Photographic Evidence: by 5342 Studios Bufffalo Billiards Austin, TX - 3/18/10 "Midlake are mesmerizing. They make epic, emotional music." - Ryan Spaulding, rslblog.com all photos by 5342 Studios Midlake - The Courage of [...]
Surely I don't need to explain to you what Glastonbury is - it's simply LEGENDARY. Even as an American (though, admittedly, an Anglophile), every year I drool over the lineup, despair at not being able to attend and then scour the internet for pictures and videos when it's over. Each summer, the enormous site at Worthy Farm (about a mile and a half in diameter) turns into a mini-city for the largest greenfield festival in the world. Since the first Glasto was held 40 years ago in 1970, the festival has come to be known for its truly amazing lineup, [...]
We've gotten walloped hard with the Spring stick here in DC, and the songs that I've obsessed over for the last few months that haven't quite made it to this blog find themselves winding their way into this mix, like so much stormwater draining into the Potomac, only sparkling clear instead of clogged with pollen and dog shit. There's some songs in here that were follow-up picks for Fine Tune Friday this year, as well as three tracks that escaped my notice when they were first released, but that I couldn't possibly love any more. Hit play [...]
One time vocalist with criminally underrated The Czars John Grant had all but given up on the notion of being a musician before he was convinced by Midlake to get back into the studio. Not content with producing one of the albums of this year themselves ( The Courage of Others ), Midlake offered their services to Grant as his band. The long shot of which is that this collaboration has thrown up yet another candidate for one of the best long players you'll hear in 2010. Not that there's anything particularly current about [...]
Quite how ex-Czars front man John Grant still hasn't drifted into the general musical conscience of modern times is bafflingly inexplicable; Queen of Denmark blurs boundaries between the overtly theatrical eccentricity of Rufus Wainwright, the subtle solemnity of Lawrence Arabia and the surreal wealth of tones barked by Super Furry Animals. And ought herald universal adoration. Grant's been through his fair share of rough with the smoothness entailed by being snapped up and housed by the forever-majestic Bella Union label and lyrically, albeit enveloping certain sentiments within whimsical metaphors, confronts growing up gay in a [...]
Today there has been a little tingle of excitement in the air. It's around that time again and finally the '10 Splendour lineup has been released, and from what I hear, everyone is a happy chap. Splendour in the Grass 2010 is hitting a new change of scenery this year (away from the norm, being Byron) at the lovely Woodford in QLD, July 30th until the 1st of August. For a little introduction/bit of information, read the following: SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS, one of Australia's most celebrated music festivals is set to commemorate its [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , UK OK, so we all knew that U2 , Muse and Stevie Wonder were confirmed as Pyramid Stage headliners at this year's Glastonbury Festival but after months of feverish speculation, the organisers have at last revealed the full line up for the sold-out event. The Other Stage's headliners have been announced as the Flaming Lips (Friday), Pet Shop Boys (Saturday) and Orbital (Sunday) while Groove Armada [...]
"..His voice is so beautiful it makes you cry. It just does.." Η πρώτη μου επαφή με τη συγκλονιστική φωνή που φιλοξενούμε απόψε έγινε το Νοέμβριο του 2001, όταν πρωτάκουσα το Lullaby 6000 σ'ένα CD του περιοδικού Uncut . Με δεύτερα φωνητικά από την Paula Frazer των Tarnation [ίσως το πλησιέστερο ηχητικά συγκρότημα σε αυτό των Czars ], η ακουστική κιθάρα συνοδεύει τη φωνή σε ένα υπέροχο νανούρισμα, όταν, τρεισίμισι ολόκληρα λεπτά από την έναρξη του τραγουδιού, μια εκπληκτική επαναλαμβανόμεν η μελωδία, θαρρείς [...]
Frank Yang And to think, I almost stayed home to watch The Pacific . What can I say? Some nights I'm just lazy. But thankfully, I managed to haul my ass out of the apartment on Monday night to head down to the Horseshoe for what would turn out to be a pretty special show from Megafaun and Sharon Van Etten . It was Van Etten who was the main draw for me - her 2009 debut Because I Was In Love [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News New Yorkers are fiercely proud of their rock scene, but not so much that they won't admit when another city is onto something. Wednesday night at the Bowery Ballroom, Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido's passing mention of Denton, Texas, his band's hometown, earned a mighty whoop from the capacity crowd. "Wow, that's the best response for Denton ever," said Pulido. "Even in Denton." Midlake may represent a hip university town 40 miles north of Dallas, but musically [...]
Believe it or not, the beloved summer season is just around the corner. This usually means a lot to most people. For music and art lovers, it's a significant time to embrace such wonderful mediums, and this year's Latitude Festival is looking to be loveable. Now is a good time to start scrutinizing that budget of yours. Those pennies you save will indeed be worth the oozing joy you'll feel July 15-18 at Henham Park. Having entered its fifth season, the Latitude Festival sure knows how to pack a mighty punch. If [...]
All the music you don't want to miss this weekend
Now, I'm not normally one for posting breaking news and that, but the announcement early this morning about Lady Gaga got me really curious. And excited. If you haven't already heard, the electropopess has recorded a cover of Swans "Time Is Money (Bastard)", in an electro-folk-pop stylee, with backing provided by those beardy folksters Midlake . Lady Gaga, Yesterday Early reports, from the Italian blog Follis Aprilis, say that the track "sounds like Devendra Banhart on acid being french kissed by [...]
All photos by David Greenwald [ Rawkblog @ SXSW 2010 : Complete Coverage ] Midlake were probably my most anticipated band of SXSW 2010 and, despite 15 minutes of soundcheck delays as the band's four (!) guitarists struggled to fine-tune the mix (no room at the Central Presbyterian Church for these guys?), they played a soaring, hype-worthy set of guitar epics from The Courage of Others and a handful of classics from The Trials Of Van Occupanther . More after the jump. [...]
Kwaliteit is belangrijker dan kwantiteit. Iedere welopgevoede Nederlander die pretendeert smaak te hebben weet wel wat hij moet zeggen. Dat de twee woorden wel degelijk zijn te combineren is afgelopen drie maanden wel gebleken. Er zijn dermate veel goede releases uitgekomen, dat ik het bijna niet aangeluisterd kreeg. Gelukkig startte het muziekjaar 2010 al in 2009. Teen Dream van Beach House lekte voortijdig, maar de droompop van het duo staat eind maart nog steeds als een huis en mag zich favoriet noemen voor menig [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours The latest festival reveal a sizeable chunk of their lineup is Germany's Melt! Festival, to take place in Ferropolis over the weekend of July 16 to 18. Joining the likes of already announced Massive Attack , Foals and DJ Shadow for Melt's! 13th edition are, amongst others, 80s revivalist pioneers Goldfrapp , ambient acoustic Norwegians Kings of Convenience , and Bloc Party front man Kele Okereke. For Okereke, this announcement is another indication that he [...]
Midlake just released a new album, The Courage of Others , this year. After reading reviews that said their previous release was their masterpiece, I bought the whole thing. It's gorgeous. I am so in love with this band, I want to write them letters with a quill feather by candlelight. I want to bake them cakes that taste like Jethro Tull. I want to pull up a log around whatever fire they've built in the woods and pass around a bottle of whiskey and name the shapes in the smoke. Pieces of this song are symphonic, then layered harmonies [...]
The anticipation is killing me, and I know we will find out tomorrow (we will be live tweeting @backseatsandbar ) but we've heard some more names floating in the air. Initially we thought, Spoon, The Pogues, Tool, Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee . Then we heard that Tool is out, so we crossed them off the list. I also questioned Widespread since they played last year and to play the same fest back-to-back would be unusual. Next, Forecastle dropped some more clues and we added Drive-by Truckers and [...]
It's a little in the future (actually, one of them is a long in the future) but worth planning early: Midlake are coming to the UK: Monday 28 June – LIVERPOOL – Academy (£16) Tuesday 29 June – SHEFFIELD – Leadmill (£16) Wednesday 30 June – PORTSMOUTH – Pyramids (£16) Sunday 10 July – SOUTHWOLD – Latitude Festival Tuesday 2 November – LONDON – Roundhouse (£19.50)
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