Bright Eyes - Four Winds

It’s not that I hate Conor Oberst. It’s just that I envy him. At the tender age of 27, his talents are well documented and his praises are equally renowned. When you start dealing with emotions like this, you then begin to look for additional reasons not to like him: privileged upbringing, a well organized scene to pull talent from, a tendency to overload each song with excessive arrangements and compulsive word-play. None of this, of course, are legitimate reasons to fault the kid and none of this has any bearing on how gifted he is.
Four Winds is a “teaser” e.p. that prefaces the full-length Cassadaga scheduled to be released next month. The title track, a fine fiddle-tinged country rock romp, represents the first single from that album while the remaining five tracks collect outtakes from the recording sessions. That also means that “Four Winds” is, indeed, the best thing on this e.p.
And you probably know that Oberst’s leftovers are better than most artists’ main course.
It’s a relief, however, to admit that none of the tracks here demonstrate any evidence of genius or artistic brilliance, title track included. There’s better examples in his cannon that will surely knock your socks of but, with that being said, Four Winds won’t prevent you from seeking them out either.
Taking any release that fills the majority of its track listings with outtakes presents its own grain of salt, for sure, but I count two of them (“Smoke Without Fire,” “Stray Dog Freedom”) that would be worthy enough for a “real” effort.
“Smoke Without Fire,” a heavily reverbed ballad, benefits with some excellent guest work from M. Ward and right around the moment you realize how great the track is, it ends.
“Stray Dog Freedom” presents Oberst and company in Wilco country-rock territory, and while it doesn’t sound as genuine as the reference, it’s a pleasurable exercise nonetheless with a nice Neil Young inspired guitar solo.
The remaining three tracks (“Reinvent The Wheel,” “Cartoon Blues” and “Tourist Trap”) sound like outtakes and won’t make converts out of the new arrivals or satisfy the long-standing supporters.
One surprise is how poorly sequenced the e.p. is. While the six tracks of Four Winds are fairly independent of each other musically, and considering that you have to have the “single” tracked out of the gate, it doesn’t make sense how they came up with the running order for the remaining five. I suppose it’s fairly irrelevant nowadays anyway, as most kids don’t concern themselves with track sequencing, choosing to hit “shuffle” on their portable players instead.
I think Oberst knows that his accolades contribute to a certain degree of dissention among music fans like himself. In the video for “Four Winds,” he plays on a stage in front of a silent crowd before they start to boo and throw objects at him while he performs. His astute observation of how he’s perceived doesn’t help much with my own envy. Like his songs, the video is pretty awesome too.

Spend An Evening With Saddle Creek

I can give you examples of how/why labels like SST, Homestead, Touch & Go, and maybe a few other indie patron saints, were so essential to the national musical landscape. But not once have you heard me give praise to the whole Saddle Creek thing. I probably should get around to doing that. What better chance to come clean than with Saddle Creek’s own masturbatory dvd “PooP” that celebrates all of those responsible for putting Omaha right next to the word “scene.” You had your Athens, GA scene. You had your Seattle, WA scene. It’s a new century, and we’re smack dab in the middle of a Omaha, NE scene. I said Omaha. It’s in Nebraska, for Christsakes.
The same state that gets painted red every fucking fall during college football season. The same state that I speed through just to get by it faster. It took me years to admit that Omaha was pretty cool (home to one of my favorite record stores) and it’s taken me longer to admit that Saddle Creek has got their shit together and is deserving of all the attention that’s being thrown their way.

The dvd “Spend An Evening With Saddle Creek” affectionately compiles the history of the Saddle Creek label and the artists that comprise it. It’s informative and relatively humble, carefully attempting to be both democratic in providing equal time to everyone on the label’s roster while acknowledging that it was essentially the talent of one Conor Oberst that brought the label its national attention in the first place.
So you want to paint me as just another Oberst fanboy? Let me set the record straight: I find the fucker very irritating. His saving grace is that he’s one talented little shit, and from the looks of it, he’s been that way for quite some time. The documentary footage shows a young Oberst performing at local coffeehouses, displaying more enviable smarts than people three times his age. The new Dylan? Fuck you; but there’s no debating that the guy has got an incredible well to feed upon in much the same way as his fellow Midwesterner did some 40 odd years ago. And while Dylan had to travel to the mean streets of N.Y.C. to foster his muse, Oberst is extremely fortunate to have a circle of friends that recognized and fostered his own.
The documentary does a great job of explaining this while capturing these behind the scene’s “aw shucks” support group. They knew the kid was on to something. While others in the same situation may have done more to dissuade or discourage such young will, they very wisely developed him. In some cases, a few musicians even put their own bands and dreams on hold, knowing that he probably had just a bit more of “it” at the age of 13 than they would be able to achieve in their lifetime. It takes a special person to admit that.
Before you disclaim that Saddle Creek is a one trick pony, the documentary highlights labelmates which all seem to have a linear connection with one another. There are several acts on the label deserving of attention: Cursive, The Faint, Slowdown Virginia, all are provided ample footage and screen time. They're all worthy of the spotlight outside of Bright Eyes’ glare. If I recall the SST lineup during their own heyday, I’d say Saddle Creek has got a better batting average.
Probably the most telling story is how selfless everyone. This is a great example of the d.i.y. ethos and what can happen when a scene truly works together at achieving a common goal. I don’t believe the parties involved for a moment started this thing for their own financial gain or to stroke their own egos. Instead, it appears that everyone was a mutual fan and simply wanted to have their music heard. They’ve achieved that, and this is a great tool for other scenes to emulate. The only problem is that most scenes won’t have an Oberst to serve as a building block.