Wilco

[impy13]

I prefer Impossible Germany.

By like... a lot.

I'm a fan of "Impossible Germany." It's great live, features excellent guitar work, etc. etc. etc. "Unlikely Japan" just reminds me of my favorite Wilco moments so much. There's some serious YHF shit going on in there. If they made another album in that vein, my Wilcometer would go crazy.

And by that I meant my penis.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I should probably pop back into this thread to say Wilco (The Album) is officially my favorite LP of theirs.

kthnxby

Really? Wow. I have not bonded with it at all. But I will be listening to it more seriously when I get the actual CD this week.

I was downright annoyed by the song (not the performance) on Conan this week. I love the piano but the rest of it is so repetitious. And I haven't been knocked out by anything on the record yet. Hopefully it's a grower.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Well, I'd have been arrested for indecent exposure had I been there for this

Good God, she's hot.

 

[impy13]

You said it.

Impy. Impy. Impy will nail you, Feisty.

 

[Lancemc]

Really? Wow. I have not bonded with it at all. But I will be listening to it more seriously when I get the actual CD this week.

I've been trying to pin down exactly what it is about it recently. I think it's a number of things. Firstly, I think the band strikes probably the best balance between their playful tongue-in-cheek side and more serious personality in really each song, though some obviously lean more on one side or the other. I think they're always at their best with this mindset, and I have to admit I think some of the super-seriousness really brings down parts of Summerteeth and YHF. This new album feels much more mobile as well, and has a really fucking great track order. I don't think their albums have ever played so organically or with just this right amount of variety/mobility from one song to the next. As much as I love YHF, it can be sort of a slog from one song to the next if I'm not in the right mood.

However, I think the biggest reason is that on this album I feel they've really written songs whose content best compliments their sonic aesthetic. Ever song feels lyrically and musically "harmony" to a level I don't think they're ever achieved. The playful tracks are appropriately playful, the flightly lyrics sound appropriately flightly, the nervous and dark ones appropriately unstable and dark, etc. Which of course ties back into the points on variety and that tonal balance. That's part of the reason I think YHF fails for me some times, as the light songs and heavy songs all have this overpowering sonic aesthetic to them, and it really just works better for tracks than others. Same reason with the new Shuttlecock why, for example Cock Crazy is one of my favorite songs whereas Unknown Cocker is an abhorrent piece of shit, despite both having pretty rank lyrics. It's really a matter of form versus content.

And on a totally subjective level, I think the new album has some of the finest songs they've ever written. Bull Black Nova and One Wing are probably my top two favorites of theirs respectively.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Well damn. I just fell in love with the record by reading your review. Or at least you made me really excited to put it on and let it keep playing over and over in the background until it all sinks in. Thanks.

 

[LemonMelon]

I should probably pop back into this thread to say Wilco (The Album) is officially my favorite LP of theirs.

kthnxby

Huh. Well, good for you, Lance, you freaky old bastard, you. Personally, I dig the record and probably prefer it to Sky Blue Sky and AM, but it's not a record I can get lost in. Just doesn't have those dizzying highs that albums like A Ghost Is Born and Summerteeth have, nor the cohesion of YHF. It reminds me of NLOTH in a way...it starts out extremely promising and interesting, only to turn to mush somewhere in the middle, recovering near the end. Only NLOTH is a lot ballsier and consistently experimental. WTA has Deeper Down and Bull Black Nova, with Wilco (The Song) and One Wing functioning as the epic live tracks of the future, but what does the album offer past that point? I find You And I frustratingly pedestrian (albeit quite pretty), and I'm not even sure why a band like Wilco chose to write You Never Know and Country Disappeared. They're not awful, but seriously? This is the same band who played that chilling jam at the end of At Least That's What You Said? Man. Anyway, gets better from there, I like it overall, just can't see it being anywhere near their best work.

 

[impy13]

Only NLOTH is a lot ballsier and consistently experimental.

I lol'd.

 

[LemonMelon]

I lol'd.

Relative to an album that rehashes Sky Blue Sky for its entire second half, of course.

 

[Lancemc]

I lol'd.

hi fiv

 

[impy13]

Well, if Beano occasionally making a little intro that sounds like shit with the rest of the song, maybe throwing a bloop or bleep in there for good measure counts as experimentation, I don't know what to tell you.

And the second half of WTA is more reminiscent of Summerteeth and AM than anything. "Solitaire" and "Country Disappeared" are fantastic tunes that don't echo Sky Blue Sky at all.

 

[LemonMelon]

U2 changed up their sound from HTDAAB to NLOTH, Wilco made the same record twice. I'm only comparing NLOTH and WTA here; in the grand scheme of things, both are pretty safe.

 

[Lancemc]

What a actually really love about songs like Country Disappeared and Solitaire and even stuff like Sunny Feeling is that are just classically composed, really "perfect" sounding songs, without the band feeling they need to dress it up in musical shenanigans or justify Nels Cline joining the band (*coughskyblueskycough*).

And I'll take that any day over the unlistenable droll wankery of Summerteeth.

 

[impy13]

Wilco made the same record twice.

I completely (respectfully, though) disagree with this, but at least they're both good records SBS and WTA were made by a comfortable band. No Net smacks of desperation in addition to the self-seriousness that has been a huge part of the Shuttlecock aesthetic for too long now.

 

[Lancemc]

U2 changed up their sound from HTDAAB to NLOTH, Wilco made the same record twice. I'm only comparing NLOTH and WTA here; in the grand scheme of things, both are pretty safe.

They didn't make the same record twice at all. If anything Sky Blue Sky comes off more like a slight prelude to the new record, which itself it far more versatile and open aesthetically, and really the entire band has upped their game musically this go around.

NLOTH on the other hand is still a shit sandwich, only on whole wheat bread instead of HTDAAB's moldy white. I really think my enthusiasm for that album earlier this year was entirely fueled by the fact that it was better than HTDAAB and little else.

 

[LemonMelon]

And I'll take that any day over the unlistenable droll wankery of Summerteeth.

Last time I checked, Less Than You Think was on A Ghost Is Born.

 

[Lancemc]

Yeah, also I don't want to come off sounding hostile towards LM or anything, I'm not at all. Although I am with Impy on No Line these days.

 

[Lancemc]

Last time I checked, Less Than You Think was on A Ghost Is Born.

I'd try to make a similar joke in retort, unfortunately I can't remember any particular song titles from Summerteeth as they're all so indistinguishable from one another.

 

[impy13]

"Hey, Beano. We've made two awful records in a row and need to at least pretend we still care about making good music. Can you help push the envelope a little bit?"

"Sure, we'll just have a few songs longer than five minutes, a couple wacky intros, and some completely uninspired guitar playing the young kids might see as ironic and therefore 'cool.' But deep down, it's just going to be the same shit with the word 'love' in every single song and a lot of whoooaaoaaaa ohhhhhhhh stuff. And in the middle, we'll have a song about standing up for love (of course!) that will sound like fucking Dave Matthews Band."


Yes, No Net is a bit different than Atomic Serve. But everyone has just convinced themselves it's so great solely because it sucks a little less.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, also I don't want to come off sounding hostile towards LM or anything, I'm not at all. Although I am with Impy on No Line these days.

No, it's cool. I realize I'm one of the handful of B&C's regulars who considers NLOTH one of the very best albums of year at this stage.

Agreed on Unknown Caller though. Fucking hell, what a trainwreck.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

How To Dismantle My Big Atomic Cock > No Net

 

[Irishteen]

How To Dismantle My Big Atomic Cock > No Net

I am never gonna be able to understand people with this opinion, Bomb sounded like they were completely unsure of themselves and the production on the album just completely kills it

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I just think the songs are better.

 

[Irishteen]

I guess my problem with Bomb is not the songs it's just the album, the songs are fine but the earbleeding guitars of All Because of You and Crumbs are just too much, as much as U2 talk about Pop needing to be rerecorded and fixed, Bomb sounds like it needs it a lot more. But this is the Wilco thread so I'll shut up now seeing as I still haven't got around to listening to the Wilco album at all, everything I've heard from non-fanboys seems to hint that it's either their weakest or one of them, so I think I'd rather hear some more of their back-catalogue before hearing Wilco the album

I hate Wilco (The Song) on principle of being the dumbest song title ever

 

[impy13]

I hate Wilco (The Song) on principle of being the dumbest song title ever

"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight."

 

[Irishteen]

"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight."

At least it's not "U2'll Go Crazy if They Don't Go Crazy Tonight"

Putting your band name in a song is like...I don't know what it's like because I thought it was beyond stupid before Wilco did it

 

[Lancemc]

I hate Wilco (The Song) on principle of being the dumbest song title ever

You don't get it.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I listened to the album a lot the week that it leaked, but the sound quality of the version I had was terrible at high volume, so I haven't listened to it much since. I do like it, and there are some songs (One Wing especially) that I love, but I'm not sure I love the album as a whole yet. I'm waiting to hear the better-quality official release before I say much more about it.

And whether I love the album or not, Wilco pwns live, and a new album means they'll be on the road a lot in the coming year.

 

[Diemen]

Just got back from seeing Wilco at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Awesome show - they do indeed pwn live. Tight performances, great sound (even way up on the hill where we were), great crowd, too. I was amazed at how faithful they stayed to the sonically dense stuff from YHF - I guess I sort of assumed that wouldn't be totally reproducible live, but damned if they didn't nail 'em.

 

[phillyfan26]

At least it's not "U2'll Go Crazy if They Don't Go Crazy Tonight"

Putting your band name in a song is like...I don't know what it's like because I thought it was beyond stupid before Wilco did it

"Death to Los Campesinos!" is a fantastic song, and it's the first song on Los Campesinos! first album.