May 25, 2007
Review Of Wilco's Sky Blue Sky.
Buy it HERE
A therapist once diagnosed me with ‘transitional disorder’, which at the time I took as meaning I struggled being in new situations, which was true. It was also true, I’ve come realize four cities, three break ups, six houses, five jobs, and thirty or so roommates later that I am kind of addicted to them as well. This creates in me a constant state of transition and therefore a serious lack of comfort and peace.
The moods that are created by Wilco’s new album, Sky Blue Sky, are initially moods of comfort and peace and the mistake for any listener can be to assume that Wilco has gone soft, that Jeff Tweedy has dealt with his inner turmoil. While that last two Wilco records showed slight noise leanings in the direction of Sonic Youth, textural palates brought on by collaboration with Jim O’Rourke or full on migraine inducing feedback swells, those elements have been replaced with more retro, direct elements. In the DVD that accompanies the special edition of Sky Blue Sky Nels Cline refers to Buffalo Springfield and Joe Cocker. If A Ghost Is Born will go down as Wilco’s “experimental” record (a term Tweedy scoffs at) Sky Blue Sky is their “soul” record. But while it may sound like a comfortable record because of the sounds, a look at the context of the record still shows a band who continues to shock it’s listeners and especially its critics with every album.
Indie rock bands today are more concerned with creating a mood than writing actual songs. Whether it’s the retro sixties psychadelica of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or the ambient pop of Animal Collective or the over dramaticism of the Decemberists bands are more interested in becoming symbols of certain kinds of affectations then writing good songs. Our radio waves are filled with one trick ponies, that is to say that most bands stick to one thing they do well and either are afraid to venture away, or try and branch out to horrific results. If Colin Meloy wrote just one song that wasn’t about a vagabond or waif his head might explode. And this is climate that Wilco partially helped create, with the release of 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004’s A Ghost Is Born Wilco were close to becoming a symbol of something. They became close to being easily described as a weird pop band. There is a famous scene in Sam Jones' movie I Am Trying To Break Your Heart in which Jeff describe's Wilco's music as having "holes in the music" and no one understands what he's talking about. I am convinced that this became the mantra for wierd indie bands and their writing/arranging process. A new rash of label hating, electric piano playing, glockenspiel featuring bands took over the indie airwaves (see: The National, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). Now that thousands of bands are trying to do weird pop ala Wilco, labels are looking for bands like Wilco, and DJ’s want another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Sky Blue Sky is sort of fuck off to all of that.
So Wilco probably got together and asked themselves “What if we didn’t make the arrangement odd? What if this song didn’t feature a choir of auxiliary percussion? What the guitar solo wasn’t atonal? With if the sonic skeleton of these songs were present? The result is an album that is fresh despite it’s instant familiarity. This is an album made of songs not just textures and moods, but actual, real, good songs. The riddling lyrics of A Ghost Is Born have been replaced here with sweet, sentimental lyrics that give the most insight into Tweedy’s soul since Being There’s “Far Far Away”. He sings on the album’s closer “Please don’t cry/We’re designed to die” which is as simple and poignant at the same time as anything Dylan ever wrote. Tweedy evokes Dylan again in the melody of “What Light” as he sings what might be considered the ethos behind Sky Blue Sky “If you feel like singing a song…Just sing what you feel don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong”. These defiant lyrics combined with the super sleek studio musicianship Wilco displays on Sky Blue Sky call to mind Steely Dan, maybe the most secretly subversive band ever.
Sometimes, an addiction to transitions brings the addicted one to a place that seems comfortable but as the expression goes, once an addict always an addict. For those who admire Wilco for their restlessness, Sky Blue Sky may require their patience to hear it, but it is there. That’s what Wilco does, though; they make rock records that are never instantly understandable or even loveable for that matter. Their records are “growers”, the more you listen the more you love. With Sky Blue Sky, Wilco tells those who are looking for another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot now that they understand Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to guess again. Therein lies the beauty of Wilco, always changing, always the same, the new boss is same as the old boss. Sky Blue Sky is just as a rebellious and weird and strangely beautiful of a Wilco album as any of them, Wilco is just a little slyer in their approach this time around.
| By Totten | 01:58 PM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2007
Thoughts On Music, April 13 2007.
I just read on Pitchfork that Sonic Youth will be releasing the deluxe version of Daydream Nation on June 12. I can think of very few albums that I have had such a bizarre relationship with in my life.
When I was in 13, it was 1995 and I was into Pearl Jam more than anything else in the world. So I kept on reading them saying things about Sonic Youth. So I went out and bought Daydream Nation because it was the Sonic Youth CD I found with the coolest cover.
And it was totally over my head. My senior year in high school I went to see Pearl Jam at the giant arena in Atlanta, GA and Sonic Youth opened for them. By that time I at least had a bit of the concept of how revered this band was but it was still an awkward way to see them live. They were so far away and all the rednecks around me couldn't tolerate all the noise and feedback.
Daydream didn't really hit me until after I was out of college. So I got it when I was 13, but I reallly didn't get it until almost ten years later. Now it is still one of my favorite Sonic Youth albums/albums of anyone ever.
But I still don't get the grunge comparisons. Don't get me wrong, I understand completely why Ed Vedder and the Seattle crew loved Sonic Youth and I don't blame them. But when I was growing up, kids told me that if I loved Seattle music then I would adore Sonic Youth. To me they are two different things-
Pearl Jam is the Neil And Crazy Horse, Mudhoney is the Stooges, Soundgarden is the Led Zepplin, Nirvana was the Black Sabbath but Sonic Youth is like the Captain Beefheart- before all of it like early art rock and doing stuff on another level. And I think that the so called grunge bands would agree with me.
Not that there's anything wrong with being Led Zepplin, the Stooges, Black Sabbath or Crazy Horse.
| By Totten | 04:20 AM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2007
The Best Album Of 2007 So Far.
Deerhoof has always been good but the older they get the more they astound me. I love it when a band starts out wierd as hell and continues to get more and more pop sensability as they progress. "The Runner's Four", Deerhoof's last album was heralded as a messed up pop album but "Friend Oppurtunity" makes it look like Derek Bailey. Not that, it's all candy coded, the last track, "Look Away" is like a modern take on a Alfred Hitchcock soundtrack with no vocals. It's definetely wierd but alot of the wierdness has been replaced with, well, friendliness. It's Deerhoof as usual, but with a more obvious Stereolab influence. I'm pretty sure this will still be my favorite by the end of the year.
If you wanna buy it go HERE.
| By Totten | 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
