Wilco Redux

Another day, counting down to my next Wilco show… I can’t resist. Today I’m going to talk about how awesome Nels Cline is (again.)

For starters, check out this preview of Tuesday’s Wilco show in the Columbus Dispatch. It’s a good read, but doesn’t say much in particular about Nels Cline. This review, however, tells a different story.

“Cline is the band’s MVP, in fact, a veteran avant-garde musician passing as rock star who challenges the group constantly and contributes a good many of Wilco’s most exciting concert moments.

The sound he created with lap steel guitar, sometimes akin to the lead line emanating from a sitar, and the steam he generated on country tunes as well as rockers found much of the promise in Wilco’s distinctive style. When the band figured out how to make its unique sound feel fresh on the stage, it was generally Cline who could be thanked.”

Now check out Nels Cline’s solos on this live performance:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STvoZMkpRpY[/youtube]

Handshake Drugs

Cline is clearly on fire. As a guitar player, I see the things he does, hear them, and I cannot reconcile them with anything that I can even begin to perform. That could be largely due to my own ineptitude but… wow.

Have a look at this. I absolutely adore the way the guitar parts intertwine and complement one another:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97IT0-EDTtw[/youtube]

Impossible Germany

The video is from Shake It Off; the DVD that accompanied Sky Blue Sky.

 

Anyway, it’s Friday and long are the odds against me posting on a weekend so, I’ll catch you next week with a recap of the show! Oh, and somebody has a new album coming out that I want to talk about…

Two Birds, One Stone: Wilco & Sound Opinions

“Wilco, Wilco, Wilco… Is that all you think about?”

Well, no. But I try to keep this site family friendly.

Today I’m going to beat more Wilco into your brain and hip you to one of my favorite radio shows/podcasts.

Sound Opinions

Sound Opinions, billed as “The Worlds Only Rock & Roll Talk Show” is produced by Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) and American Public Media and is hosted by pop/rock critics, Jim DeRogatis (Chicago Sun-Times) and Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune.) They pick apart, not just the current releases in music, but also the news and the history in an entertaining and insightful manner. I check them out every week and I think you should too.

One of the other great things they do is host artists in their studio. Recent guests include: John Cale, Midlake (first time I’d heard them and I loved it), The Flaming Lips, Yoko Ono, The Decemberists, and Wilco. (You knew it was coming, right?)

Yep. Wilco was playing a show in their hometown of Chicago so Greg and Jim stopped by the venue for an interview and private performance. Check it out.

In case you’re too unmotivated to go to the Sound Opinons website witout some proper baiting, I’ll link you to one song from Wilco’s performance. For the rest you’ll have to go to the site (It’s worth it!)
Side With The Seeds (stream)

itunes podcast

Wilco Again!

Yeah, I’m excited to see these guys. Today, I’m going to bring you a few videos of Wilco doing what they do live.

First up is a fan-shot video from 2007-10-13 in Kansas City. The video is probably about par for fan-shot youtube clips but well, I dig it. Watch for Jeff’s dancing near the end.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmPIeUcSlmw[/youtube]

Hummingbird

 

Here’s a clip from one of the encores in Kansas City. This was shot from the front row.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHoSeTr_RVU[/youtube]

Hesitating Beauty

Ok. So, that was a bit chatty but you can see that they’re having a great time. This last one is a promo clip from the new album release. Sort of a live in the rehearsal space kinda thing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUI7oj-UgU[/youtube]

What Light

Next up: Wilco

Wilco 2007

So I alluded to this a ways back and, if I had regular readers, I’m sure that one of them might have wondered if I’d ever get back to it… Wilco is coming to town. Almost. But I’ll happily drive 50 miles to see them in a terrific outdoor venue with every confidence that it will totally kick ass. How, you ask, can I be so certain?

Wilco has been around for a long time but this current configuration has been together (on the road and in the studio) since just after the recording of 2004’s A Ghost Is Born. I’ve said a lot about their lead guitar player, Nels Cline, so I won’t go down that road today. Instead, I’ll talk about Jeff Tweedy; founder, songwriter, and sometimes shy frontman for the group.

Jeff Tweedy

Jeff Tweedy was a founding member of Uncle Tupelo (often considered a progenitor of the alt-country movement from the late 80’s/early 90’s.) When Uncle Tupelo parted ways in 1994, Jeff struck out on his own with several Tupelo band-members and called the group, Wilco. With Wilco, his songwriting has blaoosmed into very personal and engaging style while the music, changing continually over the years, seems to reflect his attitude toward the words themselves.

Early on, the songs were more lively, less personal, and the attitude was clear on Wilco’s debut, AM. By Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, however, the openness seems to have been harder to bear and the poignant songs were buried under swaths samples and distorted soundscapes. Now, after a very public split with collaborator and band member Jay Bennet (revealed for all to see in the documentary, “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,”) another dense, personal, album (the aforementioned, A Ghost Is Born) and a stint in rehab; Wilco is touring behind one of the best albums of Tweedy’s career, Sky Blue Sky.

Sky Blue Sky

Sky Blue Sky contains its share of personal, perhaps confessional, lyrics but the music supports the words rather than obscure or draw attention away from them. The record is also a good ‘band’ record with several of the songs being road-tested with the same band that is now out on the road.

Here’s a couple samples from Wilco’s September 21, 2007 show in Columbia, MO:
Heavy Metal Drummer (sendspace, 5mb)
Outta Mind (Outta Sight) (sendspace, 4mb)

Get the whole show and others (for free!) here, at bt.etree.org.

Wilco @ Bonnaroo
Wilco, when I last saw them at Bonnaroo.

 

Big Win for Gore, IPCC

nobel

The Nobel Foundation today announced that it will award the 2007 Nobel Peace prize to both Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Al Gore

I just want to add to the white noise of celebration for this award and congratulate Vice President Gore and the IPCC for this moment of recognition. Great work has been done to further the study and awareness of Climate Change and, hopefully, the weight of this award will give greater gravity to those who resist their teachings.

The only problem is that now, I think Gore is officially too good a man to be our president.