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Happy-go-lucky: Is there another layer to Orlando's gleeful pop band XOXO?

For a FREE DOWNLOAD of their single "The Dissociative Fugue" click here!

By Justin Strout

For the record, I just wanted to play some Wii.

Local indie pop band XOXO have just recorded their debut EP, C’est la Vie, and after about a year of intensive name-building, playing every regional show they could get their hands into – not to mention this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival – it’s time I got to know them.

But I’ve been pummeled by a head cold for going on a week now and I could really use some fun, something that XOXO happen to specialize in. From their scattershot tour blogs hosted by Orlando Sentinel to the infuriatingly sunny rainbow beaming out from a guitar case on their album cover, to say nothing of their now-famously cute band name that translates to “hugs and kisses,” who better to shake me out of my funk? To make things even more impossibly exultant, perennially merry Jeff Ilgenfritz of Mumpsy produced C’est la Vie. And he just bought a Wii. “I’ve been totally downloading everything with Mario or Zelda/Link from the old consoles. Valhalla!” he boasts. That sounds perfect.

Instead, I’m sniffling my way toward Seven Sisters Coffeehouse on Mills on a muggy evening. XOXO singer Noah Kussack and bassist Kyle Raker sit out front to greet me. Apparently, the Seven Sisters are doing well enough in this economy to afford closing by midday. Wally’s is a block away, but they only take cash. For all their DIY attitude toward music, Kussack – who rode his motorcycle directly from his day job pimping cell phones – and oxford-and-tie admissions rep Raker are all plastic. We settle in at Will’s Pub across the street.

We are very proud to announce the video for The Beauvilles' song “Snow” won the award for Best Video at The Fourth Annual Sunscreen Film Festival.

• Director: Jon Wolding / Ground Up Films
  

 Congrats boys!

 

X.O.X.O. - say "hugs and kisses," or don't, depending on your willingness to indulge - crafts an equally earnest and quirky sort of indie-pop that's really too original to describe via the usual comparisons to Weezer . Shades of everything from the Elephant Six collective and Of Montreal to disco, go-go and edgy post-folk are evident in the band's sound, without ever sounding cluttered. Mostly, it's just beat-happy and innately catchy, with a melancholy scrim of clouds sometimes obscuring its inherent sunniness.

The Orlando group has a new album out called C'est la Vie, and it's pretty damn irresistible.

24 Hour Service Station is co-releasing the record with Orlando's Post Records. 24 Hour Service Station is handling the CD and Digital, while Post presses vinyl and CASSETTE. Yep, they are putting music on tape!

24 Hour Service Station is proud to be distributing the catalog of John Wesley including the albums Under the Red and White Sky, The Closing of the Pale Blue Eyes, THe Emperor Falls, Chasing Monsters, Shiver, and his new live album Oxford. They will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, eMusic, Rhapsody & over 250 other digital media outlets worldwide.

The music of John Wesley has been called lyrically sensitive and musically dynamic. Wesley's current brand of guitar-driven acoustic and electric songs represent the cultivation of a diversity of inspirations from alternative, progressive, classic rock and folk genres intertwined with poignant lyrics drawn from the poetry of the common man. His skillful, versatile and energetic guitar style complements with fury his soulful emotionally-charged vocals, reminiscent of Roger Waters and Bruce Springsteen. What appeals to Wesley's fans worldwide is the spark of sincerity and sensitivity so often absent in today's mainstream music.

Wesley has toured the U.S. and Europe extensively to support his independent European releases and as a performing member for Marillion, Fish, Porcupine Tree, & Sister Hazel. He also owns and operates Red Room Recorders, a recording studio in Tampa, FL with business partner Mark Prator.