Calling “YHF” // 4560 kHz YL/EE – Msg Gr 55 = QHZIZ FGTSY JMAXS =

Maybe it’s because I grew up in a concept-album-o-centric house. Maybe it’s because I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know all the words to Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon. Maybe it’s because I’ve always hated pop music with the white-hot intensity of a billion supernovas. Maybe it’s the beer talking, Marge, but you’ve got a butt that won’t quit. Maybe it’s because my Id beat the everliving shit out of my Superego years ago . . . but music has never been light, disposable, background noise to me. Music has been as much a part of my life as oxygen and water, and I’m über passionate about what I like and don’t like.
I know that I’m late to the party on this by about eight years, but about two weeks ago I discovered a band I really like: Wilco.
Oh my god. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
The last album to work its way deep into the nanofibers of my being like YHF was OK Computer. I’ve heard the name “Wilco” all over the place, especially because I’m such a nerd for The Conet Project, but I can’t believe I hadn’t actually heard this record until now.
I’ve been so totally blown away by YHF that yesterday, I picked up two more Wilco discs: being there, and a ghost is born.
Oh my god. Being There.
Oh my god. A Ghost is Born.
If my Wilco Smart Playlist was an audio tape, I would have burned it out in the last 24 hours. If it was a pair of shoes, the heels would be worn right through. If it was a million dollars, I would have used it to buy you a fur coat (but not a real fur coat, because that’s cruel.)
If you like some of the other books and movies and crap that I like, and you haven’t heard it yet, get Yankee Hotel Foxtrot right now. It’s not filled with jaunty little hooks that you can sing to yourself while you wait for the train — it’s much better, and much more rewarding, than that.

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66 thoughts on “Calling “YHF” // 4560 kHz YL/EE – Msg Gr 55 = QHZIZ FGTSY JMAXS =”

  1. Wil-
    Welcome to the party. Wilco is a great band. Here’s another album that you HAVE to listen to if you’re not already very familiar with it. Roger Waters: Amused To Death. It’s surprisingly relevant today.

  2. I was late to the Wilco party, too. I’m glad I finally made it though, brilliant music.
    Another band I got into around the same time that has a great concept album is Modest Mouse. Hugely popular now but The Moon & Antarctica is way better than their most recent album.

  3. Hey, something I know a little about. If you want some insight into the making of YHF, let me recommend both this excellent book and this excellent movie.Uncle Tupelo (Wilco’s forebears) are also excellent, but in a more country-sorta-way.

  4. Yeah, Wilco is awesome. If you haven’t already, you should try out Grandaddy. Their CD The Sophtware Slump is my favorite.
    Here’s my current list of favorites:
    -Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism
    -Postal Service
    -Sunny Dal Real Estate: How it feels to be something on

  5. Yes, Wilco is da BAND. if YHT did what it did to ya, you NEED to get Summerteeth. THAT is the album that made me a Wilco FREAK. Totally. Except, i still need to buy that damned documentary. And their other albums. The ones besides YHF, Summerteeth. Which I own. Woot.

  6. Wow, the wonders of the blogosphere. I was just talking to my sister in Chicago a few minutes ago about how much we love your site (it inspired me to start my own blog last December) and then I read this post. My sister is married to Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Her comment on reading this entry was:
    Oh my God. Wil Wheaton.
    So thank you from the Tweedys! Wilco is about to leave for Europe but I hope you’ll come to the next L.A. concert (none scheduled at the moment but they will be at the Coachella Music Festival in April). Now you need to check out my nine-year-old nephew’s band, The Blisters!

  7. I agree with the Modest Mouse comment. The Moon and Antartica is probably better than their current release (this hasn’t stopped me from rotating the hell out of their new one here at work, but i digress.) Around the same time I was turned on to them I started listening to a band called O.A.R. Unfortunately, they haven’t taken off quite as well as the Modest Mouse.
    ~~(__)8>

  9. Yep, I agree, with roble – you also need to get Summerteeth. Their first album (also worthy of owning) and then Being There were still leftover countryish numbers from Jeff’s days in Uncle Tupelo, while Summerteeth was the first crack at, well, pop music. But it works well, and the tracks are much more accessible then their last few albums. And if you don’t mind alt-country, definitely check out Uncle Tupelo’s albums Anodyne and No Depression. Classics.

  10. Holy cow. You’re right, Wil, Wilco is good. Listen to some Uncle Tupelo, too, especially Still Feel Gone. Then read Learning How To Die by Greg Kot while listening to Uncle Tupelo and Wilco. It makes everything even better.

  11. That’s okay, Wil, I was about 5 years late to your party :-). “Mermaid Avenue” vol. I and II, a collaboration of Billy Bragg and Wilco, are pretty sweet, too.

  12. Based on a lot of the music suggested above, you should try listening to KEXP (if you haven’t already).
    http://www.kexp.org
    It’s a public radio station (mostly music, not so much of that talking stuff) out of Seattle, with live feed and streaming archives, plus playlists. During the day is when you’ll most likely hear the bands mentioned above.
    Give it a shot, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 🙂

  13. Oh goodness. Wilco Wilco Wilco. They are so wonderful. I’m glad you found them. Just to let you know, I went through the sign-up process for TypeKey just so I could comment on this post Wil. And then all I really wanted to say was that you should really run out (or sit down and download) Mermaid Ave. Vol 1. I know someone else reccomended it, but it is brilliant. Billy Bragg and Wilco set the words if Woody Guthrie to music (words not previously set to music). So pretty and so haunting and so fun and so good!
    Also worth it because of Wilco involvement: Chelsea Hotel. An Okay movie about the legendary place, but great music. Guess why?
    As for the bands mentioned above, I’m gonna add props for OLD Modest Mouse (Pre- this release and The Moon in Antarctica. The Lonesome Crowded West is the best) and Cat Power. Get yourself some Cat Power.

  14. I’m a big fan of the Wilco / Billy Brag pair of Mermaid Avenue CDs, especially the first volume.
    I learned of Wilco at the same time I learned of The Mountain Goats; Check out “Nine Black Poppies” sometime.

  15. I KNOW! isn’t it the best? when it came out, a friend gave it to me and it totally rekindled my love of music. come to think about it, i need a booster shot of some YHF right about now. check out http://www.woxy.com for some other really good music. it’s one of the only radio station i can handle. i’m so glad you posted this. i sooo need to listen to that again.

  16. Yeah, Wilco is great! I heartily second the recommendations about the Mermaid Avenue volumes. I swear every time I hear that song about Ingrid Bergman it sticks in my head for days!
    Not surprised you like Wilco if you like Barenaked Ladies (yeah I caught that… 😉
    Congrats on your back yard… boy do I need to work on mine!
    Sure hope your CSI gets good reviews… I don’t have cable, but I am quite sure that you kicked @$$ on it. 🙂

  17. WILCO is a great band. Sad to say they’ve had poor reception by radio, and up until stations like Indie 103 here in Los Angeles or XM Radio, it would be like “fat chance” at every hearing them.
    YHF is a great recording…as others mentioned here, the film/DVD about Wilco and the struggle of Jeff and Jay during the making of YHF really goes deep into the band. I was stoked to find that Netflix does have this for rent. The film is called I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.
    GRANDDADDY is another one of my recent favorites. These guys are from Central California and another less-known but great to know about band. Check out their website…totally fun and warped. Their better albums are Sumday and Sophtware Slump in my opinion. See for yourself.
    http://www.grandaddylandscape.com/

  19. It’s great to know that other people listen to music that means something. Do yourself a favor and visit http://www.marillion.com Order the double cd MARBLES. When it comes to your home put the headphones on, close your eyes and soak it in. Life will never be the same again.

  20. Not only am I a huge fan of you as an actor, blogger, and author, but I’m still geeking over the BNL reference! 😀 Yay Wil.
    (my near[ly] brush with Wilco – I once got in a bidding war over a guitar at an aution with the mother of a member of Uncle Tupelo, back when I lived in Belleville, IL)

  21. I don’t know what you mean by “pop” music, Wil, but you’re not listening to bands like Wilco entirely for their technical achievement or poetic value or anything like that. You listen because it sounds good. This isn’t to say there is a lot more to some music – there definitely is, but don’t bash pop music too much because a) that’s what wilco and radiohead and all these other great bands are and b) Pop music is intended to be viscerally catchy. I, as well, can’t stand the music you’re probably referring to, but you have to realize that the people you’re yelling at for listening to stupid music are getting what they want out of it. That being said, there is some validity to the point that kids are, statistically, much more likely to listen to something they’ve heard and seen on MTV all the time, so in that way they’re being gypped out of better music. Well, this has gone on too long. |m|/ , Wil

  22. I kinda get the feeling that Wil will smite me if I don’t immediately go listen to this band.
    So, I suppose I simply MUST skip doing laundry tonight and listen to Wilco instead. Can’t be helped, it’s a matter of self-preservation. :o)

  23. While we’re off talking about great music and good bands; a few of mine;
    Iron and Wine – especially the new EP “Woman King”
    Saturday Looks Good to Me – Any album – super great crazy 60’s pop brought up to date.
    Bump of Chicken – Super fine Japanese rokxors.
    best band name ever? How about, wait for it…
    “Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start” – High-art rock from California. They have an internet-only EP that’s FREE at their web-site.
    And anyone who likes the Postal Service album should look up a guy called “Le Chevre” – super fine pop.

  24. Dude, Glad to see you have found Wilco, I’ve been on the bandwagon for a couple of years now. They do rock and the osund is so different from everything that is out there.
    If you are mad serious about music want to listen to some intersting fun stuff. This guy has some great non-pop crap music that he plays of his blog and it is really good http://www.planetdan.net/blog/
    Secondly, resonating along the same lines. They have put a new radio station on the waves here in MN. It is a public radio station with no format. The DJs play what ever they want, you might go from ray charles to all green to beck to the beatles to wilco to donna summer to johnny cash to the clash to RjD2… i think you get the drift.
    Anyways it called the current
    Check it out some time, you can listen on line and review thier last 6 hours on the playlist.

  25. Barenaked Ladies quote!! As a Canadian, I can’t say how happy I am to see you make reference to them. 🙂
    I’m definitely going to check out Wilco now, too. I discovered ‘Save Ferris’ because of the story about your dog’s name, eh?

  26. We play (and love) Wilco and lots of the other bands mentioned here.
    In fact, I’m using this comments thread to program tomorrows music.
    WWdN readers have the best taste!
    I won’t spam here… but if you click that colorful chicken in the upper-right part of big Wil’s page, you’ll hear us.
    –AJ

  29. But Wil, haven’t you always wanted a monKEY?
    Jumping off from Modest Mouse, may I recommend yet another artist (man, this is just turning into “Tunes Referral Theatre” here, isn’t it?)
    Mason Jennings. He opened for Modest Mouse in Chicago a few weeks ago. Very laid back, sort of a mixture of a young Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, and a dash of Randy Newman (at least on the first album I heard by him, “Use Your Voice”).
    Anyway, that’s my suggestion.
    We’ll see you on CSI tomorrow!

  31. Hey, Wil. I’m sorry to say this is where we differ.
    If *I* had a million dollars, I’d buy you a green dress. But not a real green dress, for obvious reasons.

  33. May I be the first to not recommend any band to you. This is because you already listen to a lot of the stuff I dig on (Mojo Nixon, Dead Milkmen, etc) and because I’m a pretty big anti-fan of scene/indie rock. When I think indie, I think of fans similar to Jack Black’s character from High Fidelity.
    Anyways, a short, sharp shot on your “fur is cruel” comment. Something that amuses me about things like this attitude is that by continuing to buy fake fur (or leather), you help to perpetuate a fashion trend that demands the killing of animals for their fur (or leather), as people (especially people with disposable income looking for status symbols) will tend to prefer the real thing to something fake.

  34. Well, what the hell. If you guys are into different music, maybe folks want to check me out. I’m recording my second CD, and working on re-recording my first album (adding 2 songs)… so I figure, if anyone checks out my stuff and likes it… and wants to email me at [email protected] and tell me “Dude, can I get a free CD?” I’ll send you a free copy of the current version of “One Offs” (you too Wil). Maybe I’ve just been reading WWdN too long, but I’m feeling this whole sharing thing!

  36. Well, Charlie beat me to it! He wrote what I was going to write, almost word-for-word. So just add my voice to the “Mermaid Avenue” chorus.
    Also (off topic, I know!) Wil, I just have to tell you that my husband bought an Aqualad action figure last week for me to put on my desk at work (I know, I know, I’m a dork) and before we could even get it home, our 4-year-old son had claimed it as his own. “I love Aqualad – he’s the coolest, mom!”

  37. I have spent the last decade realizing that new music is not really my schtick, but my hubby does a podcast of new music licensed by Creative Commons at http://staccatomusic.org/
    Sometimes there’s even stuff on it I like, which is rare for me. Now I’m gonna have to go get some Wilco and see if I like them. Ack! New music. Must. Resist. I’ve been an 80’s New Wave addict for years….
    Thanks for offering up something new for me to try!

  38. Just a note: my husband is a drummer, and he says he got high for the first time at Glenn Kotche’s house (Wilco’s drummer).
    Of course he’s seen the error of his ways and straightened up, but he says that’ll always be a special memory. Heh.

  39. Here here for wilco — personally I found Summerteeth to be their most… polished album, and their later ones, YHF & AGIB sacrificed some songwriting for mere experimentation. Their earlier album (first? not sure) A.M. is a good one too — a little more on the alt-country side of things like Tweedy’s earlier bands’ stuff. And the Mermaid Avenue albums are definite musts — they’re how I stumbled onto Wilco in the first place.

  40. Hey arifa! Thanks for the WOXY (www.woxy.com) tip! In a “had me at ‘Hello’ moment”, I loved the first song I heard (Drugstore “Solitary Party Groover”), now some Guided By Voices… W00t!

  41. I’d suggest taking a look at Thrill Jockey (http://www.thrilljockey.com/bands.html), especially Califone for a similar sort of rootsy, experimental feel. Also great are Tortoise, Trans Am, The Sea and Cake… lots of their artists. Of course, I have to suggest my favorite Northampton, MA bands: Spanish for Hitchhiking (www.spanhike.com) and Winterpills (www.winterpills.com).

  44. Gary Bloom, The Mouse knows shameless self-promotion when he sees it, and that sir…was shameless. Kudos!
    Quote of the day:
    “Screw you Wheaton!” – Maria Buscemi
    ~~(__)8>

  45. Ya know, speakng of BNL, back in university (McMaster), some friends and I went to see Corky and the Juice Pigs at The Rathskellar, a small campus pub. The opening band were a couple of guys who called themselves The Barenaked Ladies. It was only Steven and Ed at that time, but they won over that crowd. Even when the Juicepigs came on, people were still chanting “…Bare Naked Ladies…Bare Naked Ladies…Bare Naked Ladies…” This was late ’88 or early ’89
    Another time at that same pub (about 150 feet from my residence :-P), a few of us stopped by for a nightcap after studying and thought there was a very strange crowd there. Usually a small campus pub has a standard “feel”. On this night there as many bearded, pipe smokers as students. Apparently they were here for an album release party for this new artist – her name is Sarah McLachlan. If that was the real reason, I don’t know. It wasn’t for a number of months before the airwaves picked up on her, but it is neat remembering the campus scene and the acts that I saw before they made it big.

  46. Wil,
    In addition to their amazing musical wonderfulness, Wilco has a few other great characteristics. The formeost is their policy towards taping and sharing their music. They promote it. So there are wonderful live recordings out there to be had. Somewhere I came across a wonderful collection of 60 of their songs from various live shows; a sort of Best of Wilco live. It’s amazing, and a great way to get to know more of their music. I got it from a Bittorrent site. If you can’t find it, I’d be happy to make discs for you (or let you ftp it from me).
    The second neat thing is that they’re one of the few bands still recording all in analog. Do a web search for a recent (last two months) Wall Street Journal article on how they’re scrambling for blank reel-to-reel tape now that the last factory making it has closed down.
    Oh, and great article in the New York Times today!

  48. Wil,
    Totally off topic, but what’s your take on the LA Mayor’s race? Hahn sounds liek a total ass from what little I’ve read on him, but I don’t really know anything about the other guy, Villaraigosa, either except that he sounds pretty progressive.
    I’m not from LA, so it doesn’t really matter I guess. Just like seeing good candidates win elections instead of bought-and-paid-for jackasses.

  49. So Wil. Remember a couple years ago when you were asking about legal live show downloads and we had a little chat about using Furthur.net on a Mac and I told you to start stocking up on Wilco boots because based on what you’ve said in the past I knew they would be right up your alley? Remember that? You could have had a couple more years of Wilco under your belt by now if you had listened to me! Next step: go see them live. I’ve been to many a Wilco show and they do not disappoint! Welcome to the next chapter of your life. A Wilcoholic. Oh, and stop by http://www.viachicago.org and say hello. It’s the Wilco message board that has just about taken over my life. Now back to YHF!
    -Jen

  50. Ok, maybe I’m really late to the party, but at least I’m here. The thing with cute little jaunties is they get stuck in your head and you’re singing the one you hate the most for days. So maybe I’ll pick up a couple titles everyone here is talking about and see if I can relate… at all!

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