Journal
- Thursday,July 16,2009nothing
Wilco was joined by Feist to sing "You and I" at Monday night's concert at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn and on Tuesday night's performance for the Late Show with David Letterman. Stereogum posts video of the latter and reports: "Jeff [Tweedy] and Feist enjoy a laid back but engaged rapport onstage that matches the dulcet mesh of their voices, one of those rare collaborative dynamics that enhances the song's meaning as much as it raises the song's profile." Billboard says of Monday's concert: "The sight was American rock 'n' roll at its finest, with one of the genre's most powerful live acts at the helm." WFUV's Rita Houston says: "Great show in a great setting on a beautiful night in Coney Island. Magic was all there."
Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews, Video, Web, Television - Tuesday,July 14,2009nothing
Wilco, fresh off last night's rocking sold-out set at Coney Island's Keyspan Park, is set to perform on Late Show with David Letterman tonight. The group will play "You and I," the Wilco (the album) duet with Leslie Feist, who will join the band for the show, as she did on Coney Island last night. Following last week's concert at Wolf Trap, outside DC, the Washington Post says the band offered "something for everyone ... all delivered in the tightest possible package." France's Télérama gives the album a perfect "four keys." The Daily Telegraph gives four stars to the new album, "a collection of unflaggingly high-quality, Beatles-y tunes ... with a yearning, uplifting summery spirit." The Scotland Herald says, "The whole album is beautifully produced and suffused with a kind of mature smarts ... It's great to have them back, America's best band."
Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews, Television - Friday,July 3,2009nothing
Jeff Tweedy is the subject of a feature article in this Sunday's New York Times, about the making of the new record, the band's story, life as a family man, and the much healthier, more content place in which he now finds himself. The Times calls Wilco (the album) a "splendid" record from "one of alternative rock’s most consistent and respected bands." It's a sign that, "unlike the rock trope that only chronic agony produces important music, the absence of mayhem has been good for the work." To that end, the record serves as "a kind of compilation of a band at the height of its powers." Jeff also answers a very eclectic set of questions in the Times Magazine.
Journal Topics: Artist News - Thursday,July 2,2009nothing
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy is front and center on the cover of American Songwriter's 25th Anniversary issue out now. In an interview with Tweedy, the magazine says the story of the band since 2002's groundbreaking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot "has been a fruitful one," describing its latest, Wilco (the album), as "another great record from a band who seems incapable of making a bad one." BBC 6 Music has named it Album of the Day for Friday. Aquarium Drunkard asserts that it "not only succeeds but stands near the top of Wilco’s extremely distinguished catalogue ... And if the sound of six of the world’s best musicians banging out spangled and bejeweled pop-rock doesn’t get you off, then you may want to reconsider your record collection."
Journal Topics: Reviews - Wednesday,July 1,2009nothing
Wilco (the album) is out now, and Rolling Stone gives it four stars, calling the record "a triumph of determined simplicity by a band that has been running from the obvious for most of this decade ... But what is most striking about the restraint here is the elegance and defiance packed inside." The Associated Press says that, on the new album, "[Jeff] Tweedy exuberantly expresses his love of both rock music and its fans."
Journal Topics: Reviews - Tuesday,June 30,2009nothing
Wilco (the album) is out today, and to mark the occasion, Paste magazine has devoted its entire web site to the new record, dubbing it Wilco (The Takeover), explaining: "It's no secret that Paste kind of has a thing for the band Wilco." The magazine says the album "is full of thoughtful, artfully crafted lyrics wrapped in memorable hooks that should stand the test of time." In an interview with Jeff Tweedy, Time calls Wilco "one of America's most innovative and acclaimed rock bands." Bloomberg gives the record three-and-a-half stars, saying, "The new album has much to recommend." The Washington Post calls it "spectacular ... a skywritten love letter to the gentler, dreamier corners of the Wilco canon." The Philadelphia Daily News gives it an A-, praising its "several kinds of wonderful."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Reviews - Monday,June 29,2009nothing
Wilco (the album) is out now, and, while the band is on tour, the celebration is on in the group's hometown of Chicago. Reviews continue to come in from the UK: The Observer says it's "undeniably lovely." The Sunday Express gives it a perfect five stars calling it "an album of delicate, compact pop so perfect that the moment it ends you’ll want to play it again." The Times gives it four stars, calling it "a definitive work" for the band, with "several of the most emotionally generous songs of [Tweedy's] life." The Contra Costa Times calls Saturday's show at Berkeley's Greek Theatre a "magic night," the band "at its musical peak," and its performance "flawless."
- Friday,June 26,2009nothing
Wilco (the album), is due out on Nonesuch this Tuesday, June 30, but NPR is giving fans a preview by streaming the album in its entirety now for an Exclusive First Listen, stating: "[T]he new Wilco record is all about a great band playing great original music on an album filled with great songs." The Independent gives a perfect five stars to the "magnificent" album, which finds Wilco "at the peak of its powers." BBC says the band's latest features "some of their most charming pop rock ensemble playing" and asks, "Best live band? How about plain old best band in the world right now?" The Evening Standard gives the album four stars, with its "carefully crafted, deceptively gentle songs, whose beauty reveals itself by stealth."
- Wednesday,June 24,2009nothing
Wilco is in Los Angeles this week for a three-night stint of sold-out shows at the Wiltern Theatre. Before tomorrow's final set at the venue, the band is taking tonight to perform on a different stage, on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Tune in on NBC starting at 11:35 ET tonight to see the band perform "You Never Know" off the forthcoming Wilco (the album). Glide magazine gives the record four stars, saying, "with every new Wilco album, there is fortunately always something new to discover. And once again, the chances that Tweedy and Co. take ... don’t let us down," making it "another solid offering from one of America’s best bands."
Journal Topics: Reviews, Television - Tuesday,June 23,2009nothing
Wilco played the first show in its sold-out, three-night residency at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles last night. The Hollywood Reporter sums it up as "transcending Americana for searches of the heart and soul," full of "musical riches" in a set that "truly was as far-ranging as rock can get." Saturday's set in nearby Pomona was a "superb show," says the Orange County Register, that "ranks among its best," with the band at its most content yet its music now elevated "to a whole new level of complexity and emotional richness." The Los Angeles Times would agree, insisting that "a more comfortable Wilco isn't a less daring one."
- Friday,June 19,2009nothing
Wilco helped celebrate Record Store Day this past April with the early DVD release of the concert film Ashes of American Flags in independent retailers across the US. This weekend, the people behind Record Store Day launch Vinyl Saturday, and Wilco's on board again: Nonesuch releases a special limited-edition 7" single featuring the track "You Never Know," off the band's forthcoming release Wilco (the album), paired with the previously unreleased tune "Unlikely Japan" on the B-side. The band is also offering an autographed Gibson Faded SG Special to be given away to one lucky fan.
Journal Topics: Album Release - Tuesday,June 16,2009nothing
Just before the big Bonnaroo performance this past Saturday, Wilco played the first stop on its summer tour of the States, at Cincinnati's Aronoff Theater Friday. Featured in the set were songs from the band's catalog and its forthcoming Nonesuch release, Wilco (the album); the Observer gives the album four stars, as does SPIN, which calls it "fantastic." The Cincinnati Enquirer writes in its concert review: "Jeff Tweedy and his collection of virtuoso cohorts are at the top of their game, staking a claim as one of America’s most innovative and entertaining bands." MTV reports: "Unwrapping a handful of tunes from their new self-titled album, the band straight-up killed it, playing to a packed house of 2,700 who sang along to nearly every lyric."
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