midlake

Press For Prints: Dan Stiles

dan stiles

Dan Stiles is aPortland, Oregon based artist who creates art that is a visual combination of music and design. Over the past 15 years Stiles has collaborated with artists, labels, promoters, and major corporations to create identities, custom packaging, and limited edition collectable art and merchandise. Best know for his poster Art, he’s worked with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Sonic Youth, Arctic Monkeys, Cat Power, Hot Chip, Sigur Ros, Ted Leo, TV on The Radio, Dizze Rascal, Wilco, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. He draws from a broad swath of influences including classic skateboard graphics, album covers, modern art, Japanese design, old comic books, and vintage packaging. Really striking stuff, check out his gallery.

dan stiles

Chris’s Top 10 Albums of 2006

It was really hard putting these in order….

They are just going to be in alphabetical order. As well, I’m sure there were many great records put out this year that I never got a chance to hear. These ones below are the ones that inspired me the most.

(Not going to put in a lot of words, just a couple thoughts that come to mind.)

Adem - Love and other planets Adem – Love And Other Planets

A great follow up to 2004’s Homesongs. A record with the right amount of quirk, a memorable and distinctive voice and a mosiac of instrumentation.

Annuals - Be He Me Annuals – Be He Me

The album is totally there, lives up to the bluzz. Tracks like Brother entice you at the start and knock your head off at the climax. Complete Or Completing is the best nu-waltz I’ve heard and tracks like Sway hide at the end, slowly growing on you as you start to wear down the disc. Great example of songwriting by a bunch of kids from North Carolina.

Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time
Great debut from this Seattle band. Toss it on for roadtrips and bar-b-ques.

Chad VanGaalen

Chad VanGaalen – Skelliconnection

Maybe the true definition of DIY? Along with writing and recording the songs, Chad makes his own instruments and does all the artwork himself. Interesting record. Look for Flower Gardens, best stuttering song since My Generation.

Eagle*Seagull - Eagle*Seagull Eagle*Seagull – Eagle*Seagull

Another great debut. Get past the obvious Robert Smith sound of the lead singers voice and dig deeper. Phenominal live band.

Land Of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss

Land Of Talk – Applause Cheer Boo Hiss

Seven songs from a great ‘chemical trio’ from Montreal. Lizzie’s amazing voice is captivating. This EP is another great start, also keeping Montreal on the map as the best place to discover the next biggest thing.

Midlake - Trials of the Van Occupanther Midlake– Trials of Van Occupanther

‘AM Radio Gets A Modern Sheen‘. That quote has really stuck with me as the best way to describe this band. Think beautiful harmonies backed by 70’s influence folk-pop. If Roscoe doesn’t get you, try Young Bride. If neither work, try peanut butter.

Silversun Pickups – Carnavas

Many thought this was the second coming of the Smashing Pumpkins. I see a driven LA band, connected to the scene, capable of moving people with this record.

Snowden - Anti-Anti Snowden – Anti Anti

Winner of the sneak award, as in this one barely snuck in to my top 10. I’m fascinated with how great the tone sounds on this record. Take a listen to ‘Like Bullets‘, awesome video.

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The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off The Walkmen – A Hundred Miles Off

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’d be able to guess that these guys would make my top 10. A grittier sounding record, still with tons of reverb and organs. And its a grower, Lousianna didn’t get me the same way The Rat did the first time I heard it. Go see this band.

Click on this image below to stream music from my top 10.

Also, a quick thanks to everyone that has been reading my rants here. And a happy holidays!

Best Songs Of The Year – Disc 1

I made a two disc mix CD to give out over the holidays. It was a little tough, as I originally had 60 or so songs in contention before I started whittling. But I got down to 34. I’m actually surprised at the low amount of Canadian content….. but these were the songs that stayed in my head the longest. Enjoy.

**by the way, if you know me and think you’ll see me in the next little while, ask me for one of these discs, I’ll probably have a couple on me.

Indie Music Filter 2006 Volume 1 – Disc 1

1) Brother – Annuals

2) Hospital Beds – Cold War Kids

3) Launch Yourself – Adem

4) The Funeral – Band Of Horses

5) In Context – Field Music

6) Young Bride (CWL Remix) –Midlake/Cassettes Won’t Listen

7) Click Click Click Click – Bishop Allen

8) So Far We Are – The French Kicks

9) Your Eyes Are Liars – SOUNDteam

10) Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio

11) Photograph – Eagle*Seagull

12) Anti-Anti – Snowden

13) Paul Cries – Think About Life

14) Pate Filo – Malajube

15) Whoo! Alright – Yeah… Uh Huh – The Rapture

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.