When M. Ward decided it was time to record a new album, he called on old friend and fellow folk monsterMike Mogis for some help.
A portion of Ward's upcoming album, "A Wasteland Companion," was recorded in Omaha at ARC and Mogis appears on several tracks.
Though the album doesn't come out until April 10, Ward released the first single today. Much like other Ward productions, "Primitive Girl" has a Buddy Holly rock sound paired with driving piano power pop. Mogis, who's also a member of Bright Eyes, plays organ on the track.
Did you catch Monsters of Folk when they were in town?
I saw them in Omaha in late 2009.
I'll give you the short version in case you didn't read my review from two years ago: It was about three hours of constant music played fantastically. The band did the whole MoF album, plus a selection of songs from each artist (Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and M. Ward). All are great musicians, so it was a treat.
It was definitely one of the top concerts I saw that year.
Anyway, PBS posted an episode of Austin City Limits with the band. It's an hour long, so not quite the full experience, but it's still pretty damn good.
M. Ward called this afternoon to talk about the upcoming Omaha show featuring She & Him, his indie folk project with actress Zooey Deschanel, and the duo's latest album, "Volume Two."
That performance will go down Aug. 28 at the Anchor Inn. Get your tickets, only $20, over at www.onepercentproductions.com.
While the bulk of the interview was about She & Him, Ward mentioned his solo project and the Monsters of Folk.
"I don't have any plans to put out a solo album now. Right now, I'm concentrating on these She & Him shows," he said. "Then the Monsters of Folk are going to perform at Austin City Limits, so I'm gearing up for that. I love working on that project as well.
When asked about whether or not Ward and the rest of the Monsters of Folk wanted to make a new album, he said, "Absolutely."
"We love working with each other," Ward said. "There's nothing on the calendar, but it's just a matter of time until our next record."
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Look for a preview of the She & Him show here, on Omaha.com and in the World-Herald on Aug. 26.
So, the Monsters of Folk are confirmed as performers for Austin City Limits, the Oct. 5-7 festival in Austin, Texas. It's run by the same folks that run Lollapalooza and basically has the same format.
It begs the question: Will the Monsters of Folk get back together and make another album?
I say yes. In fact, let's give that one a hell yes.
In my interview with Mike Mogis (read the story that ran Sunday), he couldn't stress enough how fun the first album was to make. Also, he was excited about the chance to make a second record with his buddies Conor Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward.
I also spoke to Ward about his buddy Mogis for the purposes of the profile linked to above. And he had something curious to say.
"Mike is an international man of mystery because the moment you think you know how many talents he has, he unleashes a new one - I didn't know he played drums until we recorded the first Monsters of Folk record," Ward said.
It's a minor detail, but a telling one. Ward talked about "the first Monsters of Folk record." It implies there will be a second.
And in any interview those guys gave, they talked about how great of a time it was. Not to mention the record was well received, hitting No. 15 on Billboard's chart on its release. Oh, and it was the No. 1 on the Heatseakers chart as well as hitting top 10 on the indie, alternative, folk and digital charts. Not too shabby.
When will we see a second album? I'd guess next year. Mogis and Oberst are doing a new Bright Eyes record now and later this summer, Mogis told me, which means they're probably looking at a fall release (as previously reported) and a tour after that.
Big news this morning was that the Monsters of Folk are working on a new album. NME.com reported it after reading about it on Conor Oberst's supposed Twitter account.
(UPDATE,1:32 p.m.: NME has taken down the story, but it still appears elsewhere. The twitter account is also gone. Wonder if any cease and desists were issued today...)
Well, the story is not true and the account is not Mr. Oberst. That's what you get when you don't check your facts.
"That account is not Conor and that article from the NME is incorrect," Conor and the Monsters' publicist told me today in an e-mail.
The sad thing is that at least 6 places are running with the story (according to a Google news search) and the fake Twitter account has more than 7,500 followers.
So, 7,500 people (in addition to all the people that read those news stories) are being duped. The fake Twitter also makes reference to Conor cutting himself, cocaine, song meanings, answers to fans questions and a lot of attempts at "lyrics," which come off as pretty pale attempts at matching Mr. Oberst's songwriting ability. Anyway, whoever the person behind it all is, they're treading on pretty treacherous ground, I would say.
(Credit is due to Tim McMahan and his blog, where I first heard about the Monsters of Folk thing being a fake.)
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UPDATE 2,3:11 p.m.
As mentioned before, NME took their article down. And Spinner published a story apologizing for running with the story without checking.
It should be mentioned that all of the fellas in Monsters of Folk are currently pretty busy. M. Ward is working on the new She & Him record with Zooey Deschanel that's coming out soon. Jim James just started a record label, Removador, and is doing stuff with My Morning Jacket.
In addition, one would assume that Oberst and Mike Mogis are going to be working on the new Bright Eyes record for sometime this year, supposedly the last one they'll ever do as Bright Eyes.
Well, it's the last day of 2009. In the spirit of such things, I'm going to let you know about what I thought about the year in music.
If you haven't seen it yet, The World-Herald ran with my best albums of 2009 column a few weeks ago. Mal Madrigal or Bear Country may have slipped into that list had I done it a little later. Maybe they'll make it in next year.
Tomorrow, check out Omaha.com/music to read my take on the best stuff of this whole decade. The online piece is expanded from the version that's going into the paper.
Today, check out my favorite songs of 2009. This is a sampling and not nearly everything I liked. For example, I love that Brad Hoshaw album, but I can't for the life of me find my copy, so I didn't add one of his songs to my list. You should go listen to him anyway.
Here they are, my favorite tracks from 2009:
Japandroids, "Young Hearts Spark Fire"
The line "I don't wanna worry about dyin'" is so brutally honest that it makes you stop and worry for a second. Then when the lyrics turn to "sunshine girls," your thoughts do to.
Monsters of Folk, "Whole Lotta Losin'"
I liked the Monsters best when they were playing fast and loose, like on this tune. I also like when they were collaborative, trading off verses and singing harmonies.
Conor Oberst, "Slowly (Oh, So Slowly)"
Like the Monsters, my favorite stuff from Conor's solo projects are when he doesn't make more Bright Eyes songs, but instead rocks out a little bit, playing it loose and fast. He does so here and does so very well.
Pete Yorn, "Social Development Dance"
Yorn's true tale of meeting a friend then, years later, finding out she died after the fact is heartwrenching. Special recognition goes to him for the line, "Googled your name in quotes, got no results," which comes off much less cheesy than it sounds on paper. (Side Note: Yorn recorded with Mike Mogis at his Omaha-based ARC studio.)
Phoenix, "1901"
You've seen it on the Lexus commercials, but it's even better in its whole version. And who hasn't lived the line, “I'll be anything you ask and more"?
Little Brazil, "Brighton Beach" Tim McMahan put "Separated" on his year-end list, but my favorite is definitely this one, the song that sets up the relationship between the main characters that the rest of the album proceeds to tear apart. (I can't find anywhere to embed this song from, so go to their MySpace and check it out there.)
Meat Puppets, "Sewn Together"
Way better than most of the stuff they were famous for in the mid-'90s. Even more impressive after reading their story of breakups, drugs, arrests, prison and reuniting.
The Aliens, "Sunlamp Show"
I'm a sucker for the Beta Band (especially that scene in "High Fidelity") and this song is right up that same alley.
Miike Snow, "Burial"
I have no idea what the lyrics are, but the melody there makes me bob my head every time. There's a remix of this song by DJ Mehdi that's phenomenal, but the original is quite good too.
Silversun Pickups, "There's No Secrets This Year"
I'm not even sure what that title means, but it feels like they're right. Oh, and Brian Aubert's fuzzy guitar and high-pitched, Billy-Corgan-esque vocals are pretty great too.
Miles B.A. Robinson, "Shake a Shot"
This songs simple guitar and MBAR's mumbling vocals meander their way into a pretty sweet song.
Jay Z, "Run This Town" (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West)
This might have been my song of the year, except that Kanye's part is kind of terrible. Actually, I don't like it at all. So, this is 2/3 of an amazing, incredible song. The other 1/3 is crap.
Weezer," (If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To"
Rag on them all you want ("'Raditude' is no 'Pinkerton,' man!"), but this song is still pretty fun. And I have a penchant for parenthetical song titles.
Ben Kweller, "Sawdust Man"
How does this guy write these strangely-timed piano lines? They don't feel right, but they sound so good. Also, the lyrics about leaving work, meeting up with your baby and heading for a night on the town are pretty great.
Telekinesis, "Coast of Carolina"
Chris Walla of Deathcab produced this one, a full band album made by a drummer. And a damn good one at that. The guitar on this track rocks.
Rural Alberta Advantage, "Drain the Blood"
It was hard to pick a favorite on this album, but "Drain the Blood" just sounds cooler. Also, if it weren't a cover, I would have picked their version of "Eye of the Tiger."
Matt Whipkey, "If I Was Your Man"
Dreaming about being with the girl always brings up uneasy feelings. Whipkey's song about it is perfect, mixing dreams about the perfect life tinged with the realization that it's not going to happen.
Bear Country, "Dandy Andy"
Any song that has the line, "The toilet is my favorite place to shit in," and makes it sincere is a great tune in my book.
O+S, "We Do What We Want To"
Orenda Fink's dreamy vocals mix some dream-like music on this tune she did with the Scalpelist (a.k.a. Cedric LeMoyne of Remy Zero).
The Avett Brothers, "I And Love And You"
A great song exploring three simple words with much more complicated meanings to them.
I got my copy of Paste Magazine in the mail today. It's always a treat, mostly because of the CD sampler they always send along that, month after month, features awesome music.
What caught my eye this time though (aside from the bevy of "best of the decade" lists in the mag) was a simple letter to the editor. In it, an astute reader points out that the foursome of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Alvin, Tom Russell and Chris Smither put out an album and toured under the name Monsters of Folk in 1998.
That's a full 11 years before Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and M. Ward of She & Him (as well as his own solo career) used the name on its album this year.
There doesn't seem to be any controversy, aside from the Paste letter to the editor and, to my knowledge, no one is getting sued or anything. It's nonetheless interesting.
Was the name used before? It certainly appears so. Does it really matter? I don't think so. You could call the Oberst-Ward-Mogis-James combo Bright Morning Jacket & Him and I still would like the songs on it.
Oddly enough, the foursome themselves make fun of their own name in a previously-published Paste Q&A:
Oberst: Really, when you think about it, band names are so ridiculous. I mean, I can’t think of a good band name. Ward: I like Led Zeppelin. That’s the only good band name.
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Speaking of the Paste sampler, mentioned above, three Omaha-related tracks made it on the disc (a first as far as I know).
First is "Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)" from the Monsters of Folk. This isn't much of a surprise to me, considering the MoF have been getting lots of write-ups and praise all over the place.
Second is "The Sound" by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson from his impeccable release on Saddle Creek Records. He's not from O-town, but SC is, so it counts, right?
Third is "Ari Are We" from Capgun Coup off of the Omaha group's recently-released disc "Maudlin." This is pretty wide exposure for a band that still feels like a local band. What I mean there is that while their record is out on Team Love, they still feel like the local group playing local venues and house parties at Hotel Frank. Probably what Cursive seemed like 10 years ago.
