Voxtrot @ KTRU benefit, Houston (04/28/07)

Last night, Voxtrot played a free show for the KTRU benefit at Houston's Rice Village Urban Outfitters. This is the second engagement of Free YR Radio's efforts to raise awareness and funds for noncommercial radio stations. The next benefit is for Seattle's KEXP with The Long Winters to play on May 1st. For more information on the next ten benefits, click here.

A line started growing outside Urban Outfitters an hour and a half prior to the 7:30 door time. I was impressed with how they had an actual stage for the band to play on, I originally thought it might just be in the center of the store and a free-for-all chaotic event. Though it's still a bit strange to be around clothes racks and dance to live music.

The set included a well-rounded range of new songs off their upcoming album and material from their old EPs. The setlist as best I remember included, "Raised By Wolves", "Kid Gloves", "Ghost", "Soft & Warm", "The Start Of Something", "Brother In Conflict", "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives" and "Your Biggest Fan". Their new album is self-titled and will drop in stores on May 22nd, you can pre-order it at Insound here(Type in voxtrot to get 15% off). Urban Outfitters was filled up all the way with listeners, in fact during the set there was this guy who was crowd-surfing to Voxtrot. It was absolutely a fun show, everyone was dancing, clapping and singing along to the songs. For more photos from the show go here. For Houstonians, Voxtrot is coming back on June 30th at an all ages show at The Proletariat with fellow Austin band Tacks, The Boy Disaster.

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Kid Gloves| Voxtrot

Links:

>>> Free YR Radio's Official Site
<<< KTRU's Official Site
>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Pre-order Voxtrot's debut album
>>> Purchase Voxtrot's EPs
<<< More photos from Voxtrot's set

Our Related Links:

>>> Anticipate: Free YR Radio
<<< Singled Out: Kid Gloves by Voxtrot
>>> Anticipate: Voxtrot's Upcoming Summer Tour

~anne

3 minute entry: Ola Podrida

∞

{I've been down with a serious case of blogger's block(is that what we call it now?) so although, my mind can't find the right words to describe a band, my ears still work and this band is nothing short of perfection.}

Sometime back in December, Ola Podrida's forlorn piano keys collapsing on one another in "Pour Me Another" took my breath away. There was something arresting about David Wingo's voice, its huskiness and soft, whispery parts were unforgettable. Now there is something we can hold in our hands and spend an evening sitting beside the stereo. The Brooklyn band's debut album was released this Tuesday with a tracklisting of 11 folky-Americana songs.

The self-titled album is old-fashioned, it's made carefully with nimble, beautiful acoustic finger-picking creating a lush landscape, but don't let it fool you. Some songs will start out ever so quietly, but wind up slipping in a backdrop of guitar noise underneath trailing "ooooohs" like in "Cindy". With "Jordanna", it begs me to give in and drop Okkervil River as a reference, but the climactic parts of the song are more toned down than Will Sheff's idea of a good time.

It walks about your room with a helplessness that you can't help but stop whatever you're doing and listen as a concerned friend would, it's hard to ignore when someone is singing "Some folks just don't give a damn/whether they're coming or going/Hey man/take a stand/When you're up put yourself back in place" or "Here we go/I don't know/If there's any point to it all/but I sure love hearing your voice". "Instead" is likely to hush and silence the honking horns during morning commute and the only problem left would be making sure you don't fall asleep on the wheel. They re-recorded "Pour Me Another" with a fuller piano sound, but other than that everything else is still left unchanged.

Right now, it seems there are only two dates up and both are in Brooklyn, but if there is good in this world, there will be more dates. To sample the album, Vice is offering five full-length tracks available for streaming.

Tracklisting:




Ola Podrida (self-titled)
(Plug Research Records)

1. The New Science
2. Jordanna
3. Instead
4. Cindy
5. Photo Booth
6. Run Off The Road
7. Day At The Beach
8. Lost And Found
9. A Clouded View
10. Pour Me Another
11. Eastbound

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Jordanna| Ola Podrida

Instead| Ola Podrida

Links:

>>> Ola Podrida's Official MySpace
<<< Purchase self-titled album
>>> Stream five full-length tracks from Vice

~anne

Charlotte Gainsbourg finally arrives in the U.S

So yesterday, Charlotte Gainsbourg's album 5:55 finally got released here in the U.S. I reviewed her album last October when it came out through the French label, Because Music, I obviously had to spend lots of money because it was an Import and silly shipping and handling. So after I got it, I quickly decided that it was a good financial decision. I mean I would've had to wait for it to come out here in the U.S five months after if I didn't buy the import.

Anyhoo, I'm not going to tell you how good the album is and how lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg's voice sounds, because you can read all that here, the review I wrote five months ago. I'm just here to let you guys know that you can finally purchase the album without those added Import fees, it's available through Vice Records.

Read my review if you haven't, then check out the songs below, if you like what you hear, buy it!

Oh there's a video too for the song "The Songs That We Sing", it's a simple video, but it has the beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg in it, so you can't really beat that.











5 55 | Charlotte Gainsbourg

The Songs That We Sing | Charlotte Gainsbourg



Links:
>>>Official Website
<<< Because Music
>>> Vice Records
<<< Buy the C.D
>>>Watch the Video



-Charlie

How do you view the world?

It's getting close to almost a year since Anne and I started this music and photography blog. Our intent was to fuse the music we love along with another shared interest, photography. Along with our music posts, Camera Crowd also has its own photoblog. For over the past eight months or so, we were lucky enough to see amazing photos from photographers all over the world including Paris, New South Wales and more!

We invite three photographers every three months to be guest photobloggers on Team Camera Crowd, and it's now the time to thank and wish our Camera Crowd's second group of guest photographers good luck in their future endeavors. We loved the beautiful works you've showcased, thank you Jane from New York, New York, Glen from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Veronique from New South Wales, Australia.

So here we go, there are no qualifications or long-term photography experience needed, we're looking for unique photographers who share our love for photography and can show how they view the world.


How to apply:

1. You have to create your own flickr account, if you don't have one already, don't worry flickr is free and it's easy to create one.

2. After that upload all the photos onto flickr as your portfolio to show us.

3. Lastly, there is a Q&A to fill out and email that word document to us with the subject line as, "Camera crowd application".

Links:

>>> Camera Crowd's Photoblog
<<< Create a Flickr
>>> Download the Q&A
<<< Email your application to us!

Deadline: May 19th

While you're creating a flickr and filling out the Q&A go ahead and listen to this mini mix:

I Love L.A. (Live) | Rilo Kiley

You Remind of Home (Live) | Ben Gibbard

Alone in Kyoto | Air



Love, Team Camera Crowd
(Anne & Charlie)

3 minute entry: Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo.

Hmm, doesn't ring a bell right? Yeah they're still pretty small. But try googling them and you might come across search notes such as "David Bowie." Yeah if you go on, you'll find out that the famous David Bowie, likes Fanfarlo.

"I've heard four or five of Fanfarlo's songs now, and, like a few of my other favourites, they have that particular knack of being able to create uplifting music that's blessed with a delicious melancholia at the same time. [...] I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more of Fanfarlo. "

- David Bowie

I damn well agree with Mr. Bowie on how uplifting Fanfarlo's music is. They only have several singles out as of now, but it's enough to keep you on your toes. Fanfarlo mentioned in an interview on Playlouder that they wanna create an upbeat sound that you would get if you combine Sufjan Stevens and The Arcade Fire. So you have 6 band members from London, add a violin and a trumpet with that, the upbeat sound of Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, and finally a recommendation from David Bowie. What do you think you'll get? Gah!! Just go and listen to the song below!! Then head on to their myspace and listen to more songs!! Please!!

The single, You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us is now available, along with the song In the Trunk. You can purchase that over here.


You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us | Fanfarlo

Here's a cute stop motion video of the song above. Enjoy!





Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace


-Charlie