Somewhere around 2006, I did a ton of streaming through a website called Live365.
Live365 was a website where anyone could program their own personal radio station essentially. I had a few favorites and listened often. Some people who had stations probably did minimal programming and I know when I would listen, I would get certain songs over and over. Whereas some stations were very effectively running as personal versions of public radio.
Music royalties were always anathema to Live365 who were trying to keep things affordable for its DJs. In 2016, that Legislation forced the website to shut down. Six months later, it came back but I assume most listeners didn’t. Big name streaming services are now the rule of the day and I admit that there’s where I headed as well, though I still don’t think I find as much as “new music” as I did before.
It’s a long backstory to say that I had one of my favorite channels which seemed to specialize in what I would call Bedroom Pop. Specifically, the time of music that is associated with Morrissey’s early post- Smiths career. So I am talking bands like Belle and Sebastian, Heavenly/Talulah Gosh, Gene, Elefant, and the Divine Comedy.
You can see the list and can see different “scenes”, labels, decades and so on, yet they all seem to hold together.
I had heard much of these bands but one that I discovered here was Voxtrot. (There were probably a few more- Pains of Pure of Heart, Earlimart, Beulah- that I remember as well from that station).
I don’t know if Voxtrot sees themselves as being in the lineage of the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian. But music critics would now classify them as one of the bands during the rise of the music blogs which put them in the conversation with bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, St Vincent, Franz Ferdinand, Cat Power, MGMT and Animal Collective.
Awash in the height of indie rock.
It strikes me as incredible that the band’s early singles were released as EPs and didn’t make their debut album. Songs like “The Start of Something” and “Raised by Wolves” really sold that bedroom pop connection with its Lo-fi production and lyrics of teen insecurity. These highlights of 2005 through 2007 would finally by collected on one album in 2022.
The band’s sole album was released in 2007. While the 5.9 given to it by Pitchfork seems to be damning it to less attention than it deserved, it does describe the flaw in the album. While trying the band to the next level, it was not an improvement over those early singles by trying to make them more radio friendly.
It seemed the band took the roughest path to success and it hadn’t worked. They broke up in 2010. Of course, the reality is that the self titled 2007 album wasn’t Funeral or Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer or any of the Pitchfork proclaimed genre changing albums.
It is quite a decent genre record that only pales in comparison to the promise of the first recordings. The band had hoped to work with Stephen Street but when that didn't happen, it was produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Beth Orton). The album does sound like a follow up album of any buzz band that poured their heart and soul into their early work, and are looking to match that success on short notice.
I admit I hadn’t given Voxtrot much thought for years. When a song of theirs popped up on a stream, I was immediately taken back.
Of interest, I saw the band had reunited in Fall of 2023 and were now recording their first music since they broke up in 2010. (Lead vocalist Ramesh McLean Srivastava released a solo disc in 2014). The Esprit DeCouer EP collects four songs recorded in the last two years.
I hope this leads to more from the band. One of the true high points in an era where indie rock looked like it could change the world.
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