Blitzen Trapper released an excellent sophomore album last year, Furr, that we all really liked here at WOXY. And now the boys are back, in the form of the Black River Killer EP. The EP features 6 new songs along with the title cut, which was also on Furr. The EP is officially out next week, but you can get it digitally right now from our friends at Lala.com.

This is a Lala exclusive, so bounce over to their site and download this right now! You can also stream the whole thing right now below.

It’s been over a year since we last saw Chicago’s Panda Riot. Since that time, they’ve added a new member and been hard at work on a follow-up to She Dares All Things.

We caught them as they were setting out on a mini tour that takes them down to the Pop Mayhem Festival in Florida. They set up in the Lounge and gave us a set that includes three brand new songs.

We can expect to hear them and many more on their next album Northern Automatic Music, likely to be released in January 2010.

Track Listing:
The Jesus Demeanor
Motown Glass (new/unreleased)
Julie In Time (new/unreleased)
- interview -
Amanda In The Clouds (new/unreleased)
Suspense Kiss

Panda Riot – The Jesus Demeanor (Live On WOXY.com)
Panda Riot – Motown Glass (Live On WOXY.com – new/unreleased)
Panda Riot – Julie In Time (Live On WOXY.com – new/unreleased)
Panda Riot – Amanda In The Clouds (Live On WOXY.com – new/unreleased)
Panda Riot – Suspense Kiss (Live On WOXY.com)

Panda Riot – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Eric D. Johnson’s Fruit Bats return with an expanded lineup (there’s five of them now) and more upbeat, bright and catchy melodies on this, their third release on Sub Pop.

Johnson has spent time performing with Vetiver and the Shins — and those influences do make appearances on Ruminant Band — but here we find the Fruit Bats moving beyond the easy grace of simple melody, exploring deep cuts from the 70s So-Cal experience as well as the alt-country soundscapes they’re known for. The expanded lineup add pedal steel, singalongs, piano love and jangling guitar duos.

Philosophically, Johnson is stretching himself thin between the straight-forward pop cheer the songs seem to crave and the more oblique sentiments that linger beneath the surface of any good songwriter’s catalog. There’s just enough depth here to make the songs more than easily digestable pop tunes but not enough to make it hard to swallow. Above all, the songs take precedence over all else, shimmering in their pop perfection alongside Johnson’s distinctive, able vocals.

Fruit Bats “The Ruminant Band” (mp3)

More songs at Sub Pop.

Another week of the Pampelmoose New Music Hour is in the books. Below, listen the show in it’s entirety or download any of the songs Dave played this week. And don’t forget, the show repeats every Sunday morning at 11am ET on WOXY.com!

Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer
Liam Finn and Eliza Jane – Plane Crash
David Bazan – Bless This Mess
Arizona – Heath
The Happy Hollows – Faces
The New Up – Dear Life
Ume – Pendulum
Viva Voce – Devotion
Band of Horses – The Great Salt Lake
Pocket – Hear In Noiseville [feat. Steve Kilbey]
Nalepa – Sunflowers
DJ Spooky – Azadi [feat Sussan Deyhim]
Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill
Dan Black – Pump My Pumps

Bad Veins have been making Cincinnati proud since 2006, performing as a duo birthed from a dusty attic deep in the Midwest. Listening to the record reveals a broader vision, however, as strings, horns and layers of vocals sweep over the songs. There’s quite a bit of Okkervil River here (particularly on album opener “Found”) and some National dramatics as well. These are compliments, but more than anything they’re indications of a band that’s on its way to something great. Stay tuned.

Watch the video for “Gold & Warm” here.

We’ve been following this band from Athens, GA since their debut record Sorry About The Flowers came out in 2006. Earlier this year, they put out their sophomore set, Azar and we were excited to host them for the first time in the Lounge while they were out on a summer tour.

The band play 3 cuts from Azar in this performance and close out with an unreleased track that is from their upcoming third full-length release. In the interview, they discuss how they recorded at the historic Georgia Theatre in Athens, which was ravaged by fire earlier this year.

Now, the band are raising funds on Kickstarter.com to press the upcoming album on vinyl and help restore the damaged building as well.

Track Listing:
Ryan’s Song
Okay
- interview -
Iron Range
Bardstown Rd. (new/unreleased)

Venice Is Sinking – Ryan’s Song (Live On WOXY.com)
Venice Is Sinking – Okay (Live On WOXY.com)
Venice Is Sinking – Iron Range (Live On WOXY.com)
Venice Is Sinking – Bardstown Rd. (Live On WOXY.com / new-unreleased)

Venice Is Sinking – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Local Lixx returns from summer vacation to bring you some of the goodies that have been piling up on our desk. This week, we get a taste of three brand new artists in The Harlequins, Molly Sullivan and a collaboration between Ryan Mallot of 500 Miles To Memphis and Kelly Thomas. In addition, we take a look at a couple of your favorite local artists that made summer appearances in the WOXY lounge.

The Harlequins – “Storms”
Kelly Thomas & Ryan Mallot - “Cant Keep Holdin On”
Molly Sullivan - “The Showdown”
Peter Adams – “Feet To The Fire”
Bad Veins - “Gold & Warm” (Acoustic)

Local Lixx – Episode 39

Subscribe to the Local Lixx Podcast to get the “double L” directly, and get ready for another new episode this Thursday night at 8:30pm ET on WOXY!

It’s an important week in the WOXY Lounge, maybe more important than others. This will be our final week for live performances in the studio here in Cincinnati before we begin to pack things up and head south to Austin, Texas and our new studios. At this point, I think we are at or over 400 live sessions in our Cincinnati Lounge, and there are loads of memories that we will leave behind. The great thing is, that the music that was made lives on forever, and our thick archive proves it. You can also relive them with images right here.

Before we start a new chapter of WOXY Lounge performances next month in Austin, we have two more for you this week here in Cincinnati. First off, this afternoon The Low Anthem will be visiting us while out on the road with Langhorne Slim. The band recently released an excellent album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin and we are excited to have them in for their first session with us.

Thursday marks our final session here, and we go out in style with our friends These United States. TUS are getting ready to release their third album and will also be making their third trip into our studios as well. Here are the previous two and you can grab a new song from the band (that they might just play for us) below as well. That session takes place Thursday afternoon, August 13.

So join us online and listen to a fond farewell to our Cincinnati Lounge Acts this week!

These United States – I Want You To Take Everything

This New Jersey-based 4-piece band started life several years ago playing hip-hop and even featured a female vocalist. After two albums in that vein, their sound evolved, keeping a good groove but incorporating elements of more dance rock-oriented bands like !!!.

Our introduction to Thing-One was with a few demo tracks after their evolution and then, shortly after, their “You’ll Be Fine” EP from last year. We invited them in to perform for us when they stopped through Cincinnati to play for the Indie Summer series on Fountain Square.

Track Listing:
Move It
Rewind
- interview -
Through The Winter
The Thief

Thing-One – Move It (Live On WOXY.com)
Thing-One – Rewind (Live On WOXY.com)
Thing-One – Through The Winter (Live On WOXY.com)
Thing-One – The Thief (Live On WOXY.com)

Thing-One – Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

(Generationals on stage at Hotel Cafe in L.A.)

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 will be making periodic updates from the road exclusively for The Futurist. Here’s their second update…

My last diary left off as we headed into Missoula, MT, where we connected with our pals Floating Action at The Badlander. So much has happened since then.

Missoula was a lot of fun. We had all met the guys from Floating Action at least once, the most recent time was back in New Orleans in June when Ted, Katie and I played an acoustic set on a bill with them, The Peekers and The High Strung. They were amazing. Seth Kaufman is the leader of the band. He’s a great singer and songwriter and he and the other guys in the band are about the nicest, funniest guys you could ever want to tour with. They are constantly laughing and cracking each other up. They are the ideal touring partners.

Our bands hit it off right away. By the end of the Missoula show, we were working on plans to collaborate and contribute to each other’s sets. That night, I made a deal with Josh, the guitar player, that if he wore the same blue t-shirt (with a cartoon of a robot riding a unicorn over a rainbow) for every single show on the rest of the tour, I’d give him $50. 10+ shows later, Josh is well on his way to winning the cash. The shirt smells like shit.

The weekend took us to Portland and Seattle. This is where Ted picks up the story.
-Grant

(Generationals BBQ)

After the show in Portland, we drove that night up to Seattle. We stayed in this high rise apartment owned by a friend. The Frasier references were many. Also the weather there was beautiful. Which only re-inforces my theory that this whole “it rains here all the time” thing is a lie so that the rest of us don’t all move there. Seattle is stunningly beautiful. 

Next we went to San Francisco and played Cafe du Nord. That place is a great club. Grant and I had played there in our old band years ago. The people who run it are so frickin awesome. Next day i had dim sum in Chinatown. My quads still burn from walking up steep sidewalks. 

Then we had a day off and we went to Big Sur which was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in real life. Against virtually everyone’s advice I decided to jump in the water. COLD. Very cold. Next time, wear a wet suit. not blue jean cutoffs. Then Tess climbed this bluff that was, like, 100 feet tall. Which terrified me to watch but she assured us she had it under control. Then….disaster struck!…. Evan from Floating Action got poison ivy all over body which he is still dealing with as of this writing. He’s a good sport though. If it had been me, I might have just gone home. He’s a tough one.
 

(Grant In Seattle)

Next was Costa Mesa and where we met up with Golden Boots and some of the Park The Van gang, including Jeff who was kind enough to put up all 3 bands in his house. Thats like 13 people. In one house. It got interesting. Then we went to LA! Man, was LA fun. We got to see a bunch of familiar faces. It was great. Our friendJ had a barbecue for us before the show. Korean tacos changed my life. One LA regret: not ordering my fries animal style.

We then split off from Floating Action to do a show up in Merced at a place called the Partisan. It’s a cool place, check it out if you’re ever in that region.

(Performing At Fungarden In Sacremento)

San Diego was next where we re-united with floating action and played at Bar Pink. We all started drinking martinis that night for some reason. Some Generationals sat in on some Floating Action songs. Woke up the next morning, ate breakfast and jumped in the ocean one last time. As we got on the highway to head back east i was reminded of a passage from Master P:

“They said P where ya goin’ man get in put the gat to his head said interstate 10″

Then we hit Phoenix. Phoenix is interesting. When you walk outside you get a blast of wind to your face that feels like a blow dryer. The place where we played was a cool spot called Trunkspace. Floating Action sat in on a bunch of our songs. Floateractionals?

Next stop: AUSTIN, TX. Shivvy, watch out.

love, ted

See Also : Generationals Guest Tour Blog #1