Indie Legends Bright Eyes Announces First Shows in Nearly a Decade

conoroberstTo the excitement of many fans/followers, the splendid band, Bright Eyes, of indie fame and lore, has announced today their first concerts since 2011.

The shows are scheduled for March 23 in Tokyo followed by two shows at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Tickets for the L.A. shows go on sale this Friday, January 24th with presales already underway.

The Omaha-founded band also has a date scheduled at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York on June 20th with opening acts Japanese Breakfast and Lucy Dacus.

Tickets go on sale via AXS this Friday with several pre-sales available as well.

Leaping to late summer, Bright Eyes will also perform a series of shows at the End of the Road Festival in Dorset, England, from September 3rd through September 6th.

The lineup also includes Pixies, King Krule, Angel Olsen, Big Thief, among others.

Bright Eyes, fronted by the indie icon, Conor Oberst, also includes Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott.

The band’s last album was dropped almost a decade ago, The People’s Key (2011).

There are unconfirmed rumors swirling that the band is working on a new album. Hopefully, that is true.


Halloween Indie Rock Songs, Vol. X: Jay Reatard, Clues, MGMT, Spoon, Headlights, Black Lips, Iron & Wine and More

jay reatard

This mix was originally posted in Oct 2009; a few months before Jay Reatard’s (above) passing (RIP)

Kicking off volume 10 of the Halloween Indie Rock Songs playlist mix series is the demonic rocker Jay Reatard. Following Reatard is a new Halloweenish song from the Montreal super group Clues. Not all of the songs are necessarily dark or spooky, but each are so awesome in their own way that any association with Halloween is a good enough excuse to include them in this mix series.

For this installment, the second published today alone, we’ve unearthed tracks and treats from MGMT, Spoon, Iron & Wine, Headlights, The Kinks, Motion Turns It On, Black Lips, Conor Oberst and the Mystic River Valley Band, My Teenage Stride, As Tall As Lions, The Rattles, and a stunning Radiohead-esque track, “Danse,” from LA alternative rockers Lemonwilde.

“My Shadow” Jay Reatard

“Crows”Clues

“Of Moons, Birds & Monsters”MGMT

“The Beast and Dragon, Adored”Spoon

“The Devil Never Sleeps”Iron and Wine

“Death of a Clown”The Kinks

“Skeleton Man” (Evangelicals) – Headlights
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: Mountain Man [Part 2 of 14] from Ray ConcepcioñVimeo.

“Give Up The Ghosts”Motion Turns It On

“Lean (I Saw A Ghost)” – (Live in GA 2008)Black Lips

“Big Black Nothing”Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

“Ears Like Golden Bats”My Teenage Stride

“Ghost of York”As Tall As Lions

“The Witch”The Rattles

Extra Treat: “Danse”Lemonwilde

What did you think of this playlist? Leave a comment or click the Share This button to spread it around, bookmark it.

You can view all the Halloween indie rock playlists from one page.

Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band’s Free Rockumentary ‘One Of My Kind’ and New Album

No longer known as Bright Eyes, frontman Conor Oberst and his new band, The Mystic Valley Band, have released a fresh documentary called One Of My Kind, featuring the band’s journey around the world during the past 18 months.

Originally, Conor Oberst started off in the music world in Bright Eyes and released as many as seven albums, most of them full of ‘keeper’ music.

Then, in January 2008, following a tour to support the brilliant album Cassadaga, Oberst went to Mexico to record a solo album and “accidentally” ended up forming a band – The Mystic Valley Band. The name of the band, according to the band members in One Of My Kind, came from the Mystic Valley where they were staying and rehearsing.

The documentary release, and an advanced track from next week’s release of the band’s new album, Outer South, have created a good deal of anticipation among fans. The band is asking people who download the film to make whatever donation they can to a charity of their picking at Cause Cast.



Conor Oberst Donates Music Video To Charity

The documentary is available as a free download in HD quality. Simply sign up for a drawing to get a free movie poster signed by the band and you’ll receive a link to download the film.

“Nikorette”Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band from Outer South (May 5th)

Not a bad tune, huh? I still can’t get 2008’s “Cape Canaveral” out of my head. It’s definitely one of Oberst’s best songs and it’s the opening song in this hour-long and entertaining “rockumentary”. Interesting metamorphosis for Conor Oberst in a relatively short period of time.

Coachella 2009 Line Up: McCartney, The Killers, The Cure and More

click the image to enlarge poster

The official line-up for Coachella 2009, April 17 – April 19, has been released on the official Coachella website and it looks like another great year for the fest. While southern California is in the midst of a three-year drought, there is no drought in talented artists lined up for this year’s Coachella fest.

Headliners include Paul McCartney, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Beirut, Conor Oberst, Crystal Castles, The Killers, TV on the Radio, Thievery Corporation, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Black Keys, Dr. Dog, Calexico, M. Ward, Hold Steady, Girl Talk, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Paul Weller, Peter Bjorn and John, Okkervil River, No Age and a rare appearance of that pesky, infamous band from San Francisco The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The list goes on and on.

Tickets for Coachella 2009 are now on sale. Don’t forget, camping passes go quickly. The popular three-day passes are priced at $269.00 and single day passes, which usually sell out the fastest, are $99 per day.

Many people complain about the cost, but if you look at the line-up and think of the enormity of the event – a lifetime memory – I think it’s still worth it. In a disastrous economic situation across the nation, chances are the festival will still sell out or come close to it.

“Eraser” No Age from Nouns
“Strange Times”The Black Keys from Attack & Release
“White Winter Hymnal”Fleet Foxes from self-titled debut Fleet Foxes
“Lost Coastlines” Okkervil River from The Stand Ins
“Cape Canaveral”Conor Oberst from self titled debut Conor Oberst

Best Indie Rock Songs of 2008, Vol II

Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, nymag.com

Nowadays a lot of people think of indie rock as more mainstream that what it actually is. Hopefully, this blog does a good job in representing artists and bands that make great music.

Yet we’re also suckers for great music from well known artists like Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie, to name a couple. But most of the time, you’ll find music on IRC that reflects the ‘more indie’ side of indie rock music.

In featuring the ‘best indie rock songs’ of 2008, let’s be real; this is not an actual accounting of the ‘best indie songs’, but instead our list of the best ‘indie’ and alternative rock music of 2008.
IRC seeks to be an outlet for mainly unknown music that deserves to be heard by a larger audience.

There is no methodology or ranking in these best of 2008 playlists; they are simply songs released in 2008 that we think rise above the rest of the ‘indie’ indie music scene.

“Cape Canaveral”
– Conor Oberst
“Broken Calculator” – Royal Bangs
“Can You Tell” – Ra Ra Riot
“Hawaii!” – Unicycle Loves You
“Honor Amongst Thieves” – These United States
“Sleepyhead” – Passion Pit
“Stumble In” – Sleepercar

In case you missed it, here’s volume one of the Best Indie Rock of 2008. Stayed tuned, there’s much more indie and alternative songs from 2008 coming up.

New Indie Rock Songs, July 2008: Conor Oberst, iForward, Russia!, Hot Little Hands, Cold War Kids and Others

The long-awaited solo album from Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes is set to be released on August 5, 2008.

The release will mark the talented Oberst’s first solo project, and because of the success of Bright Eyes in recent years, there are rather big expectations, which can often be unfair to the artist.

But that’s just one of many ironies that can happen to musicians who create a buzz with a band and then go solo.

mp3: “danny callahan” by conor oberst from his self-titled debut album

mp3: “spring is a condition” by iforward, russia! from the new CD life processes

mp3: “pink squares” by i was a cub scout from the new release i want you to know that there is always hope

mp3: “footloose” by thomas bartlett off the album doveman footloose

mp3: “scene of the crime” (download only) by hot little hands from the disc dynamite in black and white

advance mp3: “soloist in the living room” by cold war kids from forthcoming yet-to-be-named album (date of release unknown, but rumored for august)

mp3: “i kissed a girl (katy perry)” by false start from self-titled debut

note: some mp3s expire or are removed and become no longer available over a period of time; irc has no control over this since they are external media files. we also fully support indie artists and ask that you do too.