Bright Eyes

Conor Oberst isn't resting on the laurels he collected at the beginning of the year for his singer-songwriterly album "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning." On the current tour by his fluid collective Bright Eyes, it's the concurrent synth-rock album "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" that's the center of attention, with the Omaha phenom backed by members of the opening act the Faint along with longtime Bright Eyes mainstay Mike Mogis and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. * Bright Eyes, 8 p.m.

A list of upcoming concerts across the Southland, with on-sale dates in parentheses. Gibson Amphitheatre Janet Jackson, April 14; Luis Miguel, Feb. 4 (Fri.) Staples Center Juanes, March 13 (Fri.) Wiltern Royksopp, March 29 (Fri.) Avalon Of Montreal, May 14 (Fri.) El Rey Theatre Wanda Jackson, Jan. 23-24; The Pretty Reckless, Feb. 11 (now); Jim Jones Revue, March 12; the Residents, April 9 (Sat.) Fox Theater Pomona Snoop Dogg, Feb. 12 (now)

What you'll be talking about: Vinny and company. HBO's fantasy/nightmare vision of modern Los Angeles returns with another season of "Entourage," to air after the always gritty "Sopranos." Last season ended with Vinny Chase sans acting gig, alienating several studios, blowing his money and firing his agent, Ari Gold. We're pretty sure that, like all problems in this unrealistic comedy, they'll neatly disappear in the first five minutes of the new episode.

There's a push-pull dynamic coursing through the late-in-life romance "Lovely, Still" that keeps the film intriguing even when it looks like it's going to sink into sentimentality. It's probably the first movie to premiere at the AARP's national convention to sport original music from indie-rock favorite Conor Oberst and a score from members of his band, Bright Eyes. And what does Oberst sing? Mostly Christmas songs, natch. Oberst's unlikely involvement comes through his friendship with fellow Omaha native Nik Fackler, who wrote and directed "Lovely Still" and shot it in his hometown.

Conor Oberst got his first taste of a roaring crowd Saturday only a few lines into "Don't Know When but a Day is Gonna Come," the opening song of the set his band, Bright Eyes, played at the Hollywood Bowl. "They'll kill a man for what his father's done," the 28-year-old singer-songwriter hissed, following that line with an obscenely dismissive insult about said paterfamilias, and then the final blow: "I'm not him." The audience went nuts.

Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" (Saddle Creek) **** As a pop critic, you sometimes spend months writing about what's new, waiting all that time for what's great. It has finally arrived. Bright Eyes' new acoustic album is the most absorbing singer-songwriter collection since Bob Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" eight years ago -- and it is, in some ways, an answer to that landmark work. In "Time," Dylan began the final chapter in his career-long portrait of a generation's dreams.

It's midway through Bright Eyes' concert at the Henry Fonda Theatre, and the group's 14 musicians have stopped their percussive, orchestral attack, leaving singer Conor Oberst alone at the center of the stage The crowd, buzzing from the intoxicating spell the group has cast for the past half-hour, becomes quiet as Oberst plucks a descending modal scale on his guitar, like something drawn from a haunted Appalachian homestead. Whatever it is, it sounds serious.

Is it a concert or a coronation? Conor Oberst is only 24, but the precocious leader of Bright Eyes has been moving steadily toward his breakthrough for close to a decade. Now, with the two albums he released last month -- the singer-songwriter collection "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and the electro pop "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" -- he appears ready to reach a wide audience with the intensely personal chronicles of his generation's confrontation with an uncertain future.

There's a push-pull dynamic coursing through the late-in-life romance "Lovely, Still" that keeps the film intriguing even when it looks like it's going to sink into sentimentality. It's probably the first movie to premiere at the AARP's national convention to sport original music from indie-rock favorite Conor Oberst and a score from members of his band, Bright Eyes. And what does Oberst sing? Mostly Christmas songs, natch. Oberst's unlikely involvement comes through his friendship with fellow Omaha native Nik Fackler, who wrote and directed "Lovely Still" and shot it in his hometown.

The curtain behind Bright Eyes leader Conor Oberst glowed as red as the young songwriter's tender heart on Wednesday, as his group launched its Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre show with a new song melding personal vignettes into a commentary on how war overshadows everyday life -- in ways as mundane as children play-battling with sticks, as extraordinary as a couple making love while images of invasion flash across their TV screen.

It's hard to feel sorry for Norah Jones: At 31, she's already sold more records than most artists will over a lifetime, and despite her soccer-mom appeal, she's retained a kind of cool-musician cachet, collaborating in recent years with Bright Eyes, Beck and the Beastie Boys. In an unsteady music industry, hers is a success story with both commercial and creative dimensions. Still, on Friday night at the Orpheum Theatre, where Jones played a sold-out date on her current U.S. tour, your heart went out to the singer a little bit when her promise to "go back in time" to her early work earned a more enthusiastic reaction than did the new songs that preceded it. Jones opened the show with a long stretch of material from last year's "The Fall" — moody, groove-based tunes such as "Chasing Pirates" and "Even Though," in which she projected a soulfulness and a devotion to rhythm largely absent from her first three albums.

Perhaps not since "The Godfather: Part II" have we seen a sequel come along that more than matches the mastery of the film that came before it -- all the pathos, the brio, the epic sweep. . . . the cheese balls. I'm referring, as you no doubt have guessed, to "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," which builds on the wit, the whimsy and the shredding bass that was 2007's "Alvin and the Chipmunks," the blockbuster hit that would turn the musical 'Munks into 21st century pop sensations.

At the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, the Monsters of Folk pounced upon bottles of Kombucha tea with an enthusiasm befitting an '80s Juicy Fruit commercial. All four members of the indie rock super group -- My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James; troubadour Conor Oberst and producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis, both from Bright Eyes; and M. Ward of six lovingly crafted solo albums and the duo She & Him (with actress Zooey Deschanel) -- are devotees to the fermented elixir that most would consider an acquired taste.

Bob Dylan "Together Through Life" Columbia Records In "Together Through Life," the latest missive issued from his woodshed out in Malibu, the bard of America calls up some obvious influences. Bob Dylan has said this album was inspired by midcentury Chess and Sun label recordings, and indeed, the hearty ghosts of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf stomp through most tracks, with Doug Sahm and Edith Piaf stopping in for a dance or two. But John Bunyan? Leave it to Dylan to pull up some really old roots.

Conor Oberst "Conor Oberst" (Merge) . . Conor Oberst hasn't done an album under his own name since the dawn of his career in the early '90s, establishing his reputation as the defining songwriter of his generation since then mainly under the Bright Eyes banner. This return to his original billing doesn't signal a radical reinvention. The name tag and most of the support team (bassist Macey Taylor, guitarist Nik Freitas and Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel are the core band)

Conor Oberst got his first taste of a roaring crowd Saturday only a few lines into "Don't Know When but a Day is Gonna Come," the opening song of the set his band, Bright Eyes, played at the Hollywood Bowl. "They'll kill a man for what his father's done," the 28-year-old singer-songwriter hissed, following that line with an obscenely dismissive insult about said paterfamilias, and then the final blow: "I'm not him." The audience went nuts.

"CASSADAGA," the new album from Bright Eyes, is the bestselling new title on the nation's album charts, debuting at No. 4 with 58,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music retail sales. Bright Eyes is the shifting collective led by Conor Oberst, the 27-year-old Nebraska songwriter who is the latest in a long line of folk-leaning artists who have been saddled with the label of the "next Bob Dylan." This album features M.

If you attended this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, you've already previewed some of the summer's most promising shows, notably Coldplay, the Arcade Fire and Bright Eyes. One of the hardest things in pop is to make music that is consistently lovely, and Coldplay's Coachella set showed the British quartet does it as well as anyone. The band returns Aug. 20 to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.

"CASSADAGA," the new album from Bright Eyes, is the bestselling new title on the nation's album charts, debuting at No. 4 with 58,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music retail sales. Bright Eyes is the shifting collective led by Conor Oberst, the 27-year-old Nebraska songwriter who is the latest in a long line of folk-leaning artists who have been saddled with the label of the "next Bob Dylan." This album features M.

What you'll be talking about: Vinny and company. HBO's fantasy/nightmare vision of modern Los Angeles returns with another season of "Entourage," to air after the always gritty "Sopranos." Last season ended with Vinny Chase sans acting gig, alienating several studios, blowing his money and firing his agent, Ari Gold. We're pretty sure that, like all problems in this unrealistic comedy, they'll neatly disappear in the first five minutes of the new episode.