Monday, March 19, 2007

Under Review: Voxtrot



Voxtrot sure have had a weird history of releases, opting for several EPs instead of an LP. The traditional path, this is not. Regardless, these guys have gained a nice amount of blog buzz and earned a spot at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival. Impressive.

Last December, lead singer Ramesh Srivastava announced that Voxtrot would stop being so coy and release a proper album. Ok, so big deal, why is this news if it happened months ago? Good point imaginary reader!

While their new LP won't be in stores until May 22, it certainly has hit the interweb. And judging from the reaction of most people on certain unnamed music sites the reaction to this album is pretty hot and cold. Needless to say I needed to check it out for myself.

After giving the record a few spins I can tell you this: it's both more and less then you were expecting. The bad news is that it lacks the consistent "wow" factor of their EPs. Pretty much every song on a Voxtrot EP made its way onto a mix cd of mine at one point or another. The good news is that what it lacks in consistency it makes up in it's high points. Songs like "Kid Gloves", "Ghost", and "Blood Red Blood" totally make up for record's more *cough* forgettable *cough* moments.

Voxtrot - "Kid Gloves" (MP3)
Voxtrot - "Stephen" (MP3)

Voxtrot's self titled LP will be out on May 22, 2007 on Beggars Group