Send "Midlake " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pastemagazine |
 The disappointing thing about most Molly Hatchet albums—beside the fact that they’re horrible—is the blatant deception of their covers. During the band’s heyday, Hatchet album art featured a hulking, wide-eyed barbarian swinging a massive battleaxe as sinew and bits of bone fell about him like crimson snow. It was, in a word, badass. But when you dropped the needle, out came a sickening bilge of chuggin’ boogie blues and butt rock. The only thing hemorrhaging was your ears.So thank Christ for whoever art-directed Midlake’s new album cover, The Courage of Others. Here we have a pissed-off dude in a hooded cloak looking like the Wizard of Williamsburg, and a vaguely psychedelic mirror-image effect that turns entwined fingers and background trees into buds of broccoli. It’s at once trippy, foreboding, and beguiling. Hit play and immediately it makes sense: Ladies and gentlemen of Midlake fandom, after a nearly four-year layoff, we are taking a hard left turn. Next stop, the Middle Ages....full text |
| Guardian |
| Imagine the Romantic poets mourning climate change to a 1970s folk-rock soundtrack and you won't be far from The Courage of Others. The third album from Texan quintet Midlake, it trembles with awe of sublime nature and sorrow for its destruction. Apparently this theme is unintentional – "I don't have any message to save the earth," frontman Tim Smith told an interviewer last year – but it's inescapable, explicit in Smith's lyrics and implicit in the richly textured but earnest music. Rooted in the minor key, the songs tangle argumentative guitars with portentous mutterings of prog-influenced flute. Aside from Children of the Grounds, with its sumptuous multi-layered vocal and sweeping rhythms, the album has none of the gentleness and accessibility of its predecessor, 2006's The Trials of Van Occupanther. The more you bury yourself in it, the more Smith seems to shun you, incanting again and again a desire for solitude and escape from the wrongs of humankind....full text |
| Pegasusnews |
| Follow-up albums are tricky things. There's the "Sophomore Slump" phenomenon, or the pressure to recreate magic and success to please labels and fans. Most importantly, however, there's the pressure to stay true to one's artistic vision. "It's a bigger leap for the listener than for us," explains Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido, "because we recorded and toured (The Trials of) Van Occupanther for a while, then we recorded for over a year, working on things, throwing other things away, to gradually get where we are now. So it did seem like a real progression." And a progression it is. Their new album, The Courage of Others, marks a major step forward for the five-piece band, and also a step back sonically. It's a different sound, but recognizably Midlake. "It's where we are now," Pulido continues. "It might not be what everyone was expecting, or the one that everyone touts as the most popular or critically acclaimed, but that's where we are now."...full text |
| Rollingstone |
| "What is life without knowing that death comes?" asks the Nigerian-German singer-songwriter Nneka Egbuna in "Mind vs. Heart." If you're going to wax philosophical on a pop record, you better be able to back it up with gravitas and some great music. Luckily, Nneka has plenty of both. She has a husky, supple voice and is equally adept at blasting out guitar anthems ("Focus") and sauntering through neosoul rave-ups. She's clearly listened to Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, but the production on Concrete Jungle, by DJ Farhot, is both inventive and inviting. Much of the music here has been previously released in Europe and Africa, where Nneka is already a cult star. It's time the rest of us caught up with her....full text |
| Urb |
| Nigerian/German hip-hop soul singer, Nneka, give us a dose of spirit and consciousness over acoustic, hip-hop, reggae, and soul beats in her newly released compilation album Concrete Jungle. Her singing voice is humble and sweet, reminiscent of fellow Nigerian singer, Ayo, mixed with the melodies and beats of alternative soul star, Res. Her rhyming ability is versatile yet non-braggadocios. And it is these ingredients that gives the music world a fresh yet veteran voice. “Showin Love,” the opening track, introduces us to her vocal and rhyming ability. It’s a smooth rap over a laid back hip-hop beat. It shows that she can rhyme, sing and share meaningful content. But afterwards the album goes down a mundane preachy track with songs like “Mind vs. Heart,” “Uncomfortable Truth,” “Heartbreak,” and “Come to Me.” Although her fellow singing colleagues like India Arie and Lauryn Hill’s music had messages in them too, they seem to overcome the preachy effect by giving us storytelling and sharing a piece of themselves. Unfortunately, Nneka neglect these elements. A listener wants to know who the singer is, what her vulnerabilities and experiences are, and what causes her joys and pain. There is none of that on this album. Nneka keeps us guessing....full text |
| Djbooth |
| I’ve been listening to Nneka’s new album Concrete Jungle for almost a week straight now, so I feel more than confident writing that we’ve never seen or heard anyone quite like her before, and will never probably never hear anything like her again. But will that stop me from making comparisons? No, no it will not. Like when presented with anything new, we need a comparison to establish a foundation, a starting point, if we’re to travel further, so here we go: Nneka sounds like Lauryn Hill without the heartbreak, like Dead Prez without the revolutionary violence and Erykah Badu without the funk. She sounds like a more global Fela Kuti, like a harder Alicia Keys or a more hopeful Mos Def, if Mos could actually sing. There, now are you getting a feeling for the woman’s music. No? Well then, it looks like we’ll just have to get into the specifics. Born in Nigeria and now splitting her time between her native Africa and a home in Hamburg, Germany, Nneka’s music carries the weight of two worlds, worlds that are sometimes harmonious but often in conflict. Remarkably she’s managed to translate that diverse array of experience into her music, garnering critical acclaim for her first two albums, which were primarily European releases. Nneka is now finally making her way to the U.S. with Concrete Jungle, an at times stunningly soulful work that will feel like a debut album to almost all of us, an effect that will only enhance the feeling that we’ve stumbled across something great here. If you can’t tell from the opening paragraphs, I really, really f**king like this album....full text |
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