Hixter

Do you know the release date for the new one?

I think it's June 26th. Nels' MySpace page and Cryptogramophone website will be streaming a new track every week beginning on May 15th.

I can't seem to get into Nels at all... am I missing something?

You certainly are.

Is this on BBC America? can it be seen in the states?

It's usually available for download via torrent from places like UKNova. I'll be out of the country at the time and will have spotty Internet access, but I'll download and share if I can.

The nice thing about having 2 Tivos is that you can network them (wireless or wired) and share content between the 2 boxes.

Pete Townshend's Lifehouse Method project has just gone live. It's basically a website that you can upload a photo, voice clip, sound clip and rhythm clip to and then it generates what's supposed to be a unique piece of music. All of the recording can be done from a browser, if necessary. The site is free until July 31st.

The songs I've "sat" for have turned out to sound like Baba O'Riley synth castoffs.

Link

It's what the guy in the audience thinks that is important.

That's true if you're talking about record sales, ticket sales and the size of your fan base. But as far as presenting the music as its creator(s) intended it to be presented, who would know if a musician was stinking up a piece better than the aforementioned creators?

What makes you think all cock-rock guitarists are/were any less sincere about what they do than Nels is? What a ridiculous assertion.

Yes, it would have been a ridiculous assertion if I had actually made it. I didn't say anything about *all* cock-rock guitarists, rather I was pointing out the difference between a low-key guitarist and a swaggering showoff who makes his O face while striking rock star poses and hogging the spotlight. Yes, I think "musically conscientious" is an apt description of Mr. Cline's presence on any stage. Ask the people he's played with if they agree with you about Nels' "atonal garbage" and fits of "manic guitar masturbation."

I've been playing guitar for 20 years and unfortunately spent some of that time playing in cock-rock and metal bands. I know guitar masturbation when I hear it, and Nels is guilty of it at times. As I said earlier, he plays some beautiful parts but he also crosses the line into manic guitar masturbation on occasion.

Nels is the least showy, most ego-free and musically conscientious guitar player I've ever seen. The injection of intense emotion into a song by an accomplished and sincere musician should not be compared to the ham-fisted ego stroking of some cock-rock jerkoff.

He does when he plays what the song needs, but some of his shredding is just embarrassing. Wilco have always been a band that is about the songs first and foremost, and I really feel that some of Nels' playing detracts from what's going on underneath.

I don't think Nels Cline is capable of playing anything that could be considered embarrassing. "Shredding" and "noodling" and "wanking" are so far removed from describing what Nels plays that I can't help but picture someone viewing a room full of Picassos and complaining that the subjects' noses are on sideways.

My favorite written quote about Mr. Cline was something along the lines of "He always plays the right thing at the right time."

He's got a bit of a belly from the looks of Hate it Hear video...

Wasn't that video shot in November? I saw him in October and he was his normal skinny self. Probably 140 pounds soaking wet.

Carla Bozulich's website say that she'll be opening at some of the European shows. I think I need to dig out my passport and credit card.

If Nels isn't God, perhaps he's The Madonna?

Lots of news from Nels about his upcoming releases

A new Nels Cline Singers record. Limited vinyl releases. A BOC cover with a Pepper on the side...

Nels has this to say about the new Wilco album:

"Yup. Out May 15th. There will no doubt be a ton of hype and maybe concomitant dread around this much-anticipated release - the first studio recording of the band with Pat Sansone and yours truly as members. I have never been involved with a "much-anticipated" release! I think I will just sit back and watch the parade... No amount of hype, dread, or blather can detract from my satisfaction with the music on this record. It was recorded totally independently in Chicago in the Wilco loft, and the experience was rewarding, relaxed, and fruitful."

can he make me an omlette?

 

that would be cool.

Why do you think he carries an egg whisk in his back pocket?

I see that the album has been posted on Usenet in the alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.indie newsgroup. I'll leave it to someone else to determine if it was taken from the webcast.

Wow.

Jessy Greene, played violin

Former Geraldine Fibber, just like Nels. It's a small world.

Part of a new read-worthy post on the Crypto blog:

(The Rolling Stone blurb)

THE AVANT-ROMANTIC

NELS CLINE

of WILCO

For many rock-guitar fiends, the oldest guitarist on this list is actually the youngest. Before joining Wilco in 2004, in time to tour behind A Ghost is Born, Cline -- born in Los Angeles in 1956 -- was a highly regarded figure in jazz and avant-rock circles, a sonically aggressive guitarist who played with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, the art-country band the Geraldine Fibbers and his own searing instrumental groups. Now Cline agitates the bent-pop designs in Wilco's recent music with strafing feedback, zigzagging distortion and, when you least expect it, a striking, scarred romanticism.

ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCE: "Ashes of American Flags," Kicking Television: Live in Chicago (2005)

+ + +

In other Nels News: We have a new working title for the new Nels Cline Singers CD (

The Who is still the Who, although it might be funny (but maybe a little sad) if they called it Who's Left.

Pete's taken to calling them "The Two."

I paid a lot of money to see the band in November and I don't regret it. I've always been a huge fan and have seen them probably 20+ times and I've never been let down. Daltrey's voice isn't what it used to be, but the fire's still in his belly and Townshend has aged like fine wine. You won't get a Leeds-era performance, but they're still more powerful than most bands half their age.

I don't have the issue, but supposedly these are their picks:

Tom Morello

Jack White

John Mayer

Derek Trucks

John Frusciante

Luther Dickinson

Nels Cline

Warren Haynes

Jim James & Carl Broemel

Adam Jones

Kaki King

Mike McCready & Stone Gossard

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Ed O'Brien & Johnny Greenwood

Chuck Garvey & Al Schnier

Matt Pike

Jack White

i'm sorry to say that i haven't been able to get a hold of any of nels' work and his varying projects.

You can purchase a lot of stuff from the fine folks at Crypto. I usually find a copy or two of The Geraldine Fibbers' "Butch" album in the used bins and there's always eBay.

The band's 10/2006 show is mentioned frequently in this article about Sunset Station:

Lots of sleet and ice here in San Antonio at the moment. Looks like the same tonight, so I'll probably play hooky from the office again.

Lineup:

May 5: George Strait, Alan Jackson, Sara Evans, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Robert Earl Keen, Richie Furay, Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson, David Serby, Earl Scruggs, Nickel Creek, Yonder Mountain String Band, the Grascals, the John Cowan Band, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Riders In The Sky, Red Steagall, Waddie Mitchell, Sons Of The San Joaquin, Cowboy Nation.

May 6: Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Sugarland, Gary Allan, Pat Green, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Raul Malo, Junior Brown, Drive-By Truckers, Alejandro Escovedo, Railbenders, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Marty Stuart, the Del McCoury Band, Abigail Washburn with the Sparrow Quartet featuring Ben Sollee, Sasey Driessen and Bela Fleck, the Flatlanders (Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock), Garrison Keillor, Baxter Black, Cowboy Celtic, Don Edwards, Katy Moffat.

Billboard story