midlake - the trials of van occupanther

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I finally registered here because nobody seems to be discussing this album. After 30-odd listens, it's held up suprisingly well. Among the best of the year. The music is steeped in both the sounds of the '70's and the Texas hill country. It's refreshingly sincere and straightforward, and the songcraft is impeccable throughout. The album's *slightly* frontloaded, but considering a couple of these songs (Roscoe, Young Bride) are among the best that ANYONE has released this year, I'm not gonna complain. Opinions?

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

A bit more than *slightly* frontloaded, but it's still really really strong all the way through. Roscoe is one of the best songs of the year.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

Agreed, extremely frontloaded, but Side A is as strong as anything this year.

"Bandits" is fantastic.

― Elastique (Elastique), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

It is frontloaded, but only because Side A is so strong. "Roscoe" and "Young Brides" are two of the best songs of the year.

But I think the second half is very good indeed. The closing song, "Head Home," is a smooth, Fleetwood-Mac/Steely Dan-like gem, with that bouncy piano line and the band's great harmonies. "We Gathered in Spring" has those thick synth sounds that shimmy up through the acoustic guitars during the chorus. It's another homage to 70s soft rock, but I can't put my finger on the obvious influences. "You Never Arrived" is a good song too, if a bit inconsequential at under 2:00. Overall, a very strong album.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 June 2006 04:32 (7 years ago) Permalink

Good album, but I don't understand the love for "Roscoe." The track feels too straightahead and monotonous to me. "Branches" is better.

― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 12:42 (7 years ago) Permalink

Discussed on CoM nearly two months ago, do try to keep up, chap.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 12:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

Steve:

"Roscoe" takes me back. I'm drawn to the harmonies in the chorus and the smoothness of the song, all of which sounds -- to me, at least -- so much like mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac/Steely Dan.

-- Daniel

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 June 2006 17:45 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I can hear that. I guess I was just let down a bit when a friend sent me just that song after telling me how amazing the album was. I feel like a lot of the other tracks are quite inventive and varied/colorful whereas Roscoe approaches monotony at times. The song has definitely grown on me, though.

― Steve Schneeberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 17:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

If there's one thing "Roscoe" doesn't seem to be, it's straightforward. The vocal turns in this song are consistently slippery and unique. More so than on the rest of the album. Probably the most memorable phrasing I've heard this year comes from this song: "Whenever I was I child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive like Roscoe, been born in 1891, waiting with my aunt Rosaline". That line repeats in my head for days. And I like it.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 20:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

Well yeah, I didn't mean the vocal phrasing, which is certainly unusual, although it also kind of put me off a bit at first. But I dig it.

― Steve Schneeberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 20:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

The only song that really gets on my nerves is #4, Van Occupanther. The rest is excellent, and side B has grown on me as well.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 22:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

"My science is waiting, nearly compleeete..."

I love that line. I like to say it to people that I meet.

― Steve Schneeberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 23:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

goodness this is great. I love them to bits.

― kevin barking (arghargh), Friday, 9 June 2006 17:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I was thinking that the album would sound too "safe" for a lot of critics, but I just GOOGLED some early reviews -- Van Occupanther isn't released until next week (July 25) -- and so far they're overwhelmingly positive. Some of the heavy hitters, e.g., Pitchfork, PopMatters, Rolling Stone, haven't reviewed the album yet, but I'm beginning to think it will be well-received, overall.

I hope so. It's a really good record, with really solid songwriting (especially if you like Fleetwood Mac and lush harmonies, and I do).

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 19 July 2006 02:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

I hope so too. I love this record.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 06:08 (6 years ago) Permalink

Agreed. Very good. I don't like Fleetwood Mac and while this skirts close it never grates. Everyone I've played it too likes it too.

― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 10:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

And, unfortunately, my early instincts were on target: "After Bamnan and Slivercork's Flaming Lips progressivism, The Trials of Van Occupanther may seem like a retreat." Pitchforkmedia, July 25, 2006. Oh, well.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 25 July 2006 13:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

i knew they weren't going to give it a good score.

― kevin barking (arghargh), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 15:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

Ah, who cares. Actually, Midlake probably cares because a better score would have meant more units sold.

I still love this album a heap (as if it's been out for years) but the disparity between the fantastic Side A and the more mellow Side B has grown to frustrate me.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 15:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

The only song that really gets on my nerves is #4, Van Occupanther. T

I think this might be favourite track! I know the verse melody is repetitive, but if let it wash over you and it works. And I love that clarinet(?) so much.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 17:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

I agree, second half needs some help

― boonah (boonah), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 17:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

y'all's mad...record's solid all the way thru...my only gripe is that the singer goes all Thom Yorke on "In This Camp"...

just between us, Pitchfork is becoming a lot like Q or Rolling Stone, in that a negative review from them is virtually a guarantee that I will like the thing in question...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 17:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

I do wish they'd given it a better review. I still don't love Young Bride, and don't understand choosing it as a single, but Branches, Bandits, Head Home, and In This Camp are all gems.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 17:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

young bride and roscoe are golden untouchable tracks. the rest is a bit lacklustre

― boonah (boonah), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 00:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

Popmatters just gave the album a "9" today. So the big three online music journals -- Popmatters, Stylus and Pitchfork -- have now graded the record an "A," "B-," and "C," respectively. Not bad. Other online reviews have been glowing, so I guess it may still turn out to be the "well-received" album I thought (and hoped) it would be.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 1 August 2006 15:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

since when is pop matters one of the big online music journals?

haha

― kevin barking (arghargh), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 17:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

I fucking love this record.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 11:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

yeah, me too... I saw them live here in London and they were the best thing ever.

Bandits... oh, my.

― Kirk Degiorgio (Kirk), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 11:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

I know this is a cliched response, but I love HALF this record, the other half strikes me as a bit dull.

― ()()()---()()() (internet), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 11:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

Context, dudes.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 11:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

I don't get this half-and-half stuff...I think it's so fine all the way through...this record makes a great companion piece to Haneke's film "Time Of The Wolf", with it's similar post-apocalyptic vagueness...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 12:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

God, Pitchfork is useless.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 14:01 (6 years ago) Permalink

hahaha

Bad choice of punctuation. Lemme try again..

God... Pitchfork is useless.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 14:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think I'll head ho-ooo-oo-oo, o-oo-o-oo-o-o-ooome!

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 19:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think I'll head ho-ooo-oo-oo, o-oo-o-oo-o-o-ooome!
This would approach "Roscoe" and "Young Bride" greatness if only it didn't go on forever.

― danzig (danzig), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 20:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

I fucking love this record, too.
The best 18th century pioneer/puritanical Fleetwood Mac record I know of.
I'm so stoked they're coming to Oz for the Meredith Festival.

― Huey in Melbourne (Huey in Melbourne), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 00:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

The best 18th century pioneer/puritanical Fleetwood Mac record I know of.

um, me too.

― marc h. (marc h.), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 01:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

This would approach "Roscoe" and "Young Bride" greatness if only it didn't go on forever.

Heresy! Head Home is magnificent, I say. Young Bride is bleh. It's great when the beat comes in at the beginning, and the verse is nice enough, but I think the chorus is a bit of a mess. The harmonies are too dissonant and jumbled; it's the one spot on the record where I find the vocals grating. And I feel like Young Bride is the one that goes for too long.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 01:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

This has to be the album of the year - nothing else has come near IMHO.

― peter d (peter dee), Thursday, 5 October 2006 13:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

I love it too. Mostly because it just came out of nowhere and gobsmacked me. Great vocals, awesome melodies.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 5 October 2006 14:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

It's up there. This, FF, Grizzly, Guillemots, Faux Pas, TVotR.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 5 October 2006 15:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

I feel like this album didn't really advance Midlake's career the way it should have. I don't actually know what kind of numbers it's posted, or how many more ppl are going to their shows, but it seems like it disappeared almost on contact.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Thursday, 5 October 2006 17:08 (6 years ago) Permalink

it used to be about the music

― marc h. (marc h.), Thursday, 5 October 2006 18:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

Haha. I just expected this album would appeal to a much broader spectrum than it (seemingly) has.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Thursday, 5 October 2006 19:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

Haha, actually, me too. I really do like "Roscoe" quite a bit.

― marc h. (marc h.), Thursday, 5 October 2006 19:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

Really nice album, but it's nowhere near perfect. Neat little songs, but overall a bit dull.

― zeus (zeus), Thursday, 5 October 2006 19:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

I find the album dull only when the singer gets a little too Thom Yorke...otherwise, I love the concept of the album, and the fact that it even has a concept to begin with...

― hank (hank s), Thursday, 5 October 2006 20:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

The closing song, "Head Home"

?
It's the third track on my copy.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 5 October 2006 20:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

"dull" is the single most redundant term in music talk. wtf does it mean? How is it dull? Is the Midlake album not Basement Jaxx enough?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 6 October 2006 07:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

i don't really love this album all the way through, but I too was surprised at the lack of response

almost immediately too...

― ()()()---()()() (internet), Friday, 6 October 2006 07:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yes, this should've been bigger. Maybe it'll do well on year-end lists.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Friday, 6 October 2006 15:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

"dull" is the single most redundant term in music talk. wtf does it mean? How is it dull? Is the Midlake album not Basement Jaxx enough?
-- Sick Mouthy (sickmouth...), October 6th, 2006.

Basement Jaxx? God forbid! Then change the word "dull" with "slightly boring". I've heard the album a few times and didn't find enough strong melodies, or I can't explain it better. Pleasant, beautifully orchestrated, but overall a bunch of inoffensive and not-so-memorable songs. A 7/10, which is not bad, though will not feature in my end of the year Top 10. Huh.

― zeus (zeus), Friday, 6 October 2006 17:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

I found them plenty memorable. Just not always very hook-focused and instantly-accessible; I think a big part of that is the near-constant harmony, which de-emphasizes a single, hummable tune.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Friday, 6 October 2006 17:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

cosmo vitelli: "I feel like this album didn't really advance Midlake's career the way it should have. I don't actually know what kind of numbers it's posted, or how many more ppl are going to their shows, but it seems like it disappeared almost on contact."

Sadly, you're right. It didn't even get added to METACRITIC until months after it was released (and it has good reviews, overall). I think it will show up on many Best of 2006 lists, though.

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 6 October 2006 19:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

YOUNG BRIDE = classic.

― pisces, Monday, 6 August 2007 19:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

What's the concept behind the album?

― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 08:44 (5 years ago) Permalink

Isn't it about pioneers living in a forest in the 1890s or something? Maybe not pioneers.

― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 08:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

It has been 3 years now, when is the new one coming out? TVO is fing great.

― Jim, Monday, 25 May 2009 17:24 (4 years ago) Permalink

Good question. The top news story on the band's website is "Midlake is featured in this month’s issue of Under The Radar for the ‘Most Anticipated Albums of 2009′." So . . . maybe?

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 25 May 2009 17:27 (4 years ago) Permalink

The blog, Indie Rock Examiner, says the band is set to release the new disc in 'early 2009'. So maybe shortly? OTOH, the direction the band may be taking is not encouraging: "their sound is (now) less "Fleetwood Mac-y, America," and has more of a British folk sound of the late '60s."

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 25 May 2009 17:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

hmmm, now I have something to anticipate this year besides Quasi and Sin Ropas who are working on their albums now (with no updates).

― people come from a can (Mulvaney), Monday, 25 May 2009 18:03 (4 years ago) Permalink

I loved this for a few weeks and now I find myself really repelled by the idea of listening to it again - like really NOT into it. I'm not even sure why. It's weird.

― Brio, Monday, 25 May 2009 20:02 (4 years ago) Permalink

^^^have had relationships like that

― henry s, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

I haven't listened to Midlake very often but I have been playing 'Roscoe' a lot lately. Besides the driving guitars and original melody you get great vocals and these lyrics:

The village used to be all one really needs
That's filled with hundreds and hundreds of
Chemicals that mostly surround you
You wish to flee but it's not like you
So listen to me, listen to me

Oh, oh, oh and when the morning comes,
We will step outside
We will not find another man inside
We like the newness, the newness of all
That has grown in our garden soaking for so long

Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive like Roscoe
Been born in 1891...

-the repetition of words here sounds godly the way he sings it
-the line about Roscoe is awesome

1891
They looked around the forest
They made their house from cedars
They made their house from stones

-the scenery and people this song evokes in my mind is quite awesome as well

― people come from a can (Mulvaney), Monday, 25 May 2009 21:27 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

I usually turn to Hood at this time of year but Midlake are doing the trick, at the moment.

― djh, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 20:38 (7 months ago) Permalink

The Courage of Others has definitely grown on me over time

― ciderpress, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 20:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

this was a show i didn't hate all around, from the band to the crowd

― fauxmarc, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 20:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

Hearing Bamnan and Slivercork for the first time. It sounds like Grandaddy. I like Grandaddy 'n' all but ...

― djh, Saturday, 27 October 2012 10:03 (7 months ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Any good interviews about the inspirations/origins/narratives for Van Occupanther?

― djh, Tuesday, 16 April 2013 20:16 (2 months ago) Permalink

While i haven't listened to this album in a long while, i find the acoustic version of "Roscoe" on the Oak & Julian EP still gets consistent replays. In fact, listening to the album version just now is a bit hard on these ears after becoming so attuned to the mellower version.

― bodacious ignoramus, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 02:01 (2 months ago) Permalink

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.