I am Trying to Break your Heart

The week of hustling doesn't seem to cease and this day is going to be busy as well. The Ipod has been jammed in the ears and instead of making yet another choice I let shuffle figure it out for me. I am still amazed when Yankee Hotel Foxtrot comes into my headphones. Every time the music plays there is something new that emerges out of the layers. The record is amazing. I know I talk a lot about Wilco but I think they are worth being talked about. It's hard for me to not LOVE this band.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of those records I received after exploring further Indie Music websites and everyone said that this was something 'you had to have.' The first listen was awkward, hard to listen to, I certainly didn't get it. There are noise screeches, long draws out sounds, layers of music that just sounded plain weird to me. But something happened in the third or fourth listen that had me entrenched. I couldn't stop listening to what I was hearing, every time something new would come to the ears. Listening in the car, listening to it on CD, listening to it on MPS, listening to it on CD with headphones, and the clincher is listening to it on vinyl with headphones. Every place is a new experience.

The recording and production is flawless. The layers are deep, heavy, beautiful. Some days you just here the guitar and there are some days you pick up a violin or a harp, little tinkles of noise that brighten or darken the sound. It's a musical masterpiece. It's just that good. There are a lot of records that I like. I think I can appreciate just about anything and understand what it was trying to say, but then there are records like this that are gems. From beginning to end you are taken on a journey. The journey is heart breaking, confusing, lonely, reminiscent. I think for Jeff Tweedy and for myself.

If you don't have it go. Go right now, don't hesitate, don't think twice, get it and be patient with the record. The time spent will grant you a beautiful reward.