Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

This guy needs to just go back to reviewing the album, not society, other critics, circumstances, and fans lack of appreciation for his other, more worldly music. Uggh.

The problem with the OPIB, in a nutshell. This is my final word.

btw sleeve's post from the second sentence onwards is the most arrogant, pompous dreck i've seen in a while here, even allowing for the fact that (s)he dislikes wilco

― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, November 2, 2008 2:14 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

definitely the most arrogant & pompous post on this thread, yep

i'm not anti-pitchfork at all. i think anyone can agree that a lot of the music they champion is very good, and some of it is not that good. isn't that the same of any publication/blog? the main problem i have with pitchfork is they sometimes/tend to give very high ratings to bands that aren't really fully formed yet, and haven't realized their potential (eg vivian girls, no age to an extent), which i think can hinder growth of said bands. anyway, i like both of those bands. also snl just came on, so i'm not really going to finish this thought

"NO, YOUR MOMMA!"

is the third main weapon of the BLAH WHATEVER IM GOIN TO BED

all i objected to was the defensiveness of the 'backlash' idea, because it seems to imply that ppl might be pretending not to like these bands in order to promote some sinister metanarrative. when the much more sensible conclusion is that some ppl actually don't like them, for any number of reasons. it's ok though: most ppl here still like wilco it seems. this backlash is doomed!

The idea that any band is necessarily above criticism is absurd. It's like, "they're honest musicians - leave them off!". Fluff, I tellsya, pure fluff.

by the "pitchfork indie" backlash, I mean the visible minority who go out of their way to slag off arty indie bands such as Radiohead and Wilco because of a perceived lack of real artistic integrity. there is no point pretending this lot don't exist. the lex

― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, November 2, 2008 2:58 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark

all i objected to was the defensiveness of the 'backlash' idea, because it seems to imply that ppl might be pretending not to like these bands in order to promote some sinister metanarrative. when the much more sensible conclusion is that some ppl actually don't like them, for any number of reasons. it's ok though: most ppl here still like wilco it seems. this backlash is doomed!

― jabba hands, Sunday, November 2, 2008 3:46 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah it's funny, i've noticed that since i've stopped writing music criticism i've become much less convinced that anyone is engaged in the promotion of sinister metanarratives. wheels within wheels!

attempts to invent reasons for the creation of such narratives inevitably lead to massive imagined payola conspiracies lol

This is still a lovely album.

I guess this really should have gone in a Walls thread. But there isn't one.

So-called Oceangaze or Glo-Fi duo Walls remix 'Poor Places' by Wilco

this band sucks

u have a Joanna Newsom interview up there 2, A+

Rewatched the I Am Trying To Break Your Heart documentary last week (the whole thing's up on YouTube), and have been listening to the album again a lot since. I wish they could have found room for Venus Stop The Train (from the demo release) on it, maybe instead of Radio Cure. All good, though. I think the documentary is better when you've already heard the album a few times.

Oh jeez, Radio Cure's my favorite track off that record.

...and apparently it got 0 votes in the YHF tracks poll so nobody else thinks it's great. : (

xpost yeah, it's a great doc. kind of wish there was more "in studio" stuff, rather than the bennett/record label narrative, but that's probably just me.

This is a lovely record, aye, and there's no shame in liking it. Just don't treat it as either the end, or the beginning, of pop music.

But didn't they have a song called Pop is Dead?

Just don't treat it as either the end, or the beginning, of pop music.

This rule should apply to pretty much ever record ever.

in general, yes, but as ilx's resident Wilco stan i can say will full confidence that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot truly is the beginning and end of pop music

ksh, how do you rate Radio Cure and what is the best song from this album in your estimation?

But didn't they have a song called Pop is Dead?

― Otherwise you're kinda being comp-lit in his racism. (kkvgz)

Wilco's big hit was "Exit Music (For A Documentary Film)" iirc

"Radio Cure" is solid for sure -- it's like a later career "Dash 7" -- but the best song on the record is, probably, a three-way tie between "Ashes of American Flags," "Poor Places," and "Reservations"

Wilco's best record is a ghost is born, though, so fuck all this noise

live version of "Ashes of American Flags" from Kicking Television, ending in a not-on-the-studio-record Nels Cline guitar solo is also quite excellent

best track on this album is either IATTBYH or Poor Places

best Wilco song is Handshake Drugs

science

best Wilco song is Handshake Drugs

LJ, you are a good dude, but this is COMPLETELY FUCKIN WRONG

also Less Than You Think is awesome

I may be expressing them to rile, but I actually hold these opinions

LTYT -> The Late Greats is some sequencing genius

Radio Cure is best Wilco song

xpost

"Less Than You Think Is" awesome, and the fact that it goes straight into "The Late Greats" to end the record is great

the best Wilco song, though, is "At Least That's What You Said"

Ha ha ha! Good humour abounds because the sun's out and it's a Friday... but really everyone knows Summerteeth is the album right?

awesome record, definitely their third best though, even if it is the first in their three album run of essential records

Still haven't heard Summerteeth

the best Wilco song, though, is "At Least That's What You Said"

^^^^^^^^

Here's the ksh guide to Wilco's discography:

Essential: Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A ghost is born
Excellent: Kicking Television
Patchy: Being There
Slight, but good: AM
Eh, not awful but whatever -- some good tunes, at least: Wilco (the album)
Are you fuckin kiddin me dogg?: Sky Blue Sky

Actually, I'd roundly agree with this^

Being as I agree with four of those placements entirely and haven't heard any of the others, I may have to hear Summerteeth

Opening track of Sky Blue Sky is quite good, IIRC - shame about the rest (Wilco (the album) extends this to the first FOUR tracks before sputtering into mediocrity)

Can I please see the ksh guide to Sleigh Bells' discography?

LJ, get thee Summerteeth. their most poppy record, but still really weird

ilxor dogg, it'd just be "dope debut" O_O

I quite like Sky Blue Sky, but most of the time, I skip the mid-tempo plod of the intro/verses and just fast-forward to the guitar solos.

So you listen to, like, five minutes of the record?

the song 'impossible germany' on repeat morelike

That and the closing track are the only good songs on that record iirc.

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/05/12/wilco-yankee-hotel-foxtrot-2002/

Good piece. I think this album has aged well, actually. I've always been impressed with its relative austerity, especially following the denser "Summerteeth." There's a lot of space on this disc, which helps casts its moving parts in stark relief. The tour behind it, before the album had officially been released but after it leaked, was a remarkable thing. The date I saw in Anaheim was particularly memorable. Totally respectful crowd, Tweedy tearing himself apart, people crying (!), a novel sense of community at singing along to songs everyone had heard but no one had released yet. I've never seen many shows quite like that, and given that rehab was not too far off in Tweedy's future, he probably couldn't handle too many more like that, either.

i agree with you re. the austerity of this album. i think it really is a masterpiece, whatever people think of wilco's indie sincerity/corniness. the fact of the cover and that it was first streamed in September 2001 always leant it a kind of gothic aura to me that has been enhanced with repeated listens. it is a lonely album.