Volume 10: The Whole Love?

I'm struggling to judge Wilco's new record, The Whole Love, just as I initially struggled with their last two records, Sky Blue Sky and Wilco (The Album). The basic struggle is figuring out if I like the new record less because it is simply not as good, or if the passage of time has changed my perception of Wilco's records. In the end, I think I have two problems with the record: First, the record lacks the dramatic tension that defines the best Wilco records. Second, when the record does attempt to have dramatic tension, the tension feels forced. Additionally, I'm unsure if the record's tension issues stem from it being inauthentic, or if it is just my perception of their (in)authenticity.

The Best Thing I Heard This Week-Girls

The best thing I heard this week is a record that is old and new, something we've all heard before but that still feels fresh. Girls’ Father, Son, Holy Ghost is unabashedly derivative, but extremely well done. All over the record are 60s and 70s landmarks, from Pink Floyd to Big Star to Otis Redding. Somehow, Girls manages to make the whole thing sound comfortably familiar yet different enough to be worth repeated listens.

The Best Thing I Heard this Week-Chris Bathgate

I am a sucker (or perhaps an enthusiast) for great first tracks. As I say this, it seems so overly obvious that it shouldn’t be stated--rather, who isn’t enthralled by a great first track?** Well, years ago, the answer was probably no one. Now, however, I don’t think the answer is quite as obvious. Seemingly, more of the public listens to one or two tracks from an album that they like, and either dismisses the rest of the record or never bothers to hear it in the first place. This is by now not a new phenomenon, but one that has been going on for more than ten years I would imagine. Which is a long-winded way of saying that having a great first track only matters to people who listen to whole albums, and not the track that randomly gets posted on their Facebook wall or that they hear on the radio. I am one of those people, Chris Bathgate’s Salt Year is one of those albums, and the first track, “Eliza (Hue)” is one of those great openers that only comes around every so often.