Record Club Project: Feist + Jeff Tweedy + Beck = Video

Record Club: Skip Spence "Broken Heart" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Good morning Vietnam! Ready to go back to work today? You know you are!

They are five months in now, mentions Beck, to the Record Club project. Calling upon some of today's seminal Americana, rock and folk hero's, Beck hopes to further extend his musical footprint by reworking some classic records; the only limitation, an entire album music be recorded in-full, in one day. It is an organic and off-the-cuff working environment with little to no rehearsal and a grab-it-and-go mentality. For this, the third installment of the Record Club project, Beck & Co. join forces to tackle Skip Spence's (former drummer for Jefferson Airplane) 1969, one-and-only record, Oar. Tracks are released from the sessions once a week and this week's track, "Broken Heart," comes courtesy of Feist and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy -- two modern musicians that need no real introduction.

See more videos from this album's recording session including appearances by Jamie Lidell, Nels Cline and more from Feist after the jump.


"Weighted Down (Feat. Feist and Nels Cline)"

Record Club: Skip Spence "Weighted Down" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

"War in Peace"

Record Club: Skip Spence "War In Peace" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

"Cripple Creek (Feat. Jamie Lidell and Beck)"

Record Club: Skip Spence "Cripple Creek" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Andrew's Best Albums of the Decade

So apparently the decade is ending. Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Time Magazine says the 2000's were "the decade from hell." That's very rude of them! Shame on you, Time Magazine. I mean, the last 10 years gave us some pretty horrible things that were just the pits (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Lady Gaga) but hey, I liked this decade a lot! I've really only been alive for two whole decades and just a smidge of a third, so the Naughty Aughties were definitely the best out of all the decades. I am very qualified to make such a statement. Moral of the story? You're a Negative Nancy, Time Magazine.

But more importantly, I made a list of my 50 favorite albums from the last ten years. Rather than painstakingly write about each one (that's what the forthcoming Best Of '09 list is for), I decided to try a little something different. Twist! I thought I'd let the artists talk about their albums themselves. It was really hard to get a hold of most of those dudes, though, so I had to do this in the form of their own lyrics. I picked my favorite lines that sum up each album's significance to me. Disclaimer: Because 10 years is a very long time, my tastes have changed tremendously since the start of the decade. But I still thought it was entirely appropriate to include albums that I dug eight, nine years ago. Even though I might not be into a few of these anymore, they meant a lot to me at the time, so that's why you'll find a few questionable choices. So enjoy this, because I did, and because it's kind of like looking through a SCRAP BOOK OF MY LIFE! Plus, lots of YouTubes. The list begins after the jump.

1. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002, Nonesuch)

"All my lies are always wishes / I know I would die if I could come back new."

2. Brand New: Deja Entendu (2003, Triple Crown)

"You are calm and reposed/ let your beauty unfold / Pale white like the skin stretched over your bones / Spring keeps you ever close / You are second hand smoke."

3. The Strokes: Is This It (2001, RCA)

"You say you wanna stand by my side / Darling your head's not right / You see alone we stand, together we fall apart / Yeah I think i'll be alright / I'm working so I won't have to try so hard / Tables they turn sometimes."

4. The Format: Dog Problems (2006, Nettwerk)

"Sometimes, when sailors are sailing / they think twice, about where they're anchoring / and I think, I could make better use of my time on land."

5. Radiohead: Kid A (2000, Capitol)

"You can try the best you can / if you try the best you can / the best you can is good enough."

6. Jack's Mannequin: Everything In Transit (2005, Maverick)

"Maybe we were made for each other / is it possible for the world to look this way forever?"

7. Relient K: Mmhmm (2004, Gotee/ Capitol)

"I've thrown away / so many things that could've been much more / and I just pray / my problems go away if they're ignored / but that's not the way it works."

8. Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American (2001, Dreamworks)

"If you were with me tonight / I'd sing to you just one more time / a song for a heart so big / God wouldn't let it live."

9. Nightmare Of You: Self Titled (2005, The Bevonshire Label)

"But I'm yours if you want it / I can be yours to spend your life with / I can be yours / we'll hide indoors / petrified of the world."

10. Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism (2003, Barsuk)

"All I find are souvenirs from better times / before the gleam of your taillights fading east / to find yourself a better life."

11. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Pershing (2008, Polyvinyl)

"Do people, when they're older / see distances on maps get smaller / and promises of happiness stalled? / I wanna see you again."

12. My Morning Jacket: Z (2005, ATO)

"Truly, truly we have become / hated and feared for something that we don't want / listen, listen / most of us believe that this is wrong."

13. Motion City Soundtrack: Commit This To Memory (2005, Epitaph)

"These are the things I think about / when I'm alone without you / I wonder of your whereabouts / and hope like hell / you're happy where you are."

14. The Postal Service: Give Up (2003, Sub Pop)

"I want so badly to believe / that there is truth, that love is real / and I want life in every word / to the extent that it's absurd."

15. Frightened Rabbit: Midnight Organ Fight (2008, Fatcat)

"When my blood stops / someone else's will not / when my head rolls off / someone else's will turn / and while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to Earth."

16. Saves The Day: In Reverie (2003, Dreamworks)

"To the sunlight shining on my cheeks / and the wind sweeping me away / far away from every memory / with your face in the frame / that'll be the day."

17. Brand New: The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me (2006, Tiny Evil/Interscope)

"Is it in you now? / to better hear the truth that you have spoken / twisted up by knaves / to make a trap for fools. / Is it in you now? / to watch the things you gave your life to, broken / and then stoop and build them up / with worn out tools?"

18. Say Anything: Is A Real Boy (2004, Doghouse)

"So now i'm forging ahead / past all the plutocrats who sold me out /go sob in your bed / if life is twice as pretty once you're dead / then send me a card / I'm still the optimist, though it is hard / when all you want to be is in a dream."

19. The Weakerthans: Reunion Tour (2007, Anti-)

"I see you suddenly alive / and nearly smiling / I stop and hold my breath / and watch the way you used to be."

20. Limbeck: Hi, Everything’s Great (2003, Doghouse)

"And if my fingers should start to crack or blister / I guess that's just what happens / don't you forget the things you're leaving."

21. Radiohead: In Rainbows (2007, Self-released)

"I am a moth who just wants to share your light / I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night / I only stick with you because there are no others."

22. Days Away: Mapping an Invisible World (2006, Fueled By Ramen/Lava)

"Now you've got me thinking I'm amazing / cause I've built this all on my own / go on, tell me what you think before you fake it / and I might believe you."

23. Dr. Dog: Fate (2008, Park the Van)

"Cause love that never leaves is never ever welcome back / and i'm running out of skin thick enough to hide in."

24. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009, Domino)

"Sometimes the sun will shine / yes I am just doing fine / sometimes I'm not aware / where I am or what I care / sometimes I'm well-to-do / but I don't know what to do / sometimes I don't agree / with my thoughts on being free."

25. Green Day: American Idiot (2004, Reprise)

"And in the darkest / if my memory serves me right / I'll never turn back time / forgetting you / but not the time."

26. Why?: Alopecia (2008, Anticon)

"I'm lucky to be under / this same sky that held / the exhale from your first breath / like a ring on a pillow of clouds / by you my tongue may stutter / but my gift heart screams clear and swells / to burst between the wrapped lengths / of its bowed ribbon cell."

27. The Avett Brothers: I And Love And You (2009, American)

"I wanna fit in to the perfect space / feel natural and safe in a volatile place / and I wanna grow old without the pain / give my body back to the earth and not complain."

28. The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow (2003, Sub Pop)

"Mercy's eyes are blue / and when she places them in front of you / nothing holds a Roman candle / to the solemn warmth you feel."

29. Cursive: The Ugly Organ (2003, Saddle Creek)

"Oh, please don't barrage me with the questions / to all those ugly answers / my ego's like my stomach / it keeps shitting what I feed it."

30. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006, Domino)

"Anticipation has a habit to set you up / for disappointment in evening entertainment but / tonight there'll be some love / tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah / regardless of what's gone before."

31. Kanye West: Late Registration (2005, Roc-A-Fella)

"Before you ask me to go get a job today / can I at least get a raise on the minimum wage? / And I know the government administered aids / So I guess we just pray like the minister say."

32. Down to Earth Approach: Come Back To You (2007, Vagrant)

"Don't be so forgetful / and just let yourself be happy for a minute / be forever grateful / that she changed your mind to a warm home from a prison."

33. Fleet Foxes: Self Titled (2008, Sub Pop)

"The world is alive now / in and outside our home / you run through the forest / settle before the sun / darling, I can barely remember you beside me / you should come back home / back on your own now."

34. Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers (2003, Virgin)

"And here is your reflection / in a building uptown / a ghost inside some Madison Avenue display / like water under bridges / you're slowly passing by / as you sail between the rooftops and the sky."

35. The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America (2006, Vagrant)

"I feel Jesus in the clumsiness / of young and awkward lovers / I feel Judas in the long odds / of the rackets on the corners / I feel Jesus in the tenements / of honest, nervous lovers / I feel Judas in the pistols and the pagers / that come with all the powders."

36. Ben Folds: Rockin the Suburbs (2001, Epic)

"Next door there's an old man / who lived to his nineties / and one day passed away / in his sleep / and his wife, she stayed / for a couple of days / and passed away / I'm sorry / I know that's a strange way to tell you / that I know we belong."

37. Northstar: Pollyanna (2004, Triple Crown)

"And there's God / there's me / there's Saturn / there's me / and forget everything in between."

38. Punchline: Action (2004, Fueled By Ramen)

"With the world in my hands / could I change it if I want? / and who are you to answer that for me / if by chance, or a cheater/ I'd leave it up to neither / confidence rules present tense / and it could shatter all my dreams."

39. Wilco: A Ghost Is Born (2004, Nonesuch)

"And the sun gets passed from tree to tree / silently, and back to me / with the breeze blown through / pushed up against the sea / finally back to me."

40. Midtown: Save The World, Lose The Girl (2000, Drive-Thru)

"Regrets are worthless / they misconstrue the past in sight and sound / and as lines recede / no one speaks a word of his lust / a word of dreams that've been left to rust / the TV's on and everyone stays calm."

41. Blink-182: Self Titled (2003, Geffen)

"My head is made up of memories / most of them useless delusions / this room is bored of rehearsal / and sick of the boundaries / I miss you so much."

42. Ryan Adams: Gold (2001, Lost Highway)

"Well, everybody wants to go on forever / I just wanna burn up hard and bright / I just wanna be your firecracker / and maybe be your baby tonight."

43. Rufus Wainwright: Poses (2001, Dreamworks)

"Can't expect the world to be your Raggedy Andy / while running on empty / you little old doll with a frown."

44. Vampire Weekend: Self Titled (2008, XL)

"Oh your collegiate grief / has left you dowdy in sweatshirts / absolute horror!"

45. Taking Back Sunday: Tell All Your Friends (2002, Victory)

"Think of all the fun you've had / the finest line divides a night well spent / from a waste of time / and think of all the days you spent / alone with just your TV set / and I / well I can barely smile."

46. John Mayer: Room for Squares (2001, Aware/Columbia)

"Friday evening we've been drinking / 2 AM I swear I might propose / but we close the tab / split a cab / and call each other up / when we get home / falling asleep / to the sound of sirens."

47. New Found Glory: Self Titled (2000, Drive-Thru/MCA)

"Here's to us fools / that have no meaning / I tip my glass to you / let's toast the night away to friends / and forget about tomorrow."

48. Audio Recording Club: In the End, We Are All Light (2007, Self-released)

"Doing 80 / down the highway / as Jim Adkins sings the lullabies into my head / he swears he’s one small instrument / and every car I pass along / is one more car closer to home / to everything I know and love / cause that’s all I’ve been thinking of."

49. Fall Out Boy: Take This To Your Grave (2003, Fueled By Ramen)

"My smile's an open wound without you / And my hands are tied to pages inked to bring you back / Tonight the headphones will deliver you / the words that I can't say."

50. Race The Sun: The Rest of Our Lives is Tonight (2004, Fidelity)

"Farewell pleasant town / hope you sleep well tonight / again we'll race back to you / fight to get lost in your streets / cheat toll booths as locals / engrave our names in park benches / we'll find an alias."

Llamas Are The Move

Such a great time to be a llama, you guys. There's no denying that the animal is in the midst of a serious career renaissance, after falling out of the public eye in recent years. In the new Dirty Projectors video for "Stillness Is The Move," which is scientifically proven to be the jam of the year, lead Projector and part-time herder Dave Longstreth has some serious one-on-one time with a llama while his female bandmates get their Destiny's Child on in a field. Meanwhile, today marks the release of Wilco's long-awaited seventh disc, Wilco (the album), whose cover artwork prominently features a llama in a birthday hat. Or is it a camel? Shit, we can never tell the difference. Anyway, it's also scientifically proven that all even-toed ungulates are serious indie snobs, so today is probably the best day for them, know what I mean? Enjoy it. Video via P4K TV.

Late Night Blog Reel

Wilco: "You Never Know" - Conan
St. Vincent: "Marrow" - Letterman
Bat For Lashes: "Daniel" - Kimmel











After the jump.

Okkervil River to Tour with Wilco

[mp3] Okkervil River: "Pop Lie"
[mp3] Okkervil River: "Lost Coastlines"

"Just off an Australian tour, Okkervil River head home in the midst of the summer festival season to tape their first Austin City Limits performance on June 18. Also in store for this summer is a performance at this year's Bonnaroo Festival, the Ottawa Bluesfest, Winnepeg Folk Festival, and a number of dates with Wilco, including a performance at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. "

June 14 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo- The Other Tent
June 25 Los Angeles, CA Wiltern Theatre w/ Wilco
June 26 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery w/ Wilco
June 27 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre w/ Wilco
June 28 Stateline, NV Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena w/Wilco
June 30 Jacksonville, OR Britt Pavilion w/ Wilco
July 03 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/ Wilco
July 10 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Bluesfest
July 11 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival

Sure (Why Not?)

Yeah, so that's the new Wilco album cover. We're all for irony and comedy, but we don't really want it from Wilco. Remember when Jeff Tweedy was all fucked up and wrote serious songs about real life issues? And girls? Now we get camels and songs about his band. Haven't heard the record, but on a level of 1-10, our interest in this album is at about a 2. Thanks guys. Wilco (The Album) due 6/30 on Nonesuch. Tracks after the jump. VIA



01 "Wilco (The Song)"
02 "Deeper Down"
03 "One Wing"
04 "Bull Black Nova"
05 "You And I"
06 "You Never Know"
07 "Country Disappeared"
08 "Solitaire"
09 "I'll Fight"
10 "Sonny Feeling"
11 "Everlasting Everything"

Wilco and Woody, Together Again

Please donate
Wilco (W.Gutherie cover): "Jolly Banker"

We just love posting photos of Woody. There are so many great ones. This is W and Pete Seeger. We leave you for the day with another cover of Woody from Wilco. Everyone by now of course knows about the Mermaid Avenue records, so consider this an addendum. Wilco are offering the tune at wilcoworld.net but you can grab it here. Before doing so - please read the statement below, and if you can - donate the 2 bucks. For Woody people.

We ask that if you'd like to download the tune, you hit the donate button and contribute a MINIMUM of two US dollars. If you can afford more, please be generous. All proceeds will go directly to the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives and we enthusiastically support their good work in promoting and sustaining the legacy and music of Woody Guthrie. If you are unemployed or otherwise unable to donate now, please keep it in mind for the future when your circumstances improve.

How Woody is THAT?

Wilco (The Blog Post)

Photo: Flanigan/FilmMagic for RS

So according to Rolling Stone, the new Wilco album is called Wilco (The Album). This album will include "Wilco (The Song)" an open-hearted tribute to their fans that first debuted on The Colbert Report during the election. We actually sorta love the song. Wilco (The Album) comes out in late June with festivals and touring to follow. Go get em fellas. RS writes:

There’s a little something for everyone on the group’s new disc, which they recorded in their loft space in Chicago. “One Wing” and “Sunny Feeling” are breezy, pop-friendly tunes; “Deeper Down” is a mellow ballad spiked with atmospherics and chamber strings; the nearly-six-minute jam “Bull Black Nova” starts with rollicking drums, stacatto keys and guitars before exploding into a killer solo from guitarist Nels Cline. Think of the it as a sonic follow-up to the kraut-rockin’ “Spiders (Kidsmoke).”

Phish Fans Are Stoked, Rest Of The World Is Like, "Whatever"

Well, it's been the worst kept secret in the music world for several months, but America's favorite reunited hippies (read: Phish) are headlining two nights of the eighth annual Bonnaroo festival. (Which, you know, is completely neccessary.) The Boss is joining them, hoping to emulate his crotch-tastic Superbowl performance from Sunday, as are the Beasties, David Byrne, Wilco, Nine Inch Nails, Al Green, SNOOP DOGG, Elvis Costello, Animal Collective, MGMT, Bon Iver and a billion others. You have to give the organizers credit: minus the whole Phish thing, the lineup looks pretty okay. 

We'll be trying our hardest to make it down to Manchester this year, after last year's soiree left us awed and hung over. Tickets go on sale exclusively through the festival's official Web site on Saturday (2/7) at noon. Check out a video of the announcement featuring something called "stratostencil animation" (whatever that is) after the jump. Not as good as Lewis Black, unfortunately.  

Rough Gems: Slimfit

Rough Gems are those artists that haven't gotten the amount of attention they so shrewdly deserve or those that may be on the verge of making it. With any hope, we can change their fortunes by giving them some exposure. Or, at the very least, marginally improve their fan base.

SLIMFIT 

Slimfit - "Easy To Talk To" mp3

Slimfit- "Which Way You Gonna Go?" mp3

In all of its bare splendor, Lancaster, PA doesn't exactly scream "hotbed for country rock" quite the way that more obvious locales like Nashville and Austin do. But then again, neither did Belleville, Illinois -- the home to alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo. And look what happened to them. (You better not have to look.) As long as you write songs about working, drinking and partying, it doesn't matter what part of the country you call home: you're an American band, damnit. And that's exactly the credo that Lancaster's own Slimfit abides by. 

On their often-excellent debut LP Make It Worse, the independent five-piece raucously celebrates the simple, finer things in life -- like "nieces... or, say, the greatest sandwich ever made," by their own admission. That no-frills attitude carries over from Joey McMonagle's and Pat Kirchner's songwriting to the band's execution in playing the songs: stomps like "Which Way You Gonna Go?" and "Fight 'Til You Die" are effortless nods to influences like Tupelo and The Jayhawks. Even when their sound is stripped to just acoustic guitars and a fiddle, like on opener "Midnight Blues," the mood is never somber; rather, an inherent punk spirit always remains. 

Make It Worse is still a release that is very much under-the-radar, but we hope that changes soon. Might we be the ones to sway you? Give it a shot by grabbing the two free mp3s above -- and if you dig, buy the album via CDBaby or iTunes. Don't let your troubles get you down... Make It Worse will make things better. Corny? Yes. True? You bet. 

2009 Presidential Inaguration Ticket Market Thrives

In a story from CNN.com (of all places) it turns out tickets for Obama's inauguration on January 20th are running for around 5 figures online. Entry is free if your congressman or woman or state senator grants your admission, yet you can reserve your own spot in history for this one time only fee of $20,000. Shit, we thought those $1,050 Prince tickets we bought were expensive.

Our question is, will Wilco be there? Either way, we've been guaranteed a view from a friend's roof. Have fun buying scalped tix online you silly bastards.

Tweedy Brings Wilco and Lapel Flags to the Colbert Report

A lapel flag-wearing Jeff Tweedy graced the Colbert Report last night for a quick, highly snarky (in a good way) interview and exclusive performance of "Wilco the Song." Colbert commented on his flag pin, to which Tweedy responded "Where's yours?." Not to be topped, Colbert returns from commercial break wearing not one, but SIX lapel flags. What could be MORE American than that?! The song was good, pretty funny, even throwing in a few shout out's to Colbert himself. Could Wilco be the most patriotic band in the Nation? Cast your vote. You decide.

Wilco + Fleet Foxes + Bob Dylan Cover - Get it Now!

Get it here.

It is a simple point-and-click here, people. Type your name and a valid email address, pledge that you will vote (for the right person hopefully) and download away. The tune you receive, a cover of "I Shall Be Released," (Stark feature anyone? Ha!) conjures up images of a packed Winterland Ballroom, a stage full of music icons, and Bob Dylan in all his glory. Wilco and Fleet Foxes do the tune justice -- layered harmonies seem to be this year's big cheese and both the aforementioned artists know how to produce. Enjoy the seemingly unmatchable, The Band-driven performance in the video above. THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!
Fist pump to GVB on this one.


After the jump.