Even though I have listened to most of his work, I've never completely gotten on board with Conor Oberst's music. I think my continued issues may have something to do with his voice. Despite never completely hopping on the Oberstmobile, I have enjoyed several songs he has had ...
BEST ALBUMS OF THE NOUGHTIES The daunting task of putting together something that you know lots of readers won't agree with is never easy, but then we thought you could always go make your own lists. At least we had the balls... So the 50s had rock n roll, the 60s had it's pop and folk, the 70s it's punk, disco and glam, the 80s it's pop, hip hop and hair rock, the 90s it's grunge, brit pop and dance music. It begs the question - what standout genre defines the [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , UK The Monsters of Folk fanbase are clearly missing a trick. Every time this four-strong folk-rock outfit takes to the stage, they should be met a chrous of b-movie screaming and a mass stampede for the exits. That'll learn them for calling themselves "monsters." The supergroup -- Conor Oberst , Jim James ( My Morning Jacket ), M. Ward and Mike Mogis ( Bright Eyes ) -- were at London's Troxy venue, a recently [...]
Dammit. Drummers deserve attention too. After spending time percussing for Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes, Jason Boesel has decided his time is now. It's a good thing for us too. Boesel will be releasing his first solo album, Hustler's Son, on January 12th. Listen to what he (and the Mystic Valley Band) came up with: "Hand Of God"- MP3 The track listing for the album looks like this: Black Waves

Filed under: News , MP3 , New Music , Exclusive A couple years ago, when Jason Boesel was in Mexico recording tracks with Conor Oberst for what would become the album 'Conor Oberst,' he wore a necklace that bore a hand-shaped pendant. "I started calling it the 'Hand of God' and assigning it magical powers in my mind" Boesel tells Spinner. "I would get nervous if I couldn't find it, [that] sort of thing." Back then, Boesel was in his familiar role of drummer, [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News Maybe it was a desire to keep pace with Bruce Springsteen , who was performing all 20 tracks of 'The River' a couple of miles downtown, that inspired Monsters of Folk to play such an epic set Sunday night at New York City's Beacon Theatre. More likely, though, it was the sheer number of songs the supergroup's members -- Bright Eyes mastermind Conor Oberst , My Morning Jacket 's Jim James , acclaimed solo artist [...]
Photo coverage of Monsters of Folk at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre.

Low - Words Saturday Looks Good to Me - Typing Sandbox Astronomy - Lost Languages Jeffrey Lewis - Alphabet Jordaan Mason - What's In Your Head Radiohead - These Are My Twisted Words Please tell me you're one of those people who love looking up words in dictionaries. Good. Thanks for that. I like to imagine that all our readers are the kind of people who [...]
Jambands aren't the only acts that can have fun on Halloween, as the members of the indie-folk super-group the Monsters Of Folk upped the ante on Saturday night in Louisville by donning full on KISS costumes for a cover of the band's signature song Detroit Rock City... Monsters Of Folk - Detroit Rock City (Live)

Enjoy this week's collection, which is a bit stronger than the week before. I'll have 5 more next Sunday, and probably another 5 a week after that. Like I said last Sunday, I'm gonna keep searching around for more. If you've ever recorded a Magnetic Fields cover and think it warrants being part of this feature, send it my way . To the songs: 1) Woodpigeon - You're My Only Home 2) Superchunk - 100,000 Fireflies 3) The Divine Comedy - Love Is [...]
![Show Recap: Monsters of Folk [Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, 10/30/09]](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/2092288_lg.jpg)
If you read my review of the Monsters of Folk album a few weeks back, then you'll know a couple things. First, that I really respect all the members of this band, from Oberst to Ward to James to Mogis. From Bright Eyes to My Morning Jacket and just plain M. Ward, everybody's an exceptional talent, and that's why Monsters of Folk is technically a supergroup. Now you would also gather from my review of their self-titled debut that while I thought the songs were pretty good and it was an admirable effort, there were too many tracks and a [...]

I've decided to create an installment in which I do a recap of my favorite albums of the past ten years now that we're coming up on the turn-of-decade - yes, 2010 is upon us. They key: I do them one at a time. I figure contemplating the weight of albums that have been instituted in my library for the better part (or even just half) of a decade would warrant a skewed opinion when comparing them to those released just this month. And, as these things are all truly opinion-based, well I just couldn't have that. [...]
Bright Eyes "A Christmas Album" vinyl release Bright Eyes' A Christmas Album is available for pre-order on 180 gram snow white vinyl. This is the first time the album has been available on vinyl and features exclusive vinyl only cover art. All orders come with an instant MP3 download of the full record. This release will not be available in stores and as with the CD/Digital versions, 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit the Nebraska AIDS Project. A Christmas Album - CD/LP [ ORDER / [...]
Anyone who watched Cool Runnings as much as I did as a kid knows how relevant it is to most parts of life: work, school, relationships. And yet I was still surprised to discover just how closely the Monsters of Folk concert experience—featuring M. Ward, Jim James, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis—resembled that inspiring story of the Jamaican bobsled team coached by John Candy.
Today's song comes to us from the American supergroup (yes I'm going to use that term) Monsters of Folk . Consisting of Jim James from My Morning Jacket , Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes , and M. Ward , the group released a debut self-titled album on September 22nd of this year. The band kicked off a North American tour last week in Vancouver that will hit 22 scheduled venues before wrapping up in Austin, Texas on the 13th of November; a European tour is scheduled for [...]

On the album Another Side Of Bob Dylan , in the song "My Back Pages," Dylan sings, " But I was so much ol der then/I'm younger than that now ." True, that was a kiss off to the "protest songs" thing he'd been pigeonholed with and wanted to escape, but on his next album, he not only abandoned that particular stance, but stylistically began embracing rock and moving away from the acoustic folk that had dominated his music up to that point. In the song, he words his "declaration of intent" [...]
Some will simply be happy that this supremely talented group of friends, who toured under the same moniker a few years back, are finally putting some songs to wax. Others, myself included, will take a step back from the record and come away with the feeling that the group's self titled debut is little more than a patchwork quilt of songs that would serve no better than B-Sides for their main outfits.
Some will simply be happy that this supremely talented group of friends, who toured under the same moniker a few years back, are finally putting some songs to wax. Others, myself included, will take a step back from the record and come away with the feeling that the group's self titled debut is little more than a patchwork quilt of songs that would serve no better than B-Sides for their main outfits.

"Folk concerts are confusing," My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James announced mid-set during the Monsters of Folk 's Greek Theater concert in Los Angeles on Sunday. "Sometimes they are loud. Sometimes they are quiet." For the most part the Monsters of Folk concert remained on the quiet side, with the majority of the set showing off the songwriting skills of the indie rock supergroup's members, which includes James, M.Ward , Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and producer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis . The Monsters of Folk's self-titled debut, released [...]