July 1, 2009

wilco (the suck)

there is a moment in the song you never know that i think perfectly sums up wilco (the album). as the song limps to a close jeff tweedy plaintively wails "i don't care anymore - i don't care anymore - i don't care anymore - i don't care anymore". and that's exactly what this album sounds like to me - a smugly self-satisfied band lost in the bloat of middle age making rock 'n roll for men who wear pleated shorts and sperry topsiders on the weekend. this album just isn't very good. in fact at times it's embarrassingly bad. it's beach blanket, cheap beer, meat on a stick, passed out in the port-a-john summer amphitheater concert series bad.

which is why i don't understand all of the "positive" reviews it's been getting. pitchfork - rolling stone - paste - the chicago tribune all give this album a ringing endorsement. and yet if you read the reviews they all say essentially the same thing. the songs aren't very strong - there's really nothing new here - but it's a nice summary of all the various stylistic turns the band has taken through the years wrapped up in a neat little package. so the record isn't good but you liked it anyway? i'm confused...reading those reviews made me think of john madden and his blind brett favre devotion - "i know he just cost his team the game with that interception - but he's having so much fun out there!"

sure there are nice musical moments here and there on wilco (the toss-off)- but it's all been done before. the strongest song on the record one wing is essentially impossible germany with a bigger chorus. in fact there are a lot of songs that sound like they were built on the template of earlier better wilco songs. imitation is the sincerest form of hackery. it's a fun game - feel free to play along:

wilco (the song) - one of the few on the record that could actually be accused of having a tempo is crafted around the barebones chassis of can't stand it.

bull black nova is spiders/kidsmoke (and the less said about that the better).

i'll fight apes the intro from at least that's what you said before melting into a note for note for note re-imagining of the sbs closer on and on and on

and finally you and i sticks a knife in the back of jesus etc and takes its lunch money. and it's horrible. it makes me want to commit murder. why have the much lauded if decidedly un-feisty feist appear on your record if she's only there to laconically mimic the melody. it adds nothing to the song. in fact there are a couple of glaring instances where she and jeff tweedy aren't in sync at all. and it sounds like bad wilco karaoke night with your host leslie feist.

perhaps i'm being too harsh. but i really don't think so. because the lazy songs and the muddy production belie the fact that wilco are a phenomenal band. it would be impossible to lodge a complaint about the playing on the record. but would it kill you to break a sweat? come on man - i miss this band rocking. i miss the shimmering pop hooks. i miss everything that was and still could be great about this band. so what happened? who stole the magic? i for one am pointing the finger of blame at nels cline. actually that's not fair. i should probably blame jeff tweedy. because if you look at his history he has a tendency to take on the sound of his most prominent sideman. see jays farrar and bennett. and while nels is a phenomenal guitarist and an excellent showman he doesn't really rock. he's a jazz player. and that sound has sort of consumed the last couple of records.

and look a lot of people (some around these parts) eviscerated sky blue sky for being somnambulant yacht rock. and while i can appreciate the argument - i still find it a very satisfying record that i can listen start to finish and it just makes me feel groovy baby. and hey - even if it wasn't your cup of tea it was new territory. so... i don't know what exactly needs to happen here to repair this relationship. but i'm certainly willing to consider counseling. because hey - it's been 15 years. 15 dizzyingly satisfying years. but suddenly i find myself having reservations about so many things - including you.

| By young_christopher | 9:44 AM | Comments (8)

June 24, 2009

she don't know if he's got the wedding ring on

if jeff tweedy and the boys don't step up their game they are in grave danger of losing me forever. to a younger, hungrier lover. it's not that i'm not in love with wilco anymore - because i am. i really really, really do. most of the happiest moments of my life have been experienced with them by my side. its just that...well. it's been fifteen years and judge me if you must. but, whenever spencer krug walks into a room my heart starts pounding, my stomach implodes, and i just can hardly help grinning from ear to ear. who knew cheating could be so much fun? happy sunset rubdown y'all!

| By young_christopher | 9:44 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2009

le balloon!

in case you haven't noticed - my writing here in this forum has been a bit "sporadic" of late - and when i have written the conversation has tended to revolve around music. which i'm totally cool with. because as has been well established by now - i love music. but if there is one thing i love more than music it is the streak. i've had a few notable and legendary streaks in my life - but perhaps the most famous(infamous?) was the one that entailed me not shedding any actual tears since the tender age of fifteen.

it was at disney world. right by cinderella's castle. and i was wearing my sunglasses at night...which apparently even corey hart thinks is pretty cliche. but whatever corey...as i recall i was completely and utterly heartbroken over a girl named beulah (of all things) three years my senior - who had spent the entire weekend flirting with my older brother. and in the interest of fairness - i am much, much cooler than my older brother...but he always had that indefinable "it" that has eluded my whole livelong life...anyway that's not important.

what is important is this: last weekend i was in ashvelle, and i convinced my sister and her husband that we should take the kids to see up. because for my money there's nothing better than watching a child watch a really cool movie. and so we did. after church on sunday we ate a quick lunch and headed to the theater whilst singing the let's go to the movies song from annie. and in the interest of full disclosure i only knew the words from the chorus but eve imogen was all over the rest. which makes my heart happy.

and so we settled in with our popcorn and our refreshing beverages as the previews rolled and then the the lights went down - and then...it finally happened. the first fifteen minutes of up was just so heartbreakingly perfect i couldn't help myself. which is really shocking because sentimentality usually does nothing for me. even simon and garfunkle contend that i am more rock & island than they could ever hope to be...but the way they captured the first fifty years of carl's (seriousl - carl? i get the hint!)
life was just....well it was pretty much perfect. i'll admit it got to me. damn you pixar! the streak has ended. i cried. actual tears...and it was glorious! what a fantastic movie....!

as an aside. i've always been averse to fully realised computer animation versus 2-d/real animation (the iron giant will forever be the greatest animated film ever filmed) but those kids over at pixar know how to tell a really, really great story...the best part of the movie for me though was the aforementioned enjoyment of sitting between my oldest niece and nephew and watching them watch the movie...seeing their faces and listening to the unbridled cackling/laughter (squirrel!!!) and then looking down the aisle to see my not yet two year old niece - eyes glazed over in hopeless awe i couldn't help remembering what it felt like to be a child glued to a movie screen watching....for me it was diney's robin hood ....but you can fill in the blank as you see fit.... i may be a snob when it comes to music - but i am hopelessly helpless when it comes to film - and it's nice to know that i am still susceptible to magique and i can still get lost in that childlike wonder. and that can be a wonderful thing. anyway...just thought you might like to know. now go see this film. stat!

| By young_christopher | 11:37 PM | Comments (1)

June 4, 2009

Acid wash? We're seriously doing that again?

Look, I know I've said things about fashion that I've had to retract, and I know I'm trying to be a more bold, daring dresser, but there a few things that I simply cannot handle seeing while I innocently browse the shops, and I am certain that I will never cease my objections to these abominations.*

I'll begin with the store to which I inevitably turn for cheap clothes whenever the weather changes. The terrible and wonderful H&M. Let's take a look at an ad that features some of what they've been throwing at us:

I take particular issue with two of these "cool girls," starting on the right with Yana the film student. Yes, that's a body suit; yes, those are acid wash jeans; and no I have no idea what's happening on the side of her head. But I do know that this whole ensemble (raggedy hair flipped to the side included) is a blatant rip-off of a girl named Jennifer who was in my 8th grade class. In 1993. I was never allowed to own a body suit because they were "trashy." I love you, mom.

My second issue is with Amanda the "model/blogger" (which...whatever) in the tight, shiny romper. Rompers, people. They are everywhere, and I cannot tell you how many times I've thought for a moment I was looking at a cute sundress (I'm looking at you Anthropologie) only to discover that the skirt part is in fact, shorts. No. Thanks. Making these unfortunate articles of clothing tight, shiny, and strapless is just beyond ridiculous.

The topic of the romper fashion extravaganza naturally leads one to consider its wretched sibling, the jumpsuit. On virtually every clothing website these days, you now have "Romper" and/or "Jumpsuit" as a handy selection in or near the Pants category. Celebrities are seen out and about in them constantly these days. Consider this Chloe jumpsuit that costs $2,175 at Nordstrom:

"Total waste of fabric and a sexy top" comes immediately to mind, followed immediately by "pain in the ass to deal with when you have to pee." Is a diaper joke tempting you? Resist! It's far too obvious, particularly when you see the back. I'm too lazy to upload the picture so if you're dying of curiosity, here you go.

I can't get away from these things. I see acid wash all the time now, even in jacket and skirt form (okay, I've only really seen it like three times on an actual person). I don't even know why a woman would feel compelled to wear those doofy harem pants and jumpsuits. Why? What's wrong with a cute sundress? Or just pants and a shirt? Certain of the rompers...I can kind of get. Maybe. Like on windy days there's significantly less chance of a panty reveal. Still, though, I look forward to putting this fashion trend behind us.

*famous last words, I know. shut up.

| By heidi | 5:11 PM | Comments (2)

June 3, 2009

reason number 575....

....to never leave home without a digital camera. you never know when you will bump into a jonas brother at the cool springs galleria mall. technology can be a bitch y'all!

| By young_christopher | 8:00 PM | Comments (1)

May 29, 2009

we were surprised to find so much inside

2002 was a strange year to be a wilco fan. the release of yankee hotel foxtrot proved to be a watershed moment for a band that seemed comfortably destined to wear the label "best band you've never heard of". the controversy surrounding the release of this particular album turned out to be something of a perfect storm (sans - george clooney). the record company famously rejected the record and ultimately dropped the band from the label. which paved the way nicely for the fanboy critics who had always loved wilco to effusively emote over the state of the record industry. after all - if a band of this magnitude - at their creative zenith could not get a masterpiece released what hope could there possibly be for the future of recorded music. if the florid prose was not enough, it also happened that sam jones - a professional photographer turned novice film maker - was in the process of making a documentary of the recording of yhf while all of this shit was going down.

there's an infamous scene in this film - i am trying to break your heart - that focuses on an argument between jay bennett and jeff tweedy regarding how the intro to heavy metal drummer should be edited. the scene ends with tweedy puking in the restroom and jay later fumbling for a hug and some re-assurance that everything is going to be okay. and of course the viewers at home know going in it's not going to be okay....in many ways that scene served to define jay bennett for a lot of people. and that's really unfortunate. because for all of his awkward quirkiness the man - who passed away on sunday at the age of 45 - was the soul of wilco. there. i said it.

it is ironic that the documentary and the making of the album that it chronicled ushered in something of a golden age of wilco. it seemed like almost overnight they transformed from alt-country darlings to what rolling stone(?) dubbed the midwestern radiohead. jeff tweedy was hailed as the voice of some non-specific generation and suddenly it became harder to get a ticket to a show. and i know as and ardent fan all of this should have filled me with a deep sense of satisfaction. because i had been faithful for such a long time, preaching the gospel to the masses never expecting anything in return, and the band that i loved was finally getting the validation they so richly deserved.

but the truth is this wasn't the band i had grown to love. listen. jeff tweedy is a national treasure and someday he is certain to be counted somewhere among the great songwriters of my lifetime. but if you listen to that first wilco offering...it was so raw and so unsure of itself. certainly there are great songs on a.m. but you had to be patient if you expected to reap the rewards. i liked the record quite a bit but at that time in my life if i had to choose a side in the warring factions of former uncle tupelo fans i would have sided firmly with the jay farrar/son volt crowd.

that all changed in the summer of '97 (sorry bryan adams) i was perusing the cd rack at apartment p-103 on kendall drive and i discovered that my room mate had picked up some new music. most notably radiohead's ok computer and wilco's being there. we both agreed pretty quickly that the radiohead offering was pretty much the worst album made in the history of history (mostly because it sounded nothing like the bends) but when i put on being there i was instantly hooked. this was wilco? seriously? i pulled out the liner notes and saw the name jay bennett all over the place and quickly surmised that whoever this guy was he was the catalyst that transformed the band from good to great. jeff tweedy has always been the creative force but you can easily deleniate the sound of wilco pre and post jay bennett. because jay - in addition to being a talented player - knew a thing or two about making a record sound like more than the sum of its parts. being there at first blush sounds so simple and serene - the kind of thing you might hear on a faraway radio station at 2 a.m. this is a record that could have been made in 1996 or 1966. but the simplicity belies how much is really going on in the songs. there are layers upon layers of instruments and harmonies and tape effects. but it is spaced out so perfectly you hardly notice. that is one of the reasons i love that record so much.

if you were to poll fans who knew that wilco existed before 2002 - and ask them what their favourite wilco record would be i would wager that 40% would say being there and 60% would say summerteeth. the former announced to the world that this band could be a force to be reckoned with and the latter was an undisputed masterpiece. it also marked the beginning of the end for jay bennett and jeff tweedy. jay was given creative freedom to produce and mix the record and by most accounts he took the summerteeth the band had made - re-recorded various instruments and then fed it to the pro tools beast thus transforming it into the shimmering piece of pop that you hear today. and despite the protests from tweedy and other band members that this was not the record they intended - jay should be commended for his efforts because he produced a record even brian wilson could be proud of. jay's fingerprints can also be found all over the mermaid avenue sessions as well as the well worth getting your hands on if you haven't yet yhf demos.

anyway - i was terribly saddened when i heard that jay had passed. and i just wanted to say something about it. he made music that means something to me and i'll always be grateful for that.

| By young_christopher | 1:08 AM | Comments (1)