Live Review: Solid Sound Festival 2011

It's been wonderful watching Wilco break away from the music industry over the past few years, taking with them their seemingly ever-growing entourage of devoted followers. The group has come to a point in their career where the confines of record label are no longer a necessity, where the band no longer takes their music to people but rather brings their fans to them. Nowhere was this more evident than at the second iteration of the Solid Sound Festival--nestled in the somewhat remote town of North Adams, MA on the campus of the world class Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). The facilities were transformed in a Wilco-mecca of sorts, finding concert posters and homemade instruments nestled next to work from luminaries such as Sol LeWitt and Katharina Grosse. And then there was the music——handpicked by the folks in Wilco and encompassing everything from garage rock to brass bands. But why stop there? With a comedy cabaret curated by John Hodgman, a falconry demonstration, a pop up record store and a menagerie of local vendors, there was no excuse not to fill every moment of the weekend. Not to mention two headlining sets from everyone's favorite convention-defying rock band. The perfect weekend for this diehard Wilco fanatic? Yup.

Solid Sound Plans Solidify

One of my biggest regrets of last summer was having neither the time nor the resources to make it out to Wilco's inaugural Solid Sound Festival. From what I heard and read, it was an incredible experience, gathering a slew of Wilco fans in the beautiful confines of MASS MoCA for three days of music and art. This year, the independently organized festival is happening almost two months earlier than it did last summer (June 24-26), which means I'll be in attendance for the first time.

Of course, the undeniable highlight of the weekend's festivities are the two sets that Wilco will play over the course of the weekend's first two evenings. I expect they'll be debuting material from their upcoming record in addition to their usual live offerings. Today the band confirmed via Facebook that they'll be releasing an exclusive 7" single at the festival via their newly formed dBpm Records, featuring a brand new Wilco tune entitled "I Might."

Once again, various Wilco side-projects will also be performing, including The Autumn Defense, Pronto, Pillow Wand and Glenn Kotche on solo drum kit. Other notable artists on the bill include the Levon Helm Band, Thurston Moore, Sic Alps, Here We Go Magic and the Handsome Family. There will also be a comedy stage curated by Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman featuring comedians Wyatt Cenac, Eugene Mirman and Morgan Murphy. Additionally, there will be workshops with members of the group and their cohorts as well as the return of the charity dunking booth, which gives you the chance to drench your favorite member of Wilco.

I'm beyond excited—it's going to the well-deserved end to an almost year-and-a-half drought of live Wilco. Fellow fans, I'll see you in Massachusetts!

Jim O'Rourke and Thurston Moore Cover Burt Bacharach

The Jim O'Rourke helmed Burt Bacharach tribute record All Kinds of People ~Love Burt Bacharach~ dropped exclusively in Japan last week. While it is available on the Japanese version of iTunes, short of importing the record, there's no way to legitimately access it in the US. Fortunately, one of the tracks from the record featuring Thurston Moore on vocals and Glenn Kotche on the drums surfaced this week on YouTube. It's a well-crafted cover of the Bacharach standard "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", showcasing O'Rourke's unique brand of straight-forward production. Hopefully we'll get a few more listens via YouTube in the coming weeks and, god willing, a US release of the record by the end of the year.

Live Review: Wilco in Athens

I think it's telling that the prospect of going to a Wilco concert is still something that excites me to no end. Sure, you hear the same songs, but every time I've seen them there's been something that has made that particular experience unique. Back in 2005, I met most of the band before the show at Used Kids records in Columbus, Ohio; back then I was a 16-year old kid meeting rockstars. The year after that I saw Wilco in a festival setting at Tall Stacks in Cincinnatti, a much more communal experience to say the least. The following year I found myself back in Cincinnatti seeing the band at the Aronoff; one of the best sounding venues I've ever been in, and meeting the group again one by one after the show. My experience in my adopted hometown of Athens was an entirely different animal, and possibly the best Wilco-related experience I'll ever have.I made a trip to Memorial Auditorium early Friday to pick up my tickets for the show and ran into Nels Cline on the sidewalk outside the venue. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to put together an interview for my radio show since all those requests have to be approved by management (and Wilco's manager insisted that the band was far to busy to humor a lowly college radio student with an interview). Anyways, Nels was extremely helpful and pointed me in the direction of their tour manager, who gave me essentially the same schpeel. Feeling slightly forlorn, I got a call from my dad (he and my sister came to town to see the show) telling me that he had just run into Wilco bassist John Stirratt, who Jana spotted, with whom he apparent hit it off with, so much so that John put us on the guest list for the show's afterparty. I was ecstatic to say the least, and very impressed with my dear old dad.
I made it to the show about halfway through A Hawk and A Handsaw's opening set. After getting to see Low open for Wilco, I think I'm a little spoiled as far as quality opening acts go. A Hawk and A Handsaw were interesting, but not the kind of group that I'd normally peg as a rock concert opener. It was enjoyable enough, but it was obvious that the crowd was fairly eager to get to the night's main attraction. Wilco took the stage and launched into "Hell is Chrome"; certainly one of my favorite songs thanks to it piano-centric nature and also just a great sounding live tune. They also got around to playing "You Are My Face" fairly quickly; one of my favorite songs on Sky Blue Sky and one that I hadn't seen them play live. It was fairly obvious (at least from where I was sitting) that the venue wasn't the best sounding place in the world, there were times where you could hear things bouncing around, but the group really took it in stride. Nels was particularly on top of things, with his solo during "Side with the Seeds" being a highlight of the show. Another great surprise was the A.M. track "Shouldn't Be Ashamed"; those old songs sound so great with this lineup of the band. Tweedy kept fairly quiet during the show, although he did pander to the crowd by replacing the word 'Peking' in "Kingpin" with 'Athens', and told us a story about almost getting hit by a golfball while walking around campus. The night was fairly by-the-book as far as Wilco shows go, but as it was my first time seeing the group in over year, I didn't really mind.
Directly following the show, we made our way out back and after Jana and my sister exchanged some words with security, managed to obtain our passes and go backstage. The only other time I'd been backstage after a show was after a Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche solo show at the Wexner Center a few years back, but this was certainly a different experience. Everyone from the band except Jeff was in attendance, and there were maybe 10 or 15 other attendees. John welcomed us in, offering us drinks and thanking us for showing up. We struck up a conversation with Nels, and he told us about some of his upcoming projects, such as a soundtrack to an artbook by Ed Ruscha and the next Scott Amendola Band album (which IS still on it's way, although probably not until next year). For being such a great guitarist, Nels is a very humble guy; he expressed how grateful he was to have a well-paying gig like Wilco that allowed him to work on much smaller, less lucrative projects. Next, we talked briefly with keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson, who was glad to hear that his group Pronto's debut record All is Golden was getting some spins on WOUB.

Finally we got to Glenn, a guy who I was really looking forward to asking some questions to, my first one being; What have you heard from Jim O'Rourke about his new album? To my surprise, Glenn said that it was finished, and that he actually had a copy of it, and that it was just as amazing as his previous work. He said that Jim played every instrument on it himself; but being the perfectionist that he is, is still tinkering with it. Glenn also revealed that he and his family had flown out to Japan to visit Jim recently, and that while there he laid down some drum tracks for an entirely different project that Jim is working on. Glenn made it no secret that, like me, he has a huge respect for O'Rourke, going as far as to say that he is the only person he has ever met who he truly considers to be a musical genius. I told Glenn to send my regards to Jim, and to urge him to release an album sometime soon. With that, we took a few more pictures and made our exit, making certain to thank John one more time for his gracious invitation. I don't know if I'll ever top this Wilco experience (maybe Jeff Tweedy taking me out for dinner at Chili's?), but damn, my 16-year old self would be so jealous of me right now.

MusicNOW Festival Review

Just got back from Cincinnati yesterday, a very interesting city. Looks like a nice place until you start driving through the city streets and seedy neighborhoods. I spent most of my visit on the University of Cincinnati campus, which is also a pretty unique place. Lots of abstract architecture, sculptures, installations, etc. spread across the school. I got to visit Shake It Records, which from the looks of it is the premiere record store in the Cincinnati area. A great selection of CDs, and a respectable amount of new and used vinyl. However, my main reason for the trip was the MusicNOW festival, now in it's third year, which took place at the beautiful Memorial Hall in downtown Cinci.

The festival was a four night series of concerts, curated by Bryce Dessner (the guitarist for the National, and a Cincinnati native). I only made it to the Friday and Saturday night shows, so I'll be focusing my attention on those, although I heard that Wednesday and Thursday weren't too shabby, with guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens and the Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry.

Friday night's show was split between the jazz guitar styling of the Dirty Projectors and the Bang on a Can All Stars, a modern music ensemble which featured Bryce Dessner sitting in on guitar and Glenn Kotche on drums. Having not really listened to much of the Dirty Projectors before, I was pretty impressed, especially with the lead guitarist. The guy is very talented, and the band overall was in pretty fine form, despite the fact that both the bassist and rhythm guitarist were suffering from a case of the flu. Their set was quick, and soon enough the Bang on a Can All Stars took the stage. The ensemble started off the their set with some pretty standard modern pieces, enjoyable enough, but definitely not what I was there to see. Glenn took the stage after a short introduction, care of Dessner, and began to talk the crowd through what they were about to hear. The first piece was one commissioned by Bang on a Can, entitled "Snap"; a tribute to the Stax Records label of the 1960s. Kotche's composition genius really shown through in this piece, his experience with composing for the Kronos Quartet has obviously emboldened him. Kotche's next piece with the group was an ensemble arrangement of the Mobile suite, from his Nonesuch solo release of the same name. Having seen Kotche play this piece solo with the help of a prerecorded backing track, I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to see this composition entirely live. This performance was the fulfillment of that dream, and was just as great as I imagined it would be. Some liberties were taken with the material due to the makeup of the quartet, but it was still an extremely impressive song to see an ensemble play.
Saturday's bill featured the group Grizzly Bear as well as a solo performance by Andrew Bird. Grizzly Bear's set was great, albeit a little too short in my opinion. The group is definitely one of my favorite new groups of the past few years, particularly their recent release Yellow House which has been in frequent rotation on my playlist as of late. They got through most of the songs that I wanted to hear, with the glaring exception of "Easier" which seems like an obvious opener to me. I also had no idea the band's bassist did so much work, he barely seemed to touch his bass, usually providing clarinet or flute instead. A really impressive performance, and one that I wish would have gone on a little longer, especially in light of the next performer. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Andrew Bird fan. However, I've had the unique pleasure of seeing him play with his band and his solo performance at this festival got a little stale to say the least. It was also not helped by the fact that he played very few familiar songs, opting instead to debut songs off of the record he is currently recording. The older tunes he did play lacked the polish that he usually provides; many forgotten words and chords were scattered liberally through the set. While I understand the circumstances under which this performance were taking place; a one-off show likely as a favor to Dessner, I don't think that excuses Bird entirely especially since the guy is so damn talented to begin with. At least we got spirited renditions of "Why?", "Plasticities" and "Weather Systems", and most of the new songs sounded pretty solid although I'm sure I'll like them more once their fleshed out with some Rhodes and drums care of Dosh. Not the best way to cap off the fest, but I was still more than satisfied and hope to come back next year.

The Triumphant Return

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here. Suffice to say, I'm not dead, just unmotivated and busy with more pressing matters. In the months since my last post I've graduated from high school, landed a summer job and to top it all off, last night I attended Wilco's show at Cincinatti's Aronoff Center. A great night to say the least, especially with an opening band as outstanding as Low. Before the show I ran into Mike Jorgenson on the sidewalk outside the venue and started out the signing of my "What Light" 7" single (a single which none of the band even knew existed, more on that later). Doors opened early and before taking my seat I snagged an amazingly clever Nintendo Wii-themed Wilco t-shirt pictured to the left. Low kicked the night off promptly at 7:30, drawing mainly from their newest release Drums & Guns (a real grower, I've been listening to it quite a bit as of late). The band didn't rely on pre-recorded effects of any sort, opting instead to rearrange songs to be played by their three-person configuration. Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's haunting vocal harmonies were in full effect, making the accompanying music almost secondary in comparison. The sparse audience in attendance for this opening act were surprisingly respectful, which is really integral at a Low show since so many of the songs are quiet and subdued. In the words of Nels Cline "Low is the only slowcore band who gets it right".

Wilco took the stage to the opening strains of "Shake it Off", quickly launching into "You Are My Face". Both were songs I'd never heard live before and, in my opinion, both greatly improved upon their studio incarnations. The focus on Sky Blue Sky tracks continued throughout the main set, with spot on renditions of "Side With the Seeds", "Impossible Germany", "Sky Blue Sky" and "Walken". The set was surprisingly YHF-heavy, including the usual "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", "War on War", and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" joined by "Pot Kettle Black" a song from the era which I've never had the pleasure of hearing live before. A welcome change was the lack of Ghost is Born material in the set. While I don't mind hearing the songs, both shows I've been to previously were chock full of songs from that album, so it was nice to hear some new things. The band looked to be having a great time on stage, still full of all their beginning of tour energy. Tweedy introduced the audience to a Spinal Tap-esque stage piece which turned out to be a tiny macramé owl that came down from the rafters onto the stage behind the band ("Adjust yourself to THAT reality"). The main set culminated with "Hummingbird", but the band quickly returned for their first of two encores, launching into the great new tune "Hate it Here" following it up with the a rendition of "Poor Places" that bled into the krautrock of "Spiders". The night ended up with a sing-a-long to "What Light" and the pop-rock goodness of "Heavy Metal Drummer".
After the show I managed to get the rest of the band sign my "What Light" 7". No one in the band had any idea that Nonesuch had even put out a single in the UK. Tweedy wondered why they hadn't at least sent him free copy for his collection. Nels was excited about the inclusion of rocker "Let's Not Get Carried Away" as the b-side. I gave Glenn the URL of the website I imported from (Juno Records, for any of you who'd like to own a copy). My only regret is that I didn't get to meet any members of Low, but I can't complain too much. Yet another awesome night with Wilco.

Favorite Albums of 2006

While sifting through this year's releases to compile this obligatory list, one thing became glaringly obvious to me; I don't listen to very much new music anymore. I blame this mainly on my predominantly used-record buying habits; why buy the newest release when you can get 3 older albums for the same price? Sure, I sampled plenty of the buzz albums this year (care of the many high quality MP3 blogs now infesting the web), but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money to hear them in their entirety. There's always next year, right? In any case, here are my picks from 2006:

Born Again in the USA- Loose Fur
I always thought the first Loose Fur album was kind of a one-time deal, so it was amazing to me that this follow up even got made. Gone are the winding jams of their first release, replaced with concise songs that sound like outtakes from Jim O'Rourke and Wilco albums. And when you're as good as these guys, even your outtakes are killer.



Mobile- Glenn Kotche
I never thought I'd include a solo percussion album on my list, but his one really deserves to be heard. Kotche churns out some of his most accessible work to date, with "Mobile Pt. 1&2" easily nabbing the award for the year's catchiest riff. Also, who can argue with a consistently impressive 12 minute drum solo?



The Gun Album- The Minus 5
Who knew the Minus 5 could make a great alt-country album? While not as cohesive as their previous release Down With Wilco, this one has its moments. Scott McCaughy and Peter Buck draw an impressive group of collaborators (Wilco, Colin Meloy, John Wesley Harding) and go to town with the alt-country vibe.



At War With the Mystics- The Flaming Lips
I wasn't thoroughly impressed with this record when I first got it. But I think seeing these guys live on two occasions this summer helped me change my mind. Most of the songs on this album are just as over-blown and epic as the Lip's live show. It's not as consistently good as Yoshimi but as a whole, it's one of the more entertaining anti-war albums you'll ever hear.


Rather Ripped- Sonic Youth
It was kind of weird hearing Sonic Youth being played on the radio this summer, but it's a testament to the more pop-like tendencies of this album. And it's by no means a bad thing; it's reassuring to hear that these guys can still reign in their more noise-oriented tendencies and create a great accessible record.



Chulahoma- The Black Keys
While I couldn't really get into their Nonesuch records debut Magic Potion, I really dug the blues on their final Fat Possum release. A tribute to the late bluesman Junior Kimbrough, Chulahoma oozes with his signature slow-burning style. Auerbach turns in some really nice vocal work and surprisingly over-dub heavy guitar interplay, while Carney shows some restraint from his usual primal pounding. I can't think of a better send off to the label that launched these guys.

The Crane Wife- The Decemberists
Call me crazy, but I've never really considered myself a Decemberists fan until I bought this album on a whim and it changed my mind. A mix of prog-folk and a smattering of classic rock influences, The Crane Wife is a consistently interesting listen. While a few tracks suffer from production that leans too far towards generic indie-rock, the overall quality of Meloy and company's arrangements redeems the record.

Candy Left Over From Halloween

Yes, it's high time for yet another gushing Wilco-related post. I picked up my copy of Jeff Tweedy's Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest a few weeks back, and I think I've watched it enough to provide an honest, if somewhat biased, impression of the film. The first thing astute Tweedy fan will notice is the great color footage, and professional camerawork. Previously, the best film taken of Tweedy solo shows was the grainy, slightly shaky, black and white footage captured by Sam Jones for the I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documentary. While stylistically appealing, there's something about his footage which always made it seem a little surreal, unlike the extremely accurate depiction that Christoph Green and Brendan Canty (purveyors of the exquisite Burn to Shine series) provide. Nit-pickers will argue that the lighting is pretty dismal, and they may have a point. But the thing that stands out in my memory about the Tweedy solo show that I attended was the fact that there was no smoke and mirrors, just a guy with a guitar lit by a single light. The simplicity is the appeal, and I doubt anyone would complain if we had footage like this from some of Bob Dylan's early shows.

Ultimately, the music is the main draw of this DVD (all cuts from the film, plus a few extras, are available as free MP3 downloads for those who purchase the DVD), and the selection does not disappoint. Most of the solo show mainstays are covered, although obviously skewing mainly towards the Wilco side of Tweedy's career. The blemishes are all present, an aspect of Tweedy's show which I feared would be conveniently omitted. Songs are started in the wrong key then restarted, punctuated by rowdy fans, etc. The sound quality is notably higher than a bootleg, mixing a soundboard patch with some mics placed around the room to capture the unique acoustics of each venue. Many of Tweedy's off the cuff remarks/rants to the audience are also left intact, including his "hissy fit" in Portland about people being silent and actually listening to the show the paid to come to. The DVD is by no means a one man show, taking a few chances to showcase bandmates Glenn Kotche and Nels Cline, who opened up dates of the tour and then joined him on stage at the end of each evening. The rendition of "War On War" with Nels on dobro and Glenn on drums gives you an idea of just how talented these guys are outside the realm of Wilco, and also how much fun they have just being on stage together. Overall, if you're interested in Tweedy's solo work, this film is well worth the price especially when you factor in the free MP3 downloads.

Live Review: Glenn Kotche & Nels Cline

The thing that surprised me most when we walked into the Wexner Center's Black Box was how close we were going to be to the performers. When I saw a Fiery Furnaces Black Box show, the stage was high enough that you could rest your arms on it. But for the Glenn Kotche and Nels Cline solo performances the stage was not more than 2-3 feet high. I was standing within inches of Kotche's drum kit, I could have reached out and touched the guy while he was playing. I'm pretty sure this is perhaps the most intimate show I've ever had the pleasure of attending. It felt like I was in a basement with these two, just watching them mess around on their respective instruments.

The night started out with Nels Cline's solo set. He played one long 30-minute improvised piece, aided by a sampler and a myriad of effect pedals and several unconventional noisemakers. The piece drifted from straight ahead rock, to staccato bursts of noise which bled into Pink Floyd-esque guitar balladry. I can't even begin to describe some of the insane things this guy did with his guitar, you and have to see/hear it to understand. His set was far from cohesive or easy to understand, but he still managed to keep the audiences' rapt attention simply because how fun it is to watch him coaxing these abnormal sounds out of his guitar.

Kotche's set was much like his performance when he opened for Jeff Tweedy last year, however it's intensity was magnified by the fact that I was within inches of his set. The whole place was as silent as a tomb throughout the entirety of Kotche's show, a fact which he commented on as being both "weird, but very much appreciated". His set was mainly culled from his solo album Mobile, including renditions of all three parts of the titles track, "Projections of (What) Might..." and a full length "Monkey Chant" that left Glenn's hands bleeding. Also included was a Steve Reich cover, in honor of his 70th birthday.

It was hard to know what to expect when Kotche and Cline took the stage together. Much like Cline's set, it was largely improvised, but there seemed to be some structure to it. The first piece they played was a 'cover' of Sonic Youth's "Karen Coltrane", an improv-jam that deviated back to a familiar riff every few minutes or so. The next piece was drawn out and freeform, sounding almost like one of the more experimental Nels Cline Singers songs, and featured a return of many of the gadgets from Cline's solo set. It was not at all straight forward, but still enjoyable just because you could tell that the two were having fun. Like I said earlier, I felt like I'd snuck into one of their basements and witnessed an afternoon of musical messing around. A great night and a reminder of the fact that even outside of Wilco, these two are solid and successful musicians in their own right.

My Glenn Kotche & Nels Cline Concert Pictures
Video Montage of Kotche & Cline Performance