Midway

Location:
LOS ANGELES, US
Type:
Artist / Band / Musician
Genre:
Pop / Indie / New Wave
Site(s):
Label:
House of the Future Records
"Opening a set with a cover tune can be a dodgy business, but when local new wavers Midway kick off with Styx’s legendary audio folly "Mr. Roboto," it makes for an appropriate calling card that betrays many of this quintet’s pre-existing passions: insistent, often unison melody; 1980s kitsch; ironic humor; Jetsons-jocular futurism. Though not without moments of discordant blunder, they deliver "Roboto" faithfully (Vocoder and all), and most of the Echo’s sizable crowd knows Midway well enough to take this flippant red herring as exactly that.



Then it’s off into their own Blondie/Devoesque, keyboard-candied material, including most of their ’03 Fist Full of Quarters EP: the bleak, semispoken Debbie Harry–isms, Elastica guitar stabs and Radio Shack synth of "Shadows"; the carny keys and brainwashed chanting of "Electricity"; the Berlin-for-beginners verses of "Space Station"; and the bizarre lost-in-translation alienation of "Tabe Tai."



But rather than the songs themselves, it’s the overwhelming euphoria of Midway’s performance that lingers. Beaming, always-about-to-giggle vocalist Theresa Espineli, a living anime heroine, is apparently permanently in the act of opening her favorite gift ever. Rarely was a band so action-figure ready: While the robotic-spasming Espineli’s the focal point, the brows-raised hamming of bald ’n’ bearded keysman Kevin Fischer (please tell me this bloke’s day job is children’s magician) is a cartoon-completing foil. Midway interact like long-lost best friends, and this authentic joy glosses up (or glosses over) material that, on disc, can become a rather rigid, Asteroids-era pastiche.



Midway’s collective charm could melt icecaps, and the twinkling Espineli’s a few vocal inflections away from being an absolute fucking star. If they can bottle their irresistible stage aura in the studio and personalize their stylistic template before America’s ’80s obsession sinks for a second time, Midway might yet grace lunch boxes everywhere.

-Paul Rogers, LA WEEKLY"



"Combining a radioactively catchy synth-pop/rock sound and a live show that could be marketed as a natural alternative to Prozac, Midway is more than a band: they are a happy place inside your mind. If you like video games, the '80s, watching 3-D movies, jumping around your room in your underwear, and/or eating jellybeans until you barf, get your hands on a copy of Midway's EP! "

-Jeff Penalty, Skratch Magazine



MIDWAY (part 1 of 2)



It's been kicking around for some time, but if you haven't seen it here's our self produced music video for the song Space Station. Special thanks to Chuck Wagon, The Lipstick Conspiracy, and Tosa & Theo from The Scene Bar.
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