The Midway State, like many bands before them, released an EP with a sampling of what to expect from their upcoming album. Met A Man On Top Of The Hill is their first official studio produced release, offering that glimpse into their music. There are four songs on the EP, and the title track would be the only song on that EP to not be released later on their 2008 album Holes. The song “A Million Fireflies” would undergo a title change when released on the album.

The songs on both the EP and the album are a refreshing new take on popular piano rock. The lyrics from the EP’s four songs are emotional, and each song has a different theme. While their peer bands are singing songs about how their relationship ended, The Midway State tackles the less approached route: Nathan Ferraro, the band’s lead vocalist and piano player, sings about being with someone at their potential death bed, or chancing upon someone that just happens to know how to help him, or the character he represents in the song. The vocals are not what you’d typically get from a rock band, but they compliment the sound and lyrical content quite well.

They have done quite well with their lyrical content, but Met A Man On Top Of The Hill‘s tracks have exceptional instrumental sections with varying emphasis on certain instruments, depending on the feel of the given song. The variety of playing styles the band used is sure to keep you listening for a long time, and it prevents the EP from being something that you’ll delete from your computer in a month.

Although most of the Met A Man On Top Of The Hill EP ended up on Holes, the song set works well as a whole, and the title track isn’t like anything that ended up on Holes. Definitely something that both fans of pop and indie label music could appreciate.

Oh great, another indie rock supergroup, with a self titled album, no less. The band consists of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes/Desaparecidos/Mystic Valley Band), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward (M. Ward/She And Him) and Mike Mogis (Bright Byes, and lots of production work, including The Gloria Record, and most Saddle-Creek bands). From the name of the band and it’s infamous members, you’re bound to assume the obvious basics; lots of acoustic instruments and sad songs, but this album really isn’t anything like that.

The music isn’t exactly folk, either. Most of the songs are up beat and played with electric guitars, invoking lots of mellow energy and optimism. Hell, the opening track uses a dance beat instead of a rhythm section! The song structures are great, and it’s a great listen, but i don’t see myself picking this album up very often. It feels more of a novelty project that is designed to be nice little appetizer for fans waiting for other records by the core members “real” projects, though it is interesting to hear all these guys working together as a team.

Most of the upbeat stuff comes from Jim James. He brings along a Grateful Dead type feel of guitar playing and melody. Conor Oberst seems to get most of the spot light, 4 songs all to himself during the first half of the album, but only one during the second half. Conor’s songs are a lot like the stuff he did with Mystic Valley Band, very country-ish, with a “Travelin’ Prophet” type lyrical theme. His song writing is full of southern-desert-Americana type lyrics, like a story you’d hear in a 1920s saloon. There’s also a few songs on this album where band members all share vocal parts, like “Baby Boomer”, which has a really catchy down beat that I caught myself tapping my foot to while driving to work yesterday.

The only thing that really bugged me about this record is that it’s obviously a fan pleaser, none of the members are really doing anything outside of their norm, aside from the people they are working with (and conor/m. ward/ and Mike Mogus all worked together on the last Bright Eyes album anyway, so…) there really should have been more genre experimentation, but that wouldn’t have fit their name very well, would it? All in all it really is a fun album full of music that isn’t bad, but isn’t great, and even though they are going on tour for this record, i don’t see them making a second one.

My final feelings on this album… It’s good, but it’s nothing you’ll nerd out on or obsess over.

Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered that the album was recorded in 2000 and 2001, both in the month of February. It felt like an album that should have been released five to ten years ago. It’s really hard to pin one specific genre on this music… It has elements from classic rock, metal, punk, and they’ve been seamlessly blended together. However, there is a point on the album that seems to jump out as different in some way. The first five tracks were recorded in 2000, and then the last three tracks were recorded a year later. Over the course of a year, they developed a slightly different playing style and there are moments in all three songs where you can tell they were just better than they were a year ago.

The songs have length diversity, that’s for sure. “I Love Trash” is a quick song that barely lasts longer than two minutes, while “Gettin’ All Bad Lieutenant Parts I & II” lasts just over eight and a half minutes, which is quite long for a punk song in my experience, and long for a song of any genre that is that fast. There also happens to be a song on this album called “Crash And Burn”, so it’s one of those rare tracks that show up like “Crash And Burn” by Crash And Burn from the album Crash And Burn. Understandably, it’s the best of the Y2K songs.

This album isn’t for everyone, but anyone that likes the punk genre should be on the lookout for this album because it has the potential to be one of your favorites. Anyone looking for some fast music with some great guitar work will surely be pleased with this album as well.

When I first heard this album I was blasted with the speedy power chords of “Chachi”, and before the vocals started I thought I had put on the wrong album, but once Tom started screaming into the microphone I understood what I was in for. Yes kids, much like “Static Prevails”, Tom Linton provides vocals on 10 of the 11 tracks here.

“Patches” is the second track, and it slows things down a bit, not much, but some. It has a nice little melody, slower guitar, and poetic lyrics, but speedy bass and drums to keep their punky edge as obvious as possible.

“Amphibious” is the third track, and the first one so far to really sound like a straight up punk rock song, with half-assed lyrics and very little emotion, but it sounds like a lot of fun to play as a band, so i can’t blame them for putting it on the record.

“Splat out of Luck”, track four, more punk rock. Really fast 4/4 palm mutes and fast drums, but lots of fun nonetheless.

“House Arrest” shows us a self loathing side of Tom, but also shows us that he’s a bad ass guitar player. There are riffs in this song that show a side of this band the album had yet to introduce, begging you to listen on.

“Usery” is Jim Adkins’ first and only song on this record, and sadly it’s easily ignorable. It has the same speed, sound, and drum patterns as previous songs on the record and kinda goes in one ear and out the other.

“Wednesday” here’s a tricky little devil of a song. It starts out as more speedy punk that is fun but unabsorbent to the memory, with a bitchin’ little 1 string solo reminiscent of Leatherface. Then, about a minute or so in, it breaks down into beautiful arpeggios and a violin arrangement that makes you stop and listen, this lasts for only a matter of about 10 seconds and a dash of vocals before it picks right back up to moshing speed, for one big abrupt ending.

“Crooked” features sad lyrics over happy music, slower and poppier than most of the album, with a more indie rock edge, it also has a nice little break down where the drummer stops playing, leaving us with a neat little arpeggio played over a groovy bass line, probably the best part of the song. is it just me or is this album getting slower? Not by much, theres still lots of energy but these last songs seem to be reverse-crescendos if I may invent a term.

“Reason 346″ has a sound that I can’t pin point, it sounds as if they layered an acoustic guitar track over this song but buried it back in the mix a bit. It may be that one guitar player is just playing through a clean channel with an acoustic-esque tone. This song is still full of energy but has a pretty drum and bass break down that leads into more pretty arpeggios and is probably the one song on the album most J.E.W. fans can relate to, it sounds a lot like the style they would become known for.

“Scientific” opens up with a very dirty and diminished chord progression, that leads in to some jazzy drums, very different from anything this album has touched on elsewhere, but its one hell of a song. The band really shows off their skills in this one, the intro being almost three minutes long before the vocals kick in, but then their drummer wants to be a punk again and everything gets fast. They keep up with the slow fast thing for a grand total of seven minutes, making this the longest song on the record, also one of the best guitar solos on the record, if not the best.

“Cars” is a nice little closer reminding you that the band, once again, really wants to be punk. With fun lyrics, probably the catchiest song on the record, I find it stuck in my head a lot, even months after listening to the record. After the song is over we get a fun little bit of studio banter where Jim and Tom play Van Halen riffs and laugh with each other.

All in all it is a very fun record, but there is a lot of nonsense and fun stuffed in it. If i had to rate it, it would be a 6/10, but I feel I enjoy it much more than the rating I give.

I can’t see a real reason why this album was never re-printed, it’s a great listen for fans of the band, but if your only understanding of this band are from records like Bleed American, Futures, or Chase This Light, this is probably not the album for you. You have to have a real deep seeded love of early 90s pop punk to appreciate this one, if not already a fan of the group. I can even be reminded of acts like Squirtgun, Screeching Weasel, and early (Kerplunk era) Green Day when I listen to this album, but it is still obviously Jimmy, just… faster.