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: Mad Men is probably my favorite TV show at the moment. A few of us have been watching it from the get go. I love that period in America, and the set designs and costumes are great, as are the acting and writing. In fact it seems like it just keeps getting better and better as the series progresses. One of my favorite things about the show are the end credit song choices, like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and, especially, “Love Is Blue” by the Paul Mauriat Orchestra, which has been one of my favorite songs since I was a kid.
Video after the jump.
