When you look up the word “troubadour” in the dictionary you get this definition. “One of a class of 12th-century and 13th-century lyric poets in Southern France, northern Italy, and northern Spain, who composed songs in language d’oc often about courtly love.” Because of the ‘lyric poets’ part of the definition, the word troubadour has crossed over into being a favorite description for folk musicians of our time, or singer songwriters who possess an elevated storytelling gift.

Whether or not you like the use of the term troubadour, or don’t care at all, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson does something poetic in his lyrics that bring the proper or improper use of the word to mind, and while most troubadours are known for their “courtly” love songs, MBAR is better known for his dark tales of addiction, and brokeness.

His debut album, which is simply his titled using his 4 names (he has two middle names) comes with a few indie musicians of note suggesting the 23 year old from Brooklyn by way of Oregon. Recorded by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear and featuring Chris Bear & Daniel Rosen, who are also Grizzly Bear members, and Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio, who Miles is scheduled to hit the road with in a couple weeks.

When a new singer/songwriter like Miles comes along, it is hard to shed the Dylan comparisions, but with the extra layers of instrumentation and emotion, MBAR is a musician in nobody’s shadow, and deserves your attention.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is opening for TV On The Radio starting September 5th and will be playing the Monolith Festival this year as well on the WOXY.com stage.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Buriedfed

WOXY.com welcomes The Features on September 5th for a free show on Fountain Square as part of this year’s Oyster Fest and a continuation of the Indie Summer series. A number of downtown area restaurants will be serving up the grub but whether you’re a fan of these bivalve mollusks or not, come on down because nothing says FUN quite like WOXY, free music and oysters.

In addition, The Features just announced that they will be releasing their new CD Some Kind Of Salvation on September 30th and releasing a vinyl version as well which will offer a couple of bonus tracks! The vinyl version will include the bonus songs “Now You Know” and “Mosis Tosis.” The Features performed an early version of “Mosis Tosis” live in our lounge last year, along with several other songs that turned up on Some Kind Of Salvation, check out a couple below.

Pre-order the vinyl here now!

The Features - The Temporary Blues (Live On WOXY.com)

The Features - Gates Of Hell (Live On WOXY.com)

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

When I got in this new record at the station from Suicide Squeeze that was touted as a new band from Nick Thorburn of Islands, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. I’ve never really been a fan of The Unicorns, Islands, or the myriad side projects that have sprung forth from this acclaimed Canuck (although, truth be told, Arm’s Way did start to win me over).

Human Highway finds Nick teaming up with his good friend Jim Guthrie (who previously was a member of Islands and then went on to record solo and form the excellent band Royal City). I was intrigued enough to pop the disc in after reading that they were influenced by the Everly Brothers and old doo-wop music for this project.

The album works because they let the music of the past inform their songwriting without merely trying to mimic it. This mostly comes through in how they harmonize with each other, their vocals blending gorgeously, but not in an over the top way. Moody Motorcycle is so good, that I can only hope the duo will continue to be inspired and create more music as Human Highway when their schedules allow.

Only after listening to the album a few times and then checking the credits did I realize that my favorite tracks were the ones where Guthrie wrote the music. A perfect example is the album’s title track. It has the grace and beauty of an old Elliott Smith song, but is infused with their sharp blended vocals and slightly more of a bounce than we usually got from Mr. Smith.

The entire album is streaming at their myspace

Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle

Just in case you missed it, last Friday we announced our winner in the WOXY.com Monolith Flyaway contest. Hundreds entered but only one could get the grand prize. So congratulations to our winner, Nicole Carlson of Berkeley, California.

She’s won:
- Two VIP GOLD Passes to the Monolith Festival
- 3 Nights Lodging
- Roundtrip airfare via Southwest Airlines

Congrats again to Nicole and a big thank you to everyone that entered and of course the good folks at Southwest Airlines!

The festival is only a few weeks away, hope to see lots of you there!

The 2nd Lounge Act session from Cincinnati’s own Pomegranates was their first official performance with the band expanded into a 5-piece. They rehearsed with their new member Nate the night before and introduced him here.

While this session starts out with a cut from their debut album Everything Is Alive, the rest of the songs performed here are brand new and unreleased. The final song, “China Club”, was so newly written that they only titled it moments before we went live.

The rest of the songs here will appear on their sophomore album Everybody Come Outside, which should be released in February 2009.

Full photo set here…….

Track Listing:
Thunder Meadow
384 B.C.
Corriander
- interview -
Tesseract
Beachcomber
China Club

All songs except “Thunder Meadow” are new and previously unreleased.

Pomegranates - Tesserract (Live On WOXY.com/unreleased)

Pomegranates - Corriander (Live On WOXY.com/unreleased)

Pomegranates - 384 B.C.(Live On WOXY.com/unreleased)

Pomegranates - China Club (Live On WOXY.com/unreleased)

Pomegranates - Beachcomber (Live On WOXY.com/unreleased)

Pomegranates - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

It’s been over 2 years since their debut in the Lounge, but Bound Stems made up for it with this preview of their new record. “The Family Afloat” is out September 9th from Flameshovel and this performance features 5 tracks from their sophomore effort.

The band took their time after a year’s worth of touring for Appreciation Night, slowly recording the new album over the course of 10 months or so. This allowed them to put the songs together exactly as they wanted and to call in a few friends to help out (like Davey von Bohlen of Maritime, Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger, and Chin Up Chin Up’s Jesse Woghin).

Track Listing:
Taking Tips From The Gallery Gang
Happens To Us All Otherwise
- break -
Only Clementine Knows
Winston
Sugar City Magic

Bound Stems - Happens To Us All Otherwise (Live On WOXY.com)

Bound Stems - Winston (Live On WOXY.com)

Bound Stems - Taking Tips From The Gallery Gang (Live On WOXY.com)

Bound Stems - Live On WOXY.com (Full Session Download)

Jessica Lea Mayfield turns 19 next week. You’d never figure that from listening to her: a smoky, soothing croon that’ll instantly recall Lucinda, Jolie, Gillian and Hope (that’s Williams, Holland, Welch, and Sandoval, respectively). She’s a little bit country, a little bit indie. Doc Martens with a dress. Blend it all together for her debut With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, and it should instantly put the Kent, Ohio, native near the top of everyone’s “hot” list.

The record was produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and recorded over a two-year period at his home studio in nearby Akron after she appeared on the Keys’ “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be” from Attack & Release. Still, it’s not like that was her first exposure to the music biz, having performed with her family band One Way Rider since age 8. She plays guitar, bass, and banjo and composed all 12 of the songs on With Blasphemy So Heartfelt with the exception of one co-written by brother David, who plays bass on both the record and in her backing band. Auerbach plays a variety of instruments on the disc, too, and two members of Dr. Dog lend backing vocals on a track.

Perhaps not surprising then, she’ll open for The Black Keys on a string of dates in late September and rejoin them in November for their UK tour, which includes a date at London’s Brixton Academy along with My Morning Jacket on November 12.

Mayfield’s simple arrangements and arresting voice are best exhibited on “Kiss Me Again”, the song that kicks off With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. Take a listen to who Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers says is “the most exciting new artist on the scene today”.

With Blasphemy So Heartfelt by Jessica Lea Mayfield hits stores September 16th via Polymer Sounds.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - Kiss Me Again

Shiv takes on the debut album from Gentleman Auction House for another installment of This Just In.

I was wholly unfamiliar with the St. Louis-based band Gentleman Auction House when their debut full-length arrived at the station recently, but I was immediately intrigued. Their unofficial seal of approval happened the minute that I saw Chad Clark (from Beauty Pill) & TJ Lipple (from Aloha) listed on the album’s credits. It’s gotten to the point where these guys can do no wrong to me. They absolutely have the best ears in indie rock and seem to bring out the best in any bands and artists they work with.

When I popped in the cd, it didn’t take long for me to warm up to their sound. On tracks like “Call It Casual” and “We Used To Dream About Bridges”, I thought for a split second that maybe Beulah had reformed with Conor Oberst on lead vocals. With 7 members, the band has a wide range of eclectic instrumentation including trumpets, glockenspiels, and even a lot of “yelling, stomping, and clapping” (as credited in the liner notes).

Sometimes you hear a record and while it may be technically perfect, you immediately get the feeling that the band in question could never pull off their sound in a live setting. On the flipside, I hear a band like Gentleman Auction House and imagine that I’ll appreciate their songs even more after seeing them tear it up on stage. Without any knowledge of their previous EPs, this record has quickly become one of my favorite releases of the year.

Alphabet Graveyard is out now on Emergency Umbrella Records. You can stream the entire album free and/or buy it digitally from our friends at lala.com.

Listen to the album on Lala

Gentleman Auction House - Call It Casual

Phil and Beth of Bowerbirds joined us for a beautiful session off the strength of their debut full length album, Hymns For A Dark Horse. The album was released by Burly Time Records a year ago and ended up catching the attention of John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats.

After touring with The Mountain Goats last winter, the Dead Oceans label swooped in and signed the ‘birds’ and re-released “Hymns” this summer. Phil and Beth treated us to several songs from the album as well as a brand new song.

Track Listing:
Hooves
In Our Talons
Olive Hearts
interview–
Teeth Of Life (new/unreleased)
The Ticonderoga

Bowerbirds - In Our Talons (Live On WOXY.com)

Bowerbirds - Hooves (Live On WOXY.com)

Bowerbirds - Teeth Of Life (Live On WOXY.com/ Unreleased)

Bowerbirds - Live On WOXY.com (full session download)

Back in 2005 when Okkervil River released Black Sheep Boy, I am quite sure the band had high hopes for how it might be received. The response was great, and the overflow of the Black Sheep Boy sessions resulted in another full album of material, which was dubbed the Black Sheep Boy Appendix.

Fast forward to 2007, when Will Sheff and his band got together again to create The Stage Names, an album that took the band to new heights and opened the ears of tons of new fans as well. Again, the sessions surrounding the album were rich with content, and Okkervil River have prepared another ‘appendix’ of sorts, titled The Stand Ins.

The Stand Ins is 8 full songs and easily fits alongside The Stage Names as a perfect companion piece. Okkervil River visited us in the Lounge back in April and treated us to a great set that included one of the new songs, “Lost Coastlines.” Listen to that below, as well as the album version, which sees Shearwater frontman, and former full time Okkervil member Jonathan Meiburg assist Will on vocals.

Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines (Live On WOXY.com)
Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines (album version)

The Stand Ins is out September 9 from Jagjaguwar Records, and you can pre-order the album right now!

The band is also preparing to hit the road for a fall tour, check out all the dates after the jump….
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