The Middle East

The Middle East are an indie folk band out of Australia. And as I've said before, and will probably say again shortly, there have been so many great bands to come out of Australia the last couple years. Their music scene has really gone international and has become a staple in my daily music routine.

The Middle East can feel like Fleet Foxes from time to time based on their guitar picking, great vocals, and a very full epic sound. Their recently released album, I Want That You Are Always Happy, is a great effort all the way through and is making me rethink my "Top Albums of 2011" list. In fact, I'm probably going to have to do more than a "top 10" this year because 2011 has been an unreal for indie music and The Middle East have really put their stain on what will be a very memorable year. And since it's so hard to google "The Middle East" and hope that you find the band's page and not some geographical or political links, here is their site: http://www.themiddleeastmusic.com/

Unfortunately, they recently posted this on their facebook page:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN :



writing to inform you that we're ceasing. i'm not sure if we'll make more music later on or not.

we don't feel like playing anymore for a whole lot of reasons that i won't list here and i'm afraid if we continued any longer it would just be a moneygrab. i'd rather go hungry. thank you to all those who came to shows.

we had fun.

t.s elliot wrote 'you are the music while the music lasts', but he also wrote that confusing little book about cats so don't put too much stock in his quotes.

i'm very tired. until next time.

sincerely yours,

the middle east.

Luckily, however, we will still have their music to play going forward.