Bright Eyes - Noise Floor: Rarities 1998-2005 (2006)

A collection of singles, one-offs, unreleased tracks, collaborations, and covers recorded between 1998 and 2005. Variously recorded to cassette four-track, mini-disc, reel-to-reel tape machine, ADAT and computer, these songs trace Bright Eyes' evolution from basement project to band of international repute. Many of these gems previously lost to out-of-print obscurity are hereby resurrected.

"I've got no self control," Conor Oberst sings on "Spent on Rainy Days," one of the 16 rough-hewn tracks on this collection of Bright Eyes demos, unreleased tracks, and general bric-a-brac. As the young songwriter demonstrated with his wildly divergent 2005 releases, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (good) and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (er, not so much), he's extremely prolific, but that doesn't necessarily mean he should release everything he records. Accordingly, Noise Floor presents a mixed bag that will enthrall hardcore Conorites but leave others frequently reaching for the skip button in search of only the sharpest material--slow-burning ballads such "Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man," "Weather Reports," and the echo-laden "Bad Blood." --Aidin Vaziri