Know Better Learn Faster is the well-crafted sophomore effort produced by Tucker Martine for Thao With The Get Down Stay Down. More so than We Brave Bee Stings And All, this new record captures the energy of the trio’s live performances which are fast, frequent, and fun.

When they stopped in to our new Austin studio for their second Lounge Act performance, the band was recovering from van troubles and on the tail end of a fairly length stretch of dates.

Even with a hectic schedule that found them performing three times in one day, the band treated us to a phenomenal set that includes four songs off the new album.

Track Listing:
Know Better Learn Faster
Body
Good Bye Good Luck
The Give
- interview -

Thao With The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down – Body (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down – Good Bye Good Luck (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down – The Give (WOXY.com Lounge Act)

Thao w/ The Get Down Stay Down – WOXY.com Lounge Act (full session download)

Clint Conley, Peter Prescott, and Roger Miller formed the core of one of America’s most influential post-punk bands in the late 1970’s, coming to a halt in 1983 due to Miller’s worsening tinnitus. Their “Academy Fight Song” and “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” have to be included among any list of songs that define the early stages of ‘indie’ or ‘alternative’ music.

After an unexpected reunion, merely for a couple shows in 2002, few would have anticipated that the gigs would spawn a full-fledged comeback. Now seven years later, their three post-reunion full-lengths exceeding their initial output, Burma has rightly been lauded as pioneers of a particularly American brand of punk rock, appearing at the All Tomorrow Parties Festival and performing their Vs. album in its entirety at the Pitchfork Festival.

A different festival, the Fun Fun Fun Fest, brought them to town, with their Lounge Act just the second held in our new studio. Opening with two songs from their latest, The Sound The Speed The Light, they followed that with a “Devotion”, a song that’s been ‘in development’ for nearly 25 years as they explained to Mike. They finished with a cover of The Yardbirds’ “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” that we cannot legally include in the podcast but listen for us to spin it on-air, because it’s a scorcher.

If the interview sounds a little rushed, well, it was. The band chose to play their set in full before gathering for the interview. However, like any music fan would, they were eager to see one of their favorite bands, the reunited Jesus Lizard, at Fun Fest and were keenly aware they were cutting it close. In all, a blistering session from a pioneering band who’ve lost none of the vigor and intensity that made them special in the first place.

Track Listing:
After The Rain
Good Cheer
Devotion
-interview-

Mission Of Burma – After The Rain (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Mission Of Burma – Good Cheer (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Mission Of Burma – Devotion (WOXY.com Lounge Act)

Mission Of Burma – WOXY.com Lounge Act (full session download)

Last year, we invited Knoxville’s Royal Bangs in for a performance at our Cincinnati studio after we heard their album We Breed Champions. When they came through Texas in early September, we were not quite ready for them to play in the new digs and, instead, they co-hosted a great guest DJ hour with Joe. Over Fun Fun Fun Fest weekend, they made history as the first band to perform for us in our new home on South Congress Avenue.

Earlier this fall, they released Let It Beep on Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle Records. As much as we dug their first album, this time around the band sound bigger with more layers to their instrumentation and the catchiest songs we’ve heard in a long time.

In this performance, they inaugurate the Austin Lounge with four tracks from Let It Beep and talk about their first live dates across the pond which are happening here in late November and early December.

Track Listing:
Poison Control
Tiny Prince Of Keytar
- interview -
My Car Is Haunted
Brainbow

Royal Bangs – Poison Control (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Royal Bangs – Tiny Prince Of Keytar (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Royal Bangs – My Car Is Haunted (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Royal Bangs – Brainbow (WOXY.com Lounge Act)

Royal Bangs – WOXY.com Lounge Act (full session download)

Another week, and another great show to put our name behind here in Austin. This time around, WOXY and our friends from Austinist are proud to be presenting The Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy at Antones on November 18th. In addition to having The New Yorker magazine refer to him as “America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist”, John Darnielle has released another critically acclaimed album this year titled The Life Of The World To Come that is already popping up on several “best of” lists as we round out 2009.

Final Fantasy is the moniker that Owen Pallet uses to release his solo work. Owen has released two album and has plans for a new one that is slated for release in early 2010. In addition to his work as Final Fantasy, Owen is also well known for his instrumental contributions and string arrangements for bands like Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut and even The Pet Shop Boys. Most recently, Pallet played violin on the latest Mountain Goats album, part of the reason behind this tour pairing.

If you are a fan of one or both bands, or just want to get out and see some great live music, send us an email to enter our contest to win tickets. Title your email, “Mountain Goats” and send it to woxycontests at gmail dot com. The show is Wednesday November 18th and we will be accepting entries until the day before the show. However, this show could easily sell out, so if you would prefer to buy some tickets, you can do so now right here.

So good luck and even if you are not a winner, we hope to see you out at the show!

The Mountain Goats – Genesis 3:23

We get a little twangy this week on Local Lixx, featuring an artist nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Americana/Folk category (Magnolia Mountain) and also for best singer/songwriter (Billy Catfish). In addition we get our first taste of some other great Ohio groups like Sparrow Bellows and Jesse Remnant & the Trainwrecks and also catch up with our friends Paper Airplane.

Magnolia Mountain – “Autumn Rose”
Billy Catfish – “Cowboy Machine”
Sparrow Bellows – “Dish It Out”
Paper Airplane – “Until It’s Gone”
Jesse Remnant & The Trainwrecks – “Same Sun”

Local Lixx – Episode 42 (full episode download)

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Local Lixx is back after a summer break to bring you some of what is new and interesting in the Cincinnati area and beyond. Featured this week is music from the 2nd album from The Chocolate Horse, whose new album We Don’t Stand On Ceremony is one of the best Cincinnati record releases of the year.

Buffalo Killers “Huma Bird”
The Chocolate Horse “No More Batteries”
The Sleep “Take Me”
Wake Up Mordecai “Disco=Crack”
The Chocolate Horse “Your Daughter”

Local Lixx Episode 41- MP3 Download [Full Episode]

Local Lixx is a local music show that covers Cincinnati tri-state area and reaches out into Columbus, Dayton, Lexington, Louisville and beyond. To submit your music for consideration for the program send a CD, band bio and contact information to:

WOXY Radio
ATTN: Local Lixx
2130 S Congress Ave
Austin TX 78704

Catch up on previous Local Lixx episodes right here.

Mumford & Sons were pretty tour-weary when they arrived at Offshore Music Recording Studios, Cardiff, Wales, to record their debut Lounge Act session for WOXY & The Waiting Room. Two of the band were battling colds & Marcus’ throat was about to pack it in following, what the others described as, partying out of their comfort zone with indie-rock outfit The Maccabees whom they had been on the road with for the better part of April & May.

With the finalisation of their debut album on the cards, & only 2 more gigs left of the tour, their dander was certainly up & they unleashed a barely muted fury as they launched into a damn near perfect session. Recorded with no fuss or posture, the band’s professionalism & energy impressed the studio engineer to exclaim it the best session he’d ever had the pleasure of.

What resulted from those two electric hours is a remarkably tight set from a band who, impressively, are unassuming & unaffected in the face of the mounting attention that their brilliant songs & live shows bring. They are a band humbly taken aback by the spotlight and, to some degree, steadfastly ignoring it in order to concentrate on what it is they’re here to do: play music.

Two syllables. Enjoy.

Track Listing:
Sigh No More (new/unreleased)
Little Lion Man
White Blank Page
I Gave You All (new/unreleased)
The Cave

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (WOXY.com Lounge Act / New-Unreleased)
Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page (WOXY.com Lounge Act)
Mumford & Sons – I Gave You All (WOXY.com Lounge Act /New- Unreleased)
Mumford & Sons – The Cave (WOXY.com Lounge Act)

Mumford & Sons – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

In early 2008, Thao Nguyen released one of the pleasant surprises of the year with here debut album We Brave Bee Stings And All. For me, it was the album Cat Power should have made, complete with boot stomping attitude and witty lyrics. In the time since album number one, Thao and her band, The Get Down Stay Down, have toured the country a couple of times, played several festivals and now return for the follow up performance.

Thao shows off some of her intelligence and gives us insight into the album title when she says…

“The album is named Know Better Learn Faster because you can’t,” explains Thao. “By the time you realize you should, it’s too late. And I enjoy the predicament and the totally devastating, unfunny humor of that.”

While the title could be a commentary about love lost or missed opportunities, the new record is anything but a downer, mixing in the now signature stomps and handclaps with the sometimes sobering lyrics throughout. It’s this coexisting of heartbreak and celebration that drives the album as a whole too (see songs like “Body” for example.) Even down to the album cover art featuring a half blindfolded Nguyen in the midst of a huge party peeking out at a pinata that turns out to be a broken heart.

So don’t let this album fall below your radar like the first Thao album did for many, don’t let Know Better Learn Faster be here and gone before you realize how excellent it is. The album is out October 13 from Kill Rock Stars and Thao and company will be touring the country in support of it this fall.

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better, Learn Faster

It’s been a busy year for Cymbals Eat Guitars. The band self released their debut album, and have toured across the country playing loads of great shows to support it. The record got picked up by Sister’s Den Records and just got an official release this month. While out on the road with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the guys stopped in to our new studios for a guest DJ session recently, which you can listen to below.

Playlist

“Lasso” Phoenix
“I Go Crazy” Flesh For Lulu
“In The New Year” The Walkmen
“The Walls Are Coming Down” Fanfarlo
“Very First Lie” Material Issue
“Come Saturday” Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
“What’s Mine Is Yours” Sleater-Kinney
“Wooly Muffler” Harvey Danger
“I’ve Been Waiting” Matthew Sweet
“Distortions” Clinic
“Running Up That Hill” Kate Bush
“Prison On Route 41″ Calexico & Iron and Wine
“Postcards From Italy” Beirut
“Type Slowly” Pavement

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Plainclothes (Live On WOXY.com / new-unreleased)

A mere seven months after the release of his sophomore album Elvis Perkins In Dearland, Perkins returns this fall with a brand new EP. The EP, titled The Doomsday EP, begins with a familiar song to Perkins fans, the title track, which was also a song on the full length from earlier this year. Another version of Doomsday finishes the EP, but within the disc fans are treated to four brand new songs.

Perkins continues to churn out tunes that have a throwback feel to them on this EP, and shows his versatility as he touches on gospel folk with the song “Weeping Mary.” He also shares a song that would fit nicely alongside a rockabilly number from another Elvis with the track “Stop Drop Rock And Roll.” But the familiar sounds are far from sounding dated, and even on an EP like this, Perkins manages to charm the listener with his creativity and attention to detail.

The Doomsday EP is due out October 20th on XL Recordings, and Elvis and his band are hitting the road this fall as well. One of their stops is a WOXY Presents show on November 13th at The Parish here in Austin along with A.A. Bondy. The full listing of the fall tour is posted after the jump….

Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Slow Doomsday
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