Rilo Kiley broke up

Not doubting you, but I'm curious how RK became avatars for The Evil of Indie.

Along with Death Cab, who came about at the same time, they turn the music and the whole attitude into something non-intimidating and "precious"—and not in the same way the twee scene did, because they were always marginal anyway. DCFC and Rilo Kiley essentially created the type of shit we're still being passively assaulted by a decade or more later.

guardian put this on the front page of the website. as if anyone in britain cares.

i like some rilo kiley songs

i care. i like this one: http://open.spotify.com/track/6Zn8UzFJ5SKGFLGjIFCfSo

Me too. But yeah, didn't seem like the band was a going thing for a while now anyway. Sadness.

Stylistically, Rilo Kiley weren't "indie" band after The Execution of All Things anyway. In fact, I wouldn't be that surprised if the band camouflaged their pop instincts early on in order to preserve their hip cachet. Opportunistic of them if so, but Jenny and Blake are show biz kids after all.

Erm, "an indie band" xp

otm. i never thought of them as indie tbh.

i'm not exactly mournful because i haven't listened to them since university and wasn't anticipating anything new that would have rekindled my affection. nonetheless I listened to them a lot around 04/05/06 and they were lovely when i interviewed them in late 07 so RIP.

I listened to them a lot around 04/05/06

Thought you meant April, 5, 2006 at first and wondered what Rilo Kiley-related epiphany you had on that day.

I wouldn't be that surprised if the band camouflaged their pop instincts early on in order to preserve their hip cachet. Opportunistic of them if so, but Jenny and Blake are show biz kids after all.

That's a really sharp way of looking at their oeuvre, one that better contextualizes the "shock" of the poptimistic gush of Under the Blacklight.

I liked their highlights fine and loathed some of their low-points, but to me they epitomized a sort of amiable LA "indie rock" as a lark scene.

I'll add "Breakin' Up" to my playlist for my drive home....

How does the rest of Rilo Kiley's output compare to Jenny Lewis' solo song "Barking at the Moon" from the movie Bolt? I never checked them out because I don't like their name.

More Adventurous is one of my top albums of the '00s. Probably top five, for sure. Not just Portions for Foxes, but the title track, Love & War, Does He Love You, I Never . . . strong songwriting from top to bottom.

UTB is much closer to boomer pop than indie (the Sennett track really does sound like a Lindsey Buckingham track).

UTB is the only Rilo album I'll halfway admit to liking, and even then only in part.

I liked this band. I thought they broke up years ago. Jenny Lewis most probably has another classic or two in her. The first two records are p rubbish though.

This is hardly surprising news but it's still a bit sad, these guys were nowhere near as awful as anyone would have you believe, and the last two albums are actually really good in different ways.

I would be very happy if this final release that Sennett alludes to in the Pitchfork article involves a properly recorded version of "Give A Little Love" - the keyboard-on-demo-setting version at the end of UTB is so distracting from what could have been a fantastic song, it was a lot better when I saw them live performing it as an actual band, fleshed out and rich. In fact, their twee-and-cute aesthetic ruined a lot of their material, "With Arms Outstretched" is a great song from their second album that sounds like it's been performed for the benefit of a jokey Youtube viral.

Is the Jenny & Johnny record any good, anyone? I loved Rabbit Fur Coat, I didn't dislike Acid Tongue. What other Rilo-related projects are worth investigating?

what a disaster for crossword puzzles

UTB is much closer to boomer pop than indie (the Sennett track really does sound like a Lindsey Buckingham track).

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, July 14, 2011 11:50 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Totally agree. Thing is, they do "boomer pop" really well, and with generally sharper lyrics besides. At first I heard it as a transparent - and failed - sell-out move, replete with needlessly Autotuned vocals. After three or four listens songs that originally sounded like shallow top-40 pastiche and triple-A radio hopefuls revealed themselves as canny, often wicked, genre exercises. I hope JL can do this kind of thing on her own - minus "Dreamworld," she dominated UTB to the point that I could understand anyone who called it a solo record in disguise.

"Give a Little Love" sounds a lot like LL Cool J's "I Need Love" with singing instead of rapping. And it actually works.

hahaha Jordan

I have the new J&J record, it's.. okay. I liked the previous two much more (the Rabbit Fur Coat LP was my jam for a long time)

the first half of utb is so great that it validates not only the terrible, terrible second half, but also probably the rest of their existence.

p sure tao lin is a big rilo kiley fan fyi

Jenny Lewis is a great singer, but there's something really clunky about her lyrics that annoys me.

though I do love:

Thought I saw you in Vegas / It was not pretty, but she was / Not your wife

Man, literally today I find out about these people, guess I will never see them live or anything. But instantly got a huge crush on "Better Daughter/Son" when someone linked to it vis a vis depression. I like depression songs I guess?

Word has been circling for some time about Rilo Kiley's next release, a compilation of archival material. Now, the band has announced the collection, titled rkives, will be out April 2 via Little Record Company, the label run by bassist Pierre DeReeder.

rkives is up for pre-order on digital, CD, and 2xLP formats. A deluxe bundle will also include a cassette (with unreleased tracks unavailable anywhere but the tape), CD, 2xLP, tote bag, stickers, button, poster, and digital download.

The Rilo Kiley website is also streaming an instrumental version of "And That's How I Choose to Remember It" from The Execution of All Things. They're also collecting archival photos on the site.

And yes, rkives includes a remix of "Dejalo" from Under the Blacklight featuring the rapper Too $hort.

Check out the 16-song tracklist below.

RKives:

01 Let Me Back In *
02 It'll Get You There *
03 Runnin' Around *
04 All the Drugs *
05 Bury, Bury, Bury Another *
06 Well, You Left *
07 Draggin' Around
08 I Remember You
09 Dejalo (Zondo remix ft. Too $hort)
10 A Town Called Luckey
11 Emotional
12 American Wife
13 Patiently
14 Rest of My Life (demo) *
15 About the Moon
16 The Frug

* previously unreleased

Hear track 1 here:
http://www.spin.com/articles/rilo-kiley-jenny-lewis-let-me-back-in-new-song-rkives?utm_source=spintwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spintwitter

I remember hearing Let Me Back In live way back when they were touring for More Adventurous - great song. The single got released today. Funny that it ends with The Frug - though I could've sworn there was another pre-Take Offs & Landings single that's not on there.

There was a whole e.p. that came before Takeoffs & Landings that the Frug was on - 8 songs, I think.

Initial Friend is the EP

I loved this band, and the first Jenny Lewis solo record. After Acid Tongue, it all went wrong. That was one of the great momentum killing records of the 2000s.

If Portions For Foxes had a better title, it could have been a hit.

Not sure why everybody here loves Under The Blacklight so much. Half of it is great but side 2 has some truly poor songs. I dare you to listen to Smoke Detector again.

smoke detector has some of the worst lyrics i have ever heard ever and for that i treasure it

xpost

The failure of "Portions for Foxes" to be a hit was the final nail in the coffin of my ever trying to predict popular tastes.

xxp Under the Blacklight generally disappointed me on release, despite a few really good ones in there. I still wince thinking about Dejalo and can't believe they're putting a remix of that on the compilation. Thought Acid Tongue was generally OK, but I haven't listened to it in a long time.

Count me in as surprised that Portions For Foxes wasn't a hit either

I blame "Since U Been Gone."

I wonder if they mulled over how much Blake hates "Dejalo" so they made this godawful remix with Too Short

That said, this album achieved its likely goal of making me REALLY nostalgic for Blake and Jenny's earlier days

rkives is my favorite album of the year.

I've got a few friends saying likewise.

Well get those friends on some rock list polls because it's not showing up anywhere.

I might've found a way to justify squeezing it into my Top 10 as an "album" (rather than relegating it to the separate category of "reissue"/"compilation") were it not for that horribly garish Too $hort thing.

Also, I expect it to place well on Christgau's ballot.

Yes, the Dean will come through.

It's definitely in a gray area because it's an unreleased songs compilation, but no record that came out this year gave me more enjoyment.

As craven commercial sellouts go, I kinda like the Too Short verse.

Then again, I'm almost certainly going to have Patty Griffin's 13(?)-year-old Silver Bell on my ballots, so an album of mostly unheard Rilo Kiley songs is completely justifiable.

Do it, man! Do it for Jenny.

I'm skipping through this Rilo Kiley thing right now because I'd hate to miss out on something good, but it just sounds like Rilo Kiley as far as I can t...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Were any of the songs "singles?" I could definitely see including "It'll Get You There" or "All The Drugs" on a singles ballot?

i remember "Let Me Back In" was released early

amazingly, it's almost got a phish-like funk. but album phish, not live.

Oh, that was supposed to go on the posts very much in character thread. dejalo.

Twenty good choons.

"Love U Forever" was actually a Jenny & Johnny joint

Was that Nice as Fuck album worth a listen?

More Adventurous is probably in my top ten or twenty fave albums of all time at this point, so while I'm happy to see anything from it show up on your list, it still feels under-represented, to me. "Accidental Deth," in particular, is a miracle of storytelling in pop song form.

Good song! But I like concision in lists.

nothing at all from acid tongue? man i love that record (well, 3/4s of it as with every rilo/jenny release). jenny is an insane talent who never really seemed interested in putting it all together.

Nothing came together as well as Execution of All Things, imo

jesus Acid Tongue is 8 years old...

“it’s a hit” is the worst rilo kiley song i think

execution and the voyager are my favorite things lewis has done. i revisited rabbit fur coat recently and i gotta say most of the lyrics on that record are terrible

Was that Nice as Fuck album worth a listen?

Yes yes yes! It is fantastic. Cookie Lips is my favorite song on it.

Nice list Alfred. I'm glad you included a bunch from rkrives, which could be my favorite album of theirs. Under The Blacklight should have had at least 5 songs from it.

Debut finally getting a rerelease:

https://www.stereogum.com/2092747/rilo-kiley-debut-reissue-vinyl-streaming/news/

Nice! I just want it available digitally.
Didn't know Dave Foley was involved, wild.