balloon maker – Indie Music Filter

balloon maker

Midlake

Today I was wondering why I never got around to posting anything more than a link to Midlake back when I was trying to recount my lost days in Austin… I’ve been sitting on this one too long. Here goes.

Put together five kids from a small town in Texas called Denten. Let them write music together and get noticed by a UK label (Bella Union) run by Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde. Let them blow up and continue to blow up. Let it sound like a ’70s-infuenced folk-pop experience.’

Right now the Plug awards are taking votes for a variety of blog/website/Internet related categories. Midlake is up for three. Best Indie Rock Album of the year (Trials of the Van Occupanther), Song Of The Year (Roscoe) and Video Of The Year (Young Bride). I’m betting they’ll e-take home one of these awards at least. Maybe best album. Its really good, check out what Jason Lee has to say about it:

“The Trials of Van Occupanther is now one of the most important modern records I own. In an age of overly-used irony and disconnected nonchalance, this record actually means something, and Midlake should be forever hailed for their unique and genuine approach to music. Simply put, Van Occupanther has backbone, and the fact that you don’t feel cheated by it gives one hope that sincerity can still exist within modern alternative music.”

Here’s an oldie of the first record (Bamnan and Silvercork) called Balloon Maker.

Finally, check out this remix of Young Bride by Cassettes Won’t Listen.
Currently, the band is touring Europe and then Australia.

Midlake

SXSW Report : Day 3

Stop number one. The Australian Party at Brush square. Caught the last song from Decoder Ring. Checked my watch to make sure it was past 12pm, had a beer. And so on.

Stop number two. The Paste party. Great magazine, always a good party every year at SXSW. They had this cheese sauce…. wow. It made you want to dip your hand into the bowl, let it solidify, then go around Austin all day licking your hand. Well, it at least made me want to do that.

Caught a cool band called Midlake on the advice of a great guy named Nelson from Team Clermont. Check out the tracks ‘Roscoe’ and ‘Balloon Maker’ here. They have a Flaming Lips sound and the drummer looks a lot like Elijah Wood.
Also, caught a little bit of a band called Manchester Orchestra. Here is thier myspace page, I really recommend spending some time with ‘Golden Ticket’ and a nice live solo effort of ‘Play It Again Sam’.

Stop number three, the NXNE party at SXSW. If a bomb had gone off, Canada’s music industry would have perished. And Switzerland would become the new Montreal. Strong sets by Pilate, Cuff The Duke and Novillero.

Final Stop. Stubbs. Spent a good couple of hours drinking Lonestar beer and watching some of the bigger bands at the festival. Heard four bars of the Subways, all of Metric‘s set (which was very good), The Magic Numbers, and Snow Patrol (who weren’t actually that lame as some of us thought they would be).

By this point, I had developed a nice blister on my big toe. I named him Johnny.