Spoiler alert! The new Midlake record is not from the band that you grew to love with The Trials Of Van Occupanther. With each successive album, the members of Midlake transformed, foregrounding a different favorite section of their record collections. Now comes Antiphon (ATO), which announces itself with an opening title track that rocks harder and more insistently than anything in the group’s prior catalog. Midlake again sounds like a new band. And, this time it is: It’s Midlake’s first since the departure of principal singer/songwriter Tim Smith, its first with guitarist Eric Pulido stepping into those lead roles, its first with former touring members Jesse Chandler (keyboards, flute) and Joey McClellan (guitars) officially joining drummer Mackenzie Smith, multi-instrumentalist Paul Alexander and guitarist Eric Nichelson. Chandler and Nichelson will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Midlake feature.
Chandler: We’re all pretty big coffee drinkers here, and while the French press is usually the preferred brewing mode in the band, I’m quite partial to the AeroPress. It makes a little espresso shot in about 30 seconds. (I double it and add hot water for an Americano.) I also use a Hario mini mill hand grinder to get a nice even grind, which is really just a important as the brewing method. (Nerd alert!) It takes an excruciatingly long time to hand grind the beans into the fine granules needed for the AeroPress, and I get made fun of for it to no end, but the patience and hard work pay off finally when you have the perfect cup of coffee. Plus its small enough to bring on tour!
Video after the jump.
