wilco

That's for sure - it's like they decided to put out the interesting stuff first, and if people like it, maybe they can put out the boring leftovers as a holding pattern.

that’s bullshit imo, schmilco is full of great songs and bizarre shit

i understand why ppl think it’s boring, it’s a much calmer and subtler palette, but it’s pretty much just as wacky as star wars, just from the opposite angle

I haven't heard the new album yet, but... Unlike most everyone I genuinely think all of their/his albums have at least a few high quality songs. The vibe has definitely gotten sleepier and staid as he's gotten older, and its understandable why most people would interpret that as Jeff running in place creatively.

However, while the artistic "shifts" are subtler, I still believe I could distinguish near every album from one another if you were to play me a random song from side B that I hadn't listened to in a few years. And they still sound like Wilco and no one else, and I'm not sure who you could point to that sounds a lot like them making music today, and that suggests to me that they still have a unique sound that is mainly due to Jeff's songwriting and their undeniable musical talents (Glenn, Nels). I'm not going to pretend his songwriting is anywhere near as good as it once was, but I'm perfectly happy to listen to a new Wilco album every year or two even if 75% of it is just ok.

Great post Indexed, I think there's a lot of truth to that.

I haven't heard it yet! but I would say active enough that it's not boring. assuming it is.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 29, 2023 5:11 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

well keep us posted

For those who missed the Wilco/Tweedy poll, there were songs from 18 different albums that made the top 77, every album but Love is King had at least one song that received a vote, and roughly ~60% of his songs received at least one vote. Like any band that's been around as long as they have, I think there are just different fans for different "eras" of their catalogue. Everyone seems to like YHF, and most everyone seems to like Summerteeth, but after that I think it's pretty wide open.

what confuses me is why there needs to be six people in the band

To be fair, they tour a lot and rarely seem to hire additional personnel for those tours like some other long-running acts, so maybe six is ideal?

The best, or at least most intense, I ever saw the band was in the early YHF days, post Bennett, when iirc they were a four-piece, with Leroy Bach swapping between keys and guitar.

I actually thought this was an interesting read:

https://www.insidehook.com/article/music/wilco-cousin-review

Not sure I'd 100% cosign all of it, but some really good points about how weird expectations have gotten around this band and how specific fans seems to want to hear specific things. I've listened to Cousin twice now and I like it well enough. I do wish there was a little more Le Bon weirdness evident, but close listening reveals quite a bit under the surface.

That's great. Thanks for sharing it.

Everything said in that article makes sense if your point of reference for experimental music is Radiohead, as it is for the author.

they should get sparhawk & bj burton in

― ufo, Friday, September 29, 2023 4:38 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hell, just have Tweedy make the hot tag with those two and you’d have a Wilco I could get behind.

I've been going through a stack of bootleg CD-R's that I dug out of storage, and one of them is (most of) Wilco's set from Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI from July 4, 1998. Great soundboard recording, possibly no generational loss, this is right on the heels of Mermaid Avenue. (Billy Bragg is even playing that same day, albeit in NYC, drawing most of his setlist from that same album as well.) The standout is actually the-yet-to-be-released "I'm Always in Love," and I never realized how much they sweetened it up for Summerteeth. When I first heard it there, I immediately thought "Beach Boys," but here it sounds like it came out of a spot-on cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man."

There’s some pretty interesting shit happening on Cousin, I’m beginning to realise. The songs sound slightly listless on a casual listen but there’s a submarine pull to them which is kind of sick and thrilling. I’m a bit obsessed with “Levee” at the moment.

i'm realising cousin feels most like a sequel to a ghost is born? similarly mellow/restrained with a lot of songs driven by piano or fingerpicked acoustic guitar, and weird atmospherics in the background. i'm appreciating it more now and it even holds together better than a ghost is born even if it doesn't reach the same highs. they should probably put out a follow-up live album though because i bet the songs really work better live, just like a ghost is born

they've also just toured japan for the first time in 8 years so maybe there'll be progress on that third loose fur album at last?

This has probably been mentioned upthread somewhere, but after years of wondering what the cover of summerteeth was supposed to be I looked it up. It's a person blowing a gigantic bubble of bubble gum.

they really are the best live band in the world it turns out. easily one of the best shows i've ever seen. they jammed out "bird without a tail" for 9 minutes and it really deserves to be a permanent live staple now. "at least that's what you said" was genuinely kinda life affirming as silly as it sounds. even "how to fight loneliness", which is hardly my favourite, was pretty great and way better than the album version

is kotche the best drummer in the history of rock?

i wish i'd managed to get a ticket for last night too now

Kotche is great. He's the king of underplaying, which is an invisible skill that often goes (not surprisingly) unnoticed. "Check out all the stuff he's not doing!" But he's really sneakily creative about what he's not playing, and you know he's one of the greats because everyone, from other drummers on down, recognizes he's great *despite* the underplaying.

I still haven't heard the new record (or the previous three, tbh), but the new song I hear sometimes ("Meant to Be"?) is really good and not at all what I expected. Super poppy, sounds a little like the Pretenders.

what really stuck out to me about kotche was how much nuance there was in his playing, it was incredibly detailed. he was pretty much always doing something interesting and intricate, though never doing too much. cline is an absolutely incredible player too of course and it was pretty amazing how much the two of them add to the pre-yhf songs.

the last two albums are some of the strongest they've made in quite a while, especially cruel country, they're definitely worth checking out. "bird without a tail" off cruel country is the best thing they've done in over a decade, although the studio version pales in comparison to what they've turned it into live. they finally have a second "impossible germany" and sansone gets to go wild alongside cline on it

Cline gets much of the attention but I think Kotche is the most talented musician in the band. Both have created a style completely their own that is immediately recognizable and yet impossible to recreate. I've never heard anyone say "check out this new band, their drummer reminds me of Glenn."