Some interesting choices this week, have a look below…..

Mike Taylor - Spice Girls - “Wannabe”, from the CD, Spice

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want….and I got it! You know, I never had a problem with the Spice Girls. They were what they were: a hand picked, pre-packaged pop group fronted by some attractive 20-somethings. You could even make an argument that their ‘Girl Power’ slogan at least gave their young fans something to think about. Still, we’ve become culturally ADD so pop groups of the Girls’ ilk are more disposable than ever. It’s probably a good thing that they’re only reuniting for 11 shows in the world’s largest cities. Any longer, and any interest may have died off by the time they got to your town.

So, it’s summer and with new releases at a low ebb at the moment, let’s take a loving look back at the five Brits who put a little Spice into 1997. Misty water colored memories…

Matt Shiv - Calvin Harris- “Acceptable In The 80’s”

My latest musical obsession is a 20-something lad from Scotland who sounds a little like Rick Astley filtered through James Murphy. The more I listen to his debut disc, the more I find it hard to resist. How can you hate on a song that says “I’ve got hugs for you if you were born in the eighties”?

His acclaimed album, “I Created Disco”, is being released domestically this September by the Almost Gold label (who already successfully introduced Peter Bjorn & John to a US audience). This video is intentionally awful, as were most of your favorite early 80’s videos.

You can stream the entire cd for now at his MySpace page.

Joe Long - Spoon - “Don’t You Evah”, from the CD Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums so far this year. The new album from Spoon is a great piece of pop mastery in my opinion, and this song, “Don’t You Evah” is one that stands out in an accomplished field. It is really just another classic Spoon cut that I would imagine belongs on a best of if the band ever decide to do something like that. Britt Daniel’s vocals and lyrics are on point and you gotta love the constant egg shaker setting the pace through the song. Yet another song that will likely find it’s way onto a summer mix as well for me.

On their way down to play at Bonnaroo, the guys swung by for their third Lounge Act session. With recording of their second album (”Heavenly Bender”) completed, Sam Champion are looking for the right label to release it.

This session features five brand new tracks, all of which will be featured on the new album. At least one of the songs here (”Lorraine”) was performed live for the very first time during this set.

Track Listing:
Like A Secret
Heavenly Bender
- interview -
Dead Moon Dimension
Lorraine
Direct

Sam Champion - Dead Moon Dimension (Live On WOXY.com)

Sam Champion - Like A Secret (Live On WOXY.com)

Sam Champion - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

It is always fun to run across a mention of the station. And it’s pretty cool when it comes from Rolling Stone no less…… (thanks to Eleanor (rcc94) from our message boards for the heads up)

View the full article here…..

You may have heard Shivvy & I discuss this on-air this week but in light of the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) decision on hiking royalty rates for online broadcasters, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a hearing today at 10am on Capitol Hill. We’re proud to say that our own Digital Savant Bryan Jay Miller has been asked to testify on behalf of webcasters against the CRB rate hike.

Given the impact of the CRB royalty rates on webcasting small businesses, the Small Business Committee could be a key ally in pushing the legislation. Currently, 12 Representatives who have co-sponsored H.R. 2060 sit on the Small Business Committee.

Let us introduce Philly rockers The A-Sides to you. We were sent an advance copy of their upcoming 2nd album and quickly went into action to get them into the studio. They were going to be passing through town on their way to Chicago and we thought that a Lounge Act session was a great way to give you an early listen to a band that we think are on their way to a very successful year.

They worked on the “Silver Storms” cd before getting signed to Vagrant, who will be releasing the album on August 28th. In this session you’ll hear the band debut 4 of their new songs live in the Lounge.

Track Listing:
My Heroes Have Always Been Crazy
Amazing Grace
- interview -
We’re The Trees
Diamonds

View the entire photoset here…..

The A-Sides - We’re The Trees (Live On WOXY.com)

The A-Sides - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

It’s back, actually it never totally went away. Don’t forget to send your Wear Your WOXY pics to us here at The Futurist. You can send them to me, joe at woxy dot com.

Have a peek at our friend Roth (X-Ray on the boards) at Bonnaroo with his very close friends Aziz Ansari and David Cross.

So, I promise, this is the last Bonnaroo related photo post from us here on The Futurist. But I wanted to throw what I think are some of the best shots we took during our time down in Tennessee into a Flickr slideshow. So, enjoy……

Or, you can view the set on Flickr.

As I mentioned before, video interviews are still being disected and fine tuned here and we will have them to you very soon, in the meantime, here are some shots of those interviews in progress……

Joe with John Moen and Chris Funk of The Decemberists

Joe with Matt, Scott and Bryan of The National

Our interview area, with Bryan Jay manning the camera.

(more…)

Local rockers Viva La Foxx made a return visit to the Lounge to premiere us some new material. The band were getting ready to leave town on a summer tour (in a van with no air conditioning and broken windows!), but stopped in to give us a taste of what their 2nd full-length album is going to sound like.

This session features 3 brand new tracks and closes with a track off their debut disc “I Knew It Wasn’t Love, But…”.

Two of those new tracks, including the full session download, are available to download below…

Track Listing:
Morris Code
untitled
- interview -
Teacher Teacher
Leftovers

View the entire photoset here.

Viva La Foxx - Teacher Teacher (Live On WOXY.com)

Viva La Foxx - Untitled (Live On WOXY.com)

Viva La Foxx - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

It’s been a full year (well, 364 days, but who’s counting?) since The Young Republic were last in the Lounge. Since that time the Boston-area collective have been working hard at finishing up their studies at the Berklee College Of Music. They’re also one step closer to world domination now that they’ve signed to End Of The Line Records in the U.K.

In fact, the band will be headed over for a tour of Britian later this summer which includes a stop at the annual Glastonbury festival.

Below are photos of the session, two songs from the session cut out for download and the full session for download as well.

Track Listing:
Blue Skies
Idiot Grin
- interview -
Third Night Balcony
Mary Ellen
Girl From The Northern States

The Young Republic - Girl From The Northern States (Live On WOXY.com)

The Young Republic - Third Night Balcony (Live On WOXY.com)

The Young Republic - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)