On this special episode we talk about non-Bright Eyes Conor Oberst projects over the last 25 years. I’m joined by Maddy, Michael, Rina, Greg, Justin and Per (Patreon supporters of this show ☺️) for a sprawling conversation about Oberst's solo records and side projects. There are many!

 For PART 2 (+ VIDEO)  hit up patreon.com/afterthedeluge 

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Here’s the list of records I mention in the intro:

CONOR OBERST

Water (1993)

Here’s to Special Treatment (1994)

The Soundtrack to my Movie (1996)

Conor Oberst (2008)

... & the Mystic Valley Band: Outer South (2009)

Upside Down Mountain (2014)

Ruminations (2016)

Salutations (2017)

COMMANDER VENUS

Do You Feel at Home? (1995)

The Uneventful Vacation (1997)

NORMAN BAILER

Sine Sierra (1995)

DEAPARACIDOS

Read Music / Speak Spanish (2002)

Payola (2015)

MONSTERS OF FOLK

Monsters of Folk (2009) - Boring / Awash in reverb / Boygenius Rolling Stone

BETTER OBLIVION COMMUNITY CENTER

Better Oblivion Community Center (2019) - Great / Dylan Thomas

Here is the Commander Venus clip mentioned in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDj9aAyCbDs&list=WL&index=110

Marc Hogan is a senior staff writer at Pitchfork and he wrote the review of the Bright Eyes record Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.

In this episode we talk about a difficult decade for Conor Oberst, Audiogalaxy, patience with late-career albums, 2013’s false rape allegations, being Conor’s same age, Red Hot Chili Peppers, dropping a record in Covid, Ruminations, his brother’s death, divorce, catastrophizing his 40th birthday, Van Morrison, Dancing and Singing, Marc’s Mars Volta phase, Flea, Nothing Gets Crossed Out, old Pitchfork, who is the current Bright Eyes?, reporting on assault allegations, Drake, Hotline Bling, and the lede to Marc’s 7.4 Pitchfork review.

Review

Marc

Justin

Special thanks to Justin Corwin for helping guide me into this record. Check out his latest Bright Eyes video on THE DEEP DIVE.

Our guest on this season's finale is Jackson Browne (!) and we talk about his whole career, from writing "These Days" at 16 up to his latest record, Downhill From Everywhere. Reach me at [email protected].

LISTEN TO THE FULL JACKSON BROWNE SEASON

In Episode 5 we talk about the Jackson Browne album Running on Empty with music critic, author and songwriter Holly Gleason—basically a legend in my estimation. This is the episode where I realized this podcast After the Deluge could not only work, but feel transcendent. She's a legit one of a kind.

FULL SEASON ABOUT EVERY OTHER JACKSON BROWNE ALBUM

Ben Dolnick is the author of four novels including The Ghost Notebooks, You Know Who You Are, and At the Bottom of Everything. He wrote this 2011 Bright Eyes essay in The Awl: https://www.theawl.com/2011/01/taste-has-never-met-shame-i-love-you-conor-oberst/

This episode features an excellent audio essay from Dominic Ronzani about why The People's Key is his favorite Bright Eyes record. It's a great supplement to the Pitchfork 5.0 Pitchfork review.

We talk about Ben's Garden State moment with “Something Vague,” fear of outgrowing Bright Eyes, the idea of taste, the idea of shame, liking what you like, Ben’s piano teacher digs Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith as a Tesla and Bright Eyes as a taped-together golf cart, Ben’s excellent fader-knob theory about Sincerity/Professionalism, science fiction, Rastafarianism, Hitler, Ben blows my mind w/ the first lines of “Shell Games,” the post-Napster-pre-Spotify window of 2011, reptilians, pomegranates, Denny Brewer as a Joe Rogan guest, the non-rhyme fake-out on “Triple Spiral,” “Ladder Song” is a goosebumps tune, and 13-year-old Oberst’s song about Space Invaders. 

Ben Dolnick

Justin Cox

Join me for a deep-dive through the Jackson Browne discography starting with his first five albums, which I believe represent one of the best five-album runs by any artist ever. Each podcast episode is built upon an interview with a different musician or writer close to Jackson Browne’s music. Every episode about every Jackson Browne album is live now:

FULL JACKSON BROWNE SEASON ON PATREON

Today we have two Bright Eyes scholars (and Patreon supporters 🥰) who truly know their shit. Pardon the slightly click-bait headline... but Per Davidson and Justin Corwin take us on a tour of some great non-album Bright Eyes tracks from splits, EPs and YouTube rarities. All six of these songs are great upon first listen, but they go up several notches after you let these two unpack them.

I didn’t initially intend to explore these kinds of non-LP tracks (out of some combination of self-preservation and laziness) but this episode stands as evidence that the project would have been incomplete if I’d ignored them. Join me in thanking these two for curating the tracks on this episode.

Scroll way down in this description if you want to see the songs in list form, otherwise just click play and let them wash over you.

Per Davidson

Justin Corwin - The Deep Dive (YouTube)

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IF YOU LOVE THIS SHOW, SUPPORT IT FOR ONLY $5 AND GET A ZINE! -- https://www.patreon.com/afterthedeluge

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Entry Way Song

Southern State

Motion Sickness

Tourist Trap

The Trees Get Wheeled Away

Happy Accident

+ a few more

Today we talk about a bizarre phenomenon atop the Bright Eyes Spotify page. 

In this episode we talk about the fact that I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning occupies every spot in the Top 5 of the Bright Eyes Spotify page. My guest is Ryan Page of Bad Dads and the Beatles vs. Stones podcast. (Full disclosure: I’m a member of both).

The bulk of this episode is spent searching for a band that might fit into our Wide Awake Phenomenon.

The conversation spins out in all directions from there with Ellen DeGeneres and Third Eye Blind serving as the heartbeat that keeps this thing pumping. Also discussed: Taylor Swift, Santana, selling out, the Bandcamp article about Dummy, her placenta falls to the floor, Hootie, Alanis, and Oingo Boingo. 

We find one band that fits the bill and that band is ______.

Got an artist that fits theWide Awake Phenomenon? Email me at [email protected]

Michael Tedder is culture writer who's written for Stereogum, The Ringer, Esquire, Uproxx and many more. We talk about early 2000s Bright Eyes shows in Florida, war, emo-bashing, making a 70s record, flawed voices, Conor writes his big hit, Saddle Creek 50, Michael’s coffee mug, Top-3 Saddest Horn Parts in Indie Rock History, Sufjan Stevens, Michael builds the Bright Eyes MySpace Music page live, "At the Bottom of Everything" to kick things off, Emmylou Harris & Jim James bring the HARMONIES, for Zoomers The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bright Eyes are about the same, When We Were Young Festival, "Lua" is perfect, “Meeee— eeee—,” how long till Taylor Swift covers “First Day of My Life?,” Michael’s new book (Top Eight, How MySpace Changed Music) comes out in Aug 2023 and can be preordered now.

Michael Tedder: https://twitter.com/mtedder

Justin Cox: twitter.com/routinelayup

Patreon (extra shit and a Bright Eyes zine): patreon.com/afterthedeluge

Rob Harvilla is the host of 60 Songs that Explain the 90s—a popular podcast that I love. Today we talk about the 2005 Bright Eyes song “When the President Talks to God.” Also: Conor writing this song on a ferry, playing it on Jay Leno in cowboy swag, the pain of reading your old writing, REM, The Boss, 9/11, living in bubbles, Iraq, America coming together and then blowing apart, The Chicks, NOFX, Road to Joy, Meet Me in the Bathroom, and would Bright Eyes make the cut on a hypothetical 60 Songs that Explain the Aughts? 

twitter.com/harvilla 

twitter.com/routinelayup

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