Also, if you haven’t seen Wilco’s performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, I implore you to take a gander. Dig Glenn Kotche’s drumming instruments!
It’s been quite a few weeks since the last update, so I figured I’d give you guys a kind of Wilco News Lightning Round (patent pending).
The moment we’ve been waiting for since it was announced almost four months ago has finally come. The result? The Whole Love is pretty awesome.
Many of us were treated to a 24-hour streaming party of the album a few weeks ago, but as many Wilco fans know, every album requires a few listenings to really get into it; now that it’s been out for a couple of weeks, I’m surprised that my vinyl copy of The Whole Love isn’t just a pile of string by now.
I thoroughly dig the new album (it goes without saying), as does almost everyone else, apparently.
Rolling Stone gives The Whole Love 4 Stars, picking it as the editor’s pick of the week two weeks back.
Spin gives it an 8/10, saying “Whoever has been dismissing Wilco as “dad rock” must have pretty complicated relationships with their fathers.”
The LA Times gives The Whole Love 3.5/4 Stars. “Nearly every song contains some tangential surprise, odd hook, sonic back flip or midsong redefinition.”
Reuters claims that The Whole Love shows shades of Beatles, stating that “[The Whole Love] thoroughly [summarizes] the disparate sides the beloved band has developed over the last 16 years.
Critics’ opinions are always welcome, but what really matters is what the band thinks of the record.
Jeff Tweedy, the Wilco frontman himself, discussed a select few tracks from The Whole Love in a recent interview:
“I Might”— The music that always feels the most like home to me is ’60s garage band music, “Pebbles”- and “Nuggets”-type (garage band compilation albums) of one-hit-wonder garage band music. That’s just the stuff that’s the most deeply ingrained in my DNA and my blood. It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t shine through that much. But it seems like it does on this record. That Farfisa (organ) sound is a pretty major part of that. It wasn’t even directed, actually. Mike (keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen) is just a big fan of that sound too. So that’s what he went for.
Art of Almost”— It was always the first track, from the second we started working on it. It opened the door the widest to the rest of the record. I think it’s the least categorizable song. We’ve had a string of records that have really hammered home this theory that whatever you put first on a record basically becomes the shorthand that that record has to endure critically. “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” would be talked about very differently if “Heavy Metal Drummer” was the first song on that album. “Either Way” was the first song on “Sky Blue Sky,” and of course that’s the “really mellow” record. I thought this was a chance to say, “What is this? You tell me.”
I also thought (it) would be interesting to start a record with hard drives starting up. The way it was described in the studio is the sound of data dying. The record kind of moves from that to the opposite end of the spectrum, to the most organic and pastoral kind of sound that you can put on a record.
“One Sunday Morning (For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)” — “Art of Almost” is a collage, and “One Sunday Morning” is one long performance. We never really played it again. That was just the one time we played it.It really doesn’t have much to do with Jane Smiley. I have met her boyfriend. The best I can do to explain it is I really like the guy, and we had a really poignant conversation for two guys that don’t really know each other. I did my best to reflect what I thought was powerful about that discussion.
You certainly know how to cut to the core of us, Tweedy.
In other Recent Tweedy-related interview news, The AV Club put out an outstanding interview with J. Tweed (I imagine he’d be cool with me calling him “J. Tweed”) last week. In it, he discussed the new record, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Wilco’s success and stability as a band, and the idea of “monoculturism.”
It seems like we have very fractured perceptions of reality. People shop for their own realities to reinforce the way they feel already, politically or—I don’t know. I guess there is a sense that you can kind of use the way the media works now to just build your own little universe. – Jeff Tweedy
Yeah, that’s right. Last week, the boys from Wilco curated YouTube. Just nod and pretend you know what that means.
Basically, the guys picked bunch of cool YouTube videos from around the interweb and put them in a sweet playlist.
Here’s a little taste of the selections:
Os mutantes – Fuga Nº 2
Reggie Watts – Big Ass Purse
Rock Vocals, Part 2 – May
Want to see more? Of course you do! Check out Wilco’s playlist, “Wilco Says: Watch!“
Hipstamatic Cassette Contest
Because vinyl is getting “too mainstream” for most hipsters, Wilco has announced a limited edition cassette release of The Whole Love. In fact, they have partnered with Hipstamatic on a contest to create the cover art for said cassette!
All anyone has to do for this contest is submit photos to Hipstamatic titled with the song from The Whole Love. The top five pictures, selected by members of Wilco themselves, will be on the cover of The Whole Love’s limited edition cassette!
I’m not much of a photog, but I call this one “Art of Almost”
See, because I had to wait a long time for UPS to get here. Never mind. It’s a “think-piece.”
Anyway, to submit a photo, or for more info on the contest, check out Hipstamatic.
Also, if anybody is interested in entering the cassette contest, send me your pictures on Twitter @WilcoNews, and I’ll retweet the best ones!
Other tidbits:
Didn’t get tickets to see Wilco in concert this year? The good folks at NYCTaper were kind enough to record these incredible quality bootlegs of the New York gigs at Summerstage. Download them here!
‘Art of Almost’ one of the (many) standout tracks from The Whole Love has quite a history. Check out the band members’ thoughts on the track here.
Check out Tweedy and the gang on “Talk Stoop,” just in case for some reason you doubted their talent or wit.
Here’s another excellent article from The AV Club, discussing Wilco’s label as “The American Radiohead.” “If anybody wanted to model themselves after us, they better be fucking be patient,” says Tweedy.
Dig the artwork for The Whole Love? Check out this sweet interview with Joanne Greenbaum, the artist behind the album artwork on wilcoworld.net.
Tour Updates!
Wilco has announced yet another (!) Chicago performance, bringing their grand total to 4 shows at 4 different venues in Chi-Town this year. Tickets for their show at The Metro go on sale at 10 AM this Saturday, October 16th. Get ‘em here!
Another leg of the North American tour has been added: West Coast dates for the early 2012 have been announced. More info about tickets will be provided as it becomes available. For now, here’s the dates so far:
1/19 Denver, CO – Fillmore 1/21 Tempe, AZ – Gammage 1/22 San Diego, CA – Copley Symph. Hall 1/24 Hollywood, CA – Palladium 1/28 San Jose, CA – Civic Aud 1/29 San Francisco, CA – Warfield 1/31 Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre 2/1 Davis, CA – Mondavi Center 2/3 Eugene, OR – Hult Center 2/5 Vancouver, BC – Orpheum 2/6 Spokane, WA – INB Performing Arts Center 2/7 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater 2/8 Portland, OR – Schnitzer Theater 2/10 Santa Barbara, CA – Arlington Theater
And the remaining shows for this year:
10-24 Glasgow, Scotland – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 10-25 Manchester, England – Manchester Academy 10-27 Bristol, England – Colston Hall 10-28-29 London, England – Roundhouse 11-01 Madrid, Spain – Teatro Circo Price 11-02 Barcelona, Spain – Palau Musica Catalana 11-03 San Sebastian, Spain – Kursaal Auditorio 11-04 Vigo, Spain – Pavillon das Travesas 11-07 Basel, Switzerland – Kaserne Basel 11-08 Frankfurt, Germany – Alte Oper 11-09 Munich, Germany – Circus Krone 11-11 Weissenhauser, Germany - Rolling Stone Weekender 11-12 Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom 11-13 Utrecht, Netherlands – Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn 11-14 Tilburg, Netherlands – 013 11-29 Dallas, TX – The Music Hall at Fair Park 12-01 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater 12-03 Kansas City, MO – The Uptown Theater 12-04 De Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom 12-06-07 Minneapolis, MN – The State Theatre 12-09 Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Theater 12-10 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit 12-12 Chicago, IL – Civic Opera House 12-13 Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre 12-15 Chicago, IL – The Vic 12-16 Chicago, IL – Metro
Well, that’s enough out of me. I now leave you with this clip of Nels Cline playing Duane Allman’s ’57 Les Paul during a performance of California Stars on 9/29/11. Enjoy it.
More Fuji Rock videos have surfaced. Now you can really regret not moving to Japan when you had the chance.
Missed Wilco’s set at the Fuji Rock Fest July 31st? Me too. I’m totally bummed about it. Or at least I would be if I couldn’t live vicariously through those who were there with more of these excellent videos!
For more pictures and videos of the performance at the Fuji Rock Fest, put your cursor over here and click….now!
Here’s the set list for those of you interested (all of us):
Fuji Rock Festival Set list
I Might (new song)
Bull Black Nova
Side With the Seeds
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Ashes of American Flags
War on War
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Born Alone (new song)
Handshake Drugs
Jesus Etc.
Dawned on Me (new song)
Shot in the Arm
Heavy Metal Drummer
I’m the Man Who Loves You
Late Greats
Red Eyed and Blue / I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
I’m a Wheel
And here are some videos from the set for your viewing pleasure:
Some more sights and sounds from Solid Sound to brighten your (probably) dreary day.
Still jacked from Wilco’s set at the Fuji Rock fest? Still pissed that Wilco’s tour is a month (or more) away? Hopefully more excellent videos from Solid Sound Fest will help even you out, you roid-raged freak.
These are some outstanding videos by “Kaussie” (check out his awesome website at kiakaha.net), filmed at this year’s Solid Sound Fest.
Note: some are repeats from the earlier Solid Sound Fest post, but are of better quality.
Wilco – Handshake Drugs
Wilco – Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Wilco w/Neil Finn - I Got You (Split Enz cover)
Autumn Defense – Paradise
Liam Finn – (No name, but I’m calling it ‘Go, You Crazy Sum’bitch, Go!’)
Wilco – Walken
Wilco – I Love My Label (New!)
Liam Finn w/Glenn Kotche – Second Chance
Autumn Defense – We Would Never Die
JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound w/Jeff Tweedy - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Pt.1
JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound w/Jeff Tweedy – I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Pt.2
Wilco w/Liam Finn – You Never Know
Autumn Defense – Every Day
Pajama Club w/Glenn Kotche – Little By Little
Levon Helm Band w/Wilco – I Shall Be Released
For more incredible Solid Sound Fest footage, check out Kia Kaha’s Vimeo page here.
Jeff Tweedy just saw what you were thinking...and he liked it.
If you type in “Wilco” on your favorite search engine, you’re going to find a lot of information: Tour dates, information on their new album The Whole Love, information on Solid Sound Fest, downloads and….wait. You can find all of that right here! What you can’t find, however, are the weird, interesting Wilco-themed things around the internet that only a dude with unlimited time on his hands could find. Well, now you’re in luck! I killed that guy, assumed his identity and stole his links. Here is a bunch of (as Dana Carvey as Johnny Carson would put it) Weird Wild Schtuff from around the internet, related to Wilco. Some are strange, some are confusing, some will shake you to the very core of your being. Others will make you say “meh.” Anyway, without further rambling, here is some Weird Wilco Schtuff.
First up is something some of you may have already seen, and others of you may have already tried:
I can't decide if this is ominous or homage-y
Yep. That’s exactly what it looks like: Wilco beer. Though Lagunitas, the brewing company, claims that Tweedy, Cline and the gang wasn’t the inspiration for Wilco Tango Foxtrot, I think I speak for all Wilco fans when I say (the sarcasm flowing heavily), “Yeah, OK.”
Reviews for the ale have been surprisingly positive (B+ from Beer Advocate, the only magazine I’d trust to review my hops and barley), especially from a few Wilco NewsTwitter followers:
“Very, very good. Had a few pints on tap and the bottle as well” -@TheManOfSeal
“It’s very good! I picked up a bottle this past weekend.” -@alexhansonman
So if “Wilco Tango Foxtrot Ale” is not a reference to Wilco or their now-classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, what would be? “Beering There”? “Wilco (the ale)”? “What Light (beer)?”
If anyone has any further horrible Wilco beer puns, send them to @WilcoNews on Twitter, and hashtag it #Wilcobeernames. Or you can leave a comment. Either way (see what I did there?).
Naming sandwiches after Wilco songs; that's not so much weird as it is awesome.
The Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company (openly referencing Sky Blue Sky; say what you will about Canadians – at least they’re honest) aptly names each if its food items after Wilco songs. I know what you’re thinking. “Does this mean that if I order the Less Than You Think I’ll have to listen to ten minutes of guitar feedback?” I would assume not, though I’ve never eaten at the place. You can, however, experience Outtasite (Outta Mind) and She’s A Jar in a way that you (probably) never have: with a pickle.
"How To Fight Loneliness" consists of contains slices of chicken, apple and bacon all on "toasty naan-like bread."
Has this piqued your curiosity? It’s definitely piqued mine-though I am a sucker for rock n’ roll-themed food. You can check their menu out here for the latest on Wilco-titled sandwiches from One Wing to Hoodoo Voodoo. As if you needed another reason to envy Canada. I will say this though. I haven’t been able to stop thinking of other Wilco sandwich names. I know you didn’t ask to hear them, but here they are:
Muzzle of Bees
Honeycomb cereal, bananas and salami all on cold Honey Wheat bread with honey mustard
Sunken Treasure
“It’s like eating a pirate!” Fried starfish, seaweed and pastrami on a pan-fried pair of boxer shorts with honey mustard
Candy Floss
Candy. Floss. Honey mustard.
That name again is Mr. Plow. Er-ah- Sky Blue Sky.
Naming Wilco sandwiches. Is that a career I could corner jump in on? I could do that all day. Though in the interest of your sanity and mine, I won’t. We’ve got to press on to other weird business. I mean that literally; this next guy’s name is Jake Weird:
Tweedy. Gyllenhall. Do I smell a cage match?
Jake has a thing for comparing Jeff Tweedy to actors, apparently. In one post he put up a bunch of pictures comparing the Wilco frontman to Jake Gyllenhall (pictured right), and in a more recent post, compared Tweedy to Emile Hirsch.
I’m not going to speak for everyone when I say this, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying, “Ah. You lost me.” For those of Tweed-Hirsch-llynhall heads who agree with Mr. Weird, check out his site here.
Mr. Tweedy’s all about the diet slush drinks.
Say the first name that pops into your head when you read the following combination of words: “Diet Coke” “Slurpee” “Folk Fest.” If you said “Nelson Mandela,” you’d be wrong. The name that you should have thought of was Jeff Tweedy.
An excerpt from SwerveCalgary.com tells the gripping (kinda) tale of one Folk Fest Volunteer’s at-first disappointing meeting with Wilco’s frontman, while revealing a ‘s strange, possibly short-fused side of Tweedy that many of us would not think exists.
Linden, can you go get Jeff Tweedy?’ ” The request marked Linden Ritchie’s first gig as a ground-transportation volunteer, a coveted position the musician/waste-management consultant says he begged for. “I’m like Forrest Gump,” says Ritchie. “I’ve met some pretty incredible people in my life, and I like that this role is where the common person meets with fame.” So, did his heart skip a beat when Wilco’s front man climbed into his van? “No. I’d never heard of him and anyway, he wasn’t friendly. He sat in the back and focused on his Blackberry for the entire 10-minute ride from his hotel to the Island.” When Ritchie turned on the radio, he says Tweedy glared at him and barked ‘Turn that down!’ “I wasn’t too impressed.”
Weird, right? It gets a bit weirder. Check here for the full story.
Uh-oh. Did you hear that? That sound means it’s time for the lightning round!
This article from Jew Eat Yet? (which gets my full and undying respect if only for the name) from Danny Miller, brother-in-law of Jeff Tweedy, is a very sweet recount of Tweedy’s 40th birthday in 2007.
This is a sweet video of Glenn Kotche composing Drum-kit quartets:
This is a story on Marina City in Chicago, the towers on the cover of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The AV Club also did a great piece on the “Wilco towers,” as they are now more commonly known.
This is a chat room for fans of Wilco. You know, like in case you time travel back to 1997 and are 12 years old.
This isn’t Wilco (the band) at all! Definitely signed up for the wrong mailing list. On the plus side, I’ve now got enough pop rivets to sink a battleship.
This is a glow-in-the-dark Wilco yo-yo! Yes, you read that correctly.
Finally, to end this week in weird, strange and interesting Wilco News, here are some rejected covers for Wilco’s last full-length album, Wilco (the album). I tried to pick and choose the best and least disturbing ones, but if you’d like to see them all (at your own risk) check out The Hidden Track.
Via Glide Magazine’s The Hidden Track:
Man, that was a lot of stuff! Weirded out enough? If not, check out some odd yet awesome covers of songs by and of Wilco.
And if you haven’t pre-orderedThe Whole Love yet, what’samadda you?
Solid Sound Fest ended June 26th, but that shouldn't stop us from living vicariously through videos & photos. Also, look at that bird! It's playing the guitar! How 'bout that!
While you’re registering for presales and waiting for tickets to go on sale for Wilco’s fall tour (or loudly sobbing in your shower wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans because the tickets you wanted sold out; I know I am), why not take a gander at some of these photos and videos from 2011′s Solid Sound Festival, featuring performances from cream-of-the-crop artists from around the music, art and comedy worlds? Yeah, that was a long sentence. Yes, it’s right. No, don’t spell check it.
Here’s a few more videos of performances from Solid Sound Fest, for your listening (and watching) pleasure:
