The self-titled debut by Monsters of Folk sold 34,547 physical copies in its first week of sales, good enough to weigh in at No. 15 on the Billboard chart, according to Homer’s General Manager Mike Fratt. The album by the so-called indie supergroup that features Conor Oberst, M.Ward, Jim James and secret weapon Mike Mogis also sold 17,369 digital copies since it became available a few weeks prior to the physical release. That put Monsters of Folk at No. 7 on the digital sales charts.

Those aren’t bad first week numbers, but it’s no Bright Eyes. Fratt pointed out that of the three amigos releasing music on their own, Bright Eyes is the clear best seller, followed by M. Ward then My Morning Jacket. “Conor (as Bright Eyes) is a few thousand units away from gold (500k) with Wide Awake,” Fratt said. “Ash is around 250k, and Lifted is around 300k. M. Ward has nothing over 100k and MMJ’s biggest is in the mid-100k’s.”

Fratt added that Oberst’s solo CDs with Mystic Valley Band are at 100k for the debut and 40k for Outer South.

* * *

The sixth-annual Lincoln Calling Festival kicks off tonight with a full slate of shows. Tonight’s schedule and prices are below, or you can get details at the Lincoln Calling Facebook page.

Pricewise, the right answer is to get a $30 wristband that lets you into all the shows for the entire five days. It’s available from e-tix right here.

If I were heading to Lincoln tonight, I’d definitely be checking out the duo-stages at the Bourbon featuring SF glam act Sleepy Sun and Nebraska’s very own Eagle Seagull. Actually, I’d also scamper on over to the Zoo Bar for New York rock-folkies The Rosewood Thieves. And of course, I’d check out the streetcorner buskers (including the fetching Nicole LeClerc outside the Bourbon at 7:10).

Here’s the sched…

Wednesday, Sept 30

Bourbon Theatre — Doors at 8 p.m., $10 for 18+
9-9:45 Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound (main stage)
9:45-10:15 Gold Lions (front room)
10:20-11:20 Sleepy Sun (main stage)
11:25-11:55 Life of a Scarecrow (back of main room)
12-1 Eagle Seagull (main stage)

Duffy’s Tavern — doors at 9 p.m., $5 for 19+
9:30-10 Sundays Best
10-10:30 Diamond Kazzoo (beer garden)
10:30-11:15 The Wildbirds
11:30-12:30 The Amalgamators

Zoo Bar

early — doors at 6 p.m., $4 for 19+
6-6:45 Ember Schrag
7-7:45 Tsumi
8-8:30 Once a Pawn

late — doors at 9 p.m., $8 for 19+
9-9:30 Manny Coon
9:40-10:20 Outlaw Con Bandana
10:40-11:20 Dead Trees
11:40-12:40 The Rosewood Thieves

Bricktop — doors at 10 p.m., free for 21+
DJ Spence
Jim Reilly (bday DJ set)
Bentone
Note: DJs will determine rotation

Duggans — doors 9 p.m., free for 21+
Open mic night; Rob from Duggan’s will facilitate

Songwriter Power Ranger street corner stomp — free (obviously)
6:30-7 Darren Keen (Bourbon)
7:20-7:50 Son of 76 (Duffy’s)
7:10-7:40 Nicole LeClerc (Bourbon)
7:30-8 Chanty Stovall (Duffy’s)

* * *

This week’s column is an opportunity to catch up on some of the news that has appeared in this-here blog over the past couple weeks. So if you’re a regular reader, you’ve already seen a version of this mashed-up commentary. I include it here for posterity’s sake (there have been a couple adds and edits).

Column 240: Ship Jumpers
But what price of fame?

A couple weeks ago, Tokyo Police Club announced that it had signed an exclusive U.S. recording deal with record label mom+pop, ending its relationship with Saddle Creek Records that began in July 2007. “The band is currently recording its second full length album, with an expected release projected for early 2010,” said the band’s PR folks.

Mom+pop was formed in 2008 by the owners of Qprime, “one of music’s most respected management firms, with a roster featuring the likes of Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol, Muse, Silversun Pickups and The Mars Volta,” the release said. The record label’s roster, however, is tiny, and includes Josha Radin and An Horse.

Not surprisingly, Saddle Creek Records was not mentioned in the press release. None of this made sense to me. Why would TPC jump ship? Did this have more to do with Qprime than mom+pop?

“The band wanted a label with the resources and willingness to put a large amount of money into a commercial radio campaign, and that’s not something that we as a label have traditionally bought into or were willing to do,” said Saddle Creek label executive Jason Kulbel, who runs the label with Robb Nansel.

So this tiny mom+pop has the cash for something like that, or are other deep pockets involved? “I would assume that being backed by Qprime would mean they have some money to spend and experience in the commercial radio world,” Kulbel said.

Conversely, I would assume that everyone at Saddle Creek was disappointed, considering that TPC’s 2008 effort, Elephant Shell, is one of the label’s best-selling recent releases.

“I can’t say that we are not disappointed,” Kulbel said. “You don’t really start working with a band to only do one record. That said, we were well aware of the situation. It’s not like we were blindsided or anything. We have been talking on and off for months, and when the band decided on a road to go down, we were made aware and they asked us if it was something we would be interested in doing.”

The answer was no. Incidentally, Kulbel said Saddle Creek got nothing (no buy-out or whatever) as a result of TPC going to mom+pop.

The whole thing is depressing. To some, TPC represented a new wave of powerhouse indie bands that would guide Saddle Creek into the next decade after the label lost two of its triple-crown acts — The Faint (who left to start their own label) and Bright Eyes, a band that Conor Oberst announced would be sunsetted after a final album on Saddle Creek sometime in the future. Oberst’s solo albums with Mystic Valley Band are released on Merge Records, and the new album by Monsters of Folk was released on LA’s Shangri-La Music, a label owned by millionaire/international playboy (I’m not kidding) Steve Bing, who I’ve been told made Oberst and his compatriots an offer they simply could not refuse.

As far as major earners go, that leaves Creek with the ever-faithful Cursive/The Good Life, and the upcoming Azure Ray album. And of course, there’s that extensive back catalog, which is probably enough to sustain them as another generation discovers The Faint and Bright Eyes (and Cursive). Creek has the luxury of owning these musicians’ best albums.

Still, it would be nice if even one of Saddle Creek’s recently signed acts — Old Canes, UUVVWWZ, Rural Alberta Advantage or Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson — could ignite as brightly as TPC did out of the gate.

Speaking of Monsters of Folk, over the past couple of weeks dozens of reviews of their new album have been printed and posted. The only one that will be looked upon as “relevant” went live last week at Pitchfork. The undisputed king of tastemakers gave the album a 6.5 (out of 10) — a luke-warn rating that’s become standard-issue for all Omaha-affiliated indie rock releases.

Pitchfork (along with everyone else) compared the “super group” to The Traveling Wilburys — which is apt, right down to the production on some of the songs. I’ll play along. For me, Jim James, with his irresistible voice, is Roy Orbison. Oberst, who wrote the best songs on the album, is (of course) Dylan, which puts M.Ward in the George Harrison slot (some might say inappropriately, as James just released a sleepy Harrison tribute EP). That makes Mike Mogis a modern-day Jeff Lynne — in fact both produced their respective albums.

While Mogis’ production and the fact that the four members played all the instruments were efforts designed to “hold it all together,” the record still sounds like a collection of songs by the individual artists instead of a cohesive album by a singular band. The M.Ward songs sound like Hold Time rejects, the Conor songs could have come off a Mystic Valley album, and Jim James is Jim James. For fans of those records, this could be a real coup rather than a let-down.

For me, it’s all somewhat… predictable. “Say Please” — their “Handle with Care” — is the most radio friendly of the bunch. And since they decided to go with the millionaire (Shangri-La Music), efforts will be made to get the track shoved down radio programmers’ throats, and placed in “heavy rotation” in hopes of hypnotizing The Great Wad that needs to be told — over and over again — what to listen to. I guess that’s what these guys and TPC wanted after years of flourishing in indie obscurity.

Oh, but what price fame? TPC and the Monsters will find out soon enough. Because there’s one thing that Saddle Creek provided that money can never buy, something that has to do with the ability to look at yourself in the mirror.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

A few newsy items from the Googlenet:

An interesting interview was posted today on U.K. website egigs.co.uk with Alessi Laurent-Marke, the charming U.K. singer songwriter who briefly made Omaha her home a couple summers ago. Alessi talks about Nebraska, Saddle Creek and what she’s up to now — which includes a December tour of Germany with Neva Dinova’s Jake Bellows.

“…we became friends when I was in Nebraska and he’s the fellow that sings on ‘The Horse’ and does all the harmonies and backing vocals for that record and he’s a fantastic singer in his own right, and I thought it would be fun to play some solo stuff together in December, both here and in Germany,” said Alessi in her typical never-ending-run-on-sentence speaking style. “It will be the first time either of us have played in Germany, so it will be good to share it with a friend.” Read the whole interview here.

* * *

Tim Kasher’s latest stage apparel: Flip-flops, according to this review in the Las Vegas Weekly of Cursive’s Sin City show last Thursday. Critic Laura Davis raved about the performance that included Kasher making a dive into the mosh pit and the band playing a cover of “Get Me To the Church on Time.” Ironic? Only the insiders know for sure.

* * *

A kind reader posted on the webboard (here) that one of the opening bands for tonight’s Thursday concert at Slowdown — Young Widows — canceled (including the rest of the tour) for personal reasons. The band’s myspace page confirms this. The show will go on, however, with the headliner and the other openers — The Fall of Troy and La Dispute. Tickets are $20; show starts at 7:30.

Also tonight, Wovenhand, a project by former 16 Horsepower frontman David Eugene Edwards, plays at The Waiting Room with Fathr^ featuring Clark Baechle (drum), Dapose (electronics, guitar), James Cuato (saxophone) and Willy (saxophone). $10, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Oh what it must feel like to be a touring band that’s played sold out shows for months opening for other bands and to finally get your own headlining tour and then show up in Omaha and play to an empty room. Such was the case for Amazing Baby. There was only around 20 people in Slowdown Jr. last night (including members of the opening band and bar help). That’s got to be a let-down and feel a bit demoralizing, but is something that every new band has to go through. I blame last night’s Flogging Molly show, as well as the band for not allowing a local opener on the bill, and myself for not giving the details about opener The Entrance Band in my Amazing Baby write-up.

Fact is, I didn’t know anything about The Entrance Band before last night. I found out while talking to one of the few patrons before their set that the band consists of frontman Guy Blakeslee, who’s past bands include The Convocation Of…, and Paz Lachantin — who in addition to being super-model attractive in her 5-inch high heels is something of a legend who can count among her former bands A Perfect Circle, Zwan and The Chelsea — a band with Melissa Auf de Maur. Lachantin also played on albums by Queens of the Stone Age, Jenny Lewis, Jarboe (of Swans) and many more. It seemed like more people were at the show for The Entrance Band than Amazing Baby.

As it turned out, their set was just as riveting as AB’s. The trio played a blistering — but short — set of psychedelic burn-out music that screamed, thanks to Blakeslee’s unreal guitar histrionics and Lachantin strutting around like a Bryant Park amazon holding the entire set together with her bass work.

Amazing Baby followed shortly afterward at around 10:30 and played a half-hour, six-song set. I thought maybe they short-changed us because of the crowd, but they only played six songs at The Troubadour last week, too. Despite the embarrassingly empty ambiance, their performance was “spirited” (to say the least) with a blinding LED/laser light show and fog machine (see photo). Yeah, they deserved a better crowd, but what are you gonna do? It was a Sunday night after a hard-rocking weekend. Hopefully the empty room won’t discourage them from coming back…

* * *

I skipped Os Mutantes Saturday at The Waiting Room and am sorry I did. I’m told by people who were there that it was an amazing show and a decent-sized crowd. Friday night I hung out at The Saddle Creek Bar and caught a set by The Foghorns, a Seattle-based anti-folk roots rock band complete with tuba whose influences — John Prine, The Velvet Underground and Violent Femmes — were apparent in their music — a great set played in front of a smattering (maybe 12) of people.

* * *

Tonight at Sokol Auditorium, it’s the return of Social Distortion — a band that you gotta love because all you need is one of their albums (or songs?) and you’ve got the entire catalog. No openers are listed on the Sokol website. Show starts at 8 p.m., tickets are an unreal $30.

Also tonight, LA indie band Sea Wolf, riding high after one of their songs was used in a Chevy Malibu commercial (another was in a RadioShack ad), is playing at Slowdown Jr. with Port O’Brien & Sara Lov. $10, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

What to do tonight?

Legendary Brazilian psychedelic band Os Mutantes is playing at The Waiting Room. They just released their first new album in 35 years, Haih Or Amortecedor, on ANTI-. The odds are pretty good that you’ll never get another chance to see them in Omaha. With that in mind $20 is a steal. Get your tickets while you can. The show starts at 9 with opener DeLeon.

Tonight’s The Airborne Toxic Event show at The Slowdown is sold out, so if you don’t have tix yet, you’re out of luck. Opening is Red Cortez and The Henry Clay People. 9 p.m.

Other options tonight include Rhymes with Orange and Andrew’s Ave. at The Sydney; $5, 9 p.m. And The Foghorns, John Fino and Western Electric at The Saddle Creek Bar, where there’s never a cover charge. Starts at 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) Yuppies is playing at The Sydney with Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship and Lightning Bug. $5, 9 p.m. Yuppies will be hocking their fresh new 7-inch with Noah’s Ark for $5. Editor’s Note: UUVVWWZ was originally supposed to play this show.

Meanwhile, up the street at The Waiting Room, it’s a night of independent hip-hop with Brother Ali, Evidence, Toki Wright and BK One. $13 now/$15 DOS. 9 p.m.

Everyone’s favorite local power-pop band, The Third Men, are playing at The 49’r Saturday night with Spartan Apartments. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Finally, Mitch Gettman, OK Hemmingway and Lisa Donnelly are playing at The Saddle Creek Bar Saturday, where there’s never a cover charge. Show starts at 9.

Last but not least, Amazing Baby is playing at Slowdown Jr. on Sunday night with The Entrance Band. Tickets are a mere $8 (cheap!) and the show starts at 9.

* * *

A correction to my Phoenix live review that was posted on Tuesday…. I said that the band was on V2 Records in the U.S. Jesse Stensby, vice president/radio rep at Vitriol Radio Promotion, e-mailed to point out that Phoenix’s U.S. label is Glassnote. That’s what I get for half-assing it by using Wikipedia as a source instead of AMG (another Wiki entry said that Astralwerks was their U.S. label).

So what/who exactly is Glassnote? I did a Google search and discovered their website, which listed Phoenix’s labelmates as Secondhand Serenade, Jonas Sees in Color, The Temper Trap and Justin Nozuka — all bands that I’ve never heard of, though many apparently have appeared on television. According to the site, “Glassnote Entertainment Group is a full service independent music company founded by Daniel Glass, one of the most accomplished and respected music people in the industry.”

The site goes on to say that “Through Glassnote, Mr. Glass has created the next-generation Music Company. It can be looked at as a rebirth of the great independent record companies, Chrysalis, Motown, Atlantic and Island, but built for the ever-changing marketplace.”

Maybe so. Certainly Phoenix was a great catch. The question, of course, is how did they do it. Here, we turn again to Wikipedia, where we discover that Daniel Glass worked at Chrysalis Records back in 1983 as the director of new music marketing, where he worked with Pat Benatar and Huey Lewis and the News, among others. He next headed to SBK Records where he was vice president of promotion, responsible for bringing us such break-out acts as Jesus Jones and Vanilla Ice. After that, he started Rising Tide Records for Universal, and then joined Danny Goldberg at Artemis Records in ’99. Which brings us to Glassnote, where he’s the CEO.

With that kind of provenance, it all makes sense, sort of. Anyway, apologies for the error.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Just posted, an interview with Amazing Baby frontman Will Roan. He talks about the band’s first headlining tour, musical influences (among them, T.Rex — no surprise) and the making of their latest album. Read it here.

They’ve got a huge amount of buzz surrounding them, considering that they’ve been around less than two years. I mentioned this to Roan, who was quick to point out that they’ve all been in other bands. He says their quick rise to national attention has more to do with hard work. “I’ve been playing music since high school, and everyone else for longer than that,” Roan said, “and we’ve never worked as hard as we have on this project.”

It doesn’t hurt to have a label like Shangri-La Music, the same label that also released the Monsters of Folk album. “They are a new label that has a lot of hard-working strong music lovers and lot of energy at their disposal, so to speak,” Roan said. “They’re interested in trying to keep music alive, where I think a lot of labels that have been around for awhile don’t know their asses from their elbows.” Maybe so, but it also doesn’t hurt that the owner of Shangri-La is a multi-millionaire who appears to be doing this for the fun of it. I pointed this out to Roan, and didn’t get any arguments.

None of that is in the story. Also missing is the routine question about Omaha. Roan has never been here before, but has some connections. “I got kicked out of a band that had Willy Mason in it,” he said. “His brother, Sam (Mason) was in one of my first bands, too. Willy signed to Team Love at the time Bright Eyes was really big. SPIN had just done a huge article on Saddle Creek in 2003 when I was a freshmen in college. And Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (who just signed to Saddle Creek) is a close friend of mine from Brooklyn. I always have a beer with him before I go away on tour. I know Omaha is kind of a speck on the radar of the world, but it’s had a huge impact.

Anyway, read the story, then go out and get your tickets to their show Sunday night at Slowdown Jr. It’s a mere $8.

* * *

Tonight at O’Leaver’s, Boy Noises plays with San Francisco band Rademacher. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Lincoln Calling starts a week from today, and as I neglected to mention in the column (though people will find it on their Facebook page, I suppose) is that all-access full-weekend wristbands are a mere $30, which is a steal. I stand by my claim that it’s time for Lincoln Calling to “grow up” and start doing things that other successful festivals do, like advertise and find sponsors. It’s amazing how well Buckley’s done without those two basic elements all of these years. I’ve never met anyone more concerned (afraid?) of making money, but he makes a couple good points. He said the only thing he remembers from the Maha Festival is that Alegent was the sponsor, and the only thing he remembers from the Gomez concert in Memorial Park was the cell phone company drones screwing up the introduction before the band went on stage (saying that they were touring their new album, Bring It On, which was released sometime in the late ’90s). That said, I think LC could maintain its integrity and level of quality AND involve sponsors. Why do so many people around here think that making money is such a bad thing?

Column 239: Growing Pains
Lincoln Calling at Year 6

I like to give Lincoln Calling organizer Jeremy Buckley shit. I love to bust his proverbial, music-loving balls. Why, you ask, would I mentally torture this all-around good guy whose selfless efforts have produced one of the state’s biggest, most successful indie music attractions? Because it’s fun, and because I only want Mr. Buckley to continue to succeed, though he’s done just fine without me, thank you very much.

What have I been busting Buckley’s ever-loving balls about? First let’s take a glance at this year’s Lincoln Calling festival, which will be held Sept. 30 through Oct. 3 at eight venues throughout the downtown Lincoln metroplex. I would list all the bands and all the times and all the venues, but they only give me 900 words for this column, kids, and that would take up most — if not all — of my space. So I suggest you do the right thing and go to Facebook.com and search for “Lincoln Calling 2009,” where Buckley has created a nice fan page that gives all the deets.

For now, let me list five things that make this year’s Lincoln Calling Festival different than the past five years’.

Difference 1 — Instead of walking with hat in hand to every venue asking to use their stage for the event, venues for the first time have actually come to Buckley. Both The Bricktop and Marz Bar asked how they could get involved. So look for early band sets at both clubs, followed by DJs the rest of the evenings.

Difference 2 — Duggan’s Pub is back. Buckley said he stopped using them two years ago after “having problems with the employees,” that included shutting down the bar before the final band of the evening performed. “(Anonymous American frontman Matt) Whipkey wasn’t very happy to be told to go f*** himself,” Buckley said. “After that, I didn’t want to deal with their shenanigans.” Duggan’s wanted back in and assured Buckley that he wouldn’t have any problems.

Difference 3 — Metal and punk have been added to the line-up. “I don’t know about bands in those genres,” Buckley said. So he turned to someone who does named Rich Johnson, who helped him find 10 angry young bands to add to the line-up.

Difference 4 — The weekend falls on the first Friday of the month, when local art galleries switch out their shows. To recognize this and the fact that so few women are involved in local festivals, Buckley organized the Women of Music First Friday art show at Duffy’s from 6-9 p.m., followed by bands invited to play by the artists themselves.

Difference 5 — The first annual Lincoln Calling Merch Madness Market, a swap meet/flea market/garage sale held from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at The Bourbon Theater. “It’s a place where any band can sell merch and gear,” Buckley said. Want to sell your junk? Buckley said to contact organizer Malcom Miles on Facebook or “just show up with your merch and you’ll be fine.”

One “difference” that didn’t make the list — Knickerbocker’s is not involved this year after a disagreement over hold dates. Buckley said Knick’s gave away a crucial agreed-upon date — intended for Minneapolis act Heiruspecs — without notifying him. “What if I’d signed the contract and found out afterward I couldn’t do the show there?” Buckley said. “I’d still have to pay the band.”

Buckley blames the fact that he books shows at The Bourbon Theater, and before that, the late-great Box Awesome — both in competition with Knick’s for shows. “In my opinion, Lincoln Calling is a separate thing,” he said. “The whole point is to get the kids at UN-L to pay attention to our music scene.”

This year Buckley also had a particularly challenging time weeding though all the bands that now want to participate, and telling some of them “no.” Not surprisingly “people get mad when they’re not involved.” Really? He said the only ones being left out, however, are those with “entitlement” mentalities or that simply don’t make sense in the grand scheme of things.

Consider these problems growing pains. It’s what happens when people begin to recognize your success, and want to be part of it. Buckley’s favorite example: “I got a text message from (Cursive’s) Ted Stevens asking if he could play,” Buckley said. “My response was, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re Ted Friggin’ Stevens!” Look for Stevens as part of the festival’s closing night at Duffy’s.

Buckley’s attendance targets are modest. Last year he said Lincoln Calling drew 2,300, not including bands and venue personnel. This year he’s shooting for 2,500 paid participants.

That’s impressive, but it’s also reaching the ceiling for what is essentially a one-man DIY festival. If Buckley wants to get to the next level, he’ll need to explore sponsorships, something that he’s always been skittish about. “I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio because I don’t like commercials,” he said. “I don’t like people telling me what I should buy.”

That’s magnanimous, but Buckley also realizes that with sponsorship comes more money, which means more for the bands (That’s right, bands actually get paid to play at Lincoln Calling) and more money to attract larger out-of-town acts. The chance to sponsor what has become the largest, longest-running independent music festival in Nebraska should be a no-brainer for any Lincoln business. The only problem is that Buckley doesn’t know how to go about it, which is what I’ve been busting his balls about.

“I guess I need to learn how to look for and ask for sponsors,” he said, adding that if anyone knows how to set up LC as a 501c3, he’s all ears. “This has gone from being a fun hobby to an opportunity to help make Lincoln a music town.”

* * *

The Monsters of Folk made their network television debut last night on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. There wasn’t much mystery as to what they were going to sing since “Say Please” is the first “single” and one of the few songs on the album that features all three vocalists. Conor certainly stood out in his colorful aviators — the only one in the band to wear sunglasses during the performance. All wore suits. Well, you can see it for yourself below. It was as good as any typical Oberst late-night performance.

Over the past few days dozens of reviews of their new album have been posted online. Of course the one that will be looked upon as the most “relevant” went online today, at Pitchfork (here), where the album was given a 6.5 — the standard-issue rating for any Omaha-affiliated indie rock release. The writer is obviously a Jim James fan.

I’ve been listening to the album for the past few weeks. We all know that there was no way it could live up to the hype that’s been generated since it was first discussed in, what, 2007?

Like the Pitchfork writer and everyone else, it is virtually impossible not to compare this “super group” to The Traveling Wilburys, right down to the production treatment on some of the songs. So who is who? Jim James, with his irresistible voice, has to be Roy Orbison. Conor, who wrote the best songs on the album, is (of course) Dylan, which puts M.Ward in the George Harrison role (some might say inappropriately as James just released a Harrison tribute EP) and makes Mike Mogis Jeff Lynne (who produced the Wilburys’ albums along with Harrison).

As successful as those Wilburys albums were (the first one went 3x platinum in the U.S.) they never did much for me. And the same holds true for this Monsters of Folk album. Though Mogis’ production and the fact that they played all the instruments were designed to “hold it all together,” it sounds like a collection of songs by the individual artists instead of a cohesive album by a singular band. I don’t know how that could have been avoided. That said, the M.Ward songs sound like stuff off Hold Time, the Conor songs sound like they could have come from the Mystic Valley Band albums, and Jim James is Jim James. So for fans of those records, this could be a real coup rather than a let-down.

I hate to sound like a homer, but my favorite moments come mostly from Oberst. “Man Named Truth” is the best song he’s written in years. “Ahead of the Curve” sounds like a slowed-down, down-cast version of “Souled Out,” and I like it. In fact, I like this record better than the last Mystic Valley album. The other standout track is M.Ward’s lovely, dreamy “The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me.” The best part about the Jim James’ songs are his voice. His “Magic Marker” is pretty, but sounds like he took a huge bong hit before he wrote the lyrics.

The rest of the album is somewhat forgettable. “Say Please” — their “Handle with Care” — is the most radio friendly. One assumes that since they decided to go with multi-millionaire-owned Shangri-La Music that it’ll get shoved down radio programmers’ throats, and placed in “heavy rotation” in hopes of hypnotizing The Great Wad that need to be told — over and over again — what to listen to. I guess that’s what these guys want after years of flourishing in indie obscurity.

I, for one, hope that Oberst eventually backs away from all these collaborative projects and gets back to what he does well — write complete albums, either as Bright Eyes or simply as himself.

* * *

Tonight at The Slowdown it’s the return of Built to Spill with Disco Doom. As of this writing, tickets were still available for $20. Do yourself a favor and see one of the best live indie acts currently touring. And bring your earplugs.

Also tonight, Simon Joyner plays songs off his new Team Love-released album, Out Into the Snow, at The Bemis “Cave” (724 So. 12th St.) with Jack Rose. $8 for non-Bemis members, and starts at 8:30

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—