Pitchfork Music Festival Preview: Voxtrot

Not to get overly personal here (I have other forums for that after all), but I feel like I’m hitting a midsummer slump. After a month or so of rolling along with my new job, enjoying the gorgeous weather and good company an East Lansing summer has to offer, and generally feeling pretty good, a heat wave has set in and brought with it a general air of oppression—days drag along, my hair drips on my morning paper when I take my bike helmet off on my way into work, and I don’t feel motivated to do much of anything.

In other words, it’s the perfect time for a summer music festival to lift my spirits, and this weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago can’t come soon enough. To pass the time while I count down the hours until Friday, I’ll be covering some of my most anticipated acts this year, starting with Voxtrot, another band from the creative mecca of Austin, TX.
For about the past year, Voxtrot has been a red-hot indie music sensation that I have more or less been oblivious to. After a string of critically acclaimed EPs (including raves by “the ‘fork”), the band managed to get itself a label deal and a self-titled debut album, which despite failing to meet lofty expectations set by many an indie snob has done quite well as the band continues to gain momentum.

But enough about that. My introduction to Voxtrot came one rainy Saturday as I drove to the grocery store, my radio tuned to MSU’s quality student radio station, The Impact. Its not often I’ll hear a song on the radio that immediately captures my attention (due in part to the fact that truly good radio is diminishing at a truly sad rate just about everywhere), but I’m pretty sure this was love at first listen. It was a little twee (okay, a lot twee… I thought it was Belle and Sebastian at first), a little bit emo (but in a good way), with soulful vocals and a solid indie rock groove to it. The lyrics managed to be sad and wistful while also being strong and angsty, not to mention absurdly witty. Naturally, I went right to work tracking the song down when I got home, and before long, I’d found it… the title track to their “Your Biggest Fan” EP (packaged with two other superb tracks by the way... a great use of that leftover iTunes gift money you no doubt have lying around).

I’ve heard most of the rest of their work at this point (its very good if you don’t mind overblown lyrics like “cheer me up, cheer me up, I’m a miserable fuck”), and am looking forward to their live act come Saturday, but I know there’s still one song I’ll be shouting requests for the entire time—easily one of my favorite tracks of 2007.

Voxtrot—Your Biggest Fan