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Just as I thought I not really for sure where I was going with this blog. I went back and read part 1 trying to remember what I wanted to get across but the thought is not there. It is all band history. I’ll finish the history, it will not be as long as part 1 I promise, and maybe by the end the point will return or a new one will appear.

A Ghost is Born was released in 2004. Trying to continue with the electronic sound of their previous but nowhere near as good. It comes across somewhat confused and doesn’t mess with their rock sound. Still good tracks to be found like “Hummingbird,” “Theologians,” “Handshake Drugs” and “Muzzle of Bees.” The album also earned the band two Grammies.

In 2007 Wilco returned to a more lay back rock sound with Sky Blue Sky. The album received extremely varied criticisms upon its release that ranged from being name on the top ten albums of the year list by Billboard, Paste Magazine, Uncut Magazine, Delusions of Adequacy, and The Onion A.V. Club. To negative reviews from Pitchfork and PlayLouder calling it the “blandest and most creatively uninspired record of their career” and deemed it “dad-rock.”

Which leads me back to the point of these two blog is that Wilco’s new album is set to hit stores sometime in the spring of ’09. I couple articles online discussing the new album, I’ll throw the links in at the bottom, in which Tweedy said we will “allow ourselves a little bit more leeway in terms of sculpting the sound in the studio and doing overdubs and using the studio as another instrument. Last time around, it was more of a document.”

After reading about the way things are going I excited and now will think of nothing but Wilco, and the numerous concerts I wish to attend, until the spring. Here is hoping to a return to a sound similar to Yankee Hotel. I would even settle for Being There. Who am I kidding I will buy the album no matter what and it will be great.

Here are the articles:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003840065

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/08/wilco-plans-new-album-for-spring-2009.html

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As I did my daily surfing of the music sites I discovered what I consider great news. Wilco is planning on releasing its 7th studio album sometime in the spring of 2009. Now if you’re saying to yourself “who’s Wilco?” Here is a brief history of one of my top 5 bands. Wilco emerged from the ashes of another famous group, alt-country rockers Uncle Tupelo. In 1995, the group released their debut album, A.M., a not-so-far departure from the alt-country sound mastered by Uncle Tupelo. The group varied their sound up on their follow-up double disc, Being There. The album’s 19 songs ranged from Nashville-tinted rockers to emotional ballads to flat-out rockers. Critics when released praised the album and the album, in my opinion, has some of the best Wilco tunes (”Misunderstood,” “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”).

In 1999 the group released Summerteeth, which moved father away from the country sound and embraced a more rock style similar to that of the ‘60’s. Summerteeth boasts some of the most sinister lyrics ever written by Tweedy. “She’s a Jar” ends with the eerie line “with feelings hid / she begs me not to hit her,” while “ELT,” opens with the lines “I should have been listening / to every word you said / oh, what have I been missing / wishing, wishing that you were dead.” The album also contains maybe the best song ever recorded by the group “Via Chicago.

The band returned in 2002, after a drawn-out label dispute and falling out with key band member Jay Bennett, with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Pitchfork’s review says it all. “Complex and dangerously catchy, lyrically sophisticated and provocative, noisy and somehow serene, Wilco’s aging new album is simply a masterpiece; it is equally magnificent in headphones, cars and parties. And as anyone who’s seen the mixed-bag crowd at Wilco shows knows, it will find a home in the collections of hippies, frat boys, acid-eating prep schoolers, and the record store apparatchiks of the indiocracy. No one is too good for this album; it is better than all of us.” Now that I think about it I need to go and place Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on my top 5. Top tracks include “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, ”War on War,” “Heavy Metal Drummer”, ”Radio Cures,” “Jesus Etc.” and “Ashes of American Flags.”

It’s time for me to get off work. I’ll finish tomorrow. If I can recall my train of thought.

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I stumbled across the new Radiohead video for “House of Cards” and it is completely amazing. Radiohead has decided to not make any conventional promotional videos for any track of In Rainbows. So the group and director James Frost used 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. “This gives the video a grainy and grid-like appearance. Sheets of acrylic glass and mirrors are passed in front of the lasers to create scenes in which the image appears distorted, partially disappears, or begins to disintegrate as if being carried by wind.” Once again Radiohead has gone outside the norm and created something that is incredible.

Check it out.

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(AP) - With both the U.S. presidential election and the third anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster looming, a bunch of musicians have banded together in an attempt to ensure that the interests of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast at large don’t go unheard by the next administration, be it Barack Obama’s or John McCain’s.

R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, My Morning Jacket, Pearl Jam, Galactic, the Coup’s Boots Riley, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, Jackson Browne, the Neville Brothers, Indigo Girls, OK Go, 311, and Howlin’ Wolf associate Hubert Sumlin are among over 90 acts and music industry folks who have signed a letter calling upon Obama and McCain to attend a September 18 presidential forum in NOLA and each “share [their] vision for leading the Gulf Coast’s recovery.”

As the letter puts it, “We are asking that the future President of the United States direct the resources and attention necessary to restore coastal Louisiana and secure the future of Louisiana’s communities.”

Much of the danger posed to those communities stems from the loss of vital wetlands. “Due to the nation’s need for energy and dependable shipping lanes,” the letter reads, “we are losing a football field’s worth of wetlands every 45 minutes to erosion. This unrivaled land-loss threatens the nation’s fishing, our energy, our ports, and most importantly, leaves New Orleans increasingly vulnerable to storms such as Katrina.”

The forum is being sponsored by Google, YouTube, and several New Orleans universities, while the letter to Obama and McCain was spearheaded by the Gulf Restoration Network and Big Easy blues musician Tab Benoit’s Voice of the Wetlands organization. Check out that letter in .PDF format here, and consult this factsheet and the links above for more info on what’s happening and how you can help.

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