TheMaker

I just bought What Is the What yesterday, and since everybody's reading it, I won't bother posting yet another picture of the cover. I only started reading it last night, but boy, what a departure for Eggers. The narrative is still pretty, um, flitty, for lack of a better word, but he's no longer writing on what feels like a crank-high of pure emotion. The restraint is doing him good so far, I think, although I'm only about 50 pages in at this point. Other stuff I've read or started to read this week: Delisle is an idol of mine, a French-Canadian animator and cartoonist whose two ma

I love these guys. Becker and Fagan actually manage to make me nostalgic for a period I wasn't even alive to appreciate. Crazy, I know, but true. If I could use only one word to describe the Dan, it'd be sardonic.

While the album definitely goes down smoothly as a whole, there are some songs I just flat-out can't appreciate. Either Way is nice enough, but meh. Y'know? Just meh. Wilco records have traditionally had really wonderful openers, but this is my least favourite to date. It just seems slight in every way to me. What Light (although I love this arrangement compared to the live versions - the "ooo-oohs" and pedal steel are very lovely) is basically the world's biggest deep-fried cheeseball. Leave Me (Like You Found Me) is a pleasant enough song, but it doesn't go anywhere or inspire any particular

The New Math: it can explain anything.

It is an inalienable fact that ST and YHF are Wilco's best albums. Set in stone, it is!

A great song from a flawless rekkid! Along with Misunderstood and Sunken Treasure, probably the most important song on BT from a band-growth standpoint.

I think authors will always stand a chance at making money, no matter how slim that chance might be. I guess I should've clarified by stating that I was mostly thinking along the lines of journalists and such, what with the decline in circulation of print newspapers, ebbing advertising revenues, migration to the web, and so on. Absolutely! It takes real grit and determination to hack it as a writer. I definitely relate to a lot of what you wrote.

I briefly studied journalism in college because I used to think the same thing. Then I realized that uncle wilco's attitude is basically right. It's a losing battle. I write for a few online publications, but it's certainly not something that pays the bills. In another two decades, I won't be surprised if writing generally comes to be regarded as an unpaid profession.

I have to be the dumb guy who asks why. Jay's down to one original Son Volt member - himself - whereas Jeff can count himself and John over in Wilco.

Hail, hail! I've always thought that Straightaways was a rehash of Trace, only without a pulse. That's why it's my least favourite of Jay's post-Tupelo records. Trace, Death Songs for the Living and The Search are probably my faves, in that order.

As rankings go, yours is pretty different from most. It bain't nothin' like mine, and yet I salute thee.

I like it, but I don't love it. Doesn't hold a candle to the new Wilco, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Feist, etc. albums. I love this style of old-timey new-timey rock, but these guys have failed to grab me on disc. I love what little of their stuff I've heard live, though. Love it!

Wait, so is this out, or...? I've already grabbed the leak, but I thought this was anywhere from a day to a week away from proper release.

I think it's leagues better than Funeral. I have to say this periodically.

He also takes the first little solo(ette?) on I Hate It Here. Jeff and Nels complement one another quite nicely throughout the record, I think.

It's just a transcode. Listen closely and you'll hear the drops in the stream. (NOT LIKE MY MIGHTY WAV CAPTURE, he boasted.)

F'SHO. I wish more people had Neil's gumption. There aren't enough live albums of new songs in the world.

I guess we could possibly keep this party going by switching things over from chronological to personal preference... YHF BT SBS ST AGIB AM I have a hard time considering the Mermaids as anything apart from what they are - a big ol' collaboration of perfect songs that I couldn't possibly rank alongside Wilco's proper catalogue.

Amen. For my money, this kicks the living shit out of AGIB. If anything has surprised me about the last week, it's the shower of love that album has received.

I'm just pedantic enough to sit around wondering why the album is called Summerteeth while the song is "Summer Teeth." And I don't really think of live albums as a part of any artist's canon, but I guess ya got me there.

I wet myself when I saw that trailer. If Neil's Chinese Democracy is this far along, I think we'll really get it this time. Here's hoping, at least.

I was thinking about this very exercise just the other day. Years ago, the last time Wilco and Son Volt released albums in the same year, I made an "A.M. Trace" compilation just for the sheer fun of it. While it sounded basically like an Uncle Tupelo album, I think the juxtaposition between Jay and Jeff's work is a lot less complementary today than it was back in '95. The Search and SBS are both frigging excellent, but they don't sound too much alike. That said, I think my copy of "Sky Blue Search" would look something like this, based not necessarily on my favourite songs from each disc, but

I came close to seeing that tour, but I didn't quite manage to pull it off. I was more or less into the Hip at the time, and the prospect of seeing Wilco and the Rheos on the same bill sounded too good to pass up. Ah well, at least I've got tickets to the Rheos' last show in a couple weeks. [/single tear rolling down my cheek]

Up > New Adventures in Hi Fi. (Somebody had to say it.) But yeah, AtS is one of the worst frigging records I've ever heard. AOR without any spark. Just embarrassing, really. What killed me was that the following tour was quite good. Here's hoping for some of that old-school spark this time around...