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Monsters of Folk (James, Oberst & Ward)


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As a fan of the individual artists, I really wanted to like this album, but so far, it elicited little more than a shrug.

 

My review:

 

I listened, I shrugged, I gave it away.

Giveit to me...I want to hear it....(but don't really want to pay that much for it...)

 

LouieB

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It's nothing spectacular to be honest. Its just the sound of four friends enjoying playing some tunes together. You can really tell who wrote what and I think the songs were brought to the sessions by the individuals involved. 'Dear God'and 'His Master's Voice" are really great, as are the M.Ward songs. I used to like Conor Oberst but I think his last two or three records have been kind of average. At this point I'm really more interested to see what My Morning Jacket come up with next. With regards to M.Ward I think it would be impossible for me to dislike anything he does but I don't feel he's ever gonna really shock me with something original and new.

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I commended Pitchfork only yesterday for their Pearl Jam review, but they're back to their old shenanigans with this one - writing almost exactly the opposite of what I would have written. The only part they got right was saying that Mike Mogis is a highlight. I get the angle - Jim James is the only one stretching here, but who expected this record to be about each of these artists really stretching? Can't it just be good?

 

And that Mogis solo on Conan was awesome.

 

 

The succeses of pitchfork can be explained by the great Marshal Mcluhans main philosophy, its the medium not the message!!

Pitchfork became relevent this decade because its a well functioning site, it has its ears on the underground and other cool features but

theres not much substance to it. I also would add that the numbers they give to records don't make sense on a whole if you actualy read enough reviews, what i mean by that is when they gave SBS a 5.5 its more like their giving a it a 5.5 for a wilco album or saying its only half as good as say YHF.

 

Personaly I only read Dusted magazine (which is a webzine) they dont cover everything porobaly wont cover this album but

there heads are in the real world of culture where pitchfork is a cartoon.

 

 

Im SUPER glad this record has come out to many people and aartist this deacde were looking for some new culture of the fututre or soemthing crazy like that the truth is we all want good songs, this is not a retro record its very NOW.

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What is the fascination with everything having to be groundbreaking and new? So this record won't start a revolution...... so?

 

Yeah, no shit. :lol It's too much sometimes, these expectations people set for new music.

 

I really like what they did here, with the exception of 1 or 2 songs, in particular the one with Jim James yowling just a little over-done IMO (and I doooo love MMJ!). I bought it for 7.99 at Best Buy thanks to the helpful tip above from brianjeremy, and I can't wait to spin it today in the car sounding better than listening online, and really looking forward to seeing the show.

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I ordered my copy from Amazon (also $7.99) and have yet to receive it. I hope to get it soon though, as in before Thursday, because my Dad's b-day present was also with that order!

 

I have no expectations for this record and I generally like the one song I've heard. I guess I view it as three artist that I like making music together. I am pretty pumped to hear it and I've tried to avoid reading to much into the criticism of the record and take it at face value.

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  • 2 weeks later...

MoF have made me revisit assorted bright eyes, MMJ, and M. Ward. Up until today I have only heard 1 M Ward album (hold time) I've been spinning his others all day long, really solid stuff! I'm seeing them in Boston soon, forgot the date, any other VCers there?

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just decided in the last 30 minutes to go to tonite's show. will try to report back tomorrow morning on how it goes, although i've got work and then i'm going to Grizzly Bear tomorrow night. busy busy.

 

Registration for viachicago should entail a free iphone, in order to keep all of us up to date with concerts, set lists, etc

 

I'll look forward to your report!

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Okay, real fast, cause I really need to get to bed, but the quick lowdown on the show: they played every song off the album (I'm pretty sure of this, at least...haven't looked at the tracklisting, but off the top of my head I can't really think of a song they didn't play), plus 5-7 from each of their band's catalogues. It was these reworkings, some solo and some full-band, that generated most of the highlights. Never been a huge fan of Oberst and don't really know much of his material beyond Cassadaga, and off that they played Soul Singer and Limetree, plus a few other songs that I recognized but don't know the names of. This was my second time seeing Matt (the last time was at a festival) but he showed off his guitar chops and musicianship much more this time around, and I was actually quite impressed. His first solo song was a Hundred Million Years (could be off on the title, but it's off Hold Time) and it was fantastic. Again, drawing a bit of a blank on what else he played...

 

I'm a huge My Morning Jacket fan, and so the major draw here was definitely Jim, and he didn't let down whatsoever. Stole the show, as far as I'm concerned, and that's even with him being stuck behind the bass for a lot of the MoF songs. Him and Will Johnson played an unfuckingreal rendition of Bermuda Highway...that alone was worth the price of admission right there. He also played I Will Be There When You Die (with Conor, who was quite the weak link on this song, unfortunately), Golden, Smokin from Shootin (full band, and they slaughtered this song), and opened the encore with a stunning version of At Dawn.

 

Mike Mogis is quite the secret weapon.

 

All the guys hopped around and shared the instrumental duties a fair bit (Johnson was on the kit for the entire show except Bermuda Highway). Again, I know I'm forgetting a fair bit, but that's the best I can do for now.

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Yeah, that's definitely not a complete setlist. For starters, it doesn't include Conor's semi-solo run of songs near the start. I'd say there were probably anywhere from 6-8 songs before M. Ward took over with 100 Million. And yeah, saying that the room was "empty" is a major exaggeration...tickets said 7, we showed up at 7.30, the bouncers said the show would start at 8, and the band took the stage at 8.30. Granted, the crowd was thin enough that I was able to edge my way up to almost the very front, but there was a good crowd of people from the very get-go and everyone was very into it (one guy kept screaming out MIKE MOGIIIIIIIIIIIS, which got increasingly funnier as Mogis became increasingly awkward and by the end of the show seemed completely unsure of how to respond).

 

Show started with a few songs by the full band, and then everyone left the stage and it was just Conor for a song. Then Mogis joined him for a couple tracks, and then he left and Matt joined Conor on stage for a song. Then Conor left, Matt did a few songs by himself, then full band by himself, and then Jim had his mini-set. Kinda cool how they backed each other like this and traded off instruments quite smoothly and easily (they all played guitar, bass and keys at some point during the show, with the exception of Mogis, who spent a lot of the time on slide).

 

Could be speaking from a fairly substantial bias here, but Conor continues to be the major weak link in my eyes. He's the least skilled from a musicianship standpoint, and a lot of his attempts at showmanship either came off forced or wound up backfiring on him (during "Smoking from Shooting," he sang the 'Who makes my decisions' verse and held a hand over his right eye the entire time, looked like an idiot, then proceeded to nearly knock his mic from its stand, then spent the next 15-20 seconds trying to get it back into place just as all hell started breaking loose around him). Granted, he did come into his own a bit towards the end, and it would probably help if I knew his material more, but still...most of the time I just wanted to punch him in the face. (The fact that there were dozens of cute and charming girls practically drooling over him didn't endear him to me any further.)

 

All said, a very entertaining show, and given the ticket price, pretty good value too. I'll be interested to see what turns up on future setlists, but I was extremely satisfied by the MMJ tracks that were played, or, as Matt put it at one point, "severely pleased." Hopefully they don't play all 15 album tracks every time though...standouts from the album were "Losing Your Head" and "His Majesty's Voice" and then a few tracks that I don't really care for on the album at all: "Goodway" and "Map of the World" were both pretty great.

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Thank you for the reports, Trevor. After first listening to the album, I had lost just a little bit of my excitement for the Chicago show. Your reviews have left me really jacked and wishing Oct. 30th was already here. I shared some of your comments on the MMJ board and there are a bunch of excited peeps over there. :rock

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Anyone thinking of coming to Louisville for the MOF Halloween show should be informed that the Avett Bros are playing at the same venue, the night before. That makes for a hell of a weekend combo.

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Over the past year I have become a huge MMJ, M. Ward, & Conor fan, I'm so happy to read that we will be treated to songs from all across the board! Does anyone know of any soundboard recording of any of their earlier shows?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lots of us VCers were there together down front in the 2nd non-pit row. The show was wildly up and down, with plenty of momentum challenges and blown opportunities. Of course the local love for Jim and the MMJ tunes was the highlight. "Golden," "Smokin' From Shootin," and "I Will Be There When You Die," were early highlights. The encore (see above), on the other hand was just about as over the top as it gets. The whole crowd was surging through the last few songs as the band invited about 20 or 30 costumed fans on stage to go bonkers while playing "RNR All Nite." Conor must've gotten ahold of some good shit during the intermission, because he was laughing his ass off all through the encore, and tripping over the heels. He almost fell on his face trying to climb on top of an amp, while Jim stood off to the side watching him like there's no frickin' way I'm going up there. The house lights stayed down for close to 2 minutes after the last song and the audience was frothing for more, perhaps A Jacket rocker to end the night, but it wasn't to be. Saw Two Tone Tommy on the way out and shook his hand and said something dumb I'm sure. There was also a nice post-show gathering of Jacket fans upstairs at a local bar that went way late into the night. Good to see so many great VCers in town and to share Louisville with them all.

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