Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

If you're a loser like me, you waste a lot of time at your computer. On Saturday night, I spent some time huddled up at the computer. For once, I wasn't drawing chemical reactions, memorizing birdcalls or slaving away on something for all you lovely readers to wallow your eyes on.

I was listening to the stream of the new Wilco album.

Wilco, being incredibly awesome to their fans, decided to broadcast their new record, Sky Blue Sky Saturday night for a few hours from 10 p.m. until early Sunday morning. I was lucky enough to find out about this a few hours in advance and tune in. If you missed this, please kick yourself now.

I only listened to the record once, to whet my appetite but keep the anticipation high, so this won't be a complete blow-by-blow. But I can tell you that new record is phenomenal. It's not Yankee Hotel, but it presents a world of improvement on A Ghost Is Born.

Sky Blue Sky regresses a bit in the band's sound. It feels like they're sitting in Summerteeth territory, but there's a lot of Mermaid Avenue Vol. 1 (the Woody Guthrie cover album they recorded with Billy Bragg) in there, too. It's earnest, it's clear, and it will be the record of this summer, hands down.

(April Wright)