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This Or That: New Midlake? Or Just Some Knockoff?

By Pete Freedman in This or That?

Wednesday, Feb. 11 2009 @ 4:52PM

Welcome to This or That, the weekly segment here on DC9 where we stream an unmarked song and ask, simply enough, "Is this [POP BAND X] or just another crappy local band?" Why? Because we don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between the real thing and the crappy, cheap knockoff.

It's no joke that Denton's Midlake's something of a big deal beyond the limits of North Texas. It's also no joke that the band's sound is heavily influenced by '70s soft rock of Fleetwood Mac, America and Bread--which is OK, well, because, on its 2006 breakout album The Trials of Van Occupanther, the band did those influences fine justice.

So it should come as no surprise then that Midlake's next record, The Courage of Others, is a hotly anticipated commodity; in the current issue of Under The Radar, the album is named as one of the magazine's most anticipated albums of 2009. It's right up there for us in DC9 HQ, too, alongside upcoming releases from fellow locals The Paper Chase and Damaged Good$. But, anyway, I digress.

As Midlake's members told Stereogum in November, things ain't moving too quickly in its Denton studio. But, still, they are moving. Last we heard, the band was about four songs deep into the record's completion. And then a friend of DC9 passed along this track...

...which we figured was enough to swap the general idea of this little feature around for a week. Instead of asking if this is a national band or its crappy local knockoff, this week's question is reversed: Is this a new, leaked Midlake track? Or just another band from God-knows-where, trying to capture Midlake's sound?

Guess away in the comments. And for the answer to last week's query, hit the jump.

Well, it wasn't Metro Station, as last week's guessers figured out easily enough. It was the lead track off Dallas mall-punk act Artist Vs. Poet debut, self-titled EP--which has garnered the band enough buzz to merit it as one of Alternative Press' "100 Bands You Need To Know in 2009", as I mentioned in last week's column.