Tokoloshe and Mikey Demilio Reviewed
Tokoloshe – U.F.O.
I was recently talking to a lifetime adventurer through chemistry sets and nighttime parties in Berlin. While sucking the smoke right out of a cigarette he told me that the wisdom he’d accumulated in all of these years comes down to a simple rule. I was buzzing with excitement to know. He told me that, at the end of the day, the best thing to do is get a good night’s sleep and a nice breakfast. He assured me that everything else is a needless distraction.
I was a little disappointed, especially because of the fact that this little nugget of wisdom made a lot of sense. But this isn’t glamorous, is it? It’s not the way that I imagine any of the great artists leading their lives while creating their best work, right? The truth is that a bit of madness, and, hopefully, of a temporary nature, is welcome from time to time.
What does it feel like to go off the rails and to have to put yourself back together again? Tokoloshe’s “U.F.O.” have written a song about this very subject. This feels less like a song about pointing your lantern at the sky and awaiting an intergalactic transmission. It’s rather a song about seeking something outside of typical norms and boring reality and, then, having to deal with the aftermath.
Mikey Demilio – Mendocino
You gotta do things right away, but not too right. You gotta seek perfection, but make really sure that you never find it. And, while you need to study the people who do something to a great standard, make sure that you never learn all of their secrets! The fact is that if you succeed too quickly and too well, you’re unlikely to be happy.
And you’re unlikely to set yourself apart either. Rock music is not a place for people who want to be the same as others, even if we’re talking about imitating someone really talented and famous. That’s why Mikey Demilio’s voice, which is half blues singer and half the voice of someone awakened from a deep sleep, beautifully stands out.
All that’s left is to get a bit of happiness or real melancholy. The latter is always the most affecting. And that’s why Demilio goes stumbling down that old avenue of late nights, heartbreak and uncertainty. You can practically hear the storm gathering all around as you listen to “Mendocino.” It’s an indie-rock sound, but one that, no doubt, stands out.
