Wilco the Bull Black Nova (Live at the Greek)

In 2003, Wilco played a tiny show in Dallas at the Gyspy Tea Room. The venue was small and burning-hot with sweaty Son Volt lovers. Bearded roadies were roaming the stage with fingerless gloves. Wilco played a set, and came back for an encore. I'd never seen an encore at the Gyspy Tea Room, never seen one since. It wasn't ego.

They played Immigrant Song (yes the Zeppelin song), but Jeff Tweedy didn't sing -- a roadie who moved speakers did. It was remarkable and kick ass.

On Saturday, they played under the California moon at Berkeley's Shakespearean Greek Theater. It's true what Pitchfork says about their Rembrandt-like sound: no one is more precise live than Wilco. They opened with "Wilco (the Song)": it was scalpel-sharp, bright, like that sound a fastball makes when it hits a glove. The audience was (predictable) too baked to dance, but minus a crusty-with-smoke brain, I know they would have.

Nels Cline roared his electric. Kotche stood on the drums in a shaft of blue light for the sizzling "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." Every note was strong. When you listen to Wilco live, you are home. Don't mistake this for being familiar or uninteresting, Tweedy always manages to surprise: "Bull Black Nova" is a mechanical, scattering of sounds like hundreds of cells splitting off, a spearing repeating piano note, and the driving sounds of Tweedy's poetry:

"If I’m the one with blood on my sofa
Blood in the sink, blood in the trunk
High at the wheel of a bull black Nova
Then I’m sorry as the setting sun"

Perfectly, the moon above was knife shaped. Freaking brilliant. To me, Wilco has been about letting go. Certainly A Ghost is Born was about that - the "you'll miss me" declaration of suicide in "Theologians":

"I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come"

But something has changed with Wilco (the album). Tweedy has found a way to smile, and his band knows how to rock. The two together combine like metals in a bomb, and they become unstoppable. Have you re-listened to Wilco's first album, A.M., recently? "Casino Queen" blows the doors down. They just, quite simply, didn't give a shit. Why should they? They play good music, across the board. They've infused that same optimistic carelessness throughout the album, and live it couldn't sound better.

"All you fat followers get fit fast
Every generation thinks it’s the last
Thinks it’s the end of the world"

"I don't care anymore," Tweedy sings. It's the same sentiment in Dylan's "The Times They Are-a Changing," with a modern twist: just have fun, man.

Their new album, Wilco (the album) is out everywhere. Right now. Go to Starbucks, Best Buy, Amoeba, Barnes & Noble, and listen to some good friends (music).

Wilco - Casino Queen

Wilco - California Stars

Avett Brothers - I And Love And You

Spinner online is featuring a new track from The Avett Brothers currently buzzing new album I And Love And You. Emotionalism, their last album opened with the surprising Paranoid in B Major - a banjo dance-around-the-pole with the Bro's usual harmonies and Merle Haggard / Nelson heartache. It was feral and jocular--almost to the point of silliness.

I And Love And You is something else. It's the reflection of a band that's been hitting the road hard, and the hurt of moving too fast. They sound tired and damn beautiful. According to Paste's recent feature, the band has been pushing towards this moment--their new record is their first Big Label release. It's apt that their first track is not a blowout like their jubilant "Talk on Indolence," it's more genuine and down-to-earth.

I went back and forth on the sad strings, but the honest songwriting is there. They don't dress their lyrics, they just tell you what's going on in here (pointing to chest). When you're dealing with real country-blues, it's the only way to go.

A King

You Never Know - Wilco @ Tonight Show

After a three day tour through The Wiltern in Los Angeles - Wilco will be playing at the Greek Theater at Berkeley College. I mention it because I'm going, and I wanted to rub it in your face.

Wilco's new album, Wilco (The Album), hits stores next Tuesday on Nonesuch Records.

Rural Alberta Advantage - In the Summertime

A CD that never goes too far from your collection is Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea. It's piercing and brilliant.

So how about Saddle Creek's new band, Rural Alberta Advantage. Their new, debut CD, Hometowns, is minimalist, low-fi beauty (you'll see the Neutral Milk Hotel reference). Perfect for the faded image of the dying west in this video.



The RRA - Frank AB

The RRA - Don't Haunt This Place

Concert Review: Art Brut @ Spaceland

It was hot in there, man. Lots of bodies and saturated rock chords. The drummer was wearing a Shakira shirt, and Art Brut wore his grizzly eyebrows. He looks like he wandered off the BBC sets to sing. Brut said it was the first time he wore "blue denim" in years. Guess that's what happens when you play for a week in Los Angeles: it was hard, bright, and loud.

He wandered through the crowd singing about DC comics, how Pitchfork followed him around once, and at point screamed, "Fuck New York!" (Also Fuck Seattle, but what ELSE is new right?) Mysteriously, he has a grudge against Kings of Leon as well.

So, the best review I could give is he blasted the doors off the place. Honestly, half way through I wasn't sure what I was hearing or why, or why my shirt was soaked with sweat, or why the girl in front of me kept falling down--but all's well in Rock and ironic Roll.

Note: Kevin Bronson's Buzzbands above article picture of Brut best shows off the sweaty, wild show.

Art Brut Thursday, Grizzly Bear Friday

Everyone's seen this video, but if you haven't seen them live - it's time. They fill a room is all I'm saying. They bring the church reverb to your brain and fill the walls - On a Neck, On a Spit is ethereal.

So Art Brut's bringing his rocket-blaster, all-week show (Art Brut vs. Satan) to Spaceland tonight (he's been there all week actually) - I might need an extra pair of shoes. Read the well-crafted Kevin Bronson / Buzzbands review, here, for a better encounter than I will most likely have.

Concert's coming to Los Angeles this coming week are a greatest hits list:

Grizzly Bear @ The Wiltern
Dinosaur Jr. @ The Troubadour - FULL ALBUM STREAMING. RIGHT NOW.
Sunset Rubdown @ The Echoplex
Wilco @ The Greek (Berkley, CA I will see you soon)