Sky Blue Sky

March 10, 2007 11:33 PM

Hear the new Wilco album on March 11. 7am - 7pm PST. Get the first track here (zipped mp3).
posted by jimmythefish (55 comments total)

As Wolf Notes said so perfectly,

" At some point, Wilco stopped trying to expand their sound. I suppose in some cases that’s good—a band should never expand their sound for the sake of expanding their sound if it’s not the right move. But this is some Randy Newman horse shit. And then you’ve got the organs in the background that make me cringe because they remind me of Fastball, and the intermittent explosively diarrhetic guitar solos from the guy who looks like David Bowie, and you just know he’s playing them with like a shish-kebob skewer and a mannequin leg."

I love Wilco (YHF still ranks as one of the great albums of all time for me), but this is some pathetic irony soaked excess.
posted by lattiboy at 11:45 PM on March 10, 2007

I keep trying to catch them when they come to Nashville ,so far no luck :(
posted by nola at 11:46 PM on March 10, 2007

there will probably be a lot of shit-sayers on this thread, but i'd like to say thanks. and/or (awesome:thanks, dude...)
posted by es_de_bah at 11:48 PM on March 10, 2007

lattiboy...given A Ghost Is Born's brilliance I'm willing to tune in tomorrow for a good listen to the rest of it.
posted by jimmythefish at 11:56 PM on March 10, 2007

Hear it six days ago. Didn't even know there was a new album coming out, much less that it'd been leaked already.
posted by unmake at 11:57 PM on March 10, 2007

According to the Guardian this is one of the cds to look out for this spring. They have a review of the Wilco cd.
posted by jouke at 11:58 PM on March 10, 2007

lattiboy...given A Ghost Is Born's brilliance I'm willing to tune in tomorrow for a good listen to the rest of it.

First of all, thanks for posting this. I really do appreciate it and had I not quite accidentally seen this the other day, this would be my first exposure.

Having said that, I quite illegally downloaded the album yesterday and have listened to it 3 times so I am not railing against this particular song. I would argue against your comment about "A Ghost Is Born" being anything near brilliant (outside of "Muzzle of Bees" and "Hell Is Chrome"), but after you hear this album and the sheer laziness and derivitiveness of it I might seem less militant. I feel like Wilco realized they could just dick around with some simple melodies and antiquated instruments, add stock and sloppy atonal guitar licks, top it off with some low rent confessional lyrics, and every idiot (myself included) would just salivate at the chance to hear some new material. I sound extreme because of the deep disapointment I feel about this one...
posted by lattiboy at 12:04 AM on March 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

A Ghost Is Born has really grown on me, as have all Wilco albums. Not sure I've been immediately awestruck with any of them, YHF included. To pan it after such a short amount of time might not be giving it a fair shake, but then I've yet to hear it and I might indeed come to the same conclusion. Hope not. I'd grab the illegal copy tonight but I'm too tired and must go to bed...
posted by jimmythefish at 12:16 AM on March 11, 2007

A Ghost Is Born has really grown on me, as have all Wilco albums.

You know, I have the exact same expeirence with most Wilco albums (YHF excluded, loved it from the first play), but even when I found an album too long (Being There) or too simple (A.M.), I always had something that brought me back to listen. Not so much with "Sky Blue Sky". Great bands always have a stinker or two, I guess Wilco was due......
posted by lattiboy at 12:27 AM on March 11, 2007

Is there a service that I can subscribe to that would protect me from ever hearing or hearing about Wilco ever again?
posted by loquacious at 12:28 AM on March 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Sorry, that was harsh. I should explicate, in that I don't feel mainstream Grammy-winning pop artist album releases are generally Metafilter-worthy. The news of the release and the "free preview" is on just about every news/link site I've visited today. It's basically free marketing for the music industry for what amounts to a tailored and marketed product - L.C.D., Q.E.D.

Further, I feel that their sound is derivitive because the traditional rock-pop ensemble's corpse probably initially started rotting back in the mid to late 60s. You can cross-pollinate all you want. It's still 3-5 dudes with a couple of guitars and a drum kit singing the post-folk ghosts that the recording industry invented from whole-cloth in the first place.

Or: You can't breed elephants or crocodiles from donkeys. Donkeys and donkeys just get you more donkeys.
posted by loquacious at 1:47 AM on March 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Zipped MP3s? How efficient.
posted by Jimbob at 1:58 AM on March 11, 2007

The zipping is to keep you from streaming it. It's actually rather smart, because there are a ton of morons that will just go to your website every time they want to listen to it instead of just downloading it. Also, myspace users love to embed shit. Bad news for your bandwidth bill.
posted by blasdelf at 3:21 AM on March 11, 2007

Hear the new TwoWordReview acoustic cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model" right now.

Then scroll down for lots more.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:07 AM on March 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

You know, if you don't like Wilco, don't read the thread.

Personally, I prefer Son Volt to Wilco, but I can't deny that YHF is a magnificent work. As to Wilco constantly changing the sound and such, dudes. Tweedy. Duh.
posted by eriko at 5:16 AM on March 11, 2007

I respect anyone's taste but to my ear this sounds like warmed-over Peter Case...
posted by twsf at 6:00 AM on March 11, 2007

When someone did this for TV on the Radio, the post was deleted as: "Eh, your favorite thing has a new thing. Not really FPP material." So good-bye to this post.
posted by Eideteker at 6:16 AM on March 11, 2007

Kind of a crappy post but still "Yea, a new Wilco album!" I like the sound of that one song but it seems like they're reverting their sound somewhat. It sounds more like their stuff from the late nineties than the last two albums.
posted by octothorpe at 6:36 AM on March 11, 2007

When someone did this for TV on the Radio, the post was deleted...

Hmmm, that's interesting, Eideteker, particularly since TVotR are not nearly as famous as Wilco. I'll be curious to see if this Wilco post also gets the axe, and if not, I guess I'd have to wonder why. Maybe because Wilco are perceived as being so web-friendly? In that heart-warming, "we give our music away" way? I know that's really won them a lot of points with a whole generation of folks who, truth be told, pretty much feel entitled to get all the music they wanna listen to as free downloads.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:40 AM on March 11, 2007

I've had the opposite experience than many of you. Given all I've read about SBS, I was expecting to absolutely hate it. But I actually like it a lot. Very much a departure from the previous two records. ... I like it better than Ghost is Born. Maybe it's 'cause I'm getting older.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 6:46 AM on March 11, 2007

this is good
posted by edverb at 7:17 AM on March 11, 2007

I've been listening to it for a while now, and I don't think it's necessarily bad -- it's certainly not what we were expecting, of course. it's different.
posted by matteo at 7:36 AM on March 11, 2007

I'm glad they've abandoned the 11 minute guitar noodling marathons for this album.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 8:19 AM on March 11, 2007

I like it better than Ghost is Born. Maybe it's 'cause I'm getting older sez Ike_Arumba, and I tend to agree. Wilco has provided the soundtrack to my thirties. And they music is kid-friendly. My son was born in 2002, and he has grown up with Wilco (he likes Summerteeth the best, especially Shot in the Arm). The musical experimentation is great, but the music resonates on an emotional level...blah blah blah.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:44 AM on March 11, 2007

PST or PDT?
posted by smackfu at 9:08 AM on March 11, 2007

i'm with lattiboy on this one. for me, "yankee" was a 10, "ghost" was a 2, and "sky" is a 5.
posted by fac21 at 9:09 AM on March 11, 2007

Or: You can't breed elephants or crocodiles from donkeys. Donkeys and donkeys just get you more donkeys.

i shouldn't even be responding to this but....so the eff what!? there's good music and there's bad music....who the hell cares where it came from. most everything in music is derivitive on some level. specifically about music i don't get this argument...it's like your saying they're derivitive to begin with so they shouldn't create this music. to me it is another donkey....but it also just happens to be good music (IMHO).
posted by oliver_crunk at 9:10 AM on March 11, 2007

I'm about 4 songs in and I like it. I have nothing further to offer.
posted by mmahaffie at 9:12 AM on March 11, 2007

(he likes Summerteeth the best, especially Shot in the Arm).

Me too!!!

The news of the release and the "free preview" is on just about every news/link site I've visited today. It's basically free marketing for the music industry for what amounts to a tailored and marketed product - L.C.D., Q.E.D.

That's the text. The subtext is that the stream has been (will be soon) ripped by now and is purportedly available on every imaginable sharing network. Which is FPP worthy news.
posted by carsonb at 9:19 AM on March 11, 2007

It's a very safe, very MOR, album. I've had a copy of SBS for about a week and I do like it, but as Wilco grow older, there's increasingly less "oomph" in their music.
posted by TheDonF at 9:25 AM on March 11, 2007

Thanks for the link. I saw them in Austin some forever ago. Maybe 10 years ago? They were loud and fast live. It was incredible. The distance between them recorded and them live (at the time) was huge.

Yeah, Tweedy understands music. I think he also rocks at arrangement of instruments for recording songs, too.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 9:39 AM on March 11, 2007

Thanks for posting. I had no idea a new album was due.
posted by hwickline at 10:43 AM on March 11, 2007

Listening to Jeff Tweedy, I can't help but be overwhelmed by the uncontrollable onslaught of utter and complete boredom and vacuity that he manages to stuff into every syllable of every song he writes. I believe that that boredom is something that soaks into every aspect of his life.

Oddly, it's also the same sneaking nothingness that I feel every time I listen to his music. And it's why I can't stand it. It's very difficult to believe that this band was capable of something punkish ten years ago.

Blah.
posted by koeselitz at 10:54 AM on March 11, 2007

Someone--I forget who--wrote that it was Jay Bennett's tense relationship with Tweedy that gave the band its creative spark. Certainly anyone who's seen I Am Trying to Break Your Heart would have to agree that Bennett was the only one in the band who seemed willing to seriously challenge Tweedy over the direction of the music. After listening to the new songs, and going back and listening to A Ghost Is Born again, I'm increasingly inclined to agree with this bit of reasoning.

That said, I'm still going to run out and buy this the day it hits the shelves.
posted by Rangeboy at 11:11 AM on March 11, 2007

The album art sure is pretty.
posted by pfafflin at 11:12 AM on March 11, 2007

I don't know what most of you are blathering on about, this a cause for celebration, and by God, I'm going to celebrate.
posted by Fat Buddha at 11:29 AM on March 11, 2007

For the record, I am in a band with one of the producers for Being There. I rehearse every week sitting underneath his gold record. Honestly, they got kinda dull around YFT. I hope I dig this one.

I live in the city (Springfield, MO) where Jeff Tweedy "decked" a fan. I did some legwork to try to discover who did it (I figured it's a small enough town, it should be easy) but to no avail.
posted by sourwookie at 12:34 PM on March 11, 2007

I'm with Rangeboy about Jay Bennet. I think this goes along with what KokoRyu said above about the music needing to resonate on an emotional level.

It seems to me that what made Wilco's first four albums worth listening too was the interplay between Tweedy's experimentalist sensibility and Bennet's pop sensibility. It was in full, glorious flower on "Summerteeth", but you could see it going is some of the coldness of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", and it was completely missing on "A Ghost Is Born".

I've yet to listen to SKS, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high. Hope it does more for me than "A Ghost is Born", though.
posted by hwestiii at 12:41 PM on March 11, 2007

I am a man with three penises, two of which are functional. I find Wilco to be all of what everybody has said so far and more. You should weigh my opinion more heavily than anyone else's because, of course, I have at least one more functioning penis than most users, and two more than all the women and some of the men.

Of course, you can also weigh my opinion a little less because I have one penis that does not function, which is also probably more than most people.

Anyhow, I believe that the only correct opinions on music come from people with more penises, and I'm sure you do, too.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:54 PM on March 11, 2007 [7 favorites]

Wilco's my favorite band - YHF & Ghost are, in my mind, equally great albums, with perhaps a nod to Yankee for the ingenuity of it all. This album is terrible. This is how I felt when Kid A came out after OK Computer.
posted by jonson at 1:22 PM on March 11, 2007

re: rangeboy and hwestiii

there's a point where the band stopped being wilco and started being jeff tweedy's backing band, and i think jay bennet was certainly a deterrent in things going that direction. if we want to get really specific, his leaving isn't necessarily the marker. it's arguable that the band was never tighter live than the period in between the official releases of YHF and Ghost.

(also, toss out AM and include the Mermaid Ave series in your definition of the Jay Bennet era)
posted by pokermonk at 1:36 PM on March 11, 2007

I heard Joey Michaels got one of his penises from Marylin Manson and the other from that kid with the glasses on Wonder Years. I heard he did it for David Bowie and Mick Jagger. He donated a good fluid once for Rod Stewart too.

That's what I heard.

Marylin's is the one that doesn't function.
posted by DragonBoy at 1:36 PM on March 11, 2007

Oh, Yeah. I love Mermaid Avenue!
posted by sourwookie at 2:02 PM on March 11, 2007

Anyhow, I believe that the only correct opinions on music come from people with more penises, and I'm sure you do, too.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:54 PM PST on March 11

I am favoriting that as hard as I can. Dude, you win the thread. On account of all the penises.
posted by blasdelf at 2:07 PM on March 11, 2007

This album is a disappointment to me. What's going on rhythmically? Nothing. And the vocals - Jeff Tweedy has always walked the line between ennui and soulfulness in a way that I appreciated, but here he just falls right off on the side of who-gives-a-shit. Everything about these songs is boring.

I love Wilco like what, so I am going to try to forget this music exists.

Fame ruins everyone eventually, I guess.
posted by mai at 2:41 PM on March 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

I am a man with three penises, two of which are functional. I find Wilco to be all of what everybody has said so far and more. You should weigh my opinion more heavily than anyone else's because, of course,

I would be more than happy to "weigh" your "opinion" if you'd actually express one instead of blathering on endlessly about your mutated crotchberries.

Which, in my opinion, are perfectly fabulous, but you could honestly use a few more. I mean, just look at Dean and Gene Ween. Between the two of them they have like 17 and a half penises. And I heard Bruce Dickinson has 129. Before he was just Mr. Inson, but now look at him!
posted by loquacious at 2:51 PM on March 11, 2007

I didn't like it at the first listen, but I have been rocking it in my car all week, and I really enjoy it, mostly "Side with the Seeds"... But then again, Wilco is by far my favorite band... A Ghost is Born is my fav still, though.
posted by sindas at 3:10 PM on March 11, 2007

always liked the lads...

their practice loft is just down the road from me.

Knew Tweedy's wife when she was still running a bar on Lincoln Ave.

I guess there is a point with every band that they start sounding too much like themselves...

YHF remains a lesson for all new bands
posted by timsteil at 5:06 PM on March 11, 2007

I think this record is pretty good. "Impossible Germany" is one of the best songs Wilco has ever made.

For the record, I am in a band with one of the producers for Being There. I rehearse every week sitting underneath his gold record

Thats gone gold? Awesome!
posted by Senor Cardgage at 5:11 PM on March 11, 2007

There was a Sigur Ros concert that you could listen to on the intartubes some time back, as well.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:18 PM on March 11, 2007

Coming soon to your town, Loquacious and the Mutated Crotchberries!

Seriously though, do you know what the kids are listening to these days? I found out last night. Flipped past a video channel, and saw something called "Fall Out Boy".

This Wilco sounds pretty good in comparison.
posted by Jimbob at 5:42 PM on March 11, 2007

Lots on my mind with this:

1. I completely ruined a couple of Son Volt albums for myself by obsessively checking out previews and demos and live versions before the album came out; then, when I heard the actual records, there was nothing special about hearing it, it was just a bunch of, "oh, so that's how it sounded in the studio," without any real ability to engage the album as a unified piece of work. Since then I've tried really hard not to spoilerize myself; It's been tough to do that with Sky Blue Sky.

2. I've been a big Wilco fan from way back; I hated Ghost at first, but it grew on me pretty big time (except I still think the pain-inducing drone at the end of "Less Than You Think" was a horribly self-indulgent, masturbatory touch). I'm nervous about what I've heard about Sky, but I wonder if it has the potential to grow with time, too.

3. Even though I still really enjoy 90% of his musical output, I've hit a point where the more I learn about Jeff Tweedy as a person, the lower my opinion of him goes. Jay Farrar's side of the Uncle Tupelo breakup is pretty damning.

4. That said, here's a good side about Wilco and Tweedy: I just finished reading a book by SemiSonic's drummer about his experience in the band. It's largely about getting screwed over by major labels, and it's an eye-opener-- even though I was well aware in the abstract of the ways bands get hosed, it was a new thing to see a daily list of particulars. I felt badly for him/them for a while, thinking that Semisonic were pure victims of an unfair system. But then I started thinking that Wilco did nearly the exact same thing they did-- key member of well-regarded, low-selling band forms new group, immediately starts major-label career without laying groundwork (just sub Tweedy and Uncle Tupelo in for Dan Wilson and Trip Shakespeare)-- but actually managed to accomplish something more than a catchy single and a bunch of expensive haircuts.
posted by COBRA! at 7:21 AM on March 12, 2007

Thanks for the post! I'm sorry I missed it on the 11th. I don't know if this is FPP-worthy in some abstract Perfect Metafilter universe, but on my dream Metafilter, there'd be a new Wilco album every day.

I don't like every song of theirs, but there are are some good songs on every album (with increasing density over time), and when they're good, they're extraordinary. I don't demand innovation or reject it; they're just damn fine musicians. Their sound is very loose in some ways and very tight in others, and the when the balance is just right, there are very few bands I like better.
posted by grimmelm at 10:47 AM on March 12, 2007

I've only heard What Light. I'm digging that so far. Sounds like the old Wilco. Pre-YHF. I'm hoping the rest of the album brings more of that. If i wanted to hear experimental crap, i'd listen to Radiohead.
posted by jbelshaw at 11:11 AM on March 12, 2007

I'm still on the fence. The Badfinger/Steely Dan/whole 70's rock thing is almost distractingly obvious, to the point where I'm too busy playing "Name where I've heard this before" to pay attention to the music.

Wasn't a huge fan of AGiB either - Tweedy & Co. seemed far too aware that they were following up YHF, and though there were some good songs on it, they were better live.

Still, probably my favorite band.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:30 AM on March 12, 2007