freelance Whales in 2010!

View our photo gallery.

Freelance Whales – Generator 1st Floor (WOXY Lounge Act)
Freelance Whales – Generator 2nd Floor (WOXY Lounge Act)
Freelance Whales – Ghosting (WOXY Lounge Act)
Freelance Whales – Starring (WOXY Lounge Act)
Freelance Whales – Rise & Shine (WOXY Lounge Act / new-unreleased)

Freelance Whales – WOXY Lounge Act (full session download)

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Brothers Jared & Mike Bell have been playing music together since they were young. As Lymbyc Systym, they’ve spent the last several years making music together from a distance. Jared had relocated to New York and Mike had spent some time here in Austin, meaning the creative process of making music involved crafting demos and e-mailing recordings back and forth to each other. The guys are both now living in the same city for the first time in years which should make the next recording an easier process.

In the meantime, we caught up with the brothers Bell when they were out on a brief spate of West Coast dates that wrapped up in Texas. Joined by Christopher Tignor on violin, they play a few tracks from their new album Shutter Release, a track from their debut Love Your Abuser, and close with a song from last year’s Field Studies EP, a split release with their friends This Will Destroy You.

View the Flickr photoset here

Track Listing:
- interview -
Ghost Clock
Bedroom Anthem
Fall Bicycle
Narita

Lymbyc Systym – Ghost Clock (WOXY Lounge Act)
Lymbyc Systym – Bedroom Anthem (WOXY Lounge Act)
Lymbyc Systym – Fall Bicycle (WOXY Lounge Act)
Lymbyc Systym – Narita (WOXY Lounge Act)

Lymbyc Systym – WOXY Lounge Act (full session download including interview)

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We know you have been waiting patiently, and just itching with anticipation about when our Lounge Acts series would make its 2010 debut. Well, wait no longer, because today we air the very first session of the new year. And just so you know we are serious, we have not only todays set to share, but a total of three before this week is complete.

Today at 3pm ET, 2pm Central, we have a session with Lymbyc Systm that will be airing and if you haven’t heard their excellent album Shutter Release on our airwaves, well you probably haven’t been listening much, but just in case, here is a free download from it.
Lymbyc Systym – Ghost Clock

On Thursday at 3pm ET, 2 Central, you get a real treat as we air a session with Freelance Whales that we recorded at the end of 2009, the set features material from their debut disc Weathervanes, which they released on their own last year, and Frenchkiss Records will be re-releasing in March of 2010. In addition to the stuff from their album, there is a new and unreleased tune in the mix as well.

And then on Friday, to round out the week, we have a session to share with you from Will Johnson. You probably know Will from his role as the frontman of Centro-matic but Will also released an excellent album along with Jason Molina last fall and drops by our studio to play some songs from it. That set is scheduled to air at 12:30 ET, 11:30 Central.
Molina & Johnson – Twenty Cycles To The Ground

If you aren’t already a subscriber to our Lounge Acts Podcast, you can do that now by grabbing it via ITunes.

Our first new episode of 2010 and it’s a good one. The new year is underway and Cincinnati area musicians are already putting out some great material. On this episode, check out new music from Daniel Martin Moore & Ben Sollee along with some new goodies from You, You’re Awesome and debut music from Pop Empire.

Pop Empire – “Twirling”
You, You’re Awesome – “How To Get The Most Out Of Your Instructional Videos”
The Koala Fires – “La Belle Et La Bete”
Pop Empire – “City Boy + City Girl”
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – “Something, Somewhere, Sometime”

Local Lixx Cincinnati – Episode 46 (full episode download)

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By the time we walked into the Swinghouse Studios in Hollywood for the Future Sounds WOXY Lounge Acts session with San Diego’s Tape Deck Mountain, the band was already plugged in and experimenting with sounds that mix Explosions In The Sky dynamics with dorm room bong hits perfectly. The band eased into “Ghost Colony” which oozed like the third set of Phish at Madison Square Garden.

If you are unfamiliar with Tape Deck Mountain, you won’t be for long. Touched by Pitchfork’s Forkcast as someone to keep an eye on, their full length, “Ghost”, dropped in December on Lefse Records, the label making a name for itself quickly with the likes of Neon Indian. The trio flows easily into “In The Dirt”, another track that takes a collection of sounds and ideas and vibrates outward into something epic.

Closing out the session is “Scantrons”, a track that’s made its way around the internets with numerous remixes, but the straight track proves that nothing beats the original. Three songs in the band seemed to just start to rev their engines, providing the perfect warm up rehearsal for the evening’s Rumble: Los Angeles performance.

Track Listing:
Ghost Colony
In The Dirt
Scantrons

Tape Deck Mountain – Ghost Colony
Tape Deck Mountain – In The Dirt
Tape Deck Mountain – Scantrons

We were big supporters of The Muggabears and had them in for a Lounge Act session in early 2008. Since that time, founding members Travis Johnson and Emily Ambruso have recruited Jim Sykes as their new drummer and fully transformed the project into Grooms.

They teamed up with their friends at Death By Audio to release their first proper album called Rejoicer.

We caught the band while they were finishing up with a month-long tour across the country. They’ve given us three cuts from their debut record here in this performance and even premiere a new track that will likely be on their next full-length album.

Track Listing:
- interview -
Dreamsucker
C.J.
Fag Feels Good
Into The Arms (new/previously unreleased)

Grooms – Dreamsucker (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Grooms – C.J. (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Grooms – Fag Feels Good (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Grooms – Into The Arms (WOXY.com Lounge Act)

Grooms – WOXY.com Lounge Act (full session download)