We recently communicated with Voxtrot lead singer Ramesh Srivastava via the world wide web of internet communications, and asked him some questions about music and shit. His band is playing at Hailey's tonight on the second to last date of a tour on which they have sold out two shows at New York's Mercury Lounge and another one in Toronto. During the tour, they also received a very strong Pitchfork review, instantly placing them in that "internet buzz band" group that you know you all get excited about. They are one of the Austin bands that everyone is raving about these days, and probably the best of that bunch. Here we go:
We recently read the Pitchfork review, which seems pretty important considering that Pitchfork (not to mention almost everyone else) makes a pretty big deal about their role as Kingmakers in the indie world. Was this review exciting for you? Do you think it had any immediate impact on your career, considering that your two EPs recently charted at numbers 5 and 8 on the Insound bestseller list (as of April17th)? Do you a see a real cause and effect relationship between Pitchfork praise and greater commercial success?
I am very thankful that Pitchfork gave us a positive review, as I understand their sphere of influence is great. I normally do not read Pitchfork (or any similar website, likely because I don't have the internet in the house), but thought that our review was intelligently written. There probably has been an immediate impact, but I suppose it will be a little while longer before we know exactly what that impact is. It seems positive thus far so let's hope that sustains. Either way, I hope people who feel connected to the music would feel so in any circumstance, positive review or otherwise.
You've also received quite a bit of buzz on some of the tastemaker music blogs. What do you think of this new phenomenon in music, i.e. the fact that there are a handful of blogs (most of which are operated by one person) that can have a pretty serious impact on the industry?
I love blogs. They're delicious. Just kidding. I think blogs are brilliant because it's a totally subversive form of media. The primary catalyst is passion for music, as opposed to commercial gain.
We hear a lot of twee influences in your music, as well as brit pop and sixties pop. What would you say are some of your bigger influences as a band?
Belle and Sebastian and Whitehouse.
We recently read on the Voxtrot Kid blog about your optimism concerning the Austin music scene. Why do you think things are going so well down there now as opposed to several years ago? What are some of the more interesting new bands and venues that you like in Austin?
I'm not sure why Austin is so great these days; it's hard to determine what gets the cultural wave going. My first guess was the internet, but I'd like to believe the force is of a more 'cosmic persuasion.'My favorite bands in Austin? Cry Blood Apache, Peel, Sound Team,Tacks! The Boy Disaster, The Carrots, and I've heard stuff from a band called Magic Surprise recently, which I thought was quite good.
What new music are you guys listening to these days?
New Things I have bought and liked in the last wee while include: Modeselektor, Hot Chip, Luciano, Nathan Fake, Electrelane, Scout Niblett, Royksopp.
We also read that you guys consider dance music to be a big influence, especially the kind coming out of Optimo in Glasgow (where Srivastava lived for a period of time). Do you think indie dance or dancerock is a fad that will pass (or has passed) in the US, or is it the first sign that dance music is becoming more accepted in the U.S., like it is in England and Europe, amongst people that primarily listen to rock music?
I am still a big proponent of Optimo and hope to do stuff with them in the future. we brought Optimo to Austin a few months ago and it was quite successful, which is a good sign. Dance music will probably continue to have waves in the States, but I seriously doubt that you will ever have a room full of twenty-somethings jumping off the walls and pumping their fists to Green Velvet. The culture just doesn't lend itself.
Any plans for recording new material any time soon?
This summer we should be recording our first full length album.
While it is true that people are people, there is much disagreement as to whether people are in fact strange when you're a stranger. Whyis this?
The stranger wants others to be strange, thus releasing him/her from the burden of being singularly estranged.
Amidst all the bong smoking madness going on in, um, some circles today, you can probably go see some decent music tonight. However, I discovered a new local band I hate that you can click on if you really need to fuck up your high and get sober quickly. You know, if you get called into work or have to have dinner with your mom or something, this would be the thing you should listen to first. They are called Melba Toast. They are sensitive frat boys. Sheesh. The better stuff:
1. Fruit Bats | Amandine | Sam Jayne (Dan's Silverleaf Denton) Fruit Bats don't really do anything new: folk influenced 70's radio pop that will remind some people of the Shins (if you don't have any frame of reference before 1998). Pretty straight forward. But the songwriting is so catchy, and their albums are so well done, that the sameness of their approach really doesn't matter after a few songs. In fact, you'll probably forget all about who they sound like, and just enjoy how they sound. Really, their last record is the perfect spring time listen, and we've had it on our stereo a lot lately. And don't worry, you won't even have to show up early because the other two bands are, well, boring as shit.
2. Prayer for Animals | Eat Avery's Bones (Redblood Club) EAB goes on first, and Prayer for Animals goes on last. In between is an absolutely horrible punk band called Black Eyes and Neckties. Really, they are a pretty good summary of why I think "punk," at least in its current incarnation, absolutely and completely sucks. There is also a band from Dallas called the Lash Outs playing. Um, they're really not my thing (garage rock, rockabilly), but they aren't bad at all if you're into that sort of thing. Listen for yourself.
3. And of course, there is always the world of mid period hip hop at the Slip Inn tonight, if you feel like going "Out" out, you know? You might even catch various members of the We Shot JR crew there, pretending to be cool.
Come on guys, lets admit it. Bush was right. And its time for liberals everywhere to recognize what the majority of the American people now know, which is that the neocons have figured out the best way to manage our foreign policy. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran are all going as planned. Here comes freedom (if you have trouble loading this, just double click on it and it will take you to the YouTube site)
PS- Is this band from Dallas? They sound like they are.
It seems like every year since 2001, there have been three or four new songs each year that have come out and just completely kicked my ass right off the bat. You know, the kind of song that just floors you right from the start (White Stripes, Radiohead, Russian Futurists, LCD Soundsystem, Liars, Junior Senior, Akron/Family and Devendra Banhart have all done this to me in the past.)
And aside from the new Liars record, there hadn't been much that really blew me away this year... until I heard Feathers' record.
In case you didn't know, Feathers did a lot of the backing music for Cripple Crow, Devendra Banhart's last album, and have released their self titled debut on Banhart's record label Gnomosong. Although the rest of the album isn't quite as strong as the track below, it is quickly becoming one of my favorite releases this year, and probably deserved a slightly higher rating than the 7.7 it got over at Pitchfork (although it is a pretty positive review). Listen for yourself:
One of the Cavern sound guys, upon noticing the large amount of, um, constructive criticism on here about the Cavern's sound, decided to write us a letter. Here it is:
Re: Sound at the Cavern
I just wanted to tell you a little about the p.a. system at the Cavern and the people who operate it. The p.a. system was installed last September when Spune Productions took over as booking agent/talent buyer. Glen Squibb is the production manager at The Cavern and Hailey’s Club. He works with Daughter Entertainment and Spune Productions. He selected the very best components for the p.a. with the Cavern’s budget, with most of the money invested in an Allen & Heath GL2400 console and Turbosound speakers. It is actually a good system for a small venue like The Cavern. One night, I walked in to the Cavern to see Mazinga Phazer II and this band from NYC called Downtown (very disappointing). Anyway, the sound was awful. I mean really bad. Glen wasn’t there that night. You see, Glen does a great job. He is the main sound guy at Hailey’s, so whenever there was a Hailey’s show he would have to find someone to cover his job at the Cavern. The guy that was there that night didn’t know anything about audio. So I started helping out. Long story short, in March I started running sound at the Cavern whenever Glen is at Hailey’s. So far, I have had no complaints. In fact, I have received many compliments and a few bands have requested I tour with them. I will do my very best to make the bands sound their very best. I love working at the Cavern and I hope to help make the Cavern the very best little venue in Dallas. The owners have been very helpful. I suggested that they relocate the A/C unit so that the electromagnetic field doesn’t get looped back through the p.a. system (it used to be above the stage). They spent $500 to relocate it two weeks ago. The Cavern makes ZERO money off the door. All the door cover goes to the bands and a few $$$ to the sound guy. I don’t do bookings, but I know that it is hard to always have stellar bands every night. That’s why there is the occasional shit band. We don’t like it either.
Someone told us in the post below to "live in the now." Here we go:
1. Lost Generation w/ Wanz Dover (Upstairs-The Cavern) kraut, experimental, shoegaze, noise, electronica, and lost of other interesting stuff will be played by the guy that everyone on here either loves or loves to hate. Whatever you think, its a great place to hear some music that you've never heard before.
2. Captured by Robots | Fra Pandolf | It Smells of Sex and Mannequins (Rubber Gloves) We like Fra Pandolf, and Mannequins sounds like the Locust or Blood Brothers with more of a death metal vibe... which we don't know if we're into, but the kids like it, ya know? Captured by Robots is just kinda fucked up, and sounds like a joke. Don't know how long the joke will be funny. Probably a pretty cool sight to see, however.
I was bored today, and I thought about this song. I posted it for a couple reasons:
1. I wonder if people think the early 90's were the Dallas music scene "glory days," at least within the past several decades. Is anyone that reads this blog old enough to actually remember the Tripping Daisy, Hagfish, Toadies, etc. era? As in, went to the shows all the time, knew the people in the scene, etc? Does anyone too young to remember care about or like this song? Or this band?
2. when did people stop crowd surfing?
3. I'm not a big Tripping Daisy fan at all, but is it just me or is this song better than those being made by at least 90% of currently active local bands?
4. If so, then how depressing is it that the review on Allmusic said of this album: "Not a landmark album, but not a bad one, either. A pleasant souvenir of its time."
5. Is Dallas producing any "pleasant souvenirs" of THIS time?
