Super group Monsters of Folk play The Academy of Music
Taylor DeBoer
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Arts & Society
Last but certainly not least is the Dr. Dre of the Indie Music Scene, Mike Mogis. Mogis is a tenured musician, bred by the Omaha music scene just like Oberst, but more profoundly, one of the industry's most inventive producers. He started by performing and producing Bright Eyes in the mid 90s and expanded his career from there.
He recently helped produce Strokes front man, Julian Casablancas' solo record. Mogis is also a multi instrumentalist and an amazing slide guitarist.
These four incredible musicians came crashing together beautifully at the Monday, November 9th performance in Philly. Dressed in 70s suites and ties, they started with the fast paced harmonic, Beatles-esque, "Say Please". Monsters of Folk wasted little time as they went from one song to the next for nearly two hours and thirty minutes straight. They played their own songs, songs from past bands, and Monsters of Folk songs from their recently released album.
The band constantly traded instruments, and being the huge Conor Oberst fan that I am, it was very odd to see him playing bass. Often times two or three band members would exit stage and Oberst, James, and Ward would play alone under spotlight to the quiet whispers of an entranced crowd.
The Bright Eyes song, "We are Nowhere and its Now," the My Morning Jacket song, "Look at You," and the M. Ward song, "Poison Cup," were all examples of this and were a few highlights from a night of amazing music.
Monsters of Folk exited stage at nearly 10:30 to come back only five minutes later to play a twenty minute encore, which ended with the beautifully melodic "Master's Voice," which ends the album. James' falsetto range filled every inch of The Academy of Music and left me and my two friends and me speechless as we exited the venue.
The Monsters of Folk experience, there's no other way to describe it, is more than just one band. Monsters of Folk, just as misleading as the name, is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
The contrasting style of four bands came colliding together beautifully on Monday night. Seeing these four wonderful musicians come together in Monsters of Folk makes me truly appreciate their music individually. And as profound as they are, I'm realizing that my exposure to them is probably short and sweet, as they will soon return to their projects that turned them into monsters in their own right.
He recently helped produce Strokes front man, Julian Casablancas' solo record. Mogis is also a multi instrumentalist and an amazing slide guitarist.
These four incredible musicians came crashing together beautifully at the Monday, November 9th performance in Philly. Dressed in 70s suites and ties, they started with the fast paced harmonic, Beatles-esque, "Say Please". Monsters of Folk wasted little time as they went from one song to the next for nearly two hours and thirty minutes straight. They played their own songs, songs from past bands, and Monsters of Folk songs from their recently released album.
The band constantly traded instruments, and being the huge Conor Oberst fan that I am, it was very odd to see him playing bass. Often times two or three band members would exit stage and Oberst, James, and Ward would play alone under spotlight to the quiet whispers of an entranced crowd.
The Bright Eyes song, "We are Nowhere and its Now," the My Morning Jacket song, "Look at You," and the M. Ward song, "Poison Cup," were all examples of this and were a few highlights from a night of amazing music.
Monsters of Folk exited stage at nearly 10:30 to come back only five minutes later to play a twenty minute encore, which ended with the beautifully melodic "Master's Voice," which ends the album. James' falsetto range filled every inch of The Academy of Music and left me and my two friends and me speechless as we exited the venue.
The Monsters of Folk experience, there's no other way to describe it, is more than just one band. Monsters of Folk, just as misleading as the name, is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
The contrasting style of four bands came colliding together beautifully on Monday night. Seeing these four wonderful musicians come together in Monsters of Folk makes me truly appreciate their music individually. And as profound as they are, I'm realizing that my exposure to them is probably short and sweet, as they will soon return to their projects that turned them into monsters in their own right.
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posted 12/24/09 @ 1:18 PM EST
Monsters of Folk is great group.
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