After Eat Sugar’s debut in the Lounge back in December 2007, the Cincinnati band continued to receive rave reviews for what was essentially their demo EP. They even got a chance to head overseas for a brief tour after our friends at Artrocker magazine took a shine to their music.

With their latest appearance, the guys come armed with a batch of new tunes. Most of them are from the brand new John Schmersal-produced EP It’s Not Our Responsibility!, but they also debut an unreleased cut called “Run The Company” here as well.

Right now, the EP has a local release available at Shake It Records but it will be available nationally as of September 1st.

Track Listing:
Seeing Red
It Will All End In Tears
Run The Company (new/unreleased)
- interview -
Falling Out
Pop Singer

Eat Sugar – Seeing Red (Live On WOXY.com)
Eat Sugar – It Will All End In Tears (Live On WOXY.com)
Eat Sugar – Run The Company (Live On WOXY.com)
Eat Sugar – Falling Out (Live On WOXY.com)
Eat Sugar – Pop Singer (Live On WOXY.com)

Eat Sugar – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles collaborate on this gorgeous electro-pop album; referencing Tom Tom Club, Postal Service and the Specials. There’s nothing deep here: it’s two white kids working out their R&B and pop aspirations with Auto-Tune, a lot of synths and some simple lyrics about dance floors and girls that drive us insane.

That being said, what they do with these pieces is undeniably enjoyable. “Swing Tree” references “Genius of Love” without apology, and their cover of “I Want You Back” is slowed down to make it a sort of smooth jam. Other highlights include “Osaka Loop Line” and “I Want to Be Your Boyfriend”, featuring Dirty Projectors’ Angel Deradoorian.

Listen to “Orange Shirt” and “Osaka Loop Line” on the band’s MySpace.

We hope you are planning on hitting the Forecastle Festival this weekend in Louisville. The 8th annual event may have its best lineup ever hitting the stage this weekend on the lovely Waterfront Park. In addition to the horde of bands that we like, are quite a few WOXY.com lounge act alums. So, to help preview this weekends festivities, have a look and listen to the bands playing the festival that have also been guests in our studios below.

Dead Confederate (Winter 2008 Session, SXSW 2008 Session)
The Whigs (March 2008 Session)
Royal Bangs (October 2008 Session)
Seabird (Summer 2008 Session)
Bad Veins (Sept 2007 session)
Annuals (March 2009 Session)
Gringo Star (April 2009 Session)
These United States (Nov. 2008 Session, May 2008 Session)
The Deep Vibration (March 2009 Session)
The Lions Rampant (Summer 2009 Session)
The Young Republic (August 2008 Session)

View the full lineup with set times here….

Bloodshot Records artists Ha Ha Tonka were the first half of a doubleheader in the WOXY lounge on this Friday. The band hails from Springfield, Missouri where several of the members met in college. Their second album, Novel Sounds Of The Nouveau South, is a nice maturation for the guys and combines elements of americana and honky tonk rock n roll.

In this session, we get five songs from the new record. Each one sounds so tight it is at times hard to tell the difference between the album cuts and this session, a tribute to the band and our sound engineer Brian Niesz. In the interview portion the guys discuss how the band began, the making of the new record, southern influences and thier tour with Via Audio.

Tracklisting
Walking On The Devil’s Backbone
The Horse In Motion
The Outpouring
-interview-
Hold My Feet To The Fire
Close Every Valve To Your Bleeding Heart

Ha Ha Tonka – Walking On The Devils Backbone (Live On WOXY.com)
Ha Ha Tonka – The Horse In Motion (Live On WOXY.com)
Ha Ha Tonka – The Outpouring (Live On WOXY.com)
Ha Ha Tonka – Hold My Feet To The Fire (Live On WOXY.com)
Ha Ha Tonka – Close Every Valve To Your Beating Heart (Live On WOXY.com)

Ha Ha Tonka – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Danish prog-pop outfit Mew have been huge overseas since 2003. Fortunately, they’re starting to get their due in the U.S. 2005’s And the Glass-Handed Kites was their first internationally recognized full-length, and they’ve taken plenty of time working on the follow up. During the time between, the group lost Johan Wohlert, who went on to form The Storm with his girlfriend (and ex-Swan Lee member) Pernille Rosendahl. Moving on as a trio, Mew have spent close to three years on new material between Denmark and Brooklyn, documenting most of that time with band-shot videos in their remote studio and its surrounding forestry. This EP is a teaser for the upcoming album, No More Stories/Are Told Today/I’m Sorry/They Washed Away//No More Stories/The World Is Grey/I’m Tired/Let’s Wash Away.

No More Stories’ opening track, “Introducing Palace Players”, is clearly the palette cleanser for the rest of the EP, which meanders a bit through some slightly more experimental and dreamy pop. This palette, however, is dyed-in-wool Mew: angular, off-kilter and supported with the strength of Jonas Bjerre’s soaring falsetto. Featuring Damon Tutunjian (Swirlies) on guitar, this track is a good introduction to the more upbeat themes the band explores both on the EP and the upcoming full-length. Dirgy “Repeaterbeater” echoes “Zookeeper’s Boy” from Glass-Handed Kites, pairing melodic synths and vocals with gritty under-pinnings. Probable leftovers “Owl” and “Start” close the EP with sparse, mostly-instrumental arrangements. All in all, it’s quite the teaser; featuring two singles and a host of treats for longtime fans as well as newcomers.

Bowerbirds’ Upper Air is a 2009 sleeper, flying just under the radar. Given Phil Moore and Beth Tacular’s simple melodies and delicate arrangements, the acoustic folk outfit won’t stay there for long. After relentless touring, including a performance at this year’s Primavera festival in Spain and an upcoming spot on the Pitchfork Festival’s lineup, they seem destined for nu-folk greatness.

On Upper Air, the loose compositions all share a tender connection with Moore’s acute lyrics and unassuming voice. Where debut full-length Hymns for the Dark Horse focused on the natural world, here we find Moore in a more confessional state of mind. This transition proves to mature the entire sound; more personal lyrics combined with an expanded repertoire of instruments raises the bar for the band. Though the married duo (with Matt Damron on drums) do just one thing throughout the record, they do it well, and without pretense. Soft percussion, accordion and Tacular’s Feist-like harmonies accent this excellent release from Dead Oceans.

Bowerbirds – Northern Lights

Over the past week, we here at WOXY.com have been fortunate enough to be able to bring you a special preview of the upcoming Love & Rockets Tribute album, New Tale To Tell. The album features music from bands like The Flaming Lips, Black Francis, A Place To Bury Strangers and many more.

The program ran a few times over the weekend, but just in case you missed it during your 4th of July celebrating, we have it here for you on demand. Listen below as your host Christopher “The Minister” takes you through this exclusive WOXY.com program. Enjoy!

It has always struck me just how accurate the tagline Cincinnati’s The Lions Rampant use to describe themselves. “Blues Infused, Garage Brewed, Rock N’ Roll.” It’s hard to top that, I must say. The Cincy trio last visited us in the lounge back in the fall of 2007, just about a year after forming, and in the time since have become one of the best live bands in the midwest and certainly in our fair city.

For this performance, we get a special treat. Not only does it contain six brand new songs from their upcoming debut full length album, It’s Fun To Do Bad Things, but we get to hear it performed with the core members, Stuart, Nate and Nick, as well as guests Dan Mecher of The Turnbull AC’s on keys and Cameron Cochran of The Sheds on lead guitar. Cameron also happens to be the man who recorded and mixed their new record.

Enjoy an incredibly fun session with The Lions Rampant, and keep your ears open for the new album, which should be available sometime later this summer.

Track Listing:
Give Me
Lights On
It’s Fun to Do Bad Things
- interview -
Shake
Do You Feel It
Cigs + Gin

The Lions Rampant – Give Me (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Lights On (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – It’s Fun To Do Bad Things (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Shake (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Do You Feel It?
The Lions Rampant – Cigs & Gin (Live On WOXY.com)

The Lions Rampant – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

This young band from Houston caught our attention with their excellent debut EP Microscopic Metronomes.

Originally formed as a folk duo of Cody Swann and Zahira Guiterrez, the band expanded into a 5-piece and their songs evolved from their earliest arrangements into delightfully catchy sing-along pop that has earned them nominations for Best New Act and Best Indie Rock Band at the Houston Press Music Awards.

In this performance, they play 3 songs from their debut EP and also share 2 brand new unreleased cuts with us.

Track Listing:
Cake (new/unreleased)
Fruit Tea
My Favorites Die
- interview -
Spanish & Jazz
Late Night Television (new/unreleased)

Wild Moccasins – Cake (Live On WOXY.com / new-unreleased)
Wild Moccasins – Fruit Tea (Live On WOXY.com)
Wild Moccasins – My Favorites Die (Live On WOXY.com)
Wild Moccasins – Spanish & Jazz (Live On WOXY.com)
Wild Moccasins – Late Night Television (Live On WOXY.com / new-unreleased)

Wild Moccasins – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

(Enjoy another excellent writeup from our new contributor Paige Maguire)
Since 1990, Chicago’s Tortoise has effortlessly defied easy categorization. Operating somewhere between Krautrock and prog, post-rock and jazz, the group and their longtime label (Thrill Jockey) have offered indie music much to be inspired by and indebted to.

It’s been five years since the band released a full-length with all new material, and we’re ready for it. Few do what these guys do well, making the remix, electronica, jazz and ambient noise play nicely with deep rhythm sections and patient atmospheres. It’s no easy task, but the veterans show they’ve still got chops.

Tortoise has always been somewhat genre negligent, but this record finds them articulating this flexibility with a stiff sort of force. At times, the songs float in a post-Virgin Suicides Air-powered dance club (“Minors”, “The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One”) reminiscent of the Tortoise we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. The real highlights on this album, however, happen in between those moments. “Gigantes” is a six and a half minute, busty jaunt through the band’s more upbeat tendencies, and “Monument Six One Thousand” pays homage to several modern day glitch and avant auteurs (Four Tet, Clark) with dancey blips. “De Chelly” goes post-modern, sounding like Wendy Carlos’ Beethoven performed in Eden. Closing track “Charteroak Foundation” meanders through elements focused on previously throughout the record, but at over five minutes begins to pull its partners down. I can’t help but wish that the album ended with “De Chelly” one minute longer, closed with a John McEntire drum solo heart attack.

Overall the album is meticulously arranged, perhaps too much so. Its brightest moments fuse Tortoise’s unmistakable sound with post-Tortoise inspirations, making it an unbelievably ambitious undertaking — like writing your own biography and finishing the last few chapters with comments on how much your children are like you. Always gorgeous and immensely listenable, Beacons is bound to appear on many end of the year lists.

Tortoise – Prepare Your Coffin
Tortoise – High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In