Milton Mapes

Milton Mapes - a band not a man - drive a raw, visceral roots-rock behemoth that engages innocently enough, then rolls right over you. With aggressive guitars and lazy vocal delivery, Westernaire finds an even flow between the indie rock ethos and brash force of Crazy Horse-like power. - Miles of Music

This is the record that feathered-mop anti-wonder Pete Yorn will never have the soul to write, or better still, the record that Neil Young would pen given a steady diet of Pedro the Lion. Anyway the hybrid is cut, Milton Mapes have made an album of furrowed brows, hard won bruises, and heavy drinking fables built on guitars layered like thunderheads and drums that snap-crack through the haze. Lead singer and songsmith Greg Vanderpool sounds perpetually on an emotional verge, never quite breaking free from his demons and the thick weight of the band’s top-down density. Lyrically, Westernaire is a black diary of tamped-down frustrations, abandoned road trips, and treading water with gritted teeth. If that constricted misery was their sum total, the album would go down like a dry wishbone, but songs like “The Only Sound That Matters,” with a naked guitar strum and Vanderpool’s wounded sneer, offer redemption in the painful beauty of a fall from grace that’s achingly well put. - Resonance Magazine

Perhaps this is too topical of a comparison, but while listening to Westernaire, I couldn't help but think of Sofia Coppola's acclaimed film Lost In Translation. Both works do an expert job of capturing mood and setting. For Milton Mapes, that setting is not Tokyo, but the rugged and lonesome landscape of the American Southwest...."The Only Sound That Matters", the raggedly right "This Kind Of Danger", and "A Thousand Songs About California", an introspective ode to watching too many friends get the hell out of town, are standouts on this debut from a band full of promise. - No Depression

Westernaire, Milton Mapes’ latest CD, hums with a spacious, eerie twang that suggests Neil Young strumming along to U2’s The Unforgettable Fire. - Dallas Morning News

Milton Mapes are a crew of alt-country rockers who share the same taste in epic balladry as artists like My Morning Jacket and Neko Case. Greg Vanderpool, their lead singer, has a sorrowful vice grip of a voice, every syllable wrestled with and let go with an almost exhaustive weight. Pared down to a duo, the boys sat on the steps of the stage and proceeded to belt out one of the most introspective and haunted performances I've heard since my first Beth Orton show. Like a twang-skewed Pedro the Lion, Milton Mapes build slow burning songs from the scaffolding of carefully drawn images, slow escalations of mood, and an inner intensity that almost has to be turned away from to be absorbed. "Lubbock" stood out for me, with an almost missionary seriousness, sketching out a transfixing narrative as down-to-earth and engrossing as a campfire yarn. I have yet to see the full band perform, but if the unplugged set is any indication, these guys must put on a jarringly gorgeous live set with everyone in tow. Vanderpool makes Jeff Tweedy seem like a superficial emotional skimmer, and I can't wait for their next full length to drop. - Pop Matters

Milton Mapes is an Austin band that may have issued one of the best recordings of the year. While there have been some strong releases in 2003, none have mixed innovation and tradition as well as this group's Westernaire. It is full of rich textures and overlapping sounds that easily remind the listener of Neil Young's greatest work. The band has moved towards a full rock sound with driving guitars, thundering base lines, and great drum work. Westernaire is American music at its best: open-ended, expansive, and textured with the complexities of the modern condition. - Four States Living Magazine

Best SXSW Showcase of 2003: Milton Mapes
--Christpher Gray - Austin Chronicle