Songs (click on the -icons for audio)
1. In the park
2. A day off
3. Blissdays
4. Shooting star
5. In my sofa
6. Strain
7. Confusion
8. Nothing moves
9. The joker

Production : Kyle Statham & Moxie
Recorded at black eyed pig studio, San Fransisco, July 1998
(except track 7, produced by Pierre Vervloesem, recorded at d-click studio, Brussels, sept. 1997.

Press Release

For you who don't know moxie, here's the story.

moxie has been existing since the winter 1995. Up to now, they gave concerts in different cities of Belgium; had different radio shows and recently made a local TV show and a video; they recorded 5 titles (autumn '97) with one of the producers of dEUS's Worst Case Scenario (Pierre Vervloesem), and made 300 cassettes of this recording;

In the summer of 1997, they were on holiday in San Francisco and decided to visit a band they liked a lot. The name of this band is fuck. And the man who was behind the door was Kyle Statham. By chance, fuck came in Belgium at the end of the summer to play at the Pukkelpop. The concert was great
and a real friendship started...

Thanks to Kyle (from fuck), one of moxie's songs came out on the «Cool Beans #7» compilation (aside from A Minor Forest and Lee Ranaldo,...) «Cool beans» is a fun fanzine sold in the US (2.500 ex.) , and...

This summer moxie went back to San Francisco to record their new songs which they also pre-mixed with Kyle. (Black eyed pig studio is the name of his studio). Being there, they played two nights in San Francisco. The good surprise is that they played with Grandaddy. It was really nice, the people
appreciated the gig and everybody spent a fabulous margarita night at The Make Out Room.

Back from the states they've been with fuck in different places (Hamburg, Amsterdam, Diest, Kontich, Brussels) and for the occasion, put out a split tour single with fuck. The two songs are: fuck/flapper and moxie/The fakers. (This 7" has been reviewed in the french magazine MAGIC! november 98 issue).

In september 98, Kyle could finish the production of their CD and they decided to work with somebody who liked their music. And Aldo Perotti was the good person because, a long time ago, he already had generously told them that he liked their first tape. So, "blue sky, maybe", their first CD is now out on "My first Sonny Weissmuller Recordings" and distributed by Konkurrent.

Releases
09.97 "#1ep" Cassette
01.98 "Cool Beans#7" CD Compilation - Cool Beans! / Mordam Records
07.98 Split 7" White vinyl ("fuck: flapper / moxie : The fakers) - Panorama / Rhesus records
11.98 "blue sky, maybe" CD - My First Sonny Weissmuller Recordings / Konkurrent

This Album in the Press

- Teek (january 1999) : "Belgian debut that glances at the layered guitars of Blonde Redhead and the boy-girl vocals of Flowers for Breakfast ... Salad's "Motorbike to heaven" and The Cranes".
- Kloot per W in Stage (january 1999) : "Moxie are four french-speaking Belgians who have taken their example from both The Velvet Underground and the minimal guitarsongs of The Feelies. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the female singing with a snobbish french accents is a bit over the top. There is nothing really original being done on on this record."

Zelf nog ergens een goeie (of slechte) recensie zien staan ? Stuur maar op !

My opinion

"Beginning band moves to San Fransisco to record a debut with an American producer". Ten years ago, this fact alone would've earned Moxie tons of publicity in Belgium. Nowadays, the rock-adepts are used to bigger & better (Soulwax, Zita Swoon, dEUS ...) so much that this record almost went by unnoticed. That would've been wrong.
The group was initially helped by Pierre Vervloesem (see eg. X-Legged Sally or more recently A Group), a musical centipede that puts as many ideas in one song as others do in a whole album. This is certainly not the way Moxie has chosen : their songs appeal because of a certain repetitiveness that makes you dream away. "Musically mindblowing" is a description you won't hear when describing the music of Moxie, "full of atmosphere" on the other hand will. The flipside of this dreamy mood is that the spoiled listener might have to supress a yawn or two during the listening to "Blue Sky, Maybe".
"In the park" is an instrumental opener, "A Day Off" an uptempo song (and the single), and "A Shooting Star" is simply beautiful thanks to the boy-girl vocals which remind me strongly of a few Triffids-songs. After that, the standard drops a bit, but fortunately the punky closing songs "Confusion" and "The Joker"(that might just as well have been a song of de Bossen) manage to steer this album into the right direction.
Conclusion : on this debut album Moxie has followed their musical examples (Yo La Tengo, Breeders, Fuck ...) a bit too closely. Still, there's enough quality on it to hope they will develop a musical identity of their own. Soon, they'll be opening a few nights before Notwist (you probably know the alternative hit "Chemicals" and hopefully also their wonderful CD "Shrink"). Maybe a good occasion to go and discover this band ?

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

More about this group :

- a little review of the Moxie / Fuck single
- a bit more about their producer Kyle Statham & his band F**k
- Booking & Contact :
75, Rue Émile de Bexo, 1050 Brussel or email at moxie@skynet.be
tel +32.2.644.31.89, fax 32.2.644.38.62

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on March 5th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

Other recent reviews.
Do you want to announce your record here? It's easy (and free) ! Click here for the conditions.