Conor Oberst + M. Ward + Jim James = Monsters of Folk
Tuesday June 16, 2009
Back in a long-lost age we'll call 2004, three of America's favorite acoustic-guitar-wielding songwriters decided to go tourin' together, solo-style. Taking a break from Bright Eyes and My Morning Jacket, respectively, Conor Oberst and Jim James got up on stage on their lonesome, pulling songs from their many years of tune-writing. Along for the ride was their pal, M. Ward, the mumblin', pre-war-blues-lovin' troubadour who, at that point in human existence, had yet to cross paths with that 'She' named Zooey.Billing the tour as the 'Monsters of Folk' —a not particularly amusing variation on the 'Monsters of Rock'-style gag done infinitely better in that Futurama episode where Beck headlined the 'Monsters of Vaguely Folkish Alterna-Rock'— the show would culminate with the three hitting the stage together to play a collaborative finalé.
After that, Oberst and James and Ward told anyone who asked that they were planning on making a real band out of their Monsters of Folk, and, lo, word now comes that the debut, self-titled Monsters of Folk album is due out September 22. The turning of the project from live-concert-monkeyshines to fully-fledged-Supergroup has even found them going from three to four: Bright Eyes producer/player Mike Mogis operating as, um, producer/player all over the set's 15 songs.
Of course, given Oberst and James were behind two of 2008's most disappointing records (Conor Oberst and Evil Urges, respectively), perhaps we shouldn't get too excited just yet.
Monsters of Folk Track List:
1. "Dear God (Sincerely, M.O.F.)"
2. "Say Please"
3. "Whole Lotta Losin'"
4. "Temazcal"
5. "The Right Place"
6. "Baby Boomer"
7. "Man Named Truth"
8. "Goodway"
9. "Ahead of the Curve"
10. "Slow Down Jo"
11. "Losin' Yo' Head"
12. "Magic Marker"
13. "Map of the World"
14. "The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me"
15. "His Master's Voice"
Comments
Idiot. Oberst and Urges were fantastic Albums
Actually, no, they were pretty bad. Lifted and At Dawn, those were fantastic albums.
altmusic is a turd. i think saying that Oberst’s self-titled was “pretty bad” is ridiculous. it was pretty damn good. and Urges is pretty damn good as well, despite its hit-and-miss-ness… but that’s sort of half the fun to me.
if you really want to defend the wackiness of ‘evil urges’, then i’m okay with that; i only initially suggested it was one of last year’s most disappointing albums.
but defending conor oberst’s unspeakably dreadful “solo” albums is attempting to defend the indefensible. they, sir, are the turds.