Voxhaul Broadcast

A quick music and internet related note to share before I begin here. Loyal friend and ocassional reader Katie showed me a nice site last week, www.justhearit.com, that lets you play just about any song you want. You know that time you really wanted to hear that one song, so you went to youtube and watched some terrible video of a fat guy lip-syncing to the song just so you hear it? Well those days are over and you can just pop over to justhearit, type in the name and it'll come up. I haven't really tested it too much to see how big of a library they have, but so far it's had everything I've looked for, leaving me fairly impressed.

In a nice flip from Kyle's electro-post from last week I'm going to write about Voxhaul Broadcast, a stripped-down rock group out of LA. Their debut EP "Rotten Apples" came out last April, although at 8 songs I think it's kind of a hybrid between an EP and an LP. They describe themselves as a rock/soul group, and I think that's somewhat accurate, although personally I find the soul aspects overshadowed by the rock ones most of the time. Regardless, the sound they come off with has a passionate edge and some great songwriting abilities behind it. While they credit lots of classic rock and soul groups as influences, I think in modern day you could hear touches of the Strokes and the Black Keys mixed into their sound.

What really struck me when I first listened to them was their raw sound. The songs are devoid of effects and over-production, just their instruments cranked up and recorded. I was pleasantly surprised to then learn that they recorded and produced the album in one day. This is pretty rare in the music industry today, where even the smallest unsigned bands spend weeks or months in the studio trying to perfect their sound. I think they got the effect they were looking for as the songs come off sounding fresh and real.

Voxhaul Broadcast - Why Not

Voxhaul Broadcast - Rotten Apples

Voxhaul Broadcast - Flickering Sparks


- Alec

VETO

I hope that things are going well, and you have had enough time to digest some of the top 10 albums that Alec and I put out there. I know that I've still been spinning most of them an amount that is probably unhealthy, but that makes me even more excited for what 2009 has in store for music.

My first offering for your guys is a band from Denmark called VETO. My buddy Niels just sent it across the ocean to me a few days ago and I've really started to take to it. Normally I am not a huge fan of "electro-" anything. The electro-pop always felt to childish, the electro-rock always felt too cheezy, and the electro-dance always felt too euro-trash. However, I think that VETO could change a little bit of that for me. They use the synth pretty tastefully in their tunes, and the overall tone of the music has hints of rock but keeps the tone nice and dark, like you are in some underground Danish club.

VETO - You Say Yes, I Say Yes
Check out a few of these tunes and see if you agree. The first tune I'm posting is called "You Say Yes, I Say Yes". It starts out with a driving bass line provided by the synth and then brings in a U2-esque guitar lick for a few seconds. As it continues to drive along, I feel like I'll turn around any second and see some sweaty Danes dancing in this black-lit club with a 7 foot ceiling.

VETO - Built to Fail
"Built to Fail" starts off pretty minimalistic with an off kilter bass beat and some very tight singing. It quickly breaks into a synth solo that's made for the glowsticks and blacklight tattoos. My personal favorite part is the harmonies at about 2:00 in, where they end up crescendo-ing into another rave-style synth lick.

VETO - Digits
"Digits" is sort-of the title track off the CD, and it brings the heat of the synth right away and then mellows out and lets the dancers breathe for a bit until it goes into a euro-trance-ish break and then back for another breather. This would be sick in a Danish club...

I hope you enjoy the tunes....something a little different... But I think Niels came through pretty big on this one.