"Wilco - A.M."

So I picked up a CD today (even though, technically speaking, I probably shouldn't be going out and making such purchases just yet...but I saw a CD I'd been looking for, saw it cheap, and got it. Because I felt like it). The album in question is Wilco's first CD, A.M. I'm still in the process of listening to/absorbing the music, but I like it so far. It's a very straight-forward alt-country record, and I like that (I know, I'm as shocked as you are by the fact that the words "country" and "like" appeared in the same sentence, but hey, I actually kinda dig the alt-country stuff, 'cause very often the lyrics are quite witty and thoughtful, and it's not so damn annoying as the pop-country stuff that passes for country nowadays [what's really funny is that, while I was typing that last sentence, I kept slipping up and writing "poop-country," which I think is indicative of my true feelings in the matter]).

That was a long aside.

Anyway, part of what I like about the album is that it is such a basic affair--the songs all clock in under 4.00 minutes (Wilco has had a tendency over their past couple of albums of making these winding, meandering sound collages that go for 10 or 15 minutes), most of them are uptempo (if not necessarily upbeat), and the music is just fun. You occasionally need fun music. Their second album, the double-LP Being There, has a lot in common with this first album, though Being There bends genres a little more than A.M. (the former throws a bunch of other stuff into the mix, including the occasional power-pop and straight alternative, while the latter is an exclusively alt-country affair).

Had a mandatory meeting at work this afternoon. Complete waste of time, except that we got our basic schedules for the coming semester. The nice thing about my schedule? I'm already on for at least 28 hours per week. This is very, very good--that means I can make rent with no worries. We like it when rent isn't as much a concern.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Wilco, "Hummingbird"