Wilco - Ode To Joy (October 4 2019)

feels like an album of "radio cure"s to me

I liked Star Wars but not Schmilco. Sad they've not done any long songs here. I don't actually have anything to say

I don't actually have anything to say

sums up their post-whole love output pretty well, i reckon.

Reminds me of the last Radiohead in the sense that it’s very crisp and well put together but too placid to really get excited about.

the last radiohead record was not too placid to get excited about!

both construct an ominous dreamy atmosphere out of very few elements though so fair comparison

lol @ moon shaped pool having "very few elements"

it seems like, anymore, wilco is just recording songs so that they can replicate them exactly in a live setting. kind of takes the fun out of releasing studio albums imo. but also explains why they're such a great live band.

speaking of which: would love a sequel to kicking television.

lol @ moon shaped pool having "very few elements"

ok what i meant was that the record is relatively quiet i guess

but it doesn't take much for "daydreaming" or "desert island disk" to sound ominous, the strings in the former just darken the clouds

ahh, gotcha.

yeah, it is a very dynamic record. that's part of the appeal for me.

I like how gentle this album is.

They almost always find interesting ways to be boring.

I didn't become a fan until Star Wars -- is Nels Cline still playing with them? Maybe he was part of the "secret sauce" on that album(?)

(...looking back, I see he played on Wilco albums going back to 2007 -- so maybe not. Looks like this is their first without him for a while.)

he's on this new record

Ah, Wikipedia's out of date then

wikipedia says he’s on the record and in the band

He's been a member since the Ghost tour, so he's on every album since then. Though I admit it can be tricky, since Tweedy is a pretty good skronky guitarist when he wants to be.

I was looking at his personal Wikipedia page, which stopped at Schmilco. Sorted now, thx

I just finished Tweedy’s book a couple of nights ago so I was definitely primed to like this one, and it’s certainly not bad, maybe it’ll grow on me.

I revisited Star Wars and Schmilco this afternoon, and they’re both just so good.

Even if nothing else this band does ends up connecting with me, I’m really thankful for that period of sync-up.

They almost always find interesting ways to be boring.

the reverse describes my feeling on the post-Whole Love output including this one

I think they're both tenable positions. Depends on the day, I guess.

"we were lucky" is like "bull black nova" part two, gradually taken over by growling unease. it is really not boring

and "quiet amplifier" is only six minutes long but it's about as good as a stretched out atmospheric wilco song gets

feels like an album of "radio cure"s to me

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, October 4, 2019 2:51 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I am immediately listening to this album

Lots of «Kamera» in here as well, maybe side a of YHF in general. I really like it.

this is a beautiful record, damn. highlights for me are the stretch from 'one and a half stars' to 'white wooden cross,' and i love the spindly guitar and plunking piano on 'love is everywhere'

Love Quiet Amplifier but 10 plays in and struggling to remember most of the rest

I've pretty much fallen for this. Tweedy sounds (relatively) content.

I'm with you Paul. Quiet Amplifier and Love is Strange are the highlights for me. The rest, I like it while I'm listening but I don't find it super memorable. Also how I felt about Schmilco.

The songs on Schmilco glisten for me with tension and purpose, in both composition and performance.

Haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, but hearing Kot and DeRogatis go on about how boring it is and how much they don't like it basically confirms that it'll probably be my favorite Wilco record in awhile.

I like the first few songs a lot... then the next few ("1.5 Stars" & "Quiet Amplifier") feel kind of slack & rote. "Quiet Amplifier" is groovy (as mentioned above). "White Wooden Cross" feels sleepy, and I guess its melody is either "classic" (in a Dylan-ish mode) or paint-by-numbers, depending on how it hits yr ears. The next few traxx are sorta dull ("We Were Lucky" drags on too long). I don't care for "Love Is Everywhere." The final two songs are good, but not exceptional (I dig: Eight tiny lines of cocaine / Left on a copy machine). FINAL RATING: B

"Quiet Amplifier" is groovy (as mentioned above).

I meant "Everyone Hides"... whatever

Determined to get into this album one way or another. It all sounds pleasant enough...

But then again Citizens sounds like the most pointless Wilco song ever

Definitely not an album of "Radio Cure"s. It's fine in the same whelming way the other three Wilco albums this decade have been. I can't believe how quickly it's over when it ends.

I'm just listening now. Holy shit

Kind of a weird album to spend $500 on.

Revisiting. I like this record a lot (not quite as much as Schmilco) but it’s a weird one - like, there’s a real sense of anemia for until just before the middle, the album gradually sorta waking up

def one of the most appropriate album covers in their discog, whole record feels like an emphasis on negative space

True

“Wilco February”

As much as I’ve always kinda liked these guys (and don’t get mad at me) I’ve never heard anything pre-Summerteeth. Dunno why, just never felt compelled to go back.

Still pending: TWEEDY, and most of JT’s solo catalogue. I know it’s there, and I’ll get to it eventually.

Xpost I think you'd find Being There worth your time

tweedy is really dope, sort of a proto-star wars/schmilco

Had to look through this again to remind me what's on here, but I really enjoy "North American Kids," "If I Ever Was a Child," "Cry All Day," "Someone To Lose" and "Locator" (including it's primitive oddball stick-figure video). I don't think it's an album I'd want to hear in its entirety again, but those are excellent, dark, low-key songs.

Agh, WRONG album and thread

For this one, it would be "Love Is Everywhere (Beware)," "Everyone Hides" and "Hold Me Anyway."

I love "Love is Everywhere" but aside from that, this album falls under "pleasant but forgettable."

Quiet Amplifier is up there with their best