Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

75 Alberta Cross
70 The Album Leaf
69 Alkaline Trio
66 Animal Collective
84 Animal Collective
50 Athlete
82 Beach House
81 The Besnard Lakes
65 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64 Dan Black
75 Mary J. Blige
75 Blockhead
79 Blood Red Shoes
70 David Bowie
64 The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72 Broken Bells
65 V.V. Brown
72 The Brunettes
71 Basia Bulat
78 Carolina Chocolate Drops
79 Johnny Cash
79 Chew Lips
82 Chicago Underground Duo
79 The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76 Citay
66 Clem Snide
77 Clipd Beaks
78 Clogs
66 Cold War Kids
75 Easton Corbin
80 Crazy Heart
70 Jamie Cullum
66 Fyfe Dangerfield
72 Delphic
64 Dinowalrus
78 Drive-By Truckers
59 Editors
71 Eels
70 Efterklang
81 Eluvium
82 Erland And The Carnival
57 Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63 Excepter
78 Field Music
76 First Aid Kit
68 Josephine Foster
82 Four Tet
71 Nils Frahm
74 Freeway & Jake One
75 Frightened Rabbit
82 Fucked Up
64 Peter Gabriel
79 Charlotte Gainsbourg
80 Galactic
67 The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73 Ernest Gonzales
59 Good Shoes
79 Gorillaz
70 Adam Green
79 Patty Griffin
76 Groove Armada
67 H.I.M.
43 Hadouken!
73 Harvey Milk
68 Juliana Hatfield
66 Jimi Hendrix
88 High On Fire
80 Hot Chip
66 The Hot Rats
88 Ray Wylie Hubbard
54 Hurricane Chris
76 Jaga Jazzist
76 Jaheim
70 jj
79 Freedy Johnston
54 Nick Jonas And The Administration
57 Ke$ha
66 Alicia Keys
74 The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63 Lady Antebellum
65 Dawn Landes
82 Lawrence Arabia
74 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82 Liars
72 Lightspeed Champion
37 Lil Wayne
82 Lindstrom & Christabelle
68 Little Boots
75 Local Natives
75 Los Campesinos!
67 Lostprophets
65 Ludacris
73 Magnetic Fields
74 Massive Attack
58 Katherine McPhee
66 Daniel Merriweather
76 Pat Metheny
72 Midlake
64 Holly Miranda
79 Allison Moorer
83 Motion City Soundtrack
53 Mudvayne
65 Mumford & Sons
55 Never Shout Never
85 Joanna Newsom
81 Scout Niblett
74 Nneka
75 Oh No Ono
70 OK Go
71 Omarion
77 Owen Pallett
84 Pantha du Prince
77 Past Lives
84 Pavement
78 Phantogram
65 Pit Er Pat
86 Polar Bear
64 Priestess
67 Quasi
77 Corinne Bailey Rae
71 The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81 Fionn Regan
77 Retribution Gospel Choir
57 Martin Rev
64 Rjd2
65 Rogue Wave
82 Jack Rose
76 The Ruby Suns
78 Sade
77 Gil Scott-Heron
77 Shearwater
69 Blake Shelton
84 Shining
68 Shout Out Louds
80 Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73 The Soft Pack
80 Spoon
63 Ringo Starr
68 Story Of The Year
71 The Strange Boys
77 Strong Arm Steady
79 Surfer Blood
60 Tape Deck Mountain
82 These New Puritans
71 Robin Thicke
76 Tindersticks
81 Titus Andronicus
72 Toro Y Moi
63 Josh Turner
81 Vampire Weekend
79 Laura Veirs
79 Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63 The Watson Twins
69 We Are Wolves
66 Kanye West
64 Wetdog
51 The Whigs
67 White Hills
79 The White Stripes
72 The Whitefield Brothers
68 Wu-Tang Clan
75 Xiu Xiu
78 Yeasayer
73 You Say Party! We Say Die!
63 Young Money
61 Rob Zombie

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Trials Of Van Occupanther

EMAILPRINTby Midlake

Midlake reviews
79
8.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 27 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Bella Union

Release Date: 25 July 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

This sophomore set finds the Texas five-piece utilizing a 1970's classic rock / soft rock sound.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Van Occupanther's spell finally breaks a little more than halfway through its 11 tracks, when the songs begin to feel more fussed-over and conceptual and less organic, but the warmth never fades.

Read Full Review >
90

ShakingThrough.net

While The Trials of Van Occupanther may never be more than a cult favorite, those seeking to till peculiarly American musical soil will undoubtedly reap a rewarding and plentiful harvest.

Read Full Review >
90

PopMatters

The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a nuanced, finely layered work that Midlake has certainly crafted one of the best releases of 2006.

Read Full Review >
83

Entertainment Weekly

Midlake excel at lush, harmony-laden ballads like "Bandits" and the heart-tugging goodbye song "You Never Arrived." [4 Aug 2006, p.68]

80

Lost At Sea

The good far outweighs the bad on this lack-of-thread-concept-album, and if you are dying to hear a modern day take on the 70’s soft rock band, check out Midlake.

Read Full Review >
80

Mojo

As with Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, we're dealing with an invigorating, many-faceted work of diverse instrumentation and durability. [Jul 2006, p.106]

80

musicOMH.com

Compared variously to The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy, Midlake's take on '70s soft rock is actually better than both.

Read Full Review >
80

All Music Guide

Midlake might be stuck in the '70s, but they make it sound like the best place on earth.

Read Full Review >
80

The Guardian

This could well end up one of 2006's best.

Read Full Review >
80

Uncut

Much of it... sounds like the spiritual cousin of Neil Young's After The Gold Rush and Harvest, sharing the same back-to-nature rusticity. [Jul 2006, p.101]

80

Drowned In Sound

A truly delectably odd album of archaic echoes and future-classic choruses.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle

Nostalgic, sure, but comforting, meticulous, and complex.

Read Full Review >
75

The Phoenix

The warmth and the easy familiarity enable The Trials of Van Occupanther to stand on its own.

Read Full Review >
70

Prefix Magazine

I really struggled with whether Van Occupanther's literary, slightly nerdy, Ren-fair-leaning lyrics were more of a help or a hindrance to the album.... But at least Midlake risked the ridiculous.

Read Full Review >
70

Paste Magazine

Van Occupanther feels like a contrarian response to so many bands copping from ’60s psych-pop and ’80s New Wave while leaving out everything in between.

Read Full Review >
70

Under The Radar

The Trials of Van Occupanther is a beautiful piece of moody ambience, and an enchanting album that ultimately continues to reveal itself even after numerous listens. [#14]

70

Magnet

Seductively strange. [#73, p.98]

68

Pitchfork

An encouraging but ultimately disappointing contemplation of time's ceaselessness, love's promise, and Harvest-era Neil Young.

Read Full Review >
67

Stylus Magazine

Despite [some] fine moments, occasionally Van Occupanther can feel a little too slick and one-note.

Read Full Review >
60

Q Magazine

Smooth and intermittently sublime it may be, but their previous weirdness is much missed. [Jun 2006, p.117]

60

Delusions of Adequacy

So while the subdued vocal harmonies and acoustic folk influences of 70s pop bands Chicago and America can be heard, there is enough intricately layered dream-pop floating around the fleshed-out orchestrations to keep indie-rock fans contented.

Read Full Review >
60

NOW Magazine

The uniformity of song structure, tone and tempo, though initially captivating, soon becomes monotonous.

Read Full Review >
40

Tiny Mix Tapes

A painful disappointment.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

M G. gave it a10:
This is a really beautiful collection of songs that must have took real courage to make. There is no filter here, just music made with so much heart and care that it will change you for the better.

Johnny D gave it a9:
Beautiful album, rich in texture and tone. One of 2006's best.

Evan Z gave it a6:
Agree with S Taylor, except maybe The Eagles is being kind. How about America?

matteo f gave it a9:
so romantic, halfway between gloom and joy. "young bride" went even beyond giving plain "chills" : it made my heart soar.

S Taylor gave it a7:
Well, it finally happened. The circle is complete. In the 70's, punk exploded to save rock and roll from progressive rock, singer-songwriters, etc. Now, it has all come back. We have critically acclaimed "progressive rock" (The Flaming Lips), sensitive singer-songwriters (emo, anyone?), and now...The Eagles return!!! Probably the least hip super-popular rock band of the last 35 years has returned as indie pop. Not that I don't like it. But then I like the Eagles, too.

cornelius gave it a10:
certainly one of the most fresh and enlightened album of the year, and maybe for many years... i can't understand some press critic could have given such low rate as 40 to this album ; yes, you could not to be pleased by "The trials...", but you can't say that's not a really good work !

Chris C gave it a10:
best album of 2006

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | March Madness | TV | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use