popwreckoning

I’m just going to tell you right now, when you get the new Bright Eyes album, you need to take 47 minutes out of your day to do nothing else but listen. You like how I assume you’re going to get The People’s Key? It’s because it’s that good.

Seriously. Nothing against Conor Oberst‘s previous efforts, because they’re lovely, but just two songs into this record, I could already sense the awesome that was yet to come.

I was right.

Unlike the mopey acoustic folk that has pervaded Oberst’s career up until now, this record is incredibly infectious without taking itself too seriously. One in particular, “Shell Games” is so bouncy and sunny without being ridiculous. I can just picture the charming-but-not-overly-adorable music video that goes along with it with clever editing and bright colors. The last time Bright Eyes made me want to dance was, well… with Cassadega, but that was country. I wanted to swing dance to do a little jig. Now I actually want to dance, and not ironically.

While I’ll admit to waiting until the last minute to listen to this one, and I was half asleep when I turned it on, the stark spoken word opening woke me up to full attention. Oberst has taken some of the twang from previous albums, electronic and artificial instruments, pop hooks, brilliant lyrics, and put together a fantastic conceptual album.

With The People’s Key, Oberst hasn’t quite abandoned his old ways, but more or less turned up the volume. He’s created a more “finished” album without it being overdone. I don’t know what happened in the last four years, but whatever it is, Oberst has taken it all in and given it back to us in the form of an awesome multidimensional indie pop work of art.

Wait, I know what happened. Oberst grew up. I can hear it in the lyrics.

“Approximated Sunlight” is a beautiful and sleek ballad, “Haile Selassie” is a catchy pop hit, and the rest is just amazing. I’d rather not try and dwell on track by track, because you honestly have to hear this whole thing together. While the songs are great by themselves, hearing all of A People’s Key is an experience all its own.

I’d dare to say that it’s the best Bright Eyes album yet.

And it makes me really excited to see them at the Gorge in May for the Sasquatch Festival. Almost too excited.

Now I just have to make sure that you sat and listened to all 47 minutes of A People’s Key in one sitting. Did you?

Track Listing:

1. Firewall
2. Shell Games
3. Jejune Stars
4. Approximate Sunlight
5. Haile Selassie
6. A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7. Triple Spiral
8. Beginner’s Mind
9. Ladder Song
10. One For You, One For Me

Go to http://www.conoroberst.com/

Omaha’s Bright Eyes has announced additional dates to its Spring Tour in support of seventh studio album, The People’s Key.

The dates added include two Missouri shows, an additional Cali date, an Iowa show just outside of Omaha, Idaho and a Washington show. They’re in bold below. All other tour dates, including a SXSW stop, and openers are also listed.

Dates are selling out fast. Details and tickets can be found at www.conoroberst.com.

The People’s Key is out on Saddle Creek on February 15.

Tour Dates:
3/2 Miami, FL Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater *
3/3 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues *
3/4 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle *
3/5 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium *
3/6 Richmond, VA The National *
3/8 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^
3/9 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^ SOLD OUT
3/10 Boston, MA House Of Blues # SOLD OUT
3/11 Portland, ME State Theatre#
3/13 Toronto, ON Sound Academy#
3/14 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/15 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/16 Champaign, IL Foellinger Auditorium #
3/17 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium #
3/19 Austin, TX SXSW Ground Control Touring Showcase Auditorium Shores**
4/2 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre ^^
4/3 Milwaukee, WI The Riverside Theater @
4/3 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/5 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/8 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballro0m @
4/9 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom @
4/10 Arcata, CA Arcata Community Center +
4/12 Oakland, CA Fox Theater +
4/13 Pomona, CA Fox Theater ## + SOLD OUT
4/16 Indio, CA Coachella Festival SOLD OUT
4/28 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
6/1 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House ##
6/3 Denver, CO Filmore Theatre ##
6/4 Council Bluffs, IA WestFair Amphitheater ##
6/6 St. Louis The Pageant %

* w/ Cursive
^ w/ Superchunk and WILD FLAG
# w/ Mynabirds
**w/ The Felice Brothers, Middle Brother and Man Man
@ w/ Titus Andonicus
^^ w/ Conduits
+ w/ Farmer Dave Scher
## w/ Jenny And Johnny
% w/ Dawes

With Conor Oberst‘s many side musical projects and activism efforts, the future of perhaps of the band that made him famous, Bright Eyes, has been a little questionable. Good news! Bright Eyes is still very much alive and in February 2011, Bright Eyes will release a new album.

On February 15, 2011, Bright Eyes will release its 7th studio album, The People’s Key, on Saddle Creek Records. The band has also confirmed two shows at Radio City Music Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Key players Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott return as Bright Eyes, but the guys are also joined by a rotating cast of musicians in the studio that include: Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead), Matt Maginn (Cursive), Carla Azar (Autolux), Clark Baechle (The Faint), Shane Aspegren (The Berg Sans Nipple), Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) and Denny Brewer (Refried Ice Cream).

Live shows & on sale info:
March 9th New York, NY Radio City Music Hall*
June 23rd London, UK Royal Albert Hall#
*Pre-Sale Begins: December 1 at 12PM EST. Public On-Sale: December 4 at 10AM EST
# Pre-Sale Begins: December 1 at 12PM EST. Public On-Sale: Saturday, December 4 at 9AM

Tracklisting:
1 Firewall
2 Shell Games
3 Jejune Stars
4 Approximate Sunlight
5 Haile Selassie
6 A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7 Triple Spiral
8 Beginner’s Mind
9 Ladder Song
10 One For You, One For Me

Day 2 – Saturday

A full day off to enjoy the festival and beautiful weather? YES.

We didn’t plan on getting to ACL until 2:00 so Jason showed us around town.

Know the way to a girl’s heart? Take her to the most amazing grocery store she’s ever seen. Central Market in Austin is a place for food lovers, beer lovers, soda lovers, oh and especially cheese lovers. This place seriously has it all. They even had a Boulevard Brewery section!

Well and after you take her to Central Market, make sure you check out the highest point in Austin. It’s beautiful and overlooks the entire river, along with downtown.

Onward to Zilker Park for the fest!

As we were walking in the gates, Lucero’s distinct vocals were blaring over the crowds. We stopped for a minute to catch a song, then walked the distance of the park to the Budweiser stage where Gaslight Anthem were.

I absolutely love Gaslight Anthem, and this was no exception.

This is where I rant about how amazing Manchester Orchestra was: HOLY SHIT! I’ve seen them a total of 4 times now and each and every time they just get better. Opening with “Shout It Out” and even quoting friend/bandmate in Bad Books, Kevin Devine towards the end. The only set that I could actually stay for the whole time and loved every minute of it. Guitarist, Robert McDowell looked into the camera to say hi to his grandmother since the performance would be airing on the internet. Andy Hull then leaned into the mic, “guess what, Grandma? Robert’s drunk!”

Okay, you get the picture. They rocked it.

Walked over to see the end of Silversun Pickups, who were awesome, then on to the Austin Ventures Stage for the majority of the night.

Local Natives blew me away. I knew they were good, but I didn’t expect them to be this good. One of my favorite bands of the day.

The other favorite band of the day? Monsters of Folk, of course. I absolutely love Conor and have since the day I heard a Bright Eyes song way back when.

Opening with their single, “Say Please,” MoF immediately got the crowd involved. Throughout their set, members switched instruments and roles between every song. For their second song, Conor took over. “Soul Singer in a Session Band” moved the crowd in such a way that I haven’t seen in awhile. Beautiful.

Next – LCD Soundsystem! Once again, would have been much better at night instead of 6:30 in the evening. Even still, there was tons of dancing. A perfect warm-up for Deadmau5 who played directly after on the neighboring stage as the sun set.

On our way over to see headliner, M.I.A., Matt and Kim were shutting down their set. They were in the middle of a cover of Mario’s “Just A Friend.”

Halfway through M.I.A’s set (which she was super energized and awesome to see live), we decided to beat the rush out of the park and head back.

We then tried out 6th Street for a bit, which is a whole story on it’s own.

Read Day 1 here.

It’s old news that a lot of artists and bands aren’t too happy about SB1070. If for some reason you don’t know, SB1070 is the Arizona law aimed at curbing illegal immigration, but many so it’s just promoting racism and profiling.

Many artists such as Stars, Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst and Rage Against the Machine‘s Zach de la Rocha have banned together to boycott touring in the state until this law is repealed. They’ve joined forces with an organization called Sound Strike.

So if you’re a musician and you’re trying to promote a cause, the next logical step is to record songs about it to donate.

So here’s the new news. The first artist to come forth with a new tune is Bright Eyes‘ Conor Oberst (which, in our opinions might as well be Bright Eyes if it isn’t being labeled as “Monsters of Folk” or “Conor Oberst and the Mystical Valley Band” or “Conor Oberst and Insert-Collaboration-Project-Here.”).

The new tune is called “Coyote Song,” which is about two lovers separated by conditions out of their control such as…US-Mexico border laws. Oberst is also influenced by a similar law passed in a Fremont, Nebraska, a town near to his Omaha home.

Here’s an interview with behind-the-scenes footage from a video being filmed for the tune in El Paso, TX:

Conor Oberst for The Sound Strike from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

“Returning to the scene of the crime,” is how the Get Up Kids phrased it, but really the only injustice was that it had been a 3-year wait for that November 2008 show. Fortunately, since that first reunion show at the Record Bar, the band was kind enough to give the Kansas City metropolitan area a Lawrence and a North Kansas City show before ending their reunion with a two night stand where it all began. And since I saw them at the very first reunion show, it was only fitting that I would see them at their last.

There seemed to be some confusion about the show start time, so a lot of the crowd was still coming in during Louisville band Mansions set. “Talk Talk Talk” came early in the set and while listening to the biting lyrics, I was torn between loving the band for their passionate sound reminiscent of Manchester Orchestra or Brand New and hating them for being so passionate that my mood dropped as they struck some chords a little too close to heart for comfort. The ended the set with “The Worst Part,” another song with strong lyrics of a bit of a depressing nature. These guys are super talented, but I think as an opener, it was a bit hard to warm up to for some in the audience with their cold tone.

For those that pay attention to the lyrics of Kevin Devine, he too has lyrics that are biting commentaries and often downer-sounding self-reflections, but unlike Mansions, his set had a different feeling. Instead of falling deeper into a whirlpool of sadness, Kevin made me happy and simply impressed. There are two reasons for that. Usually, I do focus on his lyrics and his voice because it is hard not to. He presses his face up against the microphone for some of the softer verses, but when he steps away from microphone and yells a chorus or a line or even a ba-da-da-dah-da, all eyes are on his face, which has veins enlarged into a map of his energetic passion for the piece. I’ve heard him compared to Conor Oberst, but I would be bold enough to say that Kevin might have more to offer, at least in his live show, than the Bright Eyes frontman. This time, thanks to a gentleman next to me calling out, “When will we see you on Guitar Hero?” I watched his hands racing on the instrument. Damn, was he good, and maybe he should be on the game. I felt alive just watching him play the arpeggiated riffs. And this brings me to the other reason why his set was uplifting: he has fantastic audience interaction. “The question on the floor is when will I be on Guitar Hero. I would love to be on Guitar Hero. I work for that every day,” said Kevin. “I’m just not that good.” At another point he bent down close to two little boys in the front row and asked, “You don’t have ear plugs? Will you be ok? It is going to get loud.” So modest and sweet. He isn’t only a great performer, but a great person. What a package in an artist these days! I was so happy with him and his set, which featured tunes such as “Brother’s Blood,” “Fickle Friend,” “Cotton Crush,” “No Time Flat,” a Nirvana cover and more, that I could have left the show then. Although, what a poor Kansas City citizen I would be if I left before one of our biggest acts?

Last time I saw the Get Up Kids in this venue, they played “Something to Write Home About” in order. During the encore, they played a few other fan favorites. Now tonight was not a rehash of that same show. While the set was heavy with those songs as they started the night with “Holiday,” they interspersed songs from other albums throughout it such as a new song from the forthcoming album, “Walking on a Wire,” “Martyr Me” and the rounded out the night with their cover of The Cure‘s “Close to Me.”  They even jammed a bit before “Martyr Me.” Check it out:

One of my favorite moments of the set was during “Out of Reach” when the crowd came in with the “Oh oh ohs” and guitarist Jim Suptic and bassist Rob Pope exchanged a look of “OMG.” I wasn’t sure at first if they were impressed by how boisterous the crowd’s singing was or if they were shocked by how off we were. Turns out it was the latter. “How many girls were singing on that?” asked singer Matt Pryor. He shook his head as the girls yelled back. “That was a choir of dudes. Really out of tune dudes.”

Another set highlight was when Suptic took the vocal reigns and grabbed an acoustic guitar for “Campfire Kansas,” which of course held a special meaning for the Kansas City crowd. While he was singing, Pryor went over to the aforementioned kids in the front row and invited the two boys on stage to play tambourine. It made a sweet song extra adorable. However, the boys must have rocked so hard on that acoustic number, that it blew out all their equipment. When the rest of the band came back the only thing left working were the microphones. The Record Bar employees debated how to fix the problem when sparks came flying out of an amp and throwing the breaker just resulted in the same problem. Suptic and Pryor bantered about how this was or was not fitting for the final night of the tour and then they tried to get drummer Ryan Pope to jam out for the audience. Pope seemed hesitant, so it opener Kevin Devine to the rescue. With a beat from Pope and some extra help from Suptic, Devine graced the audience with an amazing and strange rap. Yes, Kevin Devine raps. And it is wonderful.

The Get Up Kids mentioned that Kansas City seems to have a love/hate relationship with them. I’m glad to be on the side that loves them and I’m glad that they are finally just doing their own thing and not worrying how people choose to embrace them.

Oh, and reuniting must have felt so good that the band promises we’ll see another show in 2010 after the new! record comes out. Now that’s something to write home about.

Get Up Kids: website | myspace | @ record bar | @ blender theater | under cover pt. 1 | under cover pt. 2

Fall in Philly is a beautiful thing—especially when the soundtrack to the season is one that includes M. Ward, Mike Mogis, Jim James, Conor Oberst AND Bob Dylan. The city has seen itself nearly taken over by both contemporary and classic folk musicians this November—first with Dylan’s performance at the Liacouras Center and then Monsters of Folk festival at the Academy of Music (on the same night, no less.)

To wrap up this folk-themed month, Popwreckoning’s Jess McGinley and her roommate (yours truly) braved the rain-slicked streets of Fishtown Thursday night to see recent MP3 Minute feature and local folk hero Langhorne Slim perform a sold out show at Johnny Brenda’s.

And when I say local, I do mean local: a mere 24 miles up I-95 North lies the little town of Langhorne—a Philadelphia suburb Sean Scolnick (better known as Langhorne Slim) and I both call home [Ed note: proof below]. Slim sums it up perfectly in his song “Hello Sunshine”–“There’s a place I know in Pennsylvania / If you never want to go, well darling I can’t blame ya.” Poignant lyrics, when you consider we’re best known for a Sesame Street inspired water park and the planet’s largest auto dealership.

Langhorne the musician, though, offers much more than our hometown. Perched precariously on a packed balcony above the stage, I watched Slim and company perform in support of their new album Be Set Free.

Sort of like Tom Waits without five decades worth of cigarette smoke, Slim successfully crooned and yelped along with his band for a full two hours. For me it mostly felt like a drunk sing-along with some townies at the Langhorne Hotel bar (better known as the black and white building in the beginning of the music video for “Restless”).

Although his backwoods brand of blues/folk seemed like inauthentic posturing at times, (C’mon man-you’re from Bucks County) there were genuinely beautiful, touching moments throughout the set (“Restless,” “Worries”) and songs that left me teetering back and forth on my bar stool. It was nearly as good as the Dylan concert—if only he’d broken out the harmonica.

Langhorne Slim: website | myspace | @ acl 2008 | interview with

Words: Jennifer Robnett
Photos: Jessica McGinley

What is there to say about this show? Having the pleasure of seeing three of the best singer/songwriters music today share the stage was a surreal experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Going into this show, I really didn’t know what to expect, not having seen any of the acts in any capacity, but the show atmosphere setup and atmosphere had the feel of seeing Dylan- you knew you were seeing/experiencing truly special.

Something really to admire is how the show is structured, shifting from tracks from their self-titled, Monsters of Folk, into songs from each other’s extensive back catalogue of indie-rock classics. Each of the three, Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Jim James had mini sets of acoustic songs with a combination of another member (M. Ward and Jim James harmonies were full of such soul). Of the three M. Ward was the one I was the least familiar with, only knowing him from She & Him, but his solo set made me a believer and left the crowd in awe as his solo set, receiving a standing ovation and me making a personal note, “For the love of God, as soon as you get home, get some M. Ward albums.”

As the show hit the 2 hour mark, the M.O.F really hit their stride as Jim James steals the show (with his stellar white boy dance moves that would give Dave Matthews a run for his money), as he leads the band through My Morning Jacket‘s Smokin’ From Shootin’ and Monsters of Folk’s Losin’ Yo Head. Not to be outdone, Conor Oberst adds some punch to his verse of Smokin From Shootin’ as M. Ward holds down the keys and guitars rather masterfully.

This is a show that completely blew me away: plain and simple. After three hours, Jim James added, “Boy Chicago, you sure know how to treat a lady.” Chicago experienced something truly special that I will proudly recall for years to come.

Set List:
Say Please
The Right Place
Soul Singer in a Session Band (Bright Eyes)
Slow Down Jo
Ahead of the Curve
Lullaby + Exile (M. Ward)
We Are Nowhere and It’s Now (Bright Eyes)
The Big Picture (Bright Eyes)
Golden (My Morning Jacket)
Baby Boomer
Bermuda Highway (My Morning Jacket)
Look at You (My Morning Jacket)
Man Named Truth
Vincent O’Brien (M. Ward)
One life Away (M. Ward)
Wonder (The Way I Feel) (Jim James w/ M. Ward)
Lime Tree (Bright Eyes)
Dear God
Temazcal
To Save Me (M. Ward)
Goodway
Smoke Without Fire (Bright Eyes)
One Hundred Million Years (M. Ward)
Chinese Translation (M. Ward)
Bottom of Everything (Bright Eyes)
The Sandman, The Brakeman and Me
Map of The World
Smokin’ From Shootin’ (My Morning Jacket)
Hit The Switch (Bright Eyes)
Losin’ Yo Head
//
At Dawn (My Morning Jacket)
Whole Lotta Losin’
Another Travelin’ Song (Bright Eyes)
His Master’s Voice

Monsters of Folk: website

I happened to be in Portland this weekend seeing some friends, and one of those friends also happened to mention that Britt Daniel of Spoon would be playing a solo show as part of a benefit for PDX Pop Now, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to Portland’s local music scene. They’ve released a few compilations and put on free all-ages festivals since 2004. That’s pretty cool.

Britt Daniel wasn’t the only person playing this small show at the off-the-beaten-path Mississippi Studios, which is a pretty nice venue if I do say so myself. The guy who sold my friend and I our tickets didn’t even argue with me when I took my camera in. He said, “Just don’t use any flash.” The only bad part was the way they separated all-ages from 21+. Us young’ns got to sit up in the balcony while the 21+ crowd was on the floor. But because of the intimacy of the venue and the wraparound balcony, there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

The show opened with local band IOA (pronounced like Iowa) – a hodgepodge of a French horn, trumpet, the Latin guiro, keyboard, several drums, bass and a ukulele. Compiled of various members of other bands, mainly from another local Portland band, Point Juncture, WA, lead vocalist Amanda Spring confessed that this was their first show. They were quite at ease on stage, even though there were six people along with their instruments on the tiny stage. It’s hard to describe their music, because with all those instruments, they didn’t really have a genre. Or I guess I could say it was very Portland, if that makes sense. It was the perfect example of what PDX Pop Now was trying to accomplish – exposing those underappreciated bands of Portland.

After a 45-minute set, we all took a 15-minute break while Anita and Kevin Robinson of Viva Voce, a.k.a. The Robinsons, set up. I’d never heard of Viva Voce, but I was very impressed by the technical talent that Anita and Kevin possessed. Anita’s slide guitar was mystifying, and when she picked up the electric, it made me want to pick up my Les Paul again and learn some new sweet grooves. Kevin did most of the talking, and he thanked PDX Pop Now several times. He also mentioned that the PDX Pop Now festival was the first time he crowd surfed.

“I won’t crowd surf now,” he said.

There was a lot of love in the room. There wasn’t a lot of energy, but with an acoustic show, there can’t be much dancing, just more head-bobbing. The Robinsons were a nice balance of mellow songs with heavier, more epic songs with lots of droning guitar riffs on Anita’s part, while Kevin kept the rhythm with his acoustic. Anita even played a xylophone through one song. I strongly recommend picking up their newest album, Rose City, released last May.

Up until now, people had been trailing into Mississippi Studios slowly, filling up the 35 seats on the balcony and lining the wall all around it. The floor below had become far denser since the show started at 8. After all, most people were there to see Britt Daniel anyway.

And let me tell you – I love Spoon. It’s one of those bands you don’t get tired of. And Britt Daniel’s distinct voice is also one you don’t get tired of. His voice worked well with mellow songs like “I Summon You,” or with the louder shouts in “Don’t Make Me a Target,” and harmonizing with his guest drummer on a few songs, former Sleater-Kinney member Janet Weiss. Daniel played plenty of Spoon hits, and a few new songs, which made me really excited, plus some lesser-known songs. One song in particular, from the Home split EP with Conor Oberst, he preempted with a little story about Oberst, which got some laughs.

“Not a good guy to go to a Haunted Corn Maze with. He was scared. I had to walk in front of him the whole time. Janet was there,” he said as he looked over the Weiss on the side of the stage. “You were there too.”

Daniel switched from acoustic guitar to electric guitar to a bass throughout night, which fed the energy of the room, taking the small intimate crowd on an-hour long tour of Spoon’s newer hits from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and older songs from Gimme Fiction, Kill the Moonlight, and Girls Can Tell. Plus, we got a four-song encore, which was pretty sweet. I also was thoroughly impressed by the way the club sounded. Mississippi Studios has such a unique set up that it fit the persona of Portland just right. And the minimalist vibe of the show mixed with Daniel’s raspy vocals and modest charisma made the crowd – both on the floor and the balcony – feel very connected.

Mississippi Studios doesn’t need fancy light work or large crowds to put on a good show. They just need easygoing doormen and great music.

PDX Pop Now: website