Wilco touts its own love on 'The Colbert Report'

(And this is the last thing we're saying about Wilco today, we swear!)

Joining the esteemed company of Talk Talk and Metallica as bands who write songs with their own name in the lyrics, Wilco debuted "Wilco the Song" last night on "The Colbert Report" after the fake-news personality sat for a typically awkward interview session with frontman Jeff Tweedy. (Finest moment? When Colbert sagged his shoulders in an attempt to match Tweedy's barely-there energy.)

Though it's hard to imagine much time (or straight-faced effort) was spent on a chorus of "Wilco'll love you, baby," the band's usual head-bobbing hallmarks are chugging through the song in force, and it's always good to see Nels Cline maiming his guitar on national television. And, if you're possessed of the right mindset and Wilco nerd-dom -- something I freely admit -- that little hook will still worm its way into your head, even when Tweedy pays tribute to Colbert by subbing in his name for the chorus midway through.

Wilco also debuted two new songs at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit last weekend, but good luck finding audio of those out there. Until then, tide yourself over with this little slice of mostly sincere Halloween candy.

--Chris Barton

Andrew WK takes party to the piano

What's party man Andrew WK been up to these days? Besides preaching positivity as a motivational speaker at Yale, Carnegie Mellon and NYU? The Santo's Partyhouse co-owner is gearing up to record an improv piano record in November, to be released on good friend Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label. He performed a solo piano show last month (pictured above) at New York's the Stone, at the request of Foetus' Jim Thirwell.

"The piano is how I first came into music," he told Pop & Hiss in an interview today. "The approach to recording will be all spontaneous, all improv. It'll be called '55 Cadillac, named for this '55 Cadillac limo I bought, the only car I ever owned in New York. It was first bought by Dean Atchison, the secretary of State during the McCarthy era, so it's a haunted car as well. It's had a lot of intense experiences. All of that will be going into the album."

The album artwork will also feature Mr. WK posing with the behemoth. His sizable fanbase in Japan are sure to eat this up; WK had the most popular ringtone recently when he created a rock version of a popular comedian's catchphrase. Now he's working on a whole "album" of ring tones, translating J-Pop hits into Andrew WK rock missiles.

Our rowdy but deep-minded friend will also be appearing in L.A. for the opening night of Paper Magazine's fourth annual Los Angeles project on Nov. 5, in a one-night recreation of the anything-goes vibe of Santo's. We'll get a taste of his motivational mojo then: "I just want to harness the energy. I'm there to remind us all that we are alive and that it's time to celebrate."

--Margaret Wappler

Photo courtesy of andrewwk.com

Update: No Wilco Blu-ray ... for now

Plexifilm has stated that it will postpone indefinitely the Blu-ray release of Wilco's 2002 documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" after the band e-mailed fans and suggested they not buy it.

Plexifilm founder Gary Hustwit e-mailed Pop & Hiss and directed us to a post on the company's website entitled "I am trying to release a Blu-ray."

In part, it reads, "We don’t feel comfortable releasing a version of the film that Wilco might have reservations about. So here’s what we’re doing: we’re postponing the Blu-ray release, to give us an opportunity to show the band the differences between the HD and standard definition versions."

As noted earlier, Wilco, in an e-mail to fans announcing tour dates and this week's appearance on "The Colbert Report," urged people not to buy the Blu-ray edition of the film.

The band wrote, "Without consulting us, the DVD company (not WB/Nonesuch) that released "I am trying to break your heart" is about to issue a Blu-Ray Edition which, no surprise, costs considerably more (nearly 2x) than the standard DVD ... there is, in our opinion, not much to be gained by spending the extra cash. It's your money... and in this case you should probably hang onto it. "

On Friday, Hustwit and Plexifilm posted an extensive response on the company's website, detailing the benefits of Blu-ray, and also stated that the decision to release a hi-def version of the film belongs to the filmmaker, in this case Sam Jones, and not the subject, in this case Wilco.

A conversation with Maxwell: 'I didn’t get to have a life for so long, so I went and lived one'

In a genre crowded with auto-tuned voices, an auteur's sensibility is a tough find in R&B these days. But it wasn't always like that -- in the late '90s, the field was defined by such neo-soul artists as D'Angelo, Maxwell and Erykah Badu getting in touch with their freaky side, and not just the bedroom meaning of that word. These were true eccentrics, channeling their cracked, shadowy visions of romance.

After three highly regarded albums, Maxwell, not unlike his compatriot in smooveness, D'Angelo, disappeared, leaving fans with little more than the whisper of his 2001 cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work," rendered even more misty and ethereal than the original. Maxwell was gone but not forgotten, as he stepped away from showbiz to lead a normal life. He vacationed in Mexico, imbibed the bubbly and enjoyed waking up in the mornings with no particular place to go.

He was also still listening. "I think Chris Brown is an incredible, enigmatic performer," he said in a conversation Thursday. And he praised pal Raphael Saadiq's new album too. After seven years out of the limelight, Maxwell, a Brooklyn native now based in Manhattan, recently returned to tour, in preparation for his new album, "Black Summers' Night," a trilogy that, in part at least, is expected to land early next year. (You can also hear a snippet of the track "Pretty Wings" on his MySpace site.) Speaking from Vegas, Maxwell talked about his absence, the art of the album and his dream legacy.

How does it feel to be back on tour after such a long absence?

I’ve been rejuvenated. It’s been so long. It’s completely natural now. I’m not feigning anything. Not that I was before but by the 300th show it starts to feel like “Groundhog Day.” The opportunity that came for me in the late '90s, to be able to resume this whole experience, it’s amazing. I was really worried. You walked away and what if they’ve all forgotten you? But that didn’t happen. People seem to get what we did way back then. That’s more special than having a hit record and everyone shows up to hear the hit single.

You haven’t released an album since 2001. What have you been up to?
I took a break. I needed to go live to what I always felt I could live up to. For one, the industry was changing. I took the opportunity to step away. I did most of the things most people had already done in their 20s. My first alcoholic beverage was when I was 30. And I’ve made up for a lost time, believe you me. I’m not a saint. I didn’t get to have a life for so long, so I went and lived one. While I was away, I was having a good time not being pressured to do anything. I loved waking up and doing whatever I wanted. Not worrying about how I looked or what I ate. It felt good not having expectations. I’d bump into someone every now and again, and they’d say, “Where are you? Are you OK?” And I’d say, “Yeah, don’t worry about me.”

Van Morrison's full Q&A on 'Astral Weeks'

In-depth interviews with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and two-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Van Morrison are exceedingly few and far between. But in conjunction with his performances Nov. 7 and 8 at the Hollywood Bowl, where he’ll perform his 1968 album “Astral Weeks” in its entirety for the first time anywhere, along with other songs from throughout his career, he agreed to respond by e-mail to questions from Times staff writer Randy Lewis. The feature story will appear in Saturday's Calendar; the following is the full text of that Q&A.

What combination of opportunity and motivation was behind the decision to revisit "Astral Weeks" in a live setting now?

I am not “revisiting” it, as this is a totally different project. I had always wanted to do these songs fully orchestrated and live. I never got around to it -- then I thought, well, we have lost the great [drummer] Connie Kay already and Larry Fallon the original arranger –- so I thought I should probably get to it now. Jay [Berliner] and Richard [Davis] have never done it fully orchestrated and live before either so I see it as a new project.

Update: In the paragraph above, we originally identified Connie Kay as the bassist. He was the drummer on "Astral Weeks."

What's your thought at this stage of your career about the boldness of a 22-year-old Belfast musician with some rock hits to his credit going into a New York studio with the likes of Downbeat's jazz bassist of the year [Richard Davis], the Modern Jazz Quartet's drummer [Connie Kay] and one of Charles Mingus' collaborators [guitarist Jay Berliner]?

Well, first, I think I have probably always been more advanced in my head, in my thinking, than the calendar age of 22. My thinking musically has always been more advanced -- it is difficult to get it down onto paper sometimes, even now. And the Music on “Astral Weeks” required these great musicians because no one else could have pulled it off like they did. There is another reason, too, and that is the fact I did not settle for anyone other than these guys -- they were the ones I insisted on.

What, if any, contact has there been with Richard Davis and Jay Berliner (or Kay before his death in 1994) over the years?

Connie Kay called me a lot over the years, on a regular basis. He was the drummer on “Tupelo Honey” and “Listen to the Lion.” He is also on several recordings I did in the '80s, numbers I have not released yet. Connie was the best drummer I have run across yet. The original arranger, Larry Fallon, kept in touch with me over the years, but we had lost contact with him, unfortunately. I actually called him for this project, but I found out he had passed away not too long ago. That was a shame -- he was a great arranger. He seemed to understand this music -- which is rare and is not easy to do. I was in touch with Richard a few times over the years.

The circumstances that brought you to the East Coast of the U.S. at the time [in 1968]?

I had been with Bert Berns’ Bang Records label, and I didn’t get paid, so I was living on a shoestring -- a very hand-to-mouth existence at that time -- in Boston and for a long time after that too. I went down to New York and this is when I got the offer from Warner Brothers. They had told me they had to buy out the Bang deal. Then I got involved with [producer Lewis] Merenstein, et al. The real reason I made Astral Weeks Recordings in New York is because I was literally broke and they kept me stranded there.

Download this NOW: Tim Fite's Halloween carnival

By the time this post goes live, it will be late afternoon/early evening on the East Coast, which is bad news for music fans. That means there's not much time left to download a free EP from Brooklyn-based artist Tim Fite, at least from a reputable website.

The run-down:

Who is this? Fite is a weirdo, in the best possible sense. He's released two albums via Epitaph's Anti- Records off-shoot, a label home to the likes of Tom Waits and Neko Case, among others. Before signing with Anti-, Fite was in a short-lived but goofy hip-hop act dubbed Little-T and the One Track Mike. The latter had one minor hit with a song titled "Shaniqua."

What's he sound like? Fite is all over the map. But he's likely to paste together songs with folksy guitars, hip-hop effects and all sorts of toy-like sounds. The one constant is his dry, speak-song vocals, looped on top of each other to sound as if there's a whole chorus of Fites behind each track. There's an easygoing whimsy to his melodies, like a sculpture pasted together with construction paper -- it's a bit rough around the edges, but colorful, and almost juvenile. At least until you realize many of his lyrics are about sexual frustration and being broke. But it's never tiresome, as many of his songs have a self-deprecating charm, and he's known to get political from time to time (see last year's free download, the vicious "Over the Counter Culture"). But even if he's ranting, Fite's harmless. He's the guy at the end of the bar drinking alone and tossing off one-liners based on the television news, lashing out at everything from Wal-Mart to some guy with cleaner clothes than he has. Live, his shows are a cartoonish vaudeville act, with stick-figure animation, exaggerated facial expressions and, if you're lucky, monsters made out of clay.

Report: Led Zeppelin closes in on new singer. Are we excited?

Bringing credence to a rumor started a few weeks ago by Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, Billboard.com is reporting this afternoon that the band is ready to make Myles Kennedy the new Robert Plant. Billboard's anonymous sources don't make it sound like it's a done deal, saying only that Kennedy is "first in line" (a negotiating tactic, perhaps?), but it seems to bring a Plant-less Zep one step closer to reality.

While not a household name, Kennedy isn't an unknown, either. He's been gainfully employed as the lead singer of Alter Bridge, which is Creed-minus-Scott Stapp. Excited yet? The move would bolt Kennedy up the tribute band ladder, and all the Zep die-hards across the pond can get a look at Kennedy next week, as Alter Bridge has a string of dates in the U.K. beginning Tuesday in Sheffield, England.

Here's a glimpse at one of Alter Bridge's biggest hits, "Open Your Eyes."

While Pop & Hiss won't pre-judge Zep 2.0 until there's some new music, the move doesn't exactly entice excitement. It would seem to imply the band is looking for someone to simply step in and sing, rather than help remake and shape a new band.

Bruce Springsteen unleashes Halloween tune

Last week, Pop & Hiss was wondering if the world needed another "Monster Mash," writing about the fun Halloween novelty songs of Eban Schletter. Bruce Springsteen, however, doesn't joke around when it comes to All Hallow's Eve.

This morning, the New Jersey rocker unveiled a Halloween-inspired blues rave-up, a song that comes days after the artist announced he would not be able to have his annual Halloween display at his Rumson, N.J., mansion because of too many visitors. Wrote the Boss of the song:

Dear Friends and Fans,

If you grew up in Central or South Jersey you grew up with the ‘Jersey Devil.’  Here’s a little musical Halloween treat.  Have fun!

Bruce Springsteen

The Jersey Devil, who has a Wikipedia page for those needing more detailed info, is a sort of half-man, half-beast with hooves and horselike features. In Springsteen's harmonica-driven blues, dubbed "A Night With the Jersey Devil," he wields a guitar made out of human skin and bones and dines on blood.

The Boss made a video for the song, of which a screenshot is above. Bookended with werewolf-like howls, Springsteen rises from swampy water, rides a horse, carries an axe and sings with a distorted fury about "16 witches" and "16 spells." A hi-res version of it can be found on Springsteen's site. A lower-rent YouTube version is below.

Foo Fighters do all the right things, but don't inspire

The atmosphere couldn't have been more perfect: lovable arena rock band playing in a club whose roof they should be able to blow off. Last night's free show (thanks to the sponsorship of the new BlackBerry iPhone-like mobile device) boasted desert rock heroes Queens of the Stone Age and the always-entertaining Foo Fighters at the historic Avalon. Only problem: There was no magic.

Can't really blame Dave Grohl or the Foos -- they plowed through many of their hits with all the spastic energy of kids playing air guitar. There is so much joy in Fooville that it's hard to leave a show like that and say "meh," but "meh" is what I'm sticking to. There were no surprises, no special guests (unless you consider Pat Smear -- the on-again, off-again Foo guitarist) and nothing shocking.

The best moment of the night was the drum solo from Taylor Hawkins. Hawkins has one of the toughest jobs in rock backing Grohl, but he pulls it off beautifully and in such a rock-star way.

But when a drum solo from the second-best drummer in the house is the most memorable moment, you can't get too excited about the show in retrospect.

Guess you get what you pay for.

-- Photos and post by Tony Pierce

Roky Erickson teams up with the Black Angels

Halloween's unofficial tunesmith returns to Los Angeles, this time backed by neo-psych band and fellow Austin, Texas, residents The Black Angels.

With an irresistible combination of horror kitsch in a boogie rock jumper, Roky warns in "Night of the Vampire," "If it's raining and you're running don’t slip in mud/because if you do you'll slip in blood/tonight is the night of the vampire."

The 13th Floor Elevators frontman has come a long way from signing a legal affidavit maintaining his status as an alien from another planet. His loyal fans were understandably overjoyed to see their man back in fighting shape after years of overmedicated inertia for a series of appearances in 2005 coinciding with the release of a box set anthology, "I Have Always Been Here Before," and documentary, "You're Gonna Miss Me."

Now, Roky returns to Los Angeles almost exactly one year after his last appearance, where he took the stage...