Digest - The Morning News

Listening • One of the Beautiful

“Regarding our absence, sometimes one needs to disappear in order to regroup; situations change and human beings are swept here and there by the marvelous ebb and flow of culture.” Such is the explanation—noticeably void of definitives, of real cause and effect—posted on the Voxtrot website. This is clearly a different age and time, when a brief two year interlude between the release of their self-titled debut album and a performance at their hometown’s SXSW festival demands an explanation, an excuse note. Such a hiatus, perfectly understandable in decades past, now seems to imply a tragedy, or, if nothing else, an imposition on hungry listeners.

Listen, Voxtrot: It’s ok. Shit happens, right? Not everyone can walk in your shoes. We’re just happy to find this new single, produced by that dude from Spoon, manifesting itself on our blog-trolling radar. It’s a nervous song, pregnant with suspicion and expectation. The mix of live piano and raggedly enveloped keyboard (Casiotone? If I’m not mistaken?) is a fitting juxtaposition, reflecting what was both lost and gained by your absence. The lyrics seem to weave around the same themes, but in a linear fashion, a sine wave progressing, swirling along the x-axis, drilling a hole in our heads. —Erik Bryan, Mar. 18, 2009

» Listen to "Trepanation Party" at My Old Kentucky Blog

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: Jim Eno, Spoon, SXSW, Voxtrot

Listening • Out With the Old

For so long we’ve seen decline, dissolution, and departure. From our vantage here in the middle of winter we’ve seen Nature itself stripped of life and leaf, but memory serves to remind that these are merely cycles within a greater cycle. The days’ arcing sunlight is gradually getting longer, warmer. January’s nearly past. Suddenly the new year’s first marks are set. At last, we have new things to look forward to.

In this spirit we present Telekinesis, a new band recently signed to Chapel Hill’s Merge Records, a label well-known for signing some of the best bands working today. Their first single, “Coast of Carolina,” evokes the same refreshing sense of renewal. The count-off is always the same, the familiarity tugs at something elemental, buried deep down, but it’s still a new take, another chance to do it right. And don’t let the meek lead-in fool you. This one’s a rocker. Telekinesis will be touring the West coast this spring, with their last performance of this introductory tour at SXSW in Austin. Welcome them. —Erik Bryan, Jan. 22, 2009

» Listen to "Coast of Carolina" at Brooklyn Vegan

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: Merge Records, SXSW, Telekinesis

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