Hostage Radio on WLUW 88.7

070208 ARE YOU LISTENING?

Sorry for the lack of posts... This blog has been an experiment and is about to get a face lift of sorts... We will be hitting the airwaves on WLUW 88.7 every Wednesday evenings starting July 2nd! It going to be a new music show and we have some pretty cool guests lined up... So stay tuned as the best is yet to come!

Company Of Thieves

CITY: Chicago, IL

ABOUT:
Company of Thieves sites Motown, soul, 1960’s and 1970’s rock n’ roll, Wilco, Neil Young, Fiona Apple and — of course — the Beatles, among their influences. In fact, the name “Company of Thieves” stems from the group’s feeling that their material is their own, more textured version of the music produced by their favorite artists, and therefore, a form of “thievery.” They participated in Yahoo's! Billboard Live showcase at B.B. King’s in New York City in 2007. A subsequent Inside Track review of the Billboard show said that Company of Thieves was one of two performances from the event that stood out “head and shoulders above the rest,” and Billboard itself calls Company of Thieves “one of the best unsigned acts out there…” certainly an unquestionable indication of what is to come.

SHOW: Park West - Chicago, IL 03-08-08

MP3: Pressure
WEB: www.myspace.com/companyofthieves

Throw Me The Statue

City: Seattle, WA

About:
THROW ME THE STATUE has been wow-ing audiences of the Pacific Northwest for the past year, earning a residency slot at Seattle's Chop Suey and a west coast tour with Jens Lekman. The release of his debut album on Secretly Canadian, "Moonbeams", is upon us! This Tuesday, February 19th, "Moonbeams" will be available in stores, and to celebrate, TMTS will be playing a cd release show in Bellingham, WA on February 22nd... This band is fucking awesome!

MP3: Lolita
Link: www.myspace.com/throwmethestatue

Black Kids

City: Jacksonville, FL

About:
When you call your band Black Kids, fans remember your name. "We like that 'Black Kids' seems subversive," says Reggie Youngblood, the Jacksonville, Florida, group's lead singer and one of its two black members. (His younger sister, Ali, is the other.) But Youngblood admits the name is trickier for the quintet's white kids. "For a while, when a stranger asked about the band, they'd just say, 'Oh, you haven't heard of us.'" That excuse no longer works, since Black Kids have gathered so much blog buzz over the past few months. That acclaim is due mostly to the freewheeling indie-rock songs they posted on MySpace, Songs like "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" come from times Youngblood has had to keep his ego in check. "I've often had great chemistry with a girl on the dance floor," he says. "And then she'd leave with her flat-footed boyfriend."

Shows: Tonight @ University of London Union - London, UK

MP3: Download Wizard of Ahhs [EP] FREE
Link: www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock

Vampire Weekend

City: New York, NY,

About:
The name of this band is Vampire Weekend. They are specialists in the following styles: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", "Upper West Side Soweto", "Campus", and "Oxford Comma Riddim."

Vampire Weekend are Ezra Koenig (vocals / guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards / vocals), Chris Baio (bass) and Christopher Tomson (drums).

They live in New York and met while studying at Columbia University, forming the band in the spring of 2006.

In June 2007 the New York Times wrote that "Even without an album,Vampire Weekend have made one of the most impressive debuts of the year."

Show: 02/15/08 Andy Warhol Museum - Pittsburgh, PA

MP3: Oxford Comma
Link: www.myspace.com/vampireweekend

Hymns

City: Brooklyn, NY

About:

Hymns is the current form of friends from North Carolina and Texas who now live in New York City. Last October they released their debut LP, 'Brother/Sister,' an 11 song collection of country rock folk pop that garnered critical praise. They have just completed their sophomore effort, 'Travel In Herds', which will be released in early March, 2008. The sound of the new LP is an exciting, fresh one, which blends horns, pump organs, saxophones, and harmonies, yet still remains faithful to the original Hymns sound.

Show: 02/09/08 at Union Hall Brooklyn, NY

MP3: Stop Talking

Link: www.myspace.com/hymnsband

Eugene

City: New York, NY

About:
Eugene aka Brandon Owens, lead singer and songwriter of eugene, moved from Los Angeles to New York at the age of 18. He spent the better part of the past four years touring and recording as a bassist with the elite of the jazz and pop world, such as Lauryn Hill and Terence Blanchard. In Summer 2004 he picked up an acoustic guitar, learned to use a four-track recorder and started to write his own songs. After years of playing music but never writing his own material, Eugenes songs just started pouring out, with over 40 songs captured on four-track in only a few months time. Though the recording process was painstakingly primitive, what has come out on these recordings is refreshingly honest songs that have a tremendous range, a warm immediacy and a real pop sensibility that is very different from the other sounds currently coming out of New York.

Show: 03/10/08 Club Midway - New York City

MP3: California

Link: www.myspace.com/eugenetheband