January 31, 2008

The Courage of Others


Rolling Stone's Smoking Section has a nice update on Midlake's studio time in Denton...

If the SS had one regret from ‘07, it was that we were never
in the same city as Midlake. The Denton, Texas, fivesome awed us with the mellow explorations of The Trials of Van Occupanther, and we’re happy to report that they’re home, taking their sweet-ass time on the follow-up. “It will be called The Courage of Others,” reports singer Tim Smith. “I think it will sound darker — not dark like Sabbath, but a little more minor-key.” Whereas Van Occupanther was recorded in their living room (”That was tough, because of roommates”), Midlake now occupy their own studio in Denton, with families and dogs waiting at home. “We’ve been going in at 8 a.m. and we’re done by 5,” says Smith, whose songwriting has been influenced, most recently, by No Other, the mysterioso 1974 solo gem from Gene Clark of the The Byrds. “We were jammin’ pretty hard this morning,” Smith says. “We said to ourselves, ‘No other rock band does this at 9:30 in the morning.’ ”

Nice album
review of Gene Clarks 1974 No Other by Thom Jurek at All Music.

1 comment:

dc said...

dude, how can you even mention no other & not post the title track? still, great album & nice update on midlake...another feature worth checking out at rolling stone, bill mahar's dickheads of the year...there's a lot of em.

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17538811/dickheads_of_the_year