the super group monsters of folk are made up of actual "monsters of folk" jim james (my morning jacket), conor oberst (bright eyes), m ward (of late, the "him" of she and him) and producer mike mogis (jenny lewis, rilo kiley, sea wolf, cursive, etc).

as a result of a 2004 one-off gig in chicago, they first formed as the group "an evening with bright eyes, jim james and m ward." conor oberst later explained that the unnecessarily long name wasn't very catchy.

"our road manager just started calling us the 'monsters of folk,' because each of our careers have been so storied on folk," jim explained. "it really seemed to fit, especially since it didn't."

over the next nearly half decade, the members went on to create some of the best music of the last couple of years: bright eyes with i'm wide awake, it's morning and cassadaga, my morning jacket with z and evil urges and m ward with post war and hold time.

"a lot of procrastination went into this record," said conor. "you know, whenever we had time, we'd get into it."

the band finally released their self-titled debut album september 22, 2009.

"the songs, some road-worn fables, some intimate and intricate with electronic elements, some woozy and sun-soaked are everything one expects from these four musical minds collaborating together," said npr's bob boilen.  "the album exudes a warm, organic spaciousness, filled by brilliant choruses, intoxicating harmonies and effortless melodies, as each member brings his own strengths to the table to create one perfect whole."

don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if monsters of folk have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.