On its recordings, Austin quintet Voxtrot bears a sonic resemblance to the Smiths on catchy pop-rock tunes with searching vocals and jangling guitars.
Live, the band sounded more like Ted Leo when it performed Friday night at the Doug Fir in Portland, Ore., where I've been on vacation for part of the past week.
Singer Ramesh Srivastava sang with earnest intensity, waving his arms when he wasn't playing guitar and hopping up and down in time with the music. He's earnest without seeming to take himself too seriously, though, and he cracked jokes and seemed genuinely appreciative of the good-sized crowd in the retro basement venue (think log cabin as hip performance space). "Usually when we play here, there are five people in the audience and I know them all, so thank you," he said.
Why the larger crowd Friday? Well, the band's self-titled full-length debut came out just a couple weeks ago, and the show was a pick in the daily paper The Oregonian and both alternative papers, Willamette Week and the Portland Mercury (which ran an essay making a Smiths analogy).
Could be a good Shag Frenzy band ...
I love these guys! The first few EP's were great, but I have yet to pick up the full-length. Seems as if I need to get on that quickly...
Posted by: Derek Warren | June 04, 2007 at 01:18 PM