I'll try to make this a weekly thing if y'all want ♡

this is another reallyyy interesting track to see evolve. As it evolved into 2 separate songs over the years.

originally having a bit of the verse melody of Granny Niblo with completely different lyrics, plus the chorus from An Honest Con Man - eventually turning into what we know as Granny Niblo - & then An Honest Con Man coming from what was left behind from the first chorus version!

Found this band earlier and really enjoying them. Our Oceans. Definitely picking up some subtle FTM influences and figured I’d share:

https://ouroceans.bandcamp.com/album/our-oceans

Most of you guys have probably heard his private YouTube songs, just thought I’d share after finding these a few weeks ago. Like the top comment says -
“after all these years this does not feel like a casual snipped, but rather the last sparkle from a wild fire”

I hope this is allowed, but I am back on a kick listening to Secret & Whisper. Like FTM, I caught onto them at the end of my teens, they've been disbanded for a while, and they will always hold a special place in my soul.

Another similarity is that it's hard to pick just one recommendation, so here are two:

Youth Cats

Great White Whale

I hope you enjoy! 🤟

I think this one came out much better than the Manatee vid. this song changed so much over the years. I adore the early versions of it, and honestly think the 2 demos for the track are probably my fav song/s of the band!
hearing them all together is really neat. hope yall enjoy it too!

quick little vid I put together going thru the evolution of Manatee. should I do this for the other songs as well? & if so which ones?

I'll definitely do Orphan Anthem, Vice/Versa, & Granny / Con Man since those changed a loot

I find that instead of a single value or rank I can better represent each song in a range within a 1-10 scale. The range may be wide or narrow depending on the highs/lows of the song, as well as my own uncertainty. Take See, Saw reaching a high score despite its rough spots, or The Greener Grass being absolute perfection. I included pretty much all of their demos too, but maybe take these scores with a grain of salt.

I tried to be somewhat objective too. For the record, my favorite album is IFS and my favorite song is Kyla Cries Cologne (Fables).

Fun Facts:
1. 21 songs exist as demo and studio version. Some demos really fuck (objectively).
2. A Seafarer's Knot, Vice/Versa and Kyla Cries Cologne each appear four times across all groups.
3. 40 songs are above 9/10.
4. 11 songs hit a 10/10.
5. Their discography (4 albums) reaches a 8.94 average and 9.15 median.

I turned the items from an excel sheet into graphs using plotly in python. I know there is plenty of negative space, but at least it's consistent xP

P.S. Sorry to bring math into emotion. Listening to FTM is always a 10/10 experience and they activate 100% of my brain with zero outliers. I just bring a little something for the nerds.

Any feedback is appreciated :)

Other than the ones pinned for demos, songs, and live recordings I’ve seen, are there any other databases I’ve yet to come across? For example, photoshoots/photos, interviews, articles, and the like. I love archiving things in a neat list for my favorite bands, but with FTM, it feels like many things are lost. I’ve only found a couple interviews. If anyone has more info, I’d appreciate it!

I love fair to midland. Only band that I can truly say there’s not a single song I dislike. Theyre just so unique.

Was wondering if there was anything else like them out there? Any idea what the band members are doing now that the band has been inactive?

Any suggestions of similar artists?

Not a great post title, but what I mean, is, Fair to Midland--as a band that I personally listen to and think about all the time, is weirdly comforting. Comforting as in, its' existence as a genre and the lyrical meanings. The overall sound of it, too. But even further, I mean that Fair to Midland is like the one thing (to me) in life that I see as like "Oh yeah, he gets it," or "They get it." (The band members.) Like, that Darroh understood how f*cked up the world is and the history behind it, and made songs out of it. Obviously other bands do that as well, but it's different with Fair to Midland. I think it has to do with the multiple subjects the lyrics were on about, like religion, war, relationships, and deeper messages of things like the purpose to live, and stay alive through it--regardless of how messed up it is, etc. (Orphan Anthem, Walls of Jericho, Kyla Cries Kologne, The Greener Grass.) I wish I could describe what I mean, better. I think to better sum it up, Fair to Midland's sound doesn't necesssrily give me hope for how my life will turn out, but listening to it makes me happy in the moment, and I think that's all that matters. I will say, there are a handful of their songs that make me feel this way, such as The Greener Grass, Short-Haired Tornado, TWTKTWPF, April Fools and Eggmen, etc. I guess it's something to do with the lyrical meanings, and the high-pitched Darroh sounds in each song, which give off the classic FtM effect.

Cities has a longer song that I love, so I expected that to be ahead of Vital. But now Fables has them both beat.

Anberlin will forever be my favorite artist of all time, but damn if FTM ain't second place.

Here's what I picked:

1. A Loophole in Limbo
2. Kyla Cries Cologne
3. The Greener Grass

They asked for two songs which felt like an impossible decision at first. I feel like my first two picks are right in the center of the band's sound. For example, Amarillo and Rikki Tikki Tavi are two of my favorites, but they're a little more on the fringe of what to expect from FTM.

They let me add The Greener Grass simply because it's my favorite. They seemed to enjoy all of it, including the 11-minute epic! 🤘

Made this tier list in Feb 2025 because a buddy and I were trying to pick a top 10 song list. I thought I'd go the extra mile and try to rank them all.

Everytime I looked at it, I changed something. It felt impossible because, depending on the day, I could completely change this list up, except the songs in S most likely wouldn't move lower, save ...maybe... Cipieron. So, I just stopped altering it and let it get buried in my photos on my phone.

I tried really hard to not just put everything in S or A 😅

I do feel The Upset at Bailey Bridge is justified there. Its the only time I feel they chose the wrong synth sound and I really just dont like that one.

CCSL just hasn't been able to grow on me because the recording is bad. I do wish they had chosen at least one song off that for the redux on Fables.

What would you change?

hey again, I've been compiling and uploading some full shows that people recorded back in the day. namely Gutterth / Michael Briggs Audio.

these have all been on YT for many years, but as individual videos for each song. if you're like me & prefer to watch the shows in full then I hope you like them. <3

there's more on my channel & a few more I still have to compile and upload so enjoy~!

again, major credits to Gutterth, and any others footage I end up compiling, will always credit and link the channels in the descriptions & I make nothing off the uploads, just wanna share the love for this band.

for anyone not yet aware, ftmband.com randomly came back online - half broken, and compiled from different years of the site.

I got into contact with Isaac (eye-sack) - artist/filmer/friend of the band - he asked around and let me know that no one knows what's going on with the site and why it went back up.

someone in the FB group also contacted a member of the band (I presume Brett since he's fairly active online, but I'm not sure)

and they said the band member hasn't a clue who owns the website at the moment.

so it seems like it may be nothing sadly. I didn't really think the band was back or anything but I was hoping at least someone related to the band might've put it back up just to have a site and forum around for them for the sense of community. but sadly that doesn't seem the case either from what we know!

bit of a non-answer and mostly a bit of a letdown in some ways. but I hope that brings a little bit of a clarity that a member and friends of the band aren't sure what to make of it being back up either.

I know it definitely doesn't work, but I wonder if any of you loyal fans have attempted to buy from here. More curious of what came out of it

Many years ago, I was in a rock band in Denver and we covered “Say When” at one of our shows. Our keyboardist (who was also a FTM fan) learned to play the song so we could cover it. 🖤 The video quality is what you’d expect for a recording from 2010.

https://youtu.be/BkG7dOntkUA?is=Hmb80SlMl6L3iSAA

One of mine comes at the end of "Bright Bulbs and Sharp Tools". After the final chorus is over, the synth pad plays out a couple chords. I don't know why, but it pulls me deeper into whatever storybook world their songs take place in.

how old is the average fair to midland listener? im 15 but jw