Wilco (rocks)

I realize that for a lot of people, my endorsement of Wilco’s cleverly titled new album, Wilco (the album) doesn’t hold a ton of water. There are very few bands/artists that I hold in as high esteem as Wilco. Jeff Tweedy is a consistently excellent songwriter and every incarnation of the band has put out some incredible music.

While throughout the years, they have had a constantly evolving cast (Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt are the only original members), Wilco is currently running on it’s longest-lasting lineup and the results have been glorious. While Sky Blue Sky was a great album in it’s own right, it largely felt like Wilco hit the refresh button – it was basically a live album recorded in the studio. Wilco (the album) on the other hand, is a self-consciously studio-driven venture. One of the best parts of the album is that the band sounds like they had a blast making it.

Sonically, there are traces to be found from every stage of their history and this is one of the reasons why Wilco (the album)’s title is so appropriate – it is the best statement of Wilco (the band)’s complex identity ever recorded on tape. It also reminds us that even throughout the sonic deconstruction of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born, at his core Tweedy has always been a writer of great pop songs.

From the first chords of ‘Wilco (the song)’ to Nels Cline’s jazzy noodling on the close to ‘Everlasting Everything’, Wilco (the band) has once again proven to be one of the most exciting bands in the world and Wilco (the album) is the latest installment of their near-perfect catalogue. It is also some of the finest music you’ll hear this year. Or next.

My week in music.

This week has been pretty action packed.  For those of you who didn’t know, my birthday was last Friday and my wonderful girlfriend’s birthday was on Monday.  As a gift, my parents got me tickets to see my musical hero, and on Tuesday night Katelyn and I rocked out at the United Center for almost three hours to the tunes of my good friend, Bruce Springsteen. It was my second time seeing him and he and the E Street Band never disappoint.

I have also been really enjoying Animal Collective’s 2007 masterpiece, Strawberry Jam and Steve Earle’s new album, Townes.  The latter is a tribute to Earle’s good friend Townes Van Zandt, who was one of the best songwriters in America’s history.

Francis Schaeffer, art, and Animal Collective.

I am giving a presentation on Monday for my Christianity and Culture class on how Christian are to relate to popular music.  While reading Francis Schaeffer’s classic Art & The Bible, I came accross this killer quote:

“For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts.  A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God.  An art work can be a doxology in itself.”

One album that I have really been enjoying lately is Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective.  I bought a few months ago during spring break because it was on sale for $7.99 on iTunes and I had wanted to listen to it for a while.  I was a little nervous because it is very different from the kinds of music that I usually listen to, but I really, really like it.  They are one of the most innovative, strange bands out there, but I would highly reccommend it.  If you give it time, this album gets better with every listen and every beat, layer, synth, and strange, oddball noise points me to our innovative, glorious Creator.

Here is the video for their song “My Girls”:

The album cover:

Bob Dylan – Together Through Life

Hey folks.  I have had a really, really busy few weeks and haven’t had a ton of time to post updates.  If you want to hear from me more often, you can follow me on Twitter.  Don’t expect much on my blog over the next few weeks because I’ve got papers to write, presentations to give, and Greek to translate.

Bob Dylan – Together Through Life

This is great stuff.  While a lot of people considered his previous three albums (Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times) to be a trilogy, after this release it makes much more sense to consider Love and Theft, Modern Times, and Together Through Life to be Dylan’s true modern trilogy.  While Time Out of Mind is an great album, his recent three have had continuity in their production/instrumentation and have dealt with similar subjects.  Together Through Life has the loosest feel of the three and, as the title and cover suggest, zooms in to explore snapshots of modern American life.

The new album by The Decemberists is worth the Hazards.

I would highly reccommend picking up The Hazards of Love from The Decemberists.  Featuring friends such as Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) on vocals, The Decemberists take us through a story from beginning to end, highlighting the (extreme) hazards of love.  It takes work to listen to, but the work pays off.

Two other things:

I have overlooked Animal Collective for years, but Merriweather Post Pavilion is incredible.

I’M SEEING THE HOLD STEADY TONIGHT!

Check out The War on Drugs

No, not the government campaign or the Barenaked Ladies song.  They’re a really cool new band and I’ve been digging their album, Wagonwheel Blues.  Great stuff.  I’m excited to see them at the Festival of Faith and Music.  Here’s a video:

Bruce Ware rocks.

He is one of the most helpful theologians I’ve ever read.  His argument against open theism in God’s Lesser Glory is rock solid (in my opinion) and I’ve just started God’s Greater Glory, which focuses on the providence of God.  Go read him.

Go buy the new M. Ward CD.

It’s great.  It’s called Hold Time and you should buy it.  Here we find Ward continuing his exploration of the roots of American folk, blues, pop, rock, and country.

Warning: Ward is not for everybody, but if you like good music, it would be a wise decision to give him a shot.  This is probably the best (read: most accessible) place to start for M. Ward beginners.

Watch him perform his new single “Never Had Nobody Like You” on Letterman:

Bruce Springsteen is Working on a Dream

If you have ever talked about music with me sometime during the past year or so you probably discovered that I have a mild obsession with Bruce Springsteen.  There are times that I will even make outrageous statements such as, “Bruce Springsteen is the greatest songwriter in the history of American music.”  Needless to say, I love the Boss (not romantically of course).

While his new album, Working on a Dream, has gotten extremely mixed reviews across the board (ranging from 5 stars from Rolling Stone to 1.5 stars from Slant), I think that it is most definitely a worthy addition to the Springsteen canon.  It certainly lacks the angst of earlier albums, but the stories are still there.

“Outlaw Pete” and “Queen of the Supermarket” are without a doubt the two most polarizing songs on the album.  In “Outlaw Pete,” the main character is literally a born criminal, and in “Queen of the Supermarket,” we meet a man who is so beaten down (thematically, classic Springsteen), that his only consolation is seeing the “beauty behind the counter.”  While they might be odd at first listen, within the context of the world that Springteen has sang about since Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., these songs add depth and color to an already great collection of songs.

Production-wise, Working on a Dream is the most interesting Springsteen album in years.  The Brian Wilson influence first found on Magic is continued and, dare I say, perfected.  The melodic bass lines found in “Working on a Dream” and “This Life” are 60s influenced pop at its best.  On the bluesy “Good Eye,” Bruce finally found a place for the vocal distortion that he has been experimenting with on the live version of “Reason to Believe.”  “This Life” and “Kingdom of Days” are gorgeous, and “The Last Carnival” and “The Wrestler” are a somber, but perfect way to end the album; the former a eulogy for recently deceased E-Street band member Danny Federici and the latter a bonus track from the film of the same name.

Overall, Working on a Dream is a great album.  While it will never be remembered as a classic album in the realm of  Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Nebraska, or Born in the U.S.A., it is most certainly classic Springsteen.   Many will disagree with me, but I will even say that it will be considered among the best albums of 2009.  I highly recommend it.

Best Albums of 2008 – The Definitive List

I am the first to admit that I am a pretentious weiner that likes to lament the current state of popular music.  However, in a year full of auto-tune, there have been many beacons of hope.  I now present to you the definitive list of the best music of 2008.  I have to be honest though.  I’m not sure whether I should have done a top 5 or this top 10.  For the next few weeks I will probably flip-flop my opinions as to which deserve the 6-10 rankings and which deserve to be “Runners Up”.  Nevertheless, here is my imperfect list.

Top 10 Albums of 2008

1. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
2. Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
3. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
4. Kathleen Edwards – Asking for Flowers
5. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
6. Ray LaMontagne – Gossip in the Grain
7. Ron Sexsmith – Exit Strategy of the Soul
8. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
9. Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends
10. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Runners Up

• My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
• Sandra McCracken – Red Balloon
• Punch Brothers – Punch

Other Notable Releases (that are as good if not better than some on the top 10 list, but due to not being “studio” albums, were not included)

• Bob Dylan – Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series Vol. 8
• Neil Young – Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
• Over the Rhine – Live From Nowhere Vol. 3
• John Mayer – Where The Light Is

Reissue of the Year

• Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac (Deluxe Edition)