Breaking News from Glorious Noise…
The Chicago Tribune reports that Wilco has signed a deal to leave Reprise Records after the label rejected their recently finished new album, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel. Part of the deal is that Wilco gets to buy back the album and release it somewhere else. Hopefully this won’t take too long.
I have to admit that I downloaded most of the new album via Audiogalaxy, and from my initial listenings, it sounds pretty great. From what I heard, it’s not nearly as weird and “experimental” as I had been led to believe. It sounds good, like it’s continuing along the lines that Summerteeth hinted at. There are strange sounds and strange lyrics, but it doesn’t seem like a crazy enough departure to make Reprise reject it. I mean, it’s not like it’s Neil Young’s Trans. Oh well, one more major label shooting itself in the foot… Fuck ’em.
Best line in the article:”The arrogance and the ignorance — that’s the story of the record business.”
That sums it all up.
I hope the band is talking to Aimee Mann, who bought back her masters and sold the album online. She funded the production and marketing and eventually landed a distribution deal. Wilco has athe fan base and name recognition to pull something like that off.
The performative utterance “Fuck ’em” isn’t necessary: the labels are doing it to themselves without anyone having to tell them which part goes where. The curious part, however, is how they can do it while having their heads up their asses.