There were a lot of jams this month! Here are the ones you should pay for with money and what I wrote about them.
Twin Sister – In Heaven | REVIEW
Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know | CONCERT REVIEW)
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy (REVIEW | I still have mixed feelings here, but the first half is the best side of the year)
Wilco – The Whole Love (Drowned in Sound feature)
Jens Lekman – An Argument With Myself EP (ALL POSTS)
Also notable: Ariel Pink’s new single, Sleeping Bags’ debut LP, Geoffrey O’Connor’s solo debut. Didn’t get to the Stepkids, Apparat, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or the Rapture (that came out, right?). Let’s not talk about Girls.
Download an Olivia Tremor Control bootleg: NPR recorded the reunited psych-pop heroes at New York club Le Poisson Rogue this week. The mix is messy and the band’s not getting any younger, but it sounds better than their FYF set. [NPR]
Wilco played a one-hour set for Letterman: You can watch it online. I also interviewed the band for Drowned in Sound. [NY Magazine]
Guided by Voices recording reunion album: The classic lineup, which were as great as you’d want them to be at FYF, will release Let’s Go Eat the Factory on New Year’s Day. [Stereogum]
R.E.M. break up: The group’s very good Collapse Into Now will be its last. I have a few more thoughts on Tumblr. [RawkTumblr]
Ravens & Chimes cover Echo and the Bunnymen for Cokemachineglow: It sounds like this. The New York band’s long-awaited sophomore album, Holiday Life, is coming out at some point this winter. [Cokemachineglow]
Here’s a homemade clip for Wilco’s “Born Alone,” the latest track from the band’s upcoming The Whole Love. I’m getting Summerteeth vibes, but mostly, it’s amazing to hear the band sound so completely democratic — no member’s contribution outweighs another’s, everyone just sounds sharp and happy. The album’s out Sept. 27, I’ve already pre-ordered it.
I imagine the Autumn Defense’s John Stirratt and Pat Sansone had to steal a few days away from Wilco’s new album sessions to play their California shows. But given the band’s ’70s-indebted folk-rock sound, one born mostly in Laurel Canyon and West L.A. venues such as the Troubadour itself, it would’ve been a shame to let an album cycle pass by without coming to what could’ve been their home turf in some earlier era. The time machine was in full effect on Saturday night, Sansone showing off a Graham Nash-worthy new beard and Stirratt’s sweet-toned vocals evoking Jackson Browne just minutes after the influential Troubadour veteran had left the stage.
The singer-songwriter pair and the rest of their five-piece band were in fine form, summer-breezing through new songs (“Back of My Mind,” “The Swallows of London Town”) and older material with able enthusiasm. The highlights of the show were the songs from 2004′s “Circles,” the band’s most solemn record and still my favorite. As Sansone and Stirratt harmonized on “The Sun in California,” the thought of their next-day flight back to America’s frozen half gave the song added poignancy; alas, LP8 waits for no man.
I interviewed Wilco and the Autumn Defense’s Pat Sansone yesterday, who let slip that Wilco will start writing their next record at the end of next month. Head over to Pop & Hiss for the story — more on his new photo book and its accompanying L.A. party (which will be next Thursday) in Brand X next week.
Wilco goes nova with the second most glorious song from Wilco (The Album) for La Blogotheque, a sequel to the “Country Disappeared” performance the site released in March. Nels Cline tears it up, although the camera man goes a lil’ overboard on his depth of field.
In case you wanted to hear the ’70s soul version of Wilco’s classic “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.” And you did want to, right? Because it rules. Keep your ears open for a “Theologians” segue. (via We Are Your FEK)
There were a lot of jams this month! Here are the ones you should pay for with money and what I wrote about them.
