| Bright Eyes |
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (Remastered) |
Bright Eyes — Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (Remastered) 
★↔★ Conor Oberst deserves more than your rose~tinted lenses.
★↔★ The record opens up as any other Bright Eyes album would, with the staged dramatics. With Digital Ash, it’s a bit eerie, utilizing hard noise, long brush sounds, and heavy breathing, all followed by a ticking clock that perfectly ties in to the next track ,“Gold Mine Gutted”. The album’s first true song, it speaks of self empathy and a love lost through its wasted time. Ah, now the introduction makes sense.
★↔★ you dwell on an album for too long, it becomes less an entity of music and moreover a textbook with too many questions that can never be answered. What I’ve come to realize about most of Oberst’s work, however, is that these opening tracks of casual noise are placed on each album for a reason and that is to set the mood. The mood of A Digital Ash in a Digital Urn would be the elements within hope, despair, and one’s longing for self revival.
★↔★ The one track that summarizes this idea, and pretty much the entirety of the album’s theme, can be found in the centerfold, that being “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”. Not only is this song the catchiest track of the dozen, with its roaring guitar and robot sweeping drums, but it holds some of the most visual and honest lyrics:
★↔★ Now I do as I please and lie through my teeth, Someone might get hurt, but it won’t be me, I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free… [BY PHILLIP ROFFMAN ON MARCH 13, 2010, 2:00PM] Location: Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Genre: Indie Rock, Synth~Pop
Album release: 2005/November 18, 2016
Record Label: Saddle Creek
Duration: 49:58
Tracks:
01 Time Code 4:28
02 Gold Mine Gutted 3:56
03 Arc of Time (Time Code) 3:54
04 Down in a Rabbit Hole 4:33
05 Take It Easy (Love Nothing) 3:21
06 Hit the Switch 4:47
07 I Believe in Symmetry 5:25
08 Devil in the Details 4:06
09 Ship in a Bottle 3:28
10 Light Pollution 3:17
11 Theme to Pinata 3:19
12 Easy/Lucky/Free 5:24
ABOUT ALBUM:
★↔★ Remastered by Bob Ludwig
★↔★ “A BOLD, ESSENTIAL CHAPTER IN THIS YOUNG MAN’S INSPIRED BODY OF WORK.” — LOS ANGELES TIMES
★↔★ “AN ALBUM MADE FROM THE MOST IMPERSONAL OF INSTRUMENTS THAT WILL SPEAK DIRECTLY TO EVERY LISTENER LUCKY ENOUGH TO PRESS PLAY.” — NME
★↔★ “RISKIER BUT NOT TOTALLY OUT OF CHARACTER; IT’S THE MORE HOLISTIC RIGHT BRAIN TO WIDE AWAKE’S RATIONAL LEFT BRAIN.” — ALTERNATIVE PRESS
★↔★ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, two separate albums, were simultaneously released on January 25, 2005, providing unequivocal proof that then 24 year~old Oberst belongs to the lineage of great American songwriters. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern American life rolled into two very different records.
★↔★ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning is a country~tinged melange of Conor’s finest acoustic songs, featuring guest vocal appearances from Emmylou Harris and Jim James (My Morning Jacket), whereas Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is a more produced, band~centric album featuring cameo appearances by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
★↔★ The songs are bursting with all of the rough edges and heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes records have earned their acclaim, while exposing a glorious new level of depth and texture to the writing and delivery. Recorded back~to~back, the albums work in tandem to elucidate both sides of Conor’s recent creative output.
© ★↔★ Oberst, Conor & Bright Eyes. Portrait of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes).Seattle, Washington.December 2004.* Higher Rates Apply * * No Tabloids / Skin Mags *© Stephen Dewall / Retna Ltd.
CONOR OBERST
Birth name: Conor Mullen Oberst
Born: February 15, 1980, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Notable instruments:
Ξ Collings OM2H
Ξ Collings 01SB
Personal life:
★↔★ Oberst married Corina Figueroa Escamilla, whom he met while recording in Mexico, in 2010.
★↔★ In late 2013 Oberst was falsely accused of rape, but several months later the woman admitted she had fabricated the allegations.
★↔★ Oberst originally founded Bright Eyes as a solo project in 1995, and after the disbanding of Commander Venus, released A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997 in January 1998. This was followed quickly by Letting Off the Happiness, released in November of the same year. It featured members of numerous bands and was recorded in the Oberst family basement. One year later, Bright Eyes released its first EP, Every Day and Every Night. Bright Eyes’ third album, Fevers and Mirrors was released in May 2000; it was ranked 170 on Pitchfork Media’s list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.
★↔★ With the release of 2002’s Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Bright Eyes received national attention and Oberst was proclaimed a breakthrough artist by several notable magazines. On January 25, 2005 Bright Eyes simultaneously released two new albums: the folk I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and more electronic–pop Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. Time listed I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning as one of the top ten albums of 2005.
★↔★ The Four Winds EP was released in March 2007, followed by their seventh album, Cassadaga in April. The song Four Winds was named a top 100 song of 2007 by Rolling Stone. Oberst spent the next two years focusing on other music projects, and in June 2009 told Rolling Stone he wanted to make one final album with Bright Eyes before retiring the group. The band subsequently released The People’s Key on Conor’s 31st birthday, February 15, 2011.
TED STEVENS
★↔★ Ted Stevens (born July 4, 1975) is an American rock musician from Omaha, Nebraska, best known as the guitarist and backup singer for the band Cursive, as well as fronting Mayday. He previously fronted the indie folk band Lullaby for the Working Class.
TODD FINK
★↔★ Todd Fink (born Todd Baechle, pronounced “BECK–lee”) March 03, 1974 from Omaha, Nebraska is the lead singer of the band The Faint. He attended Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska.
★↔★ Baechle was also one of four members of the band Commander Venus, which was started by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) in Omaha, Nebraska in 1994 under Saddle Creek Records. The members of Commander Venus were Conor Oberst, Tim Kasher, Todd Baechle and Robb Nansel. The band released two albums before it broke up: 1995’s “Do you feel at home?” and 1997’s “Uneventful Vacation”. The band was under the label Lumberjack Records (later known as Saddle Creek Records) and New York’s Wind–up Records.
★↔★ As lead singer of The Faint, (formerly Norman Bailer), Fink has expanded his musical repertoire from the Comm Venus, Park Ave. reminiscent “Media” to the more mature, acid freak out records “Blank–Wave Arcade” and “Danse Macabre” to the slightly mellowed “Wet from Birth”. With Fink in The Faint is his brother Clark Baechle on drums ; Jacob Thiele on synth; Joel Peterson on bass; and the mysterious “Dapose” on guitar (Dapose joined the band during the recording of Danse Macabre).
★↔★ In March 2005, Todd married Orenda Fink of Azure Ray. His name was subsequently changed to Todd Fink.
★↔★ In 2007, Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, and Derek Pressnall of Tilly and the Wall started the dance party GOO but tour schedules and Omaha venue changes shut the party down.
NEELY JENKINS
★↔★ Neely Jo Jenkins (born June 21, 1974) is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska best known for being a singer in the band Tilly and the Wall. She was also a member of the band Park Ave. with Tilly and the Wall bandmate Jamie Pressnall, (then Jamie Williams). Previously, Jenkins sang “Contrast and Compare” and “Pull My Hair” with Bright Eyes on the album Letting Off the Happiness, and “Feb. 15th” on A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997.
Label: http://saddle-creek.com/store/14
Review
BY PHILIP COSORES ON OCTOBER 27, 2016, 6:00AM
★↔★ http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/growing-out-of-bright-eyes/
★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★
| Bright Eyes |
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (Remastered) |
★↔★ The record opens up as any other Bright Eyes album would, with the staged dramatics. With Digital Ash, it’s a bit eerie, utilizing hard noise, long brush sounds, and heavy breathing, all followed by a ticking clock that perfectly ties in to the next track ,“Gold Mine Gutted”. The album’s first true song, it speaks of self empathy and a love lost through its wasted time. Ah, now the introduction makes sense.
★↔★ you dwell on an album for too long, it becomes less an entity of music and moreover a textbook with too many questions that can never be answered. What I’ve come to realize about most of Oberst’s work, however, is that these opening tracks of casual noise are placed on each album for a reason and that is to set the mood. The mood of A Digital Ash in a Digital Urn would be the elements within hope, despair, and one’s longing for self revival.
★↔★ The one track that summarizes this idea, and pretty much the entirety of the album’s theme, can be found in the centerfold, that being “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”. Not only is this song the catchiest track of the dozen, with its roaring guitar and robot sweeping drums, but it holds some of the most visual and honest lyrics:
★↔★ Now I do as I please and lie through my teeth, Someone might get hurt, but it won’t be me, I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free… [BY PHILLIP ROFFMAN ON MARCH 13, 2010, 2:00PM] Location: Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Genre: Indie Rock, Synth~Pop
Album release: 2005/November 18, 2016
Record Label: Saddle Creek
Duration: 49:58
Tracks:
01 Time Code 4:28
02 Gold Mine Gutted 3:56
03 Arc of Time (Time Code) 3:54
04 Down in a Rabbit Hole 4:33
05 Take It Easy (Love Nothing) 3:21
06 Hit the Switch 4:47
07 I Believe in Symmetry 5:25
08 Devil in the Details 4:06
09 Ship in a Bottle 3:28
10 Light Pollution 3:17
11 Theme to Pinata 3:19
12 Easy/Lucky/Free 5:24
ABOUT ALBUM:
★↔★ Remastered by Bob Ludwig
★↔★ “A BOLD, ESSENTIAL CHAPTER IN THIS YOUNG MAN’S INSPIRED BODY OF WORK.” — LOS ANGELES TIMES
★↔★ “AN ALBUM MADE FROM THE MOST IMPERSONAL OF INSTRUMENTS THAT WILL SPEAK DIRECTLY TO EVERY LISTENER LUCKY ENOUGH TO PRESS PLAY.” — NME
★↔★ “RISKIER BUT NOT TOTALLY OUT OF CHARACTER; IT’S THE MORE HOLISTIC RIGHT BRAIN TO WIDE AWAKE’S RATIONAL LEFT BRAIN.” — ALTERNATIVE PRESS
★↔★ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning is a country~tinged melange of Conor’s finest acoustic songs, featuring guest vocal appearances from Emmylou Harris and Jim James (My Morning Jacket), whereas Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is a more produced, band~centric album featuring cameo appearances by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
★↔★ The songs are bursting with all of the rough edges and heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes records have earned their acclaim, while exposing a glorious new level of depth and texture to the writing and delivery. Recorded back~to~back, the albums work in tandem to elucidate both sides of Conor’s recent creative output.
CONOR OBERST
Birth name: Conor Mullen Oberst
Born: February 15, 1980, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Notable instruments:
Ξ Collings OM2H
Ξ Collings 01SB
Personal life:
★↔★ Oberst married Corina Figueroa Escamilla, whom he met while recording in Mexico, in 2010.
★↔★ In late 2013 Oberst was falsely accused of rape, but several months later the woman admitted she had fabricated the allegations.
★↔★ Oberst originally founded Bright Eyes as a solo project in 1995, and after the disbanding of Commander Venus, released A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997 in January 1998. This was followed quickly by Letting Off the Happiness, released in November of the same year. It featured members of numerous bands and was recorded in the Oberst family basement. One year later, Bright Eyes released its first EP, Every Day and Every Night. Bright Eyes’ third album, Fevers and Mirrors was released in May 2000; it was ranked 170 on Pitchfork Media’s list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.
★↔★ With the release of 2002’s Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Bright Eyes received national attention and Oberst was proclaimed a breakthrough artist by several notable magazines. On January 25, 2005 Bright Eyes simultaneously released two new albums: the folk I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and more electronic–pop Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. Time listed I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning as one of the top ten albums of 2005.
★↔★ The Four Winds EP was released in March 2007, followed by their seventh album, Cassadaga in April. The song Four Winds was named a top 100 song of 2007 by Rolling Stone. Oberst spent the next two years focusing on other music projects, and in June 2009 told Rolling Stone he wanted to make one final album with Bright Eyes before retiring the group. The band subsequently released The People’s Key on Conor’s 31st birthday, February 15, 2011.
TED STEVENS
★↔★ Ted Stevens (born July 4, 1975) is an American rock musician from Omaha, Nebraska, best known as the guitarist and backup singer for the band Cursive, as well as fronting Mayday. He previously fronted the indie folk band Lullaby for the Working Class.
TODD FINK
★↔★ Todd Fink (born Todd Baechle, pronounced “BECK–lee”) March 03, 1974 from Omaha, Nebraska is the lead singer of the band The Faint. He attended Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska.
★↔★ Baechle was also one of four members of the band Commander Venus, which was started by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) in Omaha, Nebraska in 1994 under Saddle Creek Records. The members of Commander Venus were Conor Oberst, Tim Kasher, Todd Baechle and Robb Nansel. The band released two albums before it broke up: 1995’s “Do you feel at home?” and 1997’s “Uneventful Vacation”. The band was under the label Lumberjack Records (later known as Saddle Creek Records) and New York’s Wind–up Records.
★↔★ As lead singer of The Faint, (formerly Norman Bailer), Fink has expanded his musical repertoire from the Comm Venus, Park Ave. reminiscent “Media” to the more mature, acid freak out records “Blank–Wave Arcade” and “Danse Macabre” to the slightly mellowed “Wet from Birth”. With Fink in The Faint is his brother Clark Baechle on drums ; Jacob Thiele on synth; Joel Peterson on bass; and the mysterious “Dapose” on guitar (Dapose joined the band during the recording of Danse Macabre).
★↔★ In March 2005, Todd married Orenda Fink of Azure Ray. His name was subsequently changed to Todd Fink.
★↔★ In 2007, Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, and Derek Pressnall of Tilly and the Wall started the dance party GOO but tour schedules and Omaha venue changes shut the party down.
NEELY JENKINS
★↔★ Neely Jo Jenkins (born June 21, 1974) is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska best known for being a singer in the band Tilly and the Wall. She was also a member of the band Park Ave. with Tilly and the Wall bandmate Jamie Pressnall, (then Jamie Williams). Previously, Jenkins sang “Contrast and Compare” and “Pull My Hair” with Bright Eyes on the album Letting Off the Happiness, and “Feb. 15th” on A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997.
Label: http://saddle-creek.com/store/14
Review
BY PHILIP COSORES ON OCTOBER 27, 2016, 6:00AM
★↔★ http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/growing-out-of-bright-eyes/
★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★