New Music Monday: PHOX

By Dave Sanford Published August 8, 2014

PHOX — Image used with permission by copyright holder

PHOX is a bunch of friends from the Midwestern circus hamlet, Baraboo, WI, a place where kids often drink poisoned groundwater and become endowed mutants. They make music that straddles Feist and Monty Python.

Recommended Videos

It was in Baraboo that the six unlikely musicians attended high school together, some playing on the soccer field, others on video production sets. But in a town with a drive-your-tractor-to-school day, they didn’t last.

They did the thing that most people do when they are 18: they fled the coop, each going their separate ways (to film school, cosmetology school, a job with Homeland Security…). But promises were made that couldn’t be kept, and as they fell in unrequited love and lost their respective jobs, in spite of themselves, each simultaneously pulled the ripcord and came home.

The sextet promptly (-ish) got a house together in the Portland of the heartland, Madison, WI. As prolifically documented in their online video series, PHOX rekindled their onetime A/V production house while discovering how to live as a family (i.e. how not to berate each other about the hair in the sink).

After two years of cohabiting, PHOX beheld a demo reel of bedroom-recorded music (and home movies) that made Bon Iver and The Fray recording engineer Brian Joseph blush. Donning his producer’s cape (and occasional lab coat), Joseph cheer-led the band through its debut album at April Base Studios in Eau Claire, WI.

Joseph’s enthusiasm propelled the band through the production of more than a dozen songs that have been swimming in the think tank for two years.

Mixed by Michael Brauer at Electric Lady in NYC, their debut album is a school of simple folk-pop songs swimming amidst a chaotic eddy of rock, psychedelia, and soul.

If the goal here is friendship, PHOX is doing quite well. If the chosen path is blue collar pixel-pushing and church camp trust falls, they’re on the way. And if their only coping mechanism is to lay down their arms and, for 30 or 45 minutes a day, shut up and listen to each other, you can’t be too upset.

Order PHOX’s self-titled debut album on iTunes, Amazon, or their official site!

http://phoxband.com/

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Culture

10 cigar myths the internet won’t let die

The cigar 'facts' shared in every lounge that are actually complete BS

two men enjoying cigars

The internet has been such an asset to the cigar world. It allows us to look up obscure brands, communicate with fellow fans across the globe, and access a greater amount of information than ever before. There's a downside, though: rumors catch on like wildfire, and once they're out there, they're nearly impossible to get rid of.Visit any cigar lounge or read online forums, and you'll find the same tired myths that have been making the rounds for decades. While a few are harmless pieces of folklore, others are robbing you of your hard-earned cash, ruining your smoking experience, or just flat-out lying to you about health hazards.Let's burn down those stubborn misconceptions once and for all.

Myth #1: Darker (Maduro) cigars are always more powerful

Culture

Cigar etiquette 101: Dos, don’ts, and modern manners

Please don't be that guy. Here are the cigar etiquette mistakes that scream 'amateur'

well-dressed guy smoking on a couch in the dark

Walking into a cigar lounge for the first time feels like crashing somebody's secret club. They've got this unspoken language, weird rituals, and enough unwritten rules to make your head spin! But here’s the thing—cigar etiquette is not some gatekeeping nonsense to try to make you look dumb. It's about respecting the process, the experience, and not being the person who ruins everyone else's vibe.Whether you're new to this or have been faking for years, this guide will sort you out because there's nothing more likely to ruin a good smoke than someone who clearly has no idea what they're doing.

The basics: Respecting the ritual

Culture

The first movie from Materialists director Celine Song just found a new streaming home

The movie is a brilliant look at the roads not taken.

The cast of Past Lives

Few directors have a debut feature that's as splashy as Celine Song's. The director, who now has Materialists in theaters, had a breakout hit at Sundance called Past Lives that took her all the way to the Oscars. Now that Materialists is in theaters and doing quite well, you might want to catch up with Past Lives, which was one of the best movies of 2023.

The film stars Greta Lee and is told in episodes that span more than 20 years. It starts in South Korea, and follows two Korean children who are clearly close friends and may even have a romantic spark as one of them prepares to move to Canada. Then, we follow their story over decades as they come into and out of each other's lives until they're both in their mid-30s and they reunite for a day in New York City.