The first mental images to come to the brain of the average Joe or Jane when mentioning Omaha, Nebraska, would likely be cornfields as far as the eye can see, Johnny Carson, steaks, a world zoo, Mutual of Omaha Insurance or tortured songsmith Conor Oberst. Now, if you happen upon a fan of the whacked out sub-genre of rock that I like to call surf Billy garage rock, Omaha conjures one prominent spector: the band that is Brimstone Howl.
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[Photos by Paul Familetti]

With Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey and Buraka Som Sistema.
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Conor Oberst has been quite busy over the past year and a half. The songwriter has dropped his Bright Eyes alias, picked up the Mystic Valley Band, and is releasing yet another album on May 5, but even better, Oberst is giving us an inside scoop into the past 18 months of his life on the road and recording with his new project, with his new documentary that will be released online on April 15.
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The line up for the five-day-long Merge Records 20th Anniversary Celebration has been announced, and the event to bound to be nothing but stellar with headliners like label-founders Superchunk topping the bill.
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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. After the success of last year’s self-titled album, Conor Oberst is back with The Mystic Valley Band and releasing a new album May 5 on Merge Records called Outer South.
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