Midlake - The Courage Of Others

http://www.midlake.net/images/album_artwork.jpg

we are pleased to announce our forthcoming album, THE COURAGE OF OTHERS will be released FEB 1st, 2010 in the UK and EUROPE, and FEB 2nd, 2010 in the US. we thank you all for your patience and support and we are looking forward to seeing you all next year.
love,
midlake

TRACK LISTING

1. Acts of Man
2. Winter Dies
3. Small Mountain
4. Core of Nature
5. Fortune
6. Rulers, Ruling All Things
7. Children of the Grounds
8. Bring Down
9. The Horn
10. The Courage of Others
11. In The Ground

Exciting. Nice cover.

Fuck yes... These guys do it the right way. I'm pumped for this.

between this and the Field Music 2xLP 2010 will be a good year for maudlin.

I loved the last disc. And I think the disc was hurt in a strange way by how good a song Roscoe was (the rest of the disc -- which was very fine -- suffered in comparison to a near-perfect single). They can keep mining that 70s Fleetwood Mac territory for a long time, AFAIC (actually, I hear they take a turn on this disc toward a sound that I doubt I'll like (more British-folky). Hope I'm mistaken).

What's the label for the new disc?

bella union are doing it in the UK

Man, that cover's awesome. Wish I liked them.

I thought "Young Bride" was just as good as "Roscoe" but I seem to be the only one.

have only heard the wizards sleeve remix of roscoe + i loooooove that

Two new tracks:

Midlake: Acts of Man / Rulers, Ruling All Things

They did say they'd been listening to loads of '70s British folk, and it clearly shows... thoughts?

guy's voice seems worse than before, kinda like the guitar playing, a little dull over all.

US tour dates:

Monday 03/01/2010 Tucson, AZ
Tuesday 03/02/2010 Solana Beach, CA
Wednesday 03/03/2010 Los Angeles, CA
Thursday 03/04/2010 San Francisco, CA
Friday 03/05/2010 Arcata, CA
Saturday 03/06/2010 Portland, OR
Sunday 03/07/2010 Bellingham, WA
Monday 03/08/2010 Vancouver, BC
Wednesday 03/10/2010 Salt Lake City, UT
Thursday 03/11/2010 Denver, CO
Friday 03/12/2010 Lawrence, KS

and these:

Tuesday 01/05/2010 Baton Rouge, LA
Wednesday 01/06/2010 Tallahassee, FL
Thursday 01/07/2010 Orlando, FL
Friday 01/08/2010 Saint Augustine, FL
Saturday 01/09/2010 Mount Pleasant, SC
Sunday 01/10/2010 Asheville, NC
Monday 01/11/2010 Memphis, TN
Tuesday 01/12/2010 Little Rock, AR

Friday 01/22/2010 Newcastle, United Kingdom
Saturday 01/23/2010 Leicester, United Kingdom
Sunday 01/24/2010 Cambridge, United Kingdom
Wednesday 01/27/2010 Norwich, United Kingdom
Thursday 01/28/2010 London, United Kingdom
Tuesday 02/02/2010 Paris, France
Wednesday 02/03/2010 Cologne, Germany
Thursday 02/04/2010 Hamburg, Germany
Friday 02/05/2010 Copenhagen, Denmark
Saturday 02/06/2010 Oslo, Norway
Sunday 02/07/2010 Stockholm, Sweden
Tuesday 02/09/2010 Berlin, Germany
Wednesday 02/10/2010 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Thursday 02/11/2010 Brussels, Belgium
Friday 02/12/2010 Bristol, United Kingdom
Sunday 02/14/2010 Dublin, Ireland
Monday 02/15/2010 Glasgow, United Kingdom
Tuesday 02/16/2010 Birmingham, United Kingdom
Wednesday 02/17/2010 Manchester, United Kingdom
Thursday 02/18/2010 London, United Kingdom

this is leaking.

How is it?

(What I meant was, is it good?)

i'm at work so i cant download this yet, later tonight i hope.

nowhere close to the last album. missing some dynamics i think...

Do they take a turn toward a British folk sound (instead of the mid-70s Fleetwood Mac sound from their last disc)? Midlake doing British folk sounds . . . lame and unappealing.

sounds like they've been listening to espers a little. never a bad thing

This is super pretty.

(Especially "Fortune" which I'm listening to at the moment.)

I'm amused by the how-dare-they? Twitter-rage over Pitchfork's slating of this album.

who's angrily tweeting about it?

Just a few people in my Twitter feed. It's not some major movement or anything, but the outrage is quite funny. It's as if Pitchfork has betrayed its readership by being less than glowing about a major indie release.

p4k didn't love the last disc, either. you wouldn't know it by this review, tho, which constantly makes unflattering comparisons between this new record and the last one.

fwiw, i think midlake gets a bad rap from p4k. i have a feeling it has something to do with the band starting as a "blog darling/discovery," but i guess p4k has loved other "blog darlings."

having said all that, i think the p4k review makes a decent point about this disc.

p4k didn't love the last disc, either. you wouldn't know it by this review, tho, which constantly makes unflattering comparisons between this new record and the last one
Presumably that's because they were written by different people.

I do love how people seldom notice that.

The Guardian gets that all the time: WHY does the Guardian hate Grizzly Bear? Etc As if all the writers get together and agree on their policy towards certain bands, the same way papers choose which political candidates to back.

Yeah, it's mental. When I was 14/15 and reading NME I was perfectly capable of spotting different writers' names and figuring out their tastes and trusting reviews on that basis, not this blanket "X Publication Hates Y Artist" idiocy.

Tbf it's not like most pubs are running a variety of reviews on the same album. For better or worse the review that runs becomes the institutional position towards the album.

yeah but most pubs also get different writers to review a band's albums from one to the next (as is the case here with Midlake). So while there may be an institutional position on an album, there almost never is on an artist.

...for dimwits xp

this is a perfectly enjoyable album

Still horribly disappointed by this, but John Grant's Queen of Denmark has more than made up that.

from that Music For Your Ears website:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H9OMFXWU

thanks Deeznuts!

(for those familiar with Midlake’s Denton Sessions, this EP is very similiar, so much so I can to check & verify)

Midlake
19th July 2010
BBC Studios, Manchester, UK.
(Digital Broadcast)

Tracks

01 Chat I
02 "Small Mountain"
03 Chat II
04 "Bring Down"
05 "Fortune"
06 Chat III
------------------------

is this the same deeznuts that post on ILM?

lets try that cover again as it's awesome:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OsRxjcvfL._SS500_.jpg

i fucking love this album

might help that espers - the weed tree is my favourite folk album of all time

its melodies are so beautiful and singable, flowing through a drone made by the 'sameness' of the songs and 'uninterested vocals' that p4k panned them for

also, having never heard van occupanther, i have no preconceived idea of what 'midlake' should sound like. free from attachment, these are some pretty great jams

Yeah, this is pretty nice. Could definitely see the Espers comparisons. Someone told me this sounds like all the slow parts of a System of a Down album put together.

also, having never heard van occupanther, i have no preconceived idea of what 'midlake' should sound like.

you really should rectify this; half of Van Occupanther is meh but the other half is completely and totally unfuckwithable.

I also REALLY liked John Grant's Queen of Denmark LP last year which had Midlake as the backing band, although I seem to be the only one. it's always kind of uncomfortable recommending an album with a song titled "Jesus Hates Faggots", though.

although I seem to be the only one.

You are actually in dubious company: Mojo voted it their favourite album of 2010.

stopped clocks, blind squirrels, etc.

you really should rectify this

it's definitely on my to listen to list

this record is pretty wonderful in retrospect

it is.

it doesn't top van occupanther - which is fine, it doesn't need to, and vo is a classic - but courage is sneaky good.

"rulers, ruling all things" is the mvp track for me here. though the title makes me lol a bit

i fucking love this album

― diamonddave85, Thursday, August 11, 2011 9:09 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

co-sign

it's the time of year for this one again

Harp ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMXQ_H7mFic

austere neo-primitivism is becoming more and more my thing each year. this record's power grows ever greater

american primitivism, i guess i should say - apparently neo- was already used for a russian art movement that i wasn't aware of. TIL!

Yeah, this is good. If you don't know Espers II, check that out for another good one in a similar vein.

I will always love this album

yeah i like espers too but they never quite hit the same solemn into-the-woods vibe as this record, for me. The Amazing - Gentle Stream is another record that's pretty close though.

i've listened to this album on the winter solstice every year since it came out, it's as good a ritual as any

Anyone heard any of the Harp album?

Not out until December I don't think. Two songs streaming on Bandcamp, but I've kinda been trying to wait until the full thing comes out.

Waiting doesn't sound a bad idea but ... had completely missed this, oddly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yklnBIfUzc

So, uh, five days after release and the Harp album is already sold out everywhere? Both CD and LP are sold out on the Bandcamp page, went direct to the Bella Union website and the LP is listed as no longer available and got this when I tried to order the CD:

There is an issue shipping the following items:

AlbionHarp
Albion
CD
This may be due to one of several reasons:

We no longer have stock.
There aren't any shipping options available to your delivery country for the above items.

Cool, cool. Guess I'll wait for the repress.

Faith era Cure sound all over this album but kinda… wimpy?

In the UK? Drift are showing as having the LP (but not the CD) in stock.

I'm in the US, not finding any shops here that have either format in stock. Not sure if there's a delay or something, but seems odd that it would be that small of a run for every physical format to be sold out in less than a week.

harp album seems good, like courage of others but woozier

x-post. Yeah, that would seem weird.

This Harp album is absolutely gorgeous, finally had to buy it from a third party seller on Amazon.