Wilco is confirming the story we reported earlier this week. And they’ve named the release date for YHF. Stayed tuned to Glorious Noise for all your important music news! Hopefully Nonesuch Records, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, will be allowed to keep doing what it does best: releasing great, strange, unusual albums. Let’s hope we get at least a couple of good records out of the deal…

WILCO AND NONESUCH RECORDS REACH AGREEMENT

APRIL 2002 RELEASE PLANNED FOR YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT

Nonesuch Records and Wilco announced today an agreement for Nonesuch to release Wilco’s much-discussed new album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as well as several additional future Wilco releases. The eclectic label will bring the band’s 11-song CD to stores April 2002.

“It’s been what you’d call a pivotal year for us,” said Jeff Tweedy. “We’ve kept our heads down through all the changes and tried to focus our energy on music-making, as always. Nonesuch seems like a good fit ­ it looks like they’ve kept their heads down as well. It’s hard to find a label you can trust in this business. We all know that. But if you look at Nonesuch’s roster, it’s pretty hard to imagine them having the bottom line as their master.” [No Jeff, but they do have Warner Music Group as their master, just like your buddies at Reprise — ed.]

“After hearing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it was obvious to us that Wilco has come into its own as artists who sound like no one but themselves,” said Nonesuch Senior Vice President David Bither. “Our enthusiasm for the band has to do with this and with the fact that we’re eager to hear what they will be doing five years from now.”

Since October, fans have only been able to listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot via streaming audio at www.wilcoworld.net while the band determined a new label. Wilco is just completing a string of West Coast tour dates. See Steve Hochman LA Times review of the December 5 show.