They're all over the place these days. The deck at Spiderhouse: on the cover Austin Music Magazine. Eating a taco at El Chilito, on the cover of The Chronicle. Pick up a copy of XL at Jo's on 2nd: there are their sweet faces yet again. The handsome Austin quintet Voxtrot, it seems, are kind of a big deal. We already knew they've been loved up by bloggers the world over, but magazine covers? And a sold-out show in Toronto? Something is going on. Maybe that's why you shouldn't miss tonight: backed by the Tosca Strings Quartet, Voxtrot are celebrating their first full-length album release at Emo's.

Opening the show are The Black, Zykos, and the ethereal Aur Revoir Simone, three long-haired Brooklyn beauties who play keyboards and a drum machine. We're in electro indie love. But even better -- the ladies seem to draw influences anywhere from Jon Brion and Kraftwerk to The Supremes to Beach Boys. We're enamored and yearning for more. Hopefully we can shake the jones in time to enjoy an energetic (yet classical) Voxtrot set.

Side note: while everyone else has been waiting around for this new album, we have been content to enjoy the little gem that is keyboardist Jared Van Fleet's December 2006 mashup, humorously titled "Massive Mothers." It's half Voxtrot's "Sisters, Mothers, Daughters, & Wives" and half Massive Attack's "Teardrops." Enjoy.

So, Voxtrot. The long and short of it is that they're infamously known as the lovechildren of music bloggers. After Brooklyn Vegan posted about them in 2005 ("Coincidence," Van Fleet calls it in the group's recent XL article, which is worth the read), the band's internet fame took off as fast as you took off that hooker's bra last night, with everyone singing generally the same praises: solid and loveable indie pop in the tradition of Belle and Sebastian, with influences ranging from The Smiths to The Clash, topped off with Ramesh Srivastava songwriting skillz and pleasing vocals. All of these observations are pretty accurate, and for the most part carry over into the new, self-titled album.

Voxtrot is a mix of the group's old indie pop glory and some new, heavier stuff, mixed and mingled with a range of strings. Mostly, these elements come together nicely; but alas, sometimes they are incongruous. All in all, the album is good: it's catchy, well-written with good instrumentation, and it has some great moments. Our favorites (because we're suckers for good pop songs) are "Steven", "The Future Pt. 1" and (because we're suckers for good indie rock) "Kid Gloves." Come listen to all the new songs with us tonight:

Congrats, winners!

Voxtrot w/ Au Revoir Simone, The Black, Zykos
Friday, May 25th
Emo's [map]
Doors at 9, Show at 10, $10

Voxtrot on [MySpace]
Au Revoir Simone on [MySpace]

Photo courtesy Dániel Perlaky for Austin Music Magazine