Here is one of many video interviews from the Monolith Festival. Shiv talks to Jonathan Visger of Mason Proper with a beautiful backdrop….

We’ve been enjoying Nashville’s De Novo Dahl since the release of their “Cats & Kittens” album a few years back. They’ve made a few visits to our Lounge and the last few times we’ve seen them play live, they blew everybody else out of the water. With the band on the verge of launching an extended tour opening up for Hot Hot Heat, we took the opportunity to get them out to play our stage at Monolith.

De Novo Dahl have always played shows in costumes. The first time they showed up at the station they were in old school matching swimsuits! The band have recently signed to Roadrunner Records and have a bit more of a budget to work with, so they now have custom matching suits (and a lovely dress for Serai). That is literally the only thing that has changed — they still have a blast, work the crowd into a frenzy, and have managed to tour quite a bit over the last year and win over crowds without even having a new album out for people to buy.

That is going to change in the new year, when they release a full-length album for Roadrunner and, presumably, continue to tour nonstop. They make converts wherever they go and if you haven’t heard them before, you should download the following live MP3s and get ready to shake your ass. You can also pick up their “Shout” EP at select indie stores nationwide.

De Novo Dahl - Be Your Man (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

De Novo Dahl - Shout (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

De Novo Dahl - The Funk (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

When we were asked to help curate a stage for the Monolith Festival, it was important to us to have some Denver-based bands on our bill. The first area band to play on our stage was Cat-A-Tac on Friday afternoon. We started playing the band’s debut EP back in 2005 and they headed out to Cincinnati and played in the WOXY.COM Lounge in January of 2006.

Since that time, they’ve released an extraordinary full-length album. The tracks you can grab from this performance are originally off this cd, which is called “Past Lies And Former Lives.” I had a chance to catch up with the band for a little bit before the day really got started in a video interview that will be posted around here soon.

Some of the live recordings that were made at Monolith turned out very bass heavy and this one definitely fits that bill, but the quality of the band’s songwriting and musicianship shines through. Check out these highlights from Cat-A-Tac’s live set at Monolith and, if you like what you hear, you can pick up the band’s music at a very affordable price through cdbaby.com!

Cat-A-Tac - All I Knew (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Cat-A-Tac - Needles And Pins (Live On WOXY.com / Monolith 2007)

Here we go! The first of many Monolith Festival Recaps here on The Futurist! First up, Shiv recaps the set from Mason Proper…..

When you are working or showing up to play at a festival like Monolith, there can be a lot of hurry up and wait. We had to show up quite early on Friday to start preparing for the live broadcast and the bands have to start loading in their equipment very early as well so that things are ready to go once doors are opened to the public. On Friday, it seemed like the time between when we arrived and when doors opened were a million miles away from each other. It must have seemed that way to the Mason Proper crew as well, because band member Matt Thomson took off and disappeared with their manager.

Somehow we ended up closing in on time for the doors to open for the public and the band’s stage time beginning when there had been no word of Matt. This did not bode well for the weekend. Among the five stages at Monolith, they were all set up and staggered so that you could catch different bands without a ton of overlap. We were told that the set times would be kept as tight as possible. This meant that Mason Proper was going to have to start their set missing a member.

I could see that Jonathan Visger, frontman for Mason Proper, was stressed out by the whole situation but that old mantra of “the show must go on” found the band kicking off our WOXY.com stage on Friday as a 4-piece. They played a few songs that they knew could be played without Matt and then, after about 15 minutes, he triumphantly returned. Both of the songs that you can download below are from after Matt leaped onto the stage and they were back to full power. All-in-all, they recovered nicely from this little snafu and played an energetic set of material from their debut album.

More photos from Mason Proper’s set and of Friday at Monolith can be found here. All photos done by Bryan Jay.

Mason Proper - The World Is Smaller Than You Think (Live On WOXY.com/ Monolith 2007)

Mason Proper - Chemical Dress Eliza (Live On WOXY.com/ Monolith 2007)

Fresh off an appearance on our stage at the Monolith Festival, WOXY.com is proud to present the upcoming tour of the Brooklyn-based trio Mobius Band. They’ll take to the road in support of their album Heaven that sees an October 2nd release on Misra Records. This is the band’s second full-length disc, following 2005’s The Loving Sounds of Static.

Joining the band on tour will be their former Ghostly International labelmate Matthew Dear. Dates begin October 1 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City and will take the two acts across the country, with concerts in Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis and more. Mobius Band will continue beyond their dates with Dear, with shows in Chicago, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal and more. Keep checking back here at The Futurist. We’ll be doing ticket giveaways for selected stops on tour.

Mobius Band - Hallie

MOBIUS BAND U.S. TOUR presented by WOXY.com

10/1 NEW YORK, NY Mercury Lounge
10/2 PHILADELPHIA, PA Johnny Brenda’s
10/3 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Satellite
10/4 WASHINGTON, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
10/5 CHAPEL HILL, NC Local 506
10/6 ATLANTA, GA Drunken Unicorn
10/8 AUSTIN, TX Emo’s
10/9 DALLAS, TX Granada Theater
10/11 ALBUQUERQUE, NM Burt�s Tiki Lounge #
10/12 DENVER, CO Hi Dive
10/16 LOS ANGELES, CA Echo
10/17 LOS ANGELES, CA Spaceland #
10/18 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Mezzanine
10/19 PORTLAND, OR Holocene
10/20 SEATTLE, WA Crocodile Cafe
10/21 VANCOUVER, BC Media Club
10/24 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Triple Rock
10/25 MADISON, WI Caf� Montemarte
10/26 WEST LAFAYETTE, IN The Venue #
10/27 CLEVELAND, OH Grog Shop #
10/28 EAST LANSING, MI MSU Union Ballroom #
10/30 CHICAGO, IL The Empty Bottle #
11/01 AMES, IA Maintenance Shop @ ISU #
11/02 COLUMBIA, MO Mojo�s #
11/03 ST. LOUIS, MO Creepy Crawl #
11/04 COLUMBUS, OH The Basement #
11/06 PONTIAC, MI The Pike Room #
11/07 TORONTO, ON Horseshoe #
11/08 MONTREAL, QC Petit Campus #
11/30 NORTHAMPTON, MA Iron Horse #
12/02 BOSTON, MA Middle East (Downstairs) #

# Matthew Dear does not appear

Great news with the CMJ Festival coming up in New York next month. The Future Of Rock N Roll has been nominated for two CMJ awards! WOXY.com is up for best website and for biggest community resource! Quite an honor to be a part of a great group of worthy colleagues.

In addition to this news, WOXY.com will be in New York for CMJ this year and we have teamed up with the good people at Gothamist for some assistance. Here is a blurb from their site….

“Our favorite radio station has come on board! WOXY will be broadcasting live from Gothamist House all week. The show will be streaming on their website, and later the “best of” will be compiled into a neat little podcast you can carry around with you on your portable music listening device of choice! “

It’s true, we are suffering from a bit of a Monolith hangover here at WOXY.com. The weekend had loads of great music and fun and we can’t wait to share it with you. We have loads of audio, photos and even some video interviews to bring your way, but, in the meantime, how about a little giveaway?

I have two copies of the latest CD from a Monolith artist and WOXY.com Lounge Act alum Editors. All you need to do is supply us with your best hangover cure. So, whether it is more alcohol or raw eggs, leave it in the comments and we will pick our favorites to win An End Has A Start from Editors.

• Winners will be announced here on The Futurist next Monday….

Another large batch of new releases will be hitting record store shelves tomorrow, here are just a few that we felt like highlighting out of the bunch.

Kevin Drew - Spirit If…..

• Broken Social Scene vocalist with his solo debut for Arts and Crafts Records.

Calvin Harris - I Created Disco (buy for $8.29 on lala.com)

• Debut record for 80’s nostalgist Calvin Harris, released on Almost Gold Recordings, the same label that brought Peter Bjorn and John’s Writers Block to the US.

Les Savy Fav - Let’s Stay Friends

• First album since the band took a hiatus in 2005 which fueled rumors they would break up

Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heavens Gate (buy for $9.99 on lala.com)

• First album for the Oakland band on new label Brushfire Records
• 4th full length album for the band overall

What else is coming out that you are excited about?

Bryan Jay, Mike and Shiv are headed out to Colorado this weekend for the first annual MONOLITH FESTIVAL. It’s happening at Red Rocks outside of Denver and it’s gonna be a great time. If you are headed to the festival in person, come say hello at our WOXY.COM stage inside the lower level of the Red Rocks Vistors Center!

We are going to be broadcasting live from Monolith on Friday and Saturday with all of the bands playing on the WOXY.COM stage!

On Friday you’ll hear:

Mason Proper @ 3:50 Mountain (local time for the festival)/5:50 Eastern
Cat-A-Tac @ 5:10/7:10
Ra Ra Riot @ 6:30/8:30
De Novo Dahl @ 7:50/9:50
Mobius Band @ 9:10/11:10
Flosstradamus w/ Kid Sister @ 10:30/12:30am

On Saturday you’ll hear:

Via Audio @ 2:30 Mountain (local time for the festival)/4:30 Eastern
Forget Cassettes @ 3:50/5:50
Ian Ball (of Gomez) @ 5:10/7:10
White Rabbits @ 6:30/8:30
Hot IQs @ 7:50/9:50
Au Revoir Simone @ 9:10/11:10
Yacht @ 10:30/12:30am

There will be a special link on the WOXY.COM homepage for you to listen directly to a special dedicated Monolith Festival stream. The live concert will NOT overtake programming on the main WOXY.COM or HD Radio stream.

As with any live event, times are approximate, the lineup is subject to change, and the broadcast may contain strong language.

Another local band that will be taking the WOXY.com stage at this weekend’s Monolith Festival is Hot IQ’s out of the Denver area. The trio released an excellent EP early this year called The Dangling Modifier EP and we had the pleasure of welcoming them into the lounge this summer as well.

Check out the full session and one unreleased song that the band played during their time with us here in Cincinnati. And of course, get ready for lots of new tunes during their set at Monolith this weekend.

Hot IQs - 3/4 Of A Ghost (Live On WOXY.com/ Unreleased)

Hot IQs - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Hot IQ’s are scheduled to play at 7:50pm on Saturday September 15th on the WOXY.com stage.