Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Open and opaque. Imagistic lyrics about heartbreak and love, nervousness and bad habits, nostalgia but undercut and unsettled, all delivered directly and earnestly. Simple songs deconstructed, restructured and rearranged.

I expected a straight Americana record, but 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭 𝘍𝘰𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘵 turns out to be something far stranger and more experimental. Wilco dissolve their usual songwriting into layers of static, warped guitars, and fragmented arrangements that constantly feel like they’re breaking apart and reforming in real time. Beneath all that noise sits a warm, wounded heart — Jeff Tweedy’s melodies still shine through, just in a more abstract, ghostly way. It’s a challenging listen at first, but a rewarding one, full of subtle beauty hiding behind the distortion.

I've always found their to be a laziness sound to Wilco that just doesn't always mesh super well with me. And what's up with the song, Heavy Metal Drummer? Maybe one of the least metal things I've ever heard. 2.5 stars, rounded up

This is insanely boring. There are really no redeeming qualities to it. It's not bad, just boring. Nothing is wrong about this album, but 51 minutes is far too many.

I had always been somewhat aware of Wilco, but I was fairly late actually discovering them. I only really started listening to them after seeing them live in 2018 (thanks Ben!), but Wilco, Jeff Tweedy's solo and side projects, and his earlier work with Uncle Tupelo all quickly became some of my all time favourites.

This album in particular perfectly encapsulates what I love about their music. It's deep, complex, and surreal music masquerading as simple folk and rock songs. Each simple song has been fully deconstructed and rebuilt multiple times by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett in the studio with Jim O'Rourke's mixing and were made more complex with Jeff's obscure lyricism, Glenn Kotche's complex drumming, and found sounds / music concrete samples added throughout. The Conet Project samples that led to the name of this album in particular are some of my favourites.

If you have the time to listen to the deluxe version you can hear why the recording process nearly destroyed the band with Jay Bennett and Ken Coomer being fired in the end. There are multiple different directions that members of the band were trying to push leading to multiple album titles all with different mixes of the songs. Would this album have the same legacy if they had released it as The Unified Theory of Everything, American Aquarium, Here Comes Everybody, or Lonely In the Deep End?

GREAT album, thoroughly enjoyed this one. I’ve had this downloaded ever since I generated Being There so was glad to finally get round to it.

It’s hard to find fault with it, every track hit the mark for me. I’ll be keeping this in my album rotation for a good while.

Top Track - War On War

Don't understand the critical praise. Maybe I'm missing something. 2/5.

Not bad but too 2010s hipster indie folk for me despite being from 2001

Highly regarded by many, and perhaps it suffers as a result. For me Summerteeth is the better record, and YHF feels a bit self conscious and cold.

Banger parade

Really like about 1/2

At one time this was one of my favourite albums. The sound of a band reaching their peak as they partially implode. Jim O'rourke is the flippin man. Always liked a Ghost is Born just that little bit more (sucker for a Hallo Gallo jam).

New Tweedy might be the best thing he's done since Ghost is Born.

The other Wilco album I had I gave a 4 because it grew on me.
I've not had time to listen to this more than once.

'Let's forget about the tongue tied lightning / Let's undress like cross-eyed strangers'; 'You have to learn how to die / If you want to be alive'; 'Strung down you cheeks / Bitter melodies turning your orbit around.' It makes very little sense to call Wilco the American Radiohead since, tho they both make pop songs that aren't always intelligible, the Chicagoans have every intention to vitalize their obscurity whereas the Brits are amnesiac thumb-twiddlers. Tweedy is a far better lyricist than Yorke, possessing the rare knack to turn a phrase that's felt before it's understood, or to reorder cliché just enuf for it to hit more profoundly. If only for 'Jesus etc.,' a country-rock classic that rivals the Dead's 'Ripple' for sheer beauty, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is glorious.

I've listend to this album yesterday and now I cannot remember anything about it. I guess it was quite boring

It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
There's a war on

Simplistic guitar not bad. Monotone vocals not so great

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of those albums I discovered at a pretty formative time so it’s a personal favorite. I remember listening to it on youtube late at night, and some of these songs really hit different at the right time. Something like I am Trying to Break Your Heart or Radio Cure are just devastating when you’re alone in the dark with nothing else but the music and your thoughts

So boring. Sleep inducing even.

I've never given Wilco a go. Not sure why. I was certain that I'd like them but something held me back. This album has not convinced me. The songs aren't memorable. The performances are all decent, but it doesn't speak to me. I don't like the noisy ending to a few songs - it doesn't have the effect it thinks it does.