by Andrew Sacher

Ramesh

Ramesh Srivastava, formerly of Voxtrot who broke up in 2010, is now recording solo material as Ramesh. He's recorded a short 3-song EP aptly titled EP1 which is streaming on his website. The first track, "The King" pretty much picks up where Voxtrot left off with their "Berlin Without Return" b/w "The Dream Lives of Ordinary People" single recorded the year before breaking up. Like those songs, "The King" features Ramesh's earworm vocal melodies backed by simple mid-tempo drums and, catchy lighthearted strings. You can download "The King" for free at RCRDLBL.

The EP takes a complete 180 on the next track, "Romeo (Void)" and delves into polyrhythmic 80's synth-pop with a much less relaxed vocal delivery than Ramesh had been delivering lately. The video for "Romeo (Void)", directed by Elizabeth Skadden (Flaming Lips, No Age), can be watched below. EP1 then shortly ends after a brief instrumental track centered around a melancholic piano piece and accompanying string arrangements.

Ramesh's rather intriguing website is fleshed out with more than just his music. The home page is a paragraph written in large letters that begins, "I wish I could have understood that the hardest part of becoming a man would not be the part where you had to find yourself, but rather the part where you had to lose your center, by walking away from everything that you love." Continue reading. He also has an obscure photo montage that he's titled Head Game.

Ramesh has also posted a podcast of him DJing the Radar Lisboa Radio Show. His set consisted of Nicolas Jaar (who plays Le Poisson Rouge tonight), Mary J. Blige, a demo of one of Ramesh's non-EP tracks "Lux," and others.

The Black

Unfortunately, Ramesh has no tour dates announced at the moment, but his ex-Voxtrot bandmate Jared Van Fleet (Sparrow House) plays Bruar Falls on Saturday (5/28) with The Black, the band in which Voxtrot's Matt Simon plays drums. The Black, currently on tour through June 10th, also play a NYC show at Cake Shop on Sunday (5/29).

(Voxtrot's Jason Chronis also played in The Black briefly, but now only focuses on his JC & Co project. Mitch is keeping busy with International Waters.)

Tour dates and videos below...

Continue reading "Ramesh is back with a website, EP & video +++ The Black are on tour (playing a show w/ Jared Van Fleet)"

DOWNLOAD: Voxtrot - The Start of Something (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: International Waters - Olympia (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: International Waters - Cycle of the Chain (MP3)

Voxtrot @ the Mohawk in Austin - Nov 2009 (more)

Voxtrot are officially calling it quits, but before they go they'll play some final shows with all original members. That includes Ramesh Srivastava, Matt Simon, Mitch Calvert, Jason Chronis and even Jared Van Fleet (aka Sparrow House) who left the not-very-active band a little while back. I last saw them in November when they happened to play a show in their hometown of Austin during Fun Fun Fun Fest (see above).

There are seven goodbye shows total and the final one will take place right here in NYC at Bowery Ballroom on June 26th (tickets TBA will be on sale Friday). It will be a sad evening for sure. All dates and a long letter from Ramesh about this is below, but first let's discuss what all the individual members have been up to.

Mitch has a new band called International Waters, which has a new 10" record called It Felt Like that they'll be releasing soon. Meanwhile you can get two of those songs for free above. They'll be opening the West Coast Voxtrot shows.

Jared is still working on solo material as Sparrow House, and opens for Inlets at Union Hall on April 23rd.

Matt and Jason both play in Jason's band called JC & Co.. They're readying a full-length for July. Both Jason and Matt also play in The Black and Belaire.

Not part of the reunion, but once a member of Voxtrot, Jennifer Moore continues to do her thing in YellowFever.

Voxtrot, thanks for all the memories. Ramesh's letter and all dates below...

Continue reading "Voxtrot officially breaking up, announce final shows - 2010 tour dates & a goodbye note from Ramesh"

Actually I have no idea if Jared dropped his solo moniker "Sparrow House", but he is billed at just "Jared Van Fleet" at the show he's playing tonight (12/18) at Sycamore in Brooklyn with Sebastien Schuller (and I wanted the post title to resemble the earlier one about Final Fantasy). Also it's true that he's not in Voxtrot anymore. Also he lives in Brooklyn at the moment.

Speaking of ex-Voxtrot members, YellowFever just came through town. How were those shows? Videos from the Death By Audio one, below...

Continue reading "Jared Van Fleet drops the "Sparrow House" name (and the Voxtrot) (and is playing in Brooklyn TONIGHT)"

DOWNLOAD: Voxtrot on AOL Interface (MP3)

"Ramesh not feeling so well" - Oct 7, 2007 in DC (CRED)

Voxtrot just had to cancel a few Canadian shows....

Sorry everyone, but Voxtrot is canceling off of both the Hamilton and Toronto, ONT shows. If you've seen the band in the last couple days, I'm sure you're aware that Ramesh has been a bit under the weather. He was taken to the hospital after last night's show in Philly, and underwent minor surgery this morning. Thankfully he's okay.

We're unsure whether Ottawa and Montreal will happen, but will definitely keep you in the loop.

That sux....both for Ramesh, for Canada, and potentially for NYC.

I say "NYC", because (I'm being selfish because) Voxtrot in fact have THREE NYC shows coming up. First let me say that sometimes people bill "special guest" on a show to try and trick people into showing up for something they deem to be "BIG". I like people to know what they're getting. Voxtrot also didn't want to trick anyone, BUT the only way I could get them to play my BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase at Bowery Ballroom on October 16th, was if we all agreed to keep it quiet until the time that their other two already-scheduled shows in Brooklyn (the two days before) were closer to selling out - it makes sense. Well, that time is now.

BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase @ Bowery Ballroom
October 16, 2007, NYC (the whole lineup)
6pm - Bon Iver ("recommended")
7pm - The Shaky Hands (not to be confused with...)
8pm - Miracle Fortress (those crazy Canadians)
9pm - Most Serene Republic (those crazy not actually Canadians)
10pm - Dean & Britta (Luna)
11pm - The Rosebuds (dance party)
12am - Voxtrot

For $16, you're getting your money's worth (even without the added bonus of Voxtrot) - tickets are still on sale, or use your CMJ badge to get in. Tickets are also still on sale for their Music Hall shows (with the Little Ones & 1990s). Feel better Ramesh!

BONUS: Sparrow House (Jared from Voxtrot solo) is also playing the free BrooklynVegan afternoon party at Pianos (upstairs) the next day - Wednesday, October 17th.

Voxtrot's new video for "Firecracker", and all tour dates, below.....

Continue reading "Ramesh had surgery, VOXTROT playing CMJ, new video"

St. Vincent (MORE)

At first I thouht this might be a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' situation. Then I freaked out a little when I found out there was an RSVP, and that it wasn't working that well. Well, it ends up that the Hot Freaks ACL (unofficial) (Dell Lounge-sponsored) (blogger) afterparties that I got myself involved in, were not only completely fun and total successes, we were able to accomodate anyone that wanted to get in to the FREE shows - stupid wristbands or not. Thanks other bloggers.

The Rosebuds (MORE)

St. Vincent re-confirmed her extreme talent on Saturday night, and Sparrow House proved that though shy, he is also very talented. Grizzly Bear played an as-always beautiful set with added breathtaking pretty-colored-lights-against-rocks-with-added-outdoor visuals (courtesy of our video team from Super Alright!). Art Brut rocked for the 15th-millionth time, and The Rosebuds turned the Mohawak (or was it Club Deville - I couldn't keep track - the party was at both places, and they're next-door to each other) into a proper dance party. The most fun I had during my entire Austin City Limits 2007 experience was during the Rosebuds actually. Even with an injured knee, Ivan (with the help of Kelly and drummer) mananged to keep it going - always high-energy, and with plenty of audience participation. It was actually only the second time I saw them - the first was at Bowery Ballroom when I fell in love - and the next will be at Bowery again (thank you so much Rosebuds for agreeing to play the Austin show and the CMJ show!) (tickets are on sale). More links, and photos by Hot Freaks-cohost Frank of Chromewaves, below....

Continue reading "ACL Hot Freaks! afterparty recaps - Thanks all!"

DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Culver City (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Joe Brown(MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sparrow House - When I Am Gone (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Art Brut - Direct Hit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Art Brut - St. Paulie (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Art Brut - Moving to L.A. (acoustic) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds - You Better Get Ready (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds - Blue Bird (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds - Get Up Get Out (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds - Leaves Do Fall (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear - Knife [girl Talk Remix] (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear - Knife/heartbeats [GB Vs The Knife By Parrka] (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear - Knife (cover By Born Ruffians) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear - Lullabye (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear - On A Neck, On A Spit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: St. Vincent - Paris is Burning (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: St. Vincent - Now, Now (MP3)

Yellow Fever

At some point I asked, "What ever happened to the girl in Voxtrot?" And it was then that I found out that Jennifer Moore had dropped out of the band, and that she was in a different band called Yellow Fever - also from Austin, and Austin is where the next BrooklynVegan (& friends) concerts will be, and at those shows you'll be able to see Yellow Fever, Sparrow House (another Voxtrot-related project from Austin), and all of the artists whose MP3s are available above as downloads.

This September I'll be returning to Austin for my first-ever visit to the annual three-day Austin City Limits Festival (see previous post for talk of the lineup). While I'm there, I also hope to catch at least one episode-taping for the 33rd season of the associated PBS series with the same name (Austin City Limits). Arcade Fire, Crowded House, Wilco, Bloc Party, Regina Spektor, and Lucinda Williams will all be there to play the festival, and to tape a show.

Then there are the afterparties - official and unofficial. Official afterparties (or aftershows as they call them) feature many of the same bands playing the festival. They happen at night at one of the various venues around Austin - Stubb's, La Zona Rosa, The Parish, Emo's and Antone's to be exact. Anyone can buy tickets to the aftershows. They've got Spoon, The White Stripes (sold out), Common, Blonde Redhead, The National, etc..

I actually know very little about the unofficial afterparties, except that I helped put one together. It was a team effort between myself and the "Hot Freaks" otherwise known as an aquarium drunkard, la blogothèque, chromewaves, gorilla vs bear, my old kentucky blog, and you ain't no picasso. This group of 'Hot Freaks' worked together before - at SXSW. For ACL they asked if I felt like getting freaky, I said 'yes', and the rest is history.

Our parties take place at the Mohawk and at the adjoining Club Deville, on both Friday and Saturday after ACL. The shows are FREE (w/ some RSVP thing that's going to be available after Labor Day), and all of our artists are NOT also playing ACL. We have Art Brut, Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, The Rosebuds, Yellow Fever, Sparrow House (Jared from Voxtrot), and more. More details below....

Continue reading "ACL, tapings & Brooklyn Vegan afterparties (sort of)"