LP11 Speculation

[wilconut]

I like Nels’ guitar work on the new song, but I’m hoping the rest of the album moves away from the breezy acoustic feel of Schmilco, Warm, and Warmer.

 

I agree with you on Nels' guitar work, but something about the vibe and sound of this tune leads me to think the rest of the record will feel 'bigger' than Schmilco, Warm, Warmer, etc. We may be at a point in Tweedy's career where this breezy, folksy sound is more or less what he is, but something about the arrangement of Love Is Everywhere leads me to think Ode will be a much fuller sounding record. 

[knotgreen]

So I suppose that we've heard 5/11 of the tracks already, right? Before Us (SSF installation), White Wooden Cross (SSF and Jeff's been playing it solo), An Empty Corner (SSF), Everyone Hides (St. Vincent movie soundtrack), and today's premiere of Love is Everywhere. 

 

No surprise here, but I am really enjoying Love is Everywhere. 

[wilconut]

So I suppose that we've heard 5/11 of the tracks already, right? Before Us (SSF installation), White Wooden Cross (SSF and Jeff's been playing it solo), An Empty Corner (SSF), Everyone Hides (St. Vincent movie soundtrack), and today's premiere of Love is Everywhere. 

 

No surprise here, but I am really enjoying Love is Everywhere. 

 

Curious as to whether Everyone Hides is going to be the exact same version as on the St. Vincent soundtrack. I would hope they don't simply run back that version but perhaps take a second crack at it with the full band. I really dig that song but am hoping for a reinterpretation. 

[The Inside of Outside]

I like Nels’ guitar work on the new song, but I’m hoping the rest of the album moves away from the breezy acoustic feel of Schmilco, Warm, and Warmer.

Me too.

 

I agree with you on Nels' guitar work, but something about the vibe and sound of this tune leads me to think the rest of the record will feel 'bigger' than Schmilco, Warm, Warmer, etc. We may be at a point in Tweedy's career where this breezy, folksy sound is more or less what he is, but something about the arrangement of Love Is Everywhere leads me to think Ode will be a much fuller sounding record. 

I hope so. It is a personal preference - I enjoy the full rock sound of Star Wars over the breezy, waltzy folk of Sukierae/Schmilco/Warm/Warmer.

[brownie]

$500 deluxe version?! Wow.

 

For those with more money than sense. What exactly is worth $500 here? I could see $100, perhaps, if you wanted a fancy book, but even that feels like a stretch to me.

[ponch1028]

Per Paste Magazine website:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/07/wilco-new-album-new-song.html

 

Perennial alt-rock favorites Wilco just want to feel joyful. Is that so much to ask? In 2019’s dire, dreary political climate, maybe it is. Maybe we should risk our individual happinesses to better our community; maybe there’s a way to materialize that joy into political action. 

 

That’s the central tension in the band’s new song, “Love Is Everywhere (Beware),” the lead single from their newly announced 11th album, Ode to Joy. Over twirling guitars and tender percussion, Jeff Tweedy yearns for a solution, struggling through the seemingly opposing mentalities: “So many things I do / I can’t explain to you,” he sighs moments after singing the titular phrase. 

Tweedy expands on the track in a statement: 

 

There MUST be more love than hate. Right?! I’m not always positive we can be so sure. In any case, I’m starting to feel like being confident in that equation isn’t always the best motivation for me to be my best self—it can kind of let me off the hook a little bit when I think I should be striving to contribute more love outside of my comfortable sphere of family and friends. So … I guess the song is sort of a warning to myself that YES, Love IS EVERYWHERE, but also BEWARE! I can’t let that feeling absolve me of my duty to create more.

 

On Ode to Joy, the band will continue to tackle those questions. Tweedy explains that the album is filled with “really big, big folk songs, these monolithic, brutal structures that these delicate feelings are hung on,” citing the importance of Glenn Kotche’s percussion as foundational to the album’s complete sound.

[TCP]

For those with more money than sense. What exactly is worth $500 here? I could see $100, perhaps, if you wanted a fancy book, but even that feels like a stretch to me.

 

Yeah I'd happily drop $100 but $500 is just too much especially for what it contains. I'm happy for those who purchased it and are excited for it. I'm just relieved there's no exclusive music trapped behind that paywall. 

[chisoxjtrain]

 

On Ode to Joy, the band will continue to tackle those questions. Tweedy explains that the album is filled with “really big, big folk songs, these monolithic, brutal structures that these delicate feelings are hung on,” citing the importance of Glenn Kotche’s percussion as foundational to the album’s complete sound.

 

"Before Us" is a perfect example of this.

[jbray]

"Before Us" is a perfect example of this.

For those that haven't gotten a chance to hear it, I will echo this sentiment. The piece that stood out to me in "Before Us" was the ominous, booming bass drum. I wasn't sold on the pastoral sound of the live tracks until I heard "Before Us" and it sold me on the tone of the album; this coming from a listener who wishes Jeff would put down the acoustic guitar. 

 

New track is very tasteful, which is not how I've felt about Nels Cline since SBS I'm sorry to say. I'm really excited for Ode to Joy

[DiamondClaw]

Curious as to whether Everyone Hides is going to be the exact same version as on the St. Vincent soundtrack. I would hope they don't simply run back that version but perhaps take a second crack at it with the full band. I really dig that song but am hoping for a reinterpretation. 

I loved "Everyone Hides"! Very glad it will get a proper release. The existing Tweedy version of the track is great, but I'm excited to hear what Nels and co. will bring to it (if it's been reworked/rerecorded).

 

The new single is good — I especially like the guitar work — although I do admit I was/am hoping for something bigger than breezier this time around, as Warm/Warmer (plus Schmilco) scratched my itch for folky Tweedy.

[remphish1]

My prediction a new album called ode to joy out oct 4

[TCP]

My prediction a new album called ode to joy out oct 4

 

That's bold. Let's make it a bet!

[remphish1]

That's bold. Let's make it a bet!

Ha

[Wilco75]

I wonder if Mr. Browning had a prediction that'd the new album would be called "ode to joy"?  

[remphish1]

$500 for the deluxe lp

[SarahC]

I wish Jeff’s vocals were a little less reverb-y so I could make the words out better. Also wanna take a crack at figuring out the chords this week. 

Such a pretty song. 

 

Edit: I also got the tote bag, LP, socks, T-shirt combo, cos it’s what I’ve done for every album. The tote bag is a staple for a new Wilco record at this point. $500 for the deluxe is too much, when really the music is the most important part. And the tote bag. It’s important too. 

[bustedafternoon]

Those $500+ packages are just absurd. I understand that they have hardcore fans who will want exclusive stuff, but $500?!?! Come on.

 

Also, any word on Warmer on digital? Thought it was coming out 7/12?

[uncool2pillow]

Those $500+ packages are just absurd. I understand that they have hardcore fans who will want exclusive stuff, but $500?!?! Come on.

 

Also, any word on Warmer on digital? Thought it was coming out 7/12?

Not many people buy music anymore. I can't fault artists for doing everything they can to make $$. I don't have to buy it, but if people want to, that's between them and their pocketbook.

[SarahC]

Also, any word on Warmer on digital? Thought it was coming out 7/12?

They said it got delayed until this Friday via social media.

[TCP]

Looks like they've sold only 18 of the deluxe version on the US store today (assuming all 1000 were up for preorder). I wonder if they'll adjust the price if it doesn't catch on?

 

Bandcamp has the linernotes:

 

Produced by Jeff Tweedy and Tom Schick 

Engineered and mixed by Tom Schick 

Engineering assistance by Mark Greenberg 

Mastered by Bob Ludwig 

Packaging design by Lawrence Azerrad 

Photography by Zoran Orlic 

Recorded at The Loft - Chicago 

 

Wilco is Nels Cline, Mikael Jorgensen, Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone, John Stirratt, and Jeff Tweedy. 

 

Saxophone by Paul Von Mertens. 

 

All songs written by Jeff Tweedy and published by Words Ampersand Music (BMI). 

 

Administered worldwide by BMG Rights Management. 

 

Josh Grier and Crystal Myers manage the band. Mark Greenberg manages the studio. Brandy Breaux manages the office. Frank Riley and Paul Boswell book the live performances. Eric Frankhouser manages the tours. Dawn Nepp organizes the finances. Jaime Herman sorts out the legalities. Jessica Linker, Jacob Daneman, and Jon Lawrence handle the publicity. 

Special thanks to Susie Tweedy, Alex Crothers, Franke Hamersma, Sam McAllister, Ahmad Asani, Lacey Sutherland, David Hirshland, Spencer Tweedy, Sammy Tweedy, Ashwin Deepankar, Jared Dottorelli, Stan Doty, Matrix Macnamara, Ashley Mogayzel, Andy Nemcik, and Jeremy Roth.

 

Interesting about the new management team.

[dave41]

You have to believe the 500$ is a typo?

[remphish1]

Honestly for reading the description I’d price it at $100-125? If it would have tons of non release b sides from session on a rare vinyl and signed maybe $500 makes sense to me!

[coornelius]

I like the song, but I hope there's more stylistic variance to this record -- a la The Whole Love -- than there has been on the last couple of Wilco records and Warm/Warmer. 

 

I like the "big folk" thing, but I want the occasional curveball and revved up I'm a Wheel-esque rocker thrown at me. 

[Albert Tatlock]

If the pop-up book thing is as complicated as it might be, then it could be tricky to manufacture and would be priced as some sort of art work I suppose. I am reminded of the 78 year old carpet maker I met in Iran a few weeks ago who had only made 12 carpets in his entire life though he started in his teens. Yes they took that long and cost 100s of thousands of $. Either way, not something I could/would dream of going for, and if it is intriguing as an art work I'm not sure it is easily suitable for display as an art piece should be seen. Wilco can fleece that Jon Hamm and Nick Offerman and their ilk with my blessing.

 

As far as the music is concerned, like many I like it but as I stated some time ago I am itching for a more lively upbeat, dare I say Magazine Called Sunset style pop, turn after the recent few Wilco/Tweedy albums.

[jff]

I'm hoping for some real curveballs on this one.  The band was totally underutilized on Schmilco, and I hope that isn't the case with this one.

 

I've read a number of interviews with the band members in which they talk about the various and wide ranging side projects, and how Jeff encourages it because it makes a richer tapestry when the group gets together.  The implication being that elements of each side project will work their way into what Wilco does, and as a result, Wilco's sonic universe will expand. But I haven't seen much evidence of that.  On the contrary, it sometimes feels like the side projects are a way for the members to get that stuff out of their systems so they can reconvene and back up Jeff on new batches of mostly standard folk/country/pop/rock tunes.  With the exception of the occasional Art of Almost or maybe Impossible Germany or Bull Black Nova, Wilco's sonic universe has contracted with the arrival of the new lineup.  The current lineup is probably the best ever/only one capable of performing the more experimental music in the back catalog, but the records this lineup has made only tap into that kind of experimentalism once (or zero times, in some cases) per album.