Wilco, “Cousin.” The best compliment for a new Wilco record is saying you can’t wait for bedtime to lay in a dark room with headphones, soaking up the misery and patchy optimism in songs with unpredictable paths. Cousin Wilco dBpm Records, Sept. 29 8/10 Get the album on Amazon…

Wilco, “Cruel Country.” Chicago rockers Wilco have always reminded me of a good football team. While the band’s chief songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, is clearly the quarterback, the self-effacing frontman has surrounded himself with a bunch of powerful players, each with his own skillset. During the band’s early years the…

Wilco performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Oct. 17, 2021. Karen Goldman/STAFF. OAKLAND — A light drizzle fell on Sunday night as Chicago rock group Wilco played the first of two nights at the Fox Theater. Many are hopeful the rain signaled an end to the long,…

The Nels Cline Singers, “Share The Wealth.” Guitar shredders are a dime a dozen. A quick perusal of Instagram reveals a seemingly endless string of bedroom guitarists who can unleash a firehose spray of pentatonic scales that sound like angry hornets. But a guitarist who lends his fretboard talents…

Many of us know a “record nerd,” a subset of aficionados with encyclopedic knowledge of and acerbic opinions about some musical niche or other. Record nerds wax poetically on the merits of the recording console at Sunset Sound, or the natural reverb in Abbey Road’s studio two. But many…

One of the most difficult trials for a band comes when it doesn’t flame out in some dramatic fashion at the chaotic peak of its young career. Without this sudden breaking point arriving in the form of a plane crash, overdose or interpersonal strife, bands can plod along. Their…