MP3: Monsters of Folk – “Say Please” from Monsters of Folk, out now on Shangri-La (courtesy of Magnet)
Paste has a good interview with Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis, who together have released an album as Monsters of Folk. Yes, it’s a stupid name, and they acknowledge that. But I like what I’ve heard so far.
Jim James: The only rule was that the four of us play everything on the record. So we played all the drums, all the bass—we didn’t hire any outside musicians. Conor Oberst: And we all sing on nearly every song, even if it’s just backup. M. Ward: That was a fun part of process—layering the vocals; finding common ground between vocals. Mike Mogis: That’s one of the standout features of the record. The songwriting is great, as well, but the sheer sonics of hearing these three people sing together… Oberst: It’s that old folk sound. [laughter] James: It’s just like Peter, Paul and what’s his face. [laughter]
Sounds like they’ve got the right attitude—not taking themselves too seriously. We’ve got a couple of videos after the jump, including a live version of “Say Please” plus a song that sounds a lot like American Beauty-era Grateful Dead.
Video: Monsters of Folk – “The Right Place”
Video: Monsters of Folk – “Say Please” (on Conan)
Monsters of Folk: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki
Very cool to see Will Johnson back there banging away on the drums. Hope this doesn’t delay new centro-matic material, though.
Just watched to the end. Will snubbed on the handshake. Oh, the life of the hired gun.
Conan shook Will’s hand as the credits rolled. It’s OK to like him again.