RECOMMENDED (02/14/06 @ Emo's)
“I would go to pieces if you said that this was just an act,” Ramesh Srivastava laments in “Missing Pieces” from Voxtrot’s 2005 EP, Raised by Wolves (Cult Hero). Who better to spend Valentine’s Day with than such a hopeless romantic? With another EP of pop masterpieces, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives, due in March, catch the local fivepiece before they get back on the eternal road. Local electro-quirk weirdos Cry Blood Apache support with Peel and the Carrots. - Darcie Stevens

RECOMMENDED (10/25/05 @ Emo's)
The satin-voiced Nedelle makes her return to Austin with From the Lion’s Mouth (Kill Rock Stars), and the velvet-voiced Swedish singer Jens Lekman follows suit with tortured love songs from his latest, When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog (Secretly Canadian). Locals Voxtrot dig up some perfect pop gems to headline. Outside, Atmosphere delivers a mouthful from his You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having (Rhymesayers), and labelmate Blueprint takes us back to the beats of 1988. P.O.S. and DJ Rare Groove open. - Audra Schroder

RECOMMENDED (09/30/05 @ Emo's)
The Octopus’ electro wizardry returns with Voxtrot’s next pop prize. -

RECOMMENDED (09/09/05 @ Emo's)
Could it be? Two totally free, poptastic local shows in a row? Damn skippy. Following Thursday’s sure-to-be excessive Arm show, Zykos headlines Emo’s outside stage. The ATX indie rockers’ last show at the Parish saw a well-deserved peanut gallery gathering behind the monitors in awe of new drummer Cully Symington. Athens, Ga.’s Phosphorescent supports with Matthew Houck’s beautiful pain, while locals Canoe open. Inside, Voxtrot returns (yay!) with Raised by Wolves’ pop perfection, Loxsly and Belaire supporting. God bless Emo’s! - Darcie Stevens

RECOMMENDED (06/24/05 @ Emo's)
At Mae’s recent, early-show stand at Emo’s, “X” marked the underage stigmata on a front roomful of fists pushing air. Philly scenemates mewithoutYou import the brotherly love of Aaron & Michael Weiss, whose Fugazi clench meets the former’s hellfire preaching. The quintet’s teeth-rattling Tooth & Nail debut found no redemption in this spring’s fierce, wily Catch for Us the Foxes. The hard rain subsides later with the Smiths pop of Austin’s Voxtrot and Kinksian romp of the Deathray Davies. Heaven up here. - Raoul Hernandez

RECOMMENDED (12/18/04 @ Emo's)
Local sensations I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness have a lot to celebrate this holiday season. The band has garnered more acclaim and recognition in the last year than most acts do their entire career. What better way to end 2004 than playing the venue that helped launch them? Local indie rock will be flowing, with an indoor/outdoor show that includes the spacey Experimental Aircraft and experimental ST 37 inside. Voxtrot and the Glass Family open outside. - Matt Dentler

RECOMMENDED (07/14/04 @ Emo's)
You say you like ambient, Eighties-tinged, good-time rock? Go forth. -

RECOMMENDED (04/08/04 @ Emo's)
Thirty Three Degrees sums up these Austinites quite quite well on their Web site: "His Master's Voice declares the discovery of the missing UK-Austin landbridge. Glaswegians, Mancunians, & Austinites rejoice, fold their peasant hands, unite, and take over." Part of the band currently resides out of town, so this is a rare gig for these Smiths & Sebastian-worshipping lads, who had to cancel their SXSW dayparty appearance. - Michael Chamy

RECOMMENDED (09/06/03 @ Emo's)
Tammy Ealom, the lone woman in Denver-based foursome Dressy Bessy, is more than a singing doll. Wielding whip-smart lyrics and throaty-sweet vox, Ealom folds both a snide wallop and quirky-sweet nothings into the über-charming retro-pop of the group’s latest Kindercore release (and bonus DVD). Local baby-boppers Sound Team are the perfect complement to Dressy Bessy’s droll bill of fare. Local screetch-rockers the Onlys and Austin’s newest Smiths-worshippers Voxtrot open. - Melanie Haupt

RECOMMENDED (07/18/03 @ Emo's)
Your usual museum this is not. Historians will give themselves an aneurysm trying to figure out which point in time Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s left-coast performance art-cum-Zappa-esque progressive death metal weirdness comes from. Similarly elusive is Fort Worth’s Yeti, back from the ashes following the tragic death last year of keyboard wizard Doug Ferguson. Now heavier than ever, the masters of arcane Euro psyche will reprise their earthshaking 2001 pairing with SGM. Local freakshow artists Mayhem perform in the middle. Inside, Canoe throws a spazz-rock extravaganza in celebration of their new CD, I Give You Canoe!, hands down the Austin party album of 2003. Zykos fleshes out the red-hot local bill with their insidiously effective, catchy arrangements. - Michael Chamy