Voxtrot is one of the bands that went through one of the steepest hype-to-hate trajectory fueled through the manic vehicle that was Pitchfork and other music blogs throughout the OO’s. After a few revered EP releases, Voxtrot’s eventual and highly anticipated full-length was met with ire generally reserved for baby-murderers. I always expected, or, rather took for granted, them weathering such storms and being around no matter whatever spot they happen to be on the ‘critic-coaster’.
A long Voxtrot career was not meant to be, evidently, as the name of the recent tour “Goodbye Cruel World” indicates. I don’t know what caused the band to break up, but I sure hope it wasn’t due to the whiplash-like backlash that nearly every band of their era experienced - Black Kids anyone?!? Whatever the case, I hope the break-up was amicable and that all involved keep fighting the good fight.
Above being a great little band, as additional treat, seeing Voxtrot live always involved a zinger of a well-executed cover. This show was absolutely no exception with Voxtrot doing my favorite New Order song and to my continued amazement, doing it justice. Here is Voxtrot doing “Age of Consent” as performed live at their very last show (for now – we hope) ever.
June 26 Setlist – Voxtrot Final Show
Raised by Wolves
Firecracker
Kid Gloves
Your Biggest Fan
Long Haul
Steven
Soft and Warm
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Age of Consent (New Order cover)
Berlin, Without Return
The Start of Something
Wrecking Force
Encore
Whiskey
Missing Pieces
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Download: Voxtrot – Age of Consent (Live)
With all the hype surrounding the break up of New Order and the rise of pseudo-super-group Bad Lieutenant I didn’t really know what to expect from Bernard Sumner’s new band. So when I got a listen to the first single off the new record I was very impressed. Obviously it’s not as good as Technique or Brotherhood-era New Order but I would certainly put it up there in the same category as Republic. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album when it drops in the beginning of October.
The New Order 1988 Demo cassette surfaced online as mp3s but six months or ago someone posted the lossless files on Dime A Dozen. The cassette is an interesting peek into New Order’s songwriting process. It includes various takes of “Technique” era recordings along with quite a few tracks of Peter Hook playing bass lines along with early versions of the songs. Some of the tracks are a little boring, but it’s fun to see where the songs started before they were finished off.
It took me years to warm up to early New Order. I always loved “Technique,” and I was a bit of a fan of “Blue Monday” but being such a Joy Division fan, I always had a hard time listening to “Movement” and “Low Life.” A couple of years ago I got a “Best of New Order” compilation and started to listen to “Dreams Never End” and discovered that their early recordings weren’t all that bad. This is an interesting early demo version of that song.
Voxtrot are playing at The Wiltern LG next month in Los Angeles. I was planning on going, but instead I happened to be in Chicago and saw them when they played at the Empty Bottle a week ago. Tickets for the Chicago show were a third of the price of the LA show and the capacity of the venue was 350 instead of 2,300. Sometimes living in LA is a pain in the ass.
