Today's CDs (4/23)
 

Wilco -- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Can -- Soundtracks
Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Blood Brothers -- March on Electric Children
90 Day Men -- To Everybody
The Wedding Present -- Seamonsters

It's, as someone here said, Wilco Super Tuesday, with three-Wilco-related discs coming out today. Seeing as how YHF will undoubtedly top nearly every year-end Top Ten list, what are the standout records you've heard so far this year?

For me (in order, and yes, it's a three-way tie for first):

1. Wilco -- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
1. And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead -- Source Tags and Codes
1. 90 Day Men -- To Everybody
4. Hella -- Hold Your Horse Is
5. Blood Brothers -- March On Electric Children

It's a day off for me, so I won't be listening to records all that much today -- but here's what I've been playing lately:

A Certain Ratio - Early
David Holmes - Come Get It I Got It
Closer Musik - After Love
Roy Ayers - Evolution
Morgan Geist - The Driving Memoirs
Aardvarck - Find the Cow


Some faves of the year thus far:

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Michael Mayer - Immer
MRI - All That Glitters
Drexciya - Harnessed the Storm
Nina Nastasia - The Blackened Air
Larsen - Rever

geez - I haven't posted here in forever. But here goes:

now: Xiu Xiu "Knife Play"

later:
-XTC "Coat of Many Cupboards" disc 1 and 2
-Tom Waits "Blood Money"
-Elvis Costello "When I was Cruel"
-Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
-The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"

Top 5 for the year so far (not much different from what I have today):
1. Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"
2. Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
3. Trail of Dead "Source Tags and Codes"
4. Xiu Xiu "Knife Play"
5. Elvis Costello "When I was Cruel" (cut a few songs, and this would probably be 1 or 2)

Albums of the Year (So Far)
 

Wilco - YHF
Super Furry Animals - Rins Around the World
Doved - The Last Broadcast

Notable Albums being released today

The Band - The Last Waltz [Box]
Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy - Sdtrk.
Jeff Tweedy - Chelsea Walls Sdtrk.

Was that A Certain Ratio disc just reissued? I've been seeing it everywhere in the NYC record stores lately...

And that Nina Nastasia, would I like that? I've heard bits of it, but I've been told some wildly contradictory things about it (some saying that it's brilliant, others saying it's awful).

Oliver:

When does the Lips record get released?

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Plastic Fang
Medeski Martin & Wood - Uninvisible
Elgin Park - Elgin Park
Chelsea Walls Soundtrack

Best of year so far...
Wilco - YHF
MMW - Uninvisible
Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
JSBX - Plastic Fang
Stanton Moore - Flyin' the Koop
(edit to add) Caitlin Cary - While You Weren't Looking

Yancey - How is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs disc?

July 16, I think. What I have is a collection of 15 new tracks that Wayne Coyne gave to some friends. All of the 11 tracks on the new album are on here, but the sequencing is much different. I don't think they've been mastered at this point either.

Was this grabbed from one of the FTP servers or are you one of Wayne's friends?

Gdrlv: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are good. The music has a souped-up rockabilly feel with some very good vox from Karen O. I actually first heard them only a few weeks ago, even though I've known them for a while (friends of friends). I had just assumed that they weren't very good. I'm glad that I was wrong.

Deltron 3030
Medeski Martin & Wood - Uninvisible
Johnny Cash - Murder (compilation)
Johnny Cash - Love (compilation)
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Safe as Milk

Neither :).

It's circulating through the usual bootleg channels now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's made it's way to the FTPs. I mean, if I've got it, I'm sure some of the Pitchfork people have it.

Just got in a huge shipment of classic Italian prog, so that's what I'm jammin' to:

Quella Vecchia Locanda - Il Tempo Della Gioia
Alphataurus - Dietro L'Uragano
Osanna - Palepoli
Banco - Darwin!
Maxophone - Maxophone
Latte E Miele - Papillon
Latte E Miele - Passio Secundum Mattheum
H20 - Due
Arti + Mestieri - Giro di Valzer per Domani
Apoteosi - Apoteosi
Sensitiva Immagine - E Tutto Comincio Cosi
H20 - Unopuntosei
Latte E Miele - Aquile E Scoiattoli
Alphataurus - Alphataurus
Quella Vecchia Locanda - s/t
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero

Today:

Wilco: YHF
Cee-lo- Cee-lo Green and his perfect imperfections
The Walkmen- Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
Pet Shop Boys- Release
The Promise Ring- Wood/Water
Cursive- Cursive's Domestica

The Year:
Trail of Dead
The Electric Soft Parade- Holes in the Wall
Nerd- In Search of...
The Notwist- Neon Golden
The Anniversary- Your Majesty

SO I'm guessing q-tip got delayed again from today...

Just got back from my Wilco Super Tuesday shopping trip:
Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (still a great album 6 months after first hearing it)
Jeff Tweedy - "Chelsea Walls" (only listened to 2 songs so far -ehhh)
Elvis Costello - "When I Was Cruel" (haven't listened to it yet - not expecting a great album, but a fun rock record would be nice)
Luna - "Romantica" (ehhh)

The Jay Bennett album wasn't in yet, but I'm really not expecting great things from that. I also couldn't track down any Can albums today.

Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections
A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes and Life
Goodie Mob - Still Standing

Yeah, Chelsea Walls is disappointing. If you didn't already have Promising and When the Roses Bloom Again those are definitely worth hearing, but the rest is very mediocre. I was hoping for Neil Young's Dead Man, but it's nothing of the sort.

Luna haven't released a good album since Penthouse. Pup Tent was decent.

I actually enjoyed some of the music on "Days of Our Nights," but Dean Wareham's phoned-in performance really ruined things for me.

Having listened to half of "Chelsea Walls," I'm forced to agree with the mediocre reviews.

Let's see.....

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-Plastic Fang
N.E.R.D.-In Search Of
Oasis-Heathen Chemistry
Pavement-Crooked Rain
The Strokes-Is This It
The White Stripes-White Blood Cells
Trans Am-The Surveillance
Travis-Good Feeling
Travis-The Man Who
Veruca Salt-American Thighs


I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY digging Jon Spencer Blues Explosion....good stuff?



How's the new Wilco?

I hated that record. I just thought it was really, really dull. If I want to hear Dean at his best, I put in the Galaxie 500 <i>Copenhagen</i> record.

I saw Luna recently and it was really awful. They just seemed bored. Not to mention that their new bassist, who looks like she came straight from her sorority house, doesn't really fit. Rumor has it that Dean has left his wife for her, which is just crummy.

Gooch: I also really like the new Blues Explosion disc...their best since Orange in my opinion. Glad to see they backed away from the electronics of Acme, which wasn't a bad record. It just didn't play up to their strengths.

Bummer to hear that the new Luna isn't that great. Bewitched and Penthouse are great albums, but they go way downhill from there. I do like Luna Live though (but there are a few songs I would have put on there that for some reason weren't - especially "Freakin' & Peakin'").

I haven't even opened the Chelsea Walls disc yet. Is it worth keeping or should I just get the 2 Wilco songs by other means?

I wanted to get the new Wilco, and Best Buy had a sale marker in the Wilco section, advertising the new album for 11.99.... but the album was missing. An employee said that "it hadn't come in yet - chech back next week". WTF? I only buy about 3 cds a year now and the one I want now is advertised, but not in the store - that just figures....

Yo-Yo Ma "Simply Baroque"
Dave Brubeck Quartet "Time Out"
Eroica Trio "Baroque" (perhaps Yo-Yo Ma wanted this title for his album, but it was already taken ;) )
Ivy "Apartment Life"
Radiohead "The Bends"

Best albums of year: I'm sure Trail of Dead will be up there, but I've only had one listen, and I haven't even received YHF from my e-tailer. I think that makes me one of the only Wilco fans on here who hasn't actually heard the album, since I never bothered to download it... (Hangs head in Luddite shame.)

The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies

The year:

1. Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
2. Nekromantix - Return Of The Loving Dead
3. Reverend Horton Heat - Lucky 7
4. Bad Religion - Process Of Belief

Well, let's see, I just got in the mail today:
UK singles:

Garbage "Breaking Up the Girl"
Faithless featuring Dido "One Step Too Far"
Doves "There Goes the Fear"
Oasis "Hindu Times"
Remy Zero "Save Me"
The Vines "Highly Evolved"
New Order "Here to Stay"
The Streets "Let's Push things Forward"

Heavenly Records promo with NME featuring another new song from the off the eagerly awaited Doves album.

Listened to (today):
Hope Sandoval - "Bavarian Fruit Bread"
My Favorite - "Love at Absolute Zero" (saw these guys play a small show at UVM a few weeks back -- not bad but not quite my thing)


Listened to (lately):
The Frames - "For the Birds"
Eels - "Souljacker"
Damien Jurado - "Ghost of David"
Billy Bragg - "England, Half English"
Mirah - "Advisory Committee" (growing on me)

Going to see:
Belle & Sebastian and the Aisler's Set play in Montreal in a few weeks. My first time seeing both of these bands -- and they're two of my favorites.

Going to buy:
Wilco - YHF (didn't d/l the songs, and I'm not their biggest fan, but I'm sure it'll at least be worth my time and $ to check this out)
Pedro the Lion - "Control" (although the only song I've heard from it doesn't bode well for the rest of the album)

Prepare for a more-than-pleasant surprise.

By the way, did the new Paul Westerberg album get released today? Couldn't find it anywhere.

I picked up Peter Murphy's album and its good. Much better than his last couple of albums. Living in Constanople certainly is making an impression on him...a very good impression.

Re: Today's CDs (4/23)
 

I picked this up as a blind purchase yesterday, after reading a few good reviews of the disc. I had no idea what to expect, just knew that it was an instrumental disc by a guitar player and a drummer. When the first burst of guitar and drums hit in the first song, I had that sinking "I just wasted 17 bucks" feeling, but it grew on me really quickly...before the first song was even over. I really like it a lot. Every song is pushed to the verge of chaos several times, but never quite reaches that point. Compelling stuff.

Re: Re: Today's CDs (4/23)
 

I just love this record. Sounds very much like Don Caballero. Very spastic, but it has some pretty surprising melodies. Glad you gave it a try!

90 Day Men may interest you. One of my friends thinks it sounds Phish-like (I must admit that one song certainly does), but it has a jazzy feel to it. I can't quite explain it. My review of it should run in neumu soon (as will my Yankee Hotel Foxtrot piece). I gave it a 9/10. If you were to check them out, avoid their older records. This one is light years better.

Oh, a shameless self-plug -- I wrote a review/1000 word essay on the Uncle Tupelo retrospective for Neumu. It's a bit rambling, not my best work, but I think I do a fair job of summarizing them in a tangible way.

A question -- where did you read the positive Hella press? The only place I've seen anything is on Flakmag.com, I'm curious who else has been talking about it. I'm working on my review of it now.

Re: Re: Re: Today's CDs (4/23)
 

I read the Flakmag review and have seen a bunch of local press from Sacramento about them. Also looked at the reviews written about them on Amazon. Nothing too substantial, but enough to pique my curiosity about the album. Glad I took the chance on them.

I might check out the 90 Day Men disc. I've heard of them before...not sure if I've heard them or not.

By the way, I've listened to Chelsea Walls...it's not great. In fact, I'm a bit disappointed, but my completist nature compelled me to buy it. The Wilco songs are good but even they don't compare to the stuff on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Here's my belated best of 2002 so far:
1. ...Trail of Dead - "Source Tags and Codes"
1. Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
23. Hayden - "Skyscraper National Park"

I haven't bought many new albums this year - a few EPs, but not many full-lengths. I must check out Hella and the new 90 Day Men album.

The new Luna album is growing on me. It's certainly better than "Days of Our Nights," but not nearly as good as "Penthouse." I'm enjoying EC's "When I Was Cruel," but I need to give it a few more spins.

Yeah, it just came out a couple weeks ago. It's one of those confused comps that can't tell if it's aiming for the fanatics or the novices. It could have been done better selection-wise but it's a double disc set that runs at the price of a single.

Um, I dunno! You might like it! I suppose she's somewhere between Kristin Hersh, Cat Power, and Richard Buckner -- but a little more rustic than them. Lots of cello, violin, accordion, etc. Her voice doesn't have any weird affectations or bizarre nuances, but it's really lovely nonetheless.

Don't know exactly what to make of the new Doves right now, though it took me a good amount of time to settle into Lost Souls. I really like "There Goes the Fear" -- it reminds me of the House of Love (specifically Babe Rainbow) in a good way.