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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Bruton’s funeral Saturday in Fort Worth
Services for musician Stephen Bruton, who succumbed to cancer May 9, will be at 10 am this Saturday at Holy Family Catholic Church, at 6150 Pershing St., in Fort Worth. Burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery will follow. There will be a viewing at Thompson’s Harveson & Cole Funeral Home, 702 8th Avenue, on Friday evening beginning at 5:30 pm.
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First impressions of Wilco (The Album)
On Tuesday, Wilco gave fans a reason to slack off at work by streaming the new album, ‘Wilco (The Album),’ which won’t be released until June 30 on Nonesuch. If you haven’t already, check it out here. Though a stream isn’t the best way to take in the new material, at first listen the album has an energy that was for the most part lacking on “Sky Blue Sky.” Jeff Tweedy seems to have dropped the sense of resignation that hung over the last album for a more relaxed (there is a camel wearing a hat on the cover) and reflective approach, with a strong set of songs that at times recall the band’s “Summerteeth” and “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” days.
Fans that are looking for the band to continue to push the boundaries of their sound aren’t going to find that here. Considering the self-titling of the album and the meta-title track, Wilco (the song), they recognize this, a move that would have left them open to criticism that they were trying too hard to sound like themselves if the material wasn’t so good. There’s something for everyone, from the obligatory, emotional relationship song “One Wing” and the super sweet duet with Feist, “You and I,” to the summer barbecue rock of “You Never Know” and “Sonny Feeling.” The band also stretches out its sonic chops, especially on the tense “Bull Black Nova,” where a chorus of abstract guitars build over foreboding drums.
What do you think of the new music? Tell us in the comments below.
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Weekend Picks: High-octane rock, impressionistic funk and monster musicians
FRIDAY
Stinking Lizaveta at Red 7. This Philadelphia trio has been cranking out complex, high-octane instrumental rock for 15 years and six albums, stuff that should appeal to metal dudes, progressive rock fans and aging punks. Long may they shred. With Darsombra and Baron Grod. 10 p.m. Red 7. — Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Centro-matic at the Parish
- Ugly Beats, Amplified Heat at Emo’s
- Loxsly (CD release) at the Mohawk
- See-I (members of Thievery Corporation) at Antone’s
- Del Castillo at Nutty Brown Cafe
- Slaid Cleaves at the Cactus Cafe
SATURDAY
TV on the Radio at Stubb’s. The group’s 2008 album ‘Dear Science’ was far and away the most critically praised, scoring record of the year in Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly and elsewhere. Its complicated, impressionistic music roils with modern funk and Tunde Adebimpe’s gauzy voice. 7 p.m. $27.50. Stubb’s. — J.G.
Also recommended
- Mr. Lewis and the Funeral Five at Beerland
- Boz Scaggs, Kat Edmonson at the Paramount Theatre
- Ghost at the Mohawk
- Chain and the Gang at Emo’s
- Built by Snow at the Parish
- Ian Moore, Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves at the Continental Club
- Prince Paul at Lamberts
- Broken Teeth at Red Eyed Fly
SUNDAY
Jon Dee Graham and Ian McLagan at the Continental Gallery. The Jon Dee and Friends series continues with a rare acoustic appearance by McLagan, who shows a tender side on new CD ‘Never Say Never.’ The room holds only a couple dozen, so it’s like having these monster musicians playing in your living room. $17- $20. 8:30 p.m. — Michael Corcoran
Also recommended
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CD Review: Green Day, ’21st Century Breakdown’
Green Day
“21st Century Breakdown” (Reprise)
B+
Green Day has been compared to a long list of bands. Back in the early 90s, they all but embodied the Bay Area’s high-energy pop punk, a mix of the Ramones’ formalism and the Buzzcocks’ devotion to a good hook.
When they went all major label with 1994’s “Dookie,” punk don Ian MacKaye referred to them and the Offspring as the Ugly Kid Joe’s of the ’90s, which might be the meanest thing said about a band IN the ‘90.
Then came a bunch of very professional rock records that made Green Day seem like any other bubblegrunge act, a total prom-theme hit single (“Time of Your Life”) and MacKaye looking prescient.
Oops. “American Idiot” (2004) made them seem political where they once seemed goofy, ambitious where they once seemed tossed off, and was an album that insisted you listen to it all the way trough, which seemed unwise now that we all lived in Downloadland. It sold 12 million copies worldwide.
Which made all of Generation X, who remembered “Dookie” as a fluke, say a collective, “Wait, what?”
Like the Kinks, who seemed to make conceptual rock opera after conceptual rock opera there for awhile, “21st Century Breakdown” feels like “American Idiot 2: Anarchic Boogalooo.”
Billie Joe Armstrong, clearly energized by his career’s surreal lease on life, makes “Breakdown” into pure pomp for now people, power pop overflowing with pianos and giant guitars and sweep and lost souls born on the Fourth of July all packed into 18 songs in 69 minutes - only a little longer than an episode of “Lost” and about as baffling. (The album also rhymes “American dream” and “American scream,” which probably should be illegal.)
Yoked to some sort of story about lovers, Armstrong still worships punk rock goddesses (“”Last of the American Girls”) is confused by religion (“East Jesus Nowhere”), wants to write annoying sub-Beatles ballads (“Last Night on Earth”) and knows how to knock out a killer anthem (“Know Your Enemy,” which will occupy what’s left of rock radio for the rest of the summer). Over and over, the songs aim high and meet their goals. Most banks can’t even do that these days.
Like Pete Townshend in the Who, he’s lucky to have rhythm section pals like Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool; those two haven’t lost a step. Like U2 in 2001, he’s lucky to be here and wants to do something wide-screen and out-sized with his time. Like almost nobody else in rock, he makes it seem like fun to be so ambitious, as if it’s something we should all want to be. No small feat, that.
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