Schmilco
dBpm
2016
Rating: 7 winged paintings out of 10
Hey, Wilco made another album, and it totally sounds like Wilco! It's as Wilco-y or even Wilco-ier as the last album they put out! Pretty much everything they've released since "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" has hit me the same way - I would be somewhat lukewarm to middling on the record to start, would randomly listen to it on occasion, and then a couple of years later would find that I quite like (but don't love) the album. There is one major reason for this - the departure (and then much to early death) of Jay Bennett. Tweedy knows songwriting, but Bennett knew pop hooks, and together they crafted some of my favorite records of all time - "Summerteeth" in particular is likely one of my top ten records of all time. Without Bennett, Tweedy can meander and get a little long winded, and certainly adding Nels Cline's guitar wankery didn't help, but there's still enough there to hold my attention. So "Schmilco" is just ok right now...but I would be all my money that by this time next year you could ask me again and I would say it's a pretty damn good release.
And now I'm going to go listen to "Summerteeth" again.
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