Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Blackstrap made their US radio debut in our Lounge with a set of songs from their second full-length Steal My Horses and Run. The five-piece were visiting the States for only the second time, with this performance coming in the midst of their first string of extended dates beyond the CMJ Music Marathon in New York.
Blackstrap plays an amped up blend of hooky, melodic shoegazing that has earned comparisons to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Primal Scream, and Serena-Maneesh. Our engineer Brian Niesz deserves major props for perfectly capturing the band’s big sound in the Lounge. This session should serve as ideal introduction to a band that deserves wider attention.
Track Listing:
Winning Speech
Lay Down Low - interview -
Steal My Horses
Rough Parade
Today marks the return of our friends from the San Fransisco based band Birdmonster to our Cincinnati lounge. We last caught up with them earlier this year down in Austin during SXSW and before that, they did a great session for us back in 2006. The band have just released a new album, From The Mountain To The Sea, and will be playing for us this afternoon at around 1pm ET.
In the meantime, enjoy some downloads from their SXSW session earlier this year along with a great video from Austin as well.
This 7-piece band from St. Louis, Missouri squeezed more musicians and instruments into the Lounge than we had seen in some time. GAH have shifted from the more orchestral indie pop of their debut to a more eclectic and bombastic approach that features 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists, and a whole lot of energy.
In an interview with Shiv, they discuss their local music scene, approaching a “real studio” album, and their upcoming holiday EP. This performance features 5 songs that appear on the band’s new album Alphabet Graveyard.
View the entire photoset here…
Track Listing
You And Me, Madly…
Call It Casual - interview -
I Sleep In A Bed Of Scissor Arms
The Book Of Matches
We Used To Dream About Bridges
This band from Knoxville, Tennessee self-released their We Breed Champions disc in 2006. You might think that MySpace isn’t good for anything anymore, but that’s how the band got in touch with Patrick Carney of The Black Keys.
He ended up signing the band to his Audio Eagle label and reissuing We Breed Champions earlier this year. When the band stopped by our studios, they were on tour with The Black Keys and making new fans every night with their live set.
In this performance, you’ll hear only one track from We Breed Champions! Everything else is new and unreleased as of now.
Track Listing:
Who Am Kong (new/unreleased)
Maniverse (new/unreleased) - interview -
Broke Calculator
Brother (new/unreleased)
Mike & Margaret of The Seedy Seeds came by for their second Lounge Act session and tried something new. They brought along Brian from The Turnbull AC’s as their live drummer. He’ll be helping to flesh out their sound at live shows, including their cd release party for Count The Days.
This session highlights all new material that appears on the band’s second full-length album.
Northern Kentucky resident Daniel Martin Moore is, without question, living out a dream come true right now. His four song demo cd caught the ear of Sub Pop and the label is releasing his debut album “Stray Age.”
In this performance, you’ll get to hear four tracks from the album that also features Joel Runyan on mandolin and keyboards.
It’s been about 2 years since Takka Takka first dropped in to the Lounge. They’ve experienced some considerable changes since that visit, with the band’s lineup expanding and shifting since the recording of their debut We Feel Safer At Night.
The new lineup solidified in enough time for the new members to work on the making of their second album, Migration. The song structures and vocal harmonies in their new material soars above what was already a pretty solid debut to create a phenomenal album.
This session features 3 songs from the new album and closes out with a new arrangement of “Fever” from their debut disc (a song which is also featured on the soundtrack to the new film “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist”).
Track Listing:
Everybody Say - interview -
Silence
The Takers
Fever
Jukebox The Ghost were our very first Lounge Act session of 2008. They returned to the Lounge 9 months later while touring the country with Say Hi before an appearance at our WOXY.com stage at the MidPoint Music Festival.
Since we saw them last, the guys released their debut album “Let Live And Let Ghosts” and have played shows in states they had never visited before like Idaho and Utah.
For their second appearance in the Lounge, they decided to premiere some new stuff that they’ve been working on. You’ll get to hear 3 new cuts in this performance that will probably end up on their next record.
Track Listing:
Under My Skin
Static To The Heart
Nobody (new/unreleased) - interview -
Ghosts In Empty Houses (new/unreleased)
Mistletoe (new/unreleased)
It’s been over 2 years since French Kicks dropped by the station. Shortly after Shiv declared Swimming one of his favorite albums of the year, he started pestering their manager for a Cincinnati area stop so we could get them back into our studios.
In this session, the band joins Joe in the Lounge to play a few cuts from their 4th full-length album. In the interview they talk about producing this cd themselves and the freedom of capturing most of its songs live in one or two takes with minimal overdubbing.
Track Listing:
Atlanta
Carried Away - break -
Love In The Ruins
Well, it has been about a month since we hosted our last band in the lounge, and we are about to make up for it in a big way. Today we kick off a week that will see us host two bands in the lounge, starting today with French Kicks. We really love the latest French Kicks record, Swimming, and it will be a real treat to have them back into the lounge with us today.
And then later in the week, to prepare for the Midpoint Music Festival here in Cincinnati, we will be hosting a return performance from our friends in Jukebox The Ghost, who will also be playing our stage at Midpoint this weekend.
So set those calendars for French Kicks today at 2:30 ET and Jukebox The Ghost this Friday at 4 ET live in the Lounge on WOXY.com.
