June 23, 2011

Midlake//Roscoe

Wow. Between now and last we spoke, I rode some roller coasters and turned 28. Well, that wasn’t all…but those are the highlights.

I’ve also become something of a road warrior, making the 45-mile-per-way quest from Costa Mesa to Los Angeles each day for work. Intense commute times are particularly fertile ground for album obsession and that is exactly what has happened here.

I heard this song while listening to KCRW (another maintaining-sanity-whilst-driving mainstay). At first, I didn’t think much of it. The awkward lyrics were kind of a turn off…but then, a few hours passed and I found that I still had it in my head. I looked it up and found that it was by a band called Midlake from an album called The Trials of Van Occupanther.

The sounds and structures of the songs on this collection conjure a pleasant mash of a few bands I never exactly got hooked on (Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Jackson Browne) and then re-contextualizes in a way that I love. Of course, all with a dash of Radiohead. Radiohead: the spice of life?

I really hope you love this as much as me. But if you don't, that's ok.



Roscoe.mp3

The village used to be all one really needs.
Now, it'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.

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