We at AvantTrash come from the Midwest. Nebraska, specifically. The dead center of the country. The Heartland. The Great Plains. Sound boring? It can be! (There’s a reason most of us fled to the big city besides the outstanding warrants.) But when there is an absence of “something to do”, you are afforded the unique opportunity to make your own good time. This is not a vacuum of creativity, it is a ground as fertile as the dirt beneath your feet. When you don’t have a venue for your band in the Midwest, you go underground…literally. Most bands I’ve ever been in came not from garages, but basements. Some of the best shows I’ve ever seen were subterranean.

There’s a house in Omaha that for the better part of 20 years has been a kind of artists commune. It’s parties are as notorious as it’s residents. Infamous even. It’s called Hotel Frank and this is the environment that Capgun Coup was borne from. Their new record Maudlin has that lazy lo-fi punk sound nailed. Each song on this album sounds like it could come from a different record. I guess that shows their flexibility as artists but cuts in a bit to the territory of the Black Lips and Jay Reatard, but a bit more sophisticated. So even at times a bit like a dirty, midwest Little Joy, but without all the cuteness.

Capgun Coup’s sophomore album Maudlin comes out TODAY and is the follow up to 2007’s Brought to You by Nebraskafish both albums are available for purchase via Conor Oberst*’s Team Love Records website.

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Off of the upcoming Feral Harmonic, here is a track from Old Canes entitled “Little Bird Courage” out October 20th from Saddle Creek Records (Omaha).

Limited edition CDs and LPs of Feral Harmonic are now available in the Saddle Creek online store. Hand-assembled at the Saddle Creek office by Grammy* award-winning artist Zack Nipper, each CD and LP is wrapped with a black ribbon and features hand ink-stamped impressions on the cover label and inner/outer packaging, and a booklet of black and white photographs. The vinyl run is a hand-numbered edition of 1,000 and includes a code to download the album in high quality MP3 format.

Old Canes is the brainchild of Chris Crisci (The Appleseed Cast), who wrote and recorded Feral Harmonic in his basement studio. On tour, he is joined by Kelly Hangauer (4th of July), Taylor Hollenbeck, Lucas Oswald (Minus Story), John Momberg (Appleseed Cast/Dactyls; drums on the West coast leg of the tour), and Jeff Stoltz (Drakkar Sauna; drums on the East coast leg of the tour).

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Monsters of Folk (My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, and singer/songwriter M. Ward) will be touring this fall to support their record (out September 22nd). Throughout each show of the tour, the four members will be switching instruments. True commies that they are, Monsters of Folk are partnering with Air Traffic Control, a resource for musicians’ philanthropic and social change work, to donate monies raised from ticket sales. The band will be donating $1 from every ticket sold on the tour to local non-profits.

via Press Release: “On a daily basis, we see how hard organizations like these work to make our communities, country and world a better place.” said Erin Potts, the organization’s executive director. “In a time when economic resources are harder to come by and organizations are overwhelmed by urgency and need, the Monsters of Folk tour’s charitable activities are a significant way to energize and support the tireless and often overlooked work that these organizers are doing.”

For a complete list of charities and for more information on Air Traffic Control, please visit www.atctower.net.

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Are you ready to rock!? Well are you ready for some semi-rockin’, heady, collegiate, Americana?

via their Press Release:

Monsters of Folk – comprised of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and singer/songwriter M.Ward – will be releasing their first collaborative album on September 22nd. The self-titled effort was recorded in Malibu, CA and Omaha, NE, and produced by Mogis. Although these critically acclaimed artists have shared the stage before, this album marks their first recorded output as a band. The record will be released in North America on Shangri-La Music, and internationally on Rough Trade (UK/Europe), Spunk Records (Australia/New Zealand) and P-Vine Records (Japan). The musicians have made a track from their forthcoming self-titled debut album available for FREE.

Their website, MonstersOfFolk.com is giving away the song, titled “Say Please”, to anyone who visits the site and types “please” into the request form.

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Omahan Conor Oberst has announced a lengthy solo tour to accompany his impending solo LP due out August 5th.

Why even drop the name Bright Eyes? Bright Eyes is Conor Oberst. No offense to Mike Mogis and Nate Wolcott, they are both very talented but everyone else on stage with Conor is just “you know, those guys in Bright Eyes’ band”. And actually he is still bringing Nate with on this tour, along with Maria Macey Taylor, Taylor Hollingsworth, Nik Freitas, and Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel in his band called the Mystic Valley Band. I’m guessing this naming followed a couple days visit with Mescalito.

You can stream 2 of the tracks on ConorOberst.com now. Let me know if you get a pre-release.

So dare I shell out 40 bucks tomorrow morning to see him at the Trubadour August 5th? A CD release show of sorts? Probably not. He seems to loathe his audiences and never fails to play exactly what nobody else wants to here. I’ll wait for a smaller Bright Eyes show.

North American Tour Dates
7/25 Billings, MT Bones Brewing
7/27 Calgary, AB Calgary Folk Festival
7/29 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards
7/30 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
7/31 Bend, OR Midtown Ballroom

I, being from Nebraska, am a huge fan of The Faint. Luckily they are touring through L.A. doing 2 nights at the Fonda. I just might have to see them both. And after 4 years of waiting …a new record!

Press Release:
A culmination of nearly four years of writing and recording, Omaha quintet, The Faint are preparing to release their fifth album, Fasciinatiion, on August 5 on the band’s own newly-formed label, blank.wav. Working on their own without any time constraints, the songs went through many recorded incarnations before finding their final forms. The result is the best album in the band’s career, a record that is the purest culmination of The Faint’s brilliant musical instincts, ideas and aesthetic, with each member contributing equally to its creation.