Saturation.
A word I have said about a hundred times within the last hour. Austin is saturated. With music.
Why is it then that I can spend three days out in Austin and find so little original talent?
I mean if it is so saturated.

In a place so soaked in idealistic artists a light shines through. One group of guys have tread the water long and hard enough to be seen and heard. And that deserves our support.
Loxsly.
A local band of guys, mostly from Waco, have made their way here. Some going to school at UT, some working. On top of that they are deep in the heart of music land. And what is there agenda now?
To get a record label.
Why? Because in today’s fast paced business of marketing, distributing and promoting music money is required. Not to live on. No. Just to survive on. If you don’t have the money to tour promote or distribute your great sounds, no one will hear them.
Hence, the art is destined to reside only in Austin. And Myspace. (It’s taking over the world!)

I wanna let you in on a little secret.
Here it goes…
Austin is full of talented musicians waiting to spread their names and notes to needy ears.
Oh wait…I pretty much already told you that with the whole saturation speech. It should come as no surprise then that so many musicians here fall short of being able to book shows, tour and afford quality recording.

If you ask Cody Ground of Loxsly, what the biggest road block in this town is he’ll tell you that it is also one of the city’s biggest assets. That there is so much music here. But, Loxsly has gotten past this roadblock and used it to an advantage to accumulate a good following locally. Although they would like to play other places, it is unfortunately not possible while they have no sturdy financial and network support system, like one of a record label, to help distribute and promote them more effectively.

The members of Loxsly are in school, they are working, they are here and they are on their way. They set out for an EP in the spring and hopefully a record label to release a full length album soon after.

What started as the brainchild of Cody Ground as a kid in Waco, evolved into a cohesive and unique sound built up by all the band member’s unique contributions.

When Cody and Garrett were in High school they met John and Eric who were attending Baylor at the time. They ended up in Austin for school and work and were able to team up here with Justin at Shine Records. He started helping them record and together they all became what we know today as Loxsly. Although they have traveled in Texas, and briefly through the Midwest, their sound remains local.
And what a good sound it is.

I bought their CD, Maps and Organs, the first time I saw them perform live. Which I have mentioned in previous articles, is fan fucking tabulous. The album isn’t horribly new, repackaged though, or available for your listening pleasure on iTunes.
The tracks are very smooth.
I love that!
Continuous melodies stream together seamlessly from the beginning of the CD to the end. Listening to it is more like a journey in an audio land far far away. Indie pop rock doesn’t have a clue! Is that what you would call this? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that it is great stuff. Instrumentally intriguing and the lyrics aren’t too bad either. Some of them make me laugh when he says that his ‘friends are rad’ Other times I relate -
“feel like mud, sliding slow. So many paths but where do we go?”
And the poppy melodies paired with well thought out and produced instrumentals keep me intrigued enough to sing along.

Right now the guys are working on a music video for one of their newer songs, Lamprey Eels and of course that EP I was telling you about. But, they will be playing live music soon. I suggest you check it out. If you aren’t in the little blue oasis of Austin in the big red state of Texas, like I said Myspace is taking over the world, and you can definitely get a little teaser of a taste of them there.

Their sound deserves our support.
Be a part of the movement, not the mire that impedes most musicians.
Buy CDs.
Buy merchandise.
Pay covers.
This is what moves the music that moves us.