San Diego Serenade: Concert of the Week: Voxtrot & Elefant at the Epicentre

The perils of not having enough band members to spell out the band name with fireworks

There could be a free Street Scene this weekend featuring every band we had hoped would be there and this would still be the concert of the week. This is partially due to the fact that I will be going out of town on Friday afternoon, returning home late on Monday and thus would miss any exceptional concerts that would happen to be taking place. But the rest of it is because I just started listening to Voxtrot a few days ago and have gotten excited for the concert that takes place Thursday night at the Epicentre.

From what I gather, Voxtrot has been around and loved by people for quite some time. Their page of streamable/downloadable music on The Hype Machine shows you all you need to know about how much people with music blogs like the band. What speaks even more about their popularity is this funny little coincidence: the band has released two EPs on Cult Hero records, but preliminary google searches for that record label turn up this exchange at http://www.cult-hero.com/:

Where is Voxtrot's CD?
While we hold lots of respect for Voxtrot and we like their music, they are on a DIFFERENT Cult Hero Records. We have tried various ways (email, cease and desist letters from lawyers, etc) to get them to stop using the name since we believe we were the first to use the name in Commerce, but have had little luck.

So they generated enough press for the wrong Cult Hero records label that they had to put up that disclaimer. I guess that's hilarious. I just imagine the guy finally putting up that disclaimer after a few weeks of being like "well, this influx of emails and phone calls about Voxtrot will die down any minute now" and then begrudgingly updating the website while glaring at anyone who walks by. What's even better is that I can't find a page for the Cult Hero records that they are signed to...But wacky label mishaps put aside, the band is really good, and deserves their hype. They've got a poppy sound that I wouldn't hesitate to compare to The Apples In Stereo or Belle and Sebastian. I don't like Belle and Sebastian, so I'm surprised that I would make the comparison, but Voxtrot has that extra something that makes it less something that girls like and more something that I like. I don't know what that would be, but someone should figure out a name for it.

So listen to this MP3 from their Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives EP, it is called Soft & Warm and decide whether you want to go see them on Thursday night at the Epicentre. They are opening for Elefant, who I'm told are good too.

Tickets are $15 and available here.

Voxtrot home page
Voxtrot myspace
Elefant home page
Elefant myspace