Conor Oberst in DIY Magazine.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One assumes a primary advantage to being on a major label is broader media exposure. How much of the recent Conor Oberst media explosion is due to Nonesuch putting out his next record?

Case in point, in addition to announcing expanded tour dates Monday, Nonesuch also announced that Oberst will be performing on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon May 19 as well as CBS This Morning Saturday May 24. Conor’s done the late night circuit before, but I can’t ever remember him doing a morning show. Can an up-close-and- personal one-on-one interview on Ellen be far behind?

This morning DIY Magazine posted a lengthy cover story on Conor at its website (here). Nothing earth shaking reported. Conor talks about how he purposely made the lyrics to songs on the last Bright Eyes album, The People’s Key, obtuse.

“I kind of intentionally wanted the words on that to be very dense and almost cryptic – my hope was that if you started to listen to it enough it would start to reveal itself – but I think some people just didn’t want to listen to it that much so they never got to that part,” he laughs.

He also talks about his disillusionment with politics: “…they used to say it’s the difference between Pepsi and Coke, whereas I feel like it’s the difference between Coke and Diet Coke really – it’s like so little difference [between the Democrats and Republicans].”

DIY saved the best quote for the closer: “I’m not naive enough to say ‘music can change the world’ because I don’t believe that,” he asserts, “but [music] can get behind enemy lines… it is something you take into your house with you, into your bedroom, into your most private moments, into your ears – and so if that music is communicating something… maybe its just a political message or maybe its like ‘try to be empathetic to your fellow human’ or like ‘dream big, think about the ways the world could be better’ – then that affects that person.”

Expect more online revelations from Conor as the new record, Upside Down Mountain, comes out a week from Tuesday, May 19.

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As of this writing, tickets were still available for the July 30 Matthew Sweet show at O’Leaver’s. Price w/fees is $16.52 (That’s right, I already bought mine). Buy yours here. Nice thing about this: A portion of the service fee goes back to the community. It makes you feel all warm inside…

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The latest ROAM.

David Matysiak’s ROAM project continues with the latest installment posted online: ROAM Vs. Wild: A Safari through Uncharted Earscapes. One of the featured artists is Bob Nanna of Braid. Check it out here (It’s free).

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.