just realised that i am listening to 'misunderstood' by wilco and feeling sorry for myself. ha ha. what am i like?
― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 11:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Friday, 20 February 2004 11:43 (twenty years ago) link
right?
wilco are the hipster's version of springsteen.
― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 11:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Friday, 20 February 2004 11:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 20 February 2004 11:50 (twenty years ago) link
which song do they use? i've got a comp of proto-ubu stuff i've not made through yet. i could have a listen tonight.
― jimmy the saints, Friday, 20 February 2004 11:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Friday, 20 February 2004 11:54 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70402200601010102&sql=A3fzsa9wgq230
cool i've got that one. yeah i dig that wilco song alot.
― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 11:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Friday, 20 February 2004 11:59 (twenty years ago) link
― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Friday, 20 February 2004 19:50 (twenty years ago) link
Summerteeth roolz.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 20 February 2004 22:20 (twenty years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 21 February 2004 00:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 21 February 2004 00:57 (twenty years ago) link
so has jeff tweedy had like work done, cos around the eye area
― plax (ico), Monday, 21 June 2010 11:10 (thirteen years ago) link
ksh, where u at
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Monday, 21 June 2010 15:41 (thirteen years ago) link
he won't return my calls anymore, sorry plax
― ksh, Monday, 21 June 2010 15:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Can't wait for Wilco to release its metal-influenced album so we can watch ksh go apeshit.
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Monday, 21 June 2010 15:50 (thirteen years ago) link
would buy
― ksh, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link
always thought uncle tupelo had some metal leanings every now and again.
― tylerw, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
"Black Eye" was actually the inspiration for a lot of USBM iirc
― ksh, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG9LZvKDEZ0
perfect for a low key Friday afternoon hanging around
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
listened to Wilco (The Album) for the first time in a while last week ... prety meh, actually! Just sounded workmanlike, not very inspired. Still think this version of Wilco has a great album in 'em, but that one ain't it.
― tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:42 (thirteen years ago) link
On Rolling Nels Cline Thread, I wrote:
Wilco (the album) is a much better record [than Sky Blue Sky], and one that I'll listen to much more as time passes, but it really is a "Whitman sampler of the different aspects and obsessions of Wilco," as Tweedy called it. You have the Neu! motorik thing they did on "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" on "Bull Black Nova," the obvious "I'm A Wheel"/"Monday"/"Can't Stand It" rocker tune ("Wilco (the song)"), the unassuming acoustic number "Solitaire," which recalls "Dash 7," "Far, Far Away," "Radio Cure," "Muzzle of Bees," and most of SBS. The whole record really is a summation of their career.
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:47 (thirteen years ago) link
In that same post, I said:
Wilco is primarily a vehicle for Tweedy's creativity, and although things seem to be more stable for the band now insofar as the lineup is concerned -- no one has been fired in five years, and everyone including Tweedy (see the new Rolling Stone interview) seems to feel good about the band as a unit -- I don't think he will ever be in a place where he'd want to make another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot/A ghost is born pseudoexperimental record again. I doubt Nels will get to do any truly radical work in Wilco. (The most "radical" things he does on the new record, which are not "radical" at all, really, are these strange little backwards-guitar solos at the end of "One Wing" and "Everlasting Everything" and some feedback-soaked guitar work at the end of "Bull Black Nova.")
yeah, that's otm -- i just think they've done better versions of all of those things on previous albums.
― tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
they may prove me wrong on that last point, though. I've read them say things that gave me the feeling they might go more experimental on the next LP
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe i need to hear live versions of these tunes -- that's what turned me around on SBS.
― tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:51 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe! they were great live when I saw them last summer. still prefer to hear them play something like "Spiders" than anything on the new record, though
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
but yeah, i think it's sort of a mistake to look at nels cline for some injection of "out there-ness" though he's obviously capable of it. Nels is probably more interested in fitting into the mainstream aspects of the band -- he's certainly got plenty of other outlets for the experimental stuff.
― tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah! i think he's said as much in interviews. Glenn too. "we just play what's good for the songs." so both of them have their side projects where they do the more out their stuff, and then when they come into a Wilco sessions they just try to suit the needs of whatever's before them.
if you look at the entire Wilco discography, Jeff's probably responsible for the most out their stuff. like the solos on a ghost is born. although Jim O'Rourke probably did a lot of crazy stuff on YHF and agib, and Bennett added a lot to the former record too
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:58 (thirteen years ago) link
out *there*
― markers, Friday, 23 July 2010 20:59 (thirteen years ago) link
wilco sux
― del griffith, Friday, 23 July 2010 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
http://beckyyamamoto.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/dawson-crying.jpg
― tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 21:46 (thirteen years ago) link
i love passenger side so much
― who's got the (platform) 9 3/4ths? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/361308/october-06-2010/mavis-staples---jeff-tweedy
― markers, Thursday, 14 October 2010 19:39 (thirteen years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/news/41372-wilco-start-their-own-label/
― markers, Thursday, 27 January 2011 03:16 (thirteen years ago) link
fuuuuuuuuck, "can't stand it" is a dope album opener
― markers, Friday, 29 July 2011 04:50 (twelve years ago) link
summerteeth is so good
― markers, Friday, 29 July 2011 04:51 (twelve years ago) link
however you might feel, tonight is real
― markers, Friday, 29 July 2011 04:52 (twelve years ago) link
listen close when you click and my face gets sick, stuck, like a question unposed
wilco circa 1999-2004 was just unfuckwithable
― markers, Friday, 29 July 2011 05:00 (twelve years ago) link
I love that "can't stand it" was added at the last minute because reprise didn't hear a single on summerteeth.
― Mucho! Macho! Honcho!: Turn Off The Dark (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 29 July 2011 06:19 (twelve years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/news/43449-wilcos-jeff-tweedy-releases-split-single-with-deerhoof-starts-new-band-with-his-sons/
― markers, Friday, 5 August 2011 22:05 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/6/3068636/wilco-incredible-shrinking-tour-chicago-ibooks
― markers, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 21:17 (eleven years ago) link
PoeticLava says:I saw Jeff Tweedy at the North Side Chicago Chipotle 6 years ago. Don’t know what he ordered.
― markers, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 21:18 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/118811/Wilco-Focuses-On-Covers-For-First-Ever-All-Request-Set
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 June 2013 21:51 (ten years ago) link
Daft Punk and the Replacements among many more
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 June 2013 21:52 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcL4zJxBMH8
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 June 2013 23:57 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHqRi468ic
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 June 2013 00:15 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYixOQ2vxzM
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 June 2013 00:18 (ten years ago) link
boring
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 1 August 2023 19:01 (eight months ago) link
oh this is their psych album but it's really sleepy
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 07:08 (six months ago) link
can definitely hear cate le bon's contribution as producer but her bad trip vibes get reduced down to a milder underlying unease
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 07:23 (six months ago) link
Few sentences are more of a bummer re a Wilco LP than “All songs written by Jeff Tweedy.”
Sorry, Jeff, but you need to open things up a little.
This album certainly has a vibe but there isn’t enough to grab onto somehow, and looking over the discography I realized that the last time this band really IMPRESSED me - really, really impressed me - was Star Wars.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 29 September 2023 09:10 (six months ago) link
this album's filled with kinda interesting textural ideas but in service of songs that are barely there at all. complete opposite of cruel country (which i think is much better). nothing close to "bird without a tail/base of my skull" either
but i'd still take this one over some of their lesser albums like ode to joy, schmilco, wilco (the album), even the whole love outside of the bookends
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 12:47 (six months ago) link
important final clarification lol
― imago, Friday, 29 September 2023 12:49 (six months ago) link
maybe these songs will be cooler live if they let nels shred all over them
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 12:57 (six months ago) link
that's generally the case with wilco songs tbf
― imago, Friday, 29 September 2023 13:10 (six months ago) link
Definitely at least a cut above the albums ufo mentioned. Wish someone would impose a ban on him writing songs in first position on the guitar, or something
― PaulTMA, Friday, 29 September 2023 17:11 (six months ago) link
i think it's pretty good, certainly the best in a few years
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 September 2023 17:43 (six months ago) link
I agree that Jeff needs to significantly shake up his songwriting somehow. This has probably been true for 10 years but it gets more true with every album.
If they can't make a great album with that band and CLB producing, guess what the problem is?
― alpine static, Friday, 29 September 2023 19:37 (six months ago) link
Not working with a producer that will push them further?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 September 2023 19:50 (six months ago) link
idk his songwriting was the best it'd been in a long time on cruel country and so it's a shame that hasn't carried across to this one
and le bon has clearly pushed them a bit here, just tweedy is back in sleepy/plodding mode so it evens out to just being ok
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 20:14 (six months ago) link
I haven't really listened to the last few, but I do feel they need someone to push them out of their comfort zone. Like, an *active* producer. Like, hell, get Alan Sparhawk to produce *them*.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 September 2023 20:17 (six months ago) link
I'll still catch their shows, which are great, but I definitely lost interest in their albums a while ago. I kept a few gems on each, but The Whole Love and Star Wars are the last ones I might want to play in their entirety. A Ghost Is Born is probably the last great album they've done IMHO.
― birdistheword, Friday, 29 September 2023 20:26 (six months ago) link
they should get sparhawk & bj burton in
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 20:38 (six months ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 29, 2023 3:17 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
feel like you're making assumptions that Cate Le Bon wasn't active
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 September 2023 20:50 (six months ago) link
I haven't heard it yet! but I would say active enough that it's not boring. assuming it is.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 September 2023 22:11 (six months ago) link
You can hear her on this record, but let's be honest, it would take a pretty strong producer to push Tweedy around at all.
― alpine static, Friday, 29 September 2023 22:20 (six months ago) link
The new album is fine. Just don't get how he's more prolific than ever but his vibe is so lethargic
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 30 September 2023 13:12 (six months ago) link
he's got unlimited access to a free studio space near his home. and he has time. he goes there every day and writes another song by himself, with his friend / studio manager hitting record. there's nothing at all to push him in any sort of interesting direction or force him into any sort of urgency, etc.
the other guys in the band contribute to the arrangements, but by that time the song is pretty much set - especially the vocals and vocal melodies, which imo are the biggest issue with Wilco songs right now.
i am somewhat speculating here, but to me that sounds like a pretty direct path to the rut he has been in for 10 years now.
― alpine static, Sunday, 1 October 2023 09:37 (six months ago) link
idk he wrote some pretty solid stuff on cruel country so if they just took a more self-consciously arty approach to the arrangements again with some of tweedy's stronger, more direct songs then that could be quite decent
apparently the songs on this one weren't all written together or anything though, tweedy got le bon to dig through a bunch of demos & studio outtakes from the last 10 years and pick out songs to work on. it sounds like some were more recent songs that they'd been working on before they got side-tracked with cruel country, but some date further back.
― ufo, Sunday, 1 October 2023 10:09 (six months ago) link
oh see, i didn't know that part about le bon digging thru the archives. i guess by "somewhat speculating" i mean "talking out of my ass" :)
i agree that Cruel Country contains strong material ... it's just too long, imo, but if they'd kept it to 12ish songs, it'd be a post-YHF high point.
― alpine static, Sunday, 1 October 2023 10:44 (six months ago) link
i didn't either, i just read a bunch of recent interviews because i was curious. they gave le bon a lot of control over the shape of the arrangements too
idk what i'd cut from cruel country though, it's definitely longer than it needs to be but there aren't really any obvious duds
― ufo, Sunday, 1 October 2023 11:09 (six months ago) link
maybe what we need more of from them is exploratory jams like "bird without a tail"
― ufo, Sunday, 1 October 2023 11:11 (six months ago) link
They were still writing and playing with teeth on Star Wars, I guess that was 8 years ago but I had given up on them kicking out the jams again when that came out and proved me wrong. “Cold Slope” is top ten Wilco for me I think.
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 1 October 2023 11:54 (six months ago) link
Star Was is indeed fantastic, seems odd that the Schmilco half was was the most blah thing they've put to tape
― PaulTMA, Sunday, 1 October 2023 12:24 (six months ago) link
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.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 1 October 2023 22:31 (six months ago) link
that’s bullshit imo, schmilco is full of great songs and bizarre shit
― ivy., Sunday, 1 October 2023 22:39 (six months ago) link
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
― ivy., Sunday, 1 October 2023 22:44 (six months ago) link
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.
― Indexed, Monday, 2 October 2023 15:00 (six months ago) link
Great post Indexed, I think there's a lot of truth to that.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 2 October 2023 15:19 (six months ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 29, 2023 5:11 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
well keep us posted
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 2 October 2023 15:22 (six months ago) link
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.
― Indexed, Monday, 2 October 2023 15:47 (six months ago) link
what confuses me is why there needs to be six people in the band
― budo jeru, Thursday, 5 October 2023 13:31 (six months ago) link
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?
― birdistheword, Thursday, 5 October 2023 18:38 (six months ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:20 (six months ago) link
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.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 9 October 2023 17:23 (six months ago) link
That's great. Thanks for sharing it.
― Indexed, Monday, 9 October 2023 17:45 (six months ago) link
Everything said in that article makes sense if your point of reference for experimental music is Radiohead, as it is for the author.
― zacata, Monday, 9 October 2023 17:52 (six months ago) link
they should get sparhawk & bj burton in― ufo, Friday, September 29, 2023 4:38 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
― 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.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, 9 October 2023 17:54 (six months ago) link
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."
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 3 January 2024 08:09 (three months ago) link
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.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 11:44 (three months ago) link
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?
― ufo, Sunday, 10 March 2024 12:02 (one month ago) link
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.
― Cow_Art, Sunday, 10 March 2024 12:36 (one month ago) link
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?
― ufo, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 13:23 (one month ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 13:41 (one month ago) link
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
― ufo, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 14:12 (one month ago) link
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."
― Indexed, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 14:25 (one month ago) link