UPDATE – July 7, 2014
Tweedy will perform “Summer Noon” on The Tonight Show July 24th. The song’s official video by Allison House was released today, making it the third track to stream from Tweedy’s forthcoming debut LP Sukierae. It also appears on the soundtrack to Boyhood, out tomorrow. Pre-order Sukierae to receive an MP3 download of a new cut each Monday through August 25th starting today with “Summer Noon.”
Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy joined twitter today – ahead of the album he’s releasing on September 16th with his 18-year-old son Spencer. Look for tweets signed “JT” for updates from Jeff, and “ST” for Spencer (all others are from Jeff Tweedy HQ). So far neither Tweedy has tweeted, though fans were treated with a vintage photo of him in Iggy Pop mode as Jeff’s display picture. . .
Titled Sukierae (sue-key-ray), the father/son duo’s debut album will be released under the band name TWEEDY. “When I set out to make this record, I imagined it being a solo thing, but not in the sense of one guy strumming an acoustic guitar and singing,” Jeff said in the June 4th e-mail that formally announced the project and clarifed it’s “technically not a [Jeff Tweedy] solo album.” Jeff explained in the e-mail: “solo to me meant that I would do everything – write the songs, play all the instruments and sing. But Spencer’s been with me from the very beginning demo sessions, playing drums and helping the songs take shape. In that sense, the record is kind of like a solo album performed by a duo.” The album’s 20 new tracks were written and predominantly performed by Jeff and Spencer, though Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius contribute backing vocals and Scott McCaughey guests on keyboards.
So far we’ve heard lead single “I’ll Sing It” – one of the tracks with Lucius, and to date the only track from Sukierae to be officially streaming online (below). Tomorrow at wilco.kungfustore TWEEDY will release “Diamond Light” (Parts 1 & 2), the first TWEEDY 10″. Listen to a live recording of that song – plus six others – below (“Diamond Light” is the first track in this video):
On July 8th “Summer Noon” will become the third TWEEDY studio track to surface with its release on the soundtrack to Richard Linklater’s new indie drama Boyhood. Shot over 12 years to literally show a boy growing up on screen, Boyhood receives a theatrical release on July 11th. Of course, given Linklater’s resume – Slacker, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock – a tasty soundtrack is a must. Listen to a live version of “Summer Noon” at 15:52 in the above video and check out the Boyhood soundtrack tracklist below:
1. Jeff Tweedy – “Summer Noon”
2. Coldplay – “Yellow”
3. The Hives – “Hate to Say I Told You So”
4. Cat Power – “Could We”
5. The Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize??”
6. Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy”
7. Vampire Weekend – “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)”
8. Wilco – “Hate It Here”
9. Cobra Starship – “Good Girls Go Bad” (ft. Leighton Meester)
10. Bob Dylan – “Beyond the Horizon”
11. Paul Mccartney & Wings – “Band on the Run”
12. The Black Keys – “She’s Long Gone”
13. Gotye – “Somebody That I Used to Know” (ft. Kimbra)
14. Yo La Tengo – “I’ll Be Around”
15. Family of the Year – “Hero”
16. Arcade Fire – “Deep Blue”
In support of Sukierae Tweedy and Tweedy are touring with Jim Elkington on guitar, Darin Gray on bass, and Liam Cunningham on keyboards. The entire first hour or more of every show on the TWEEDY tour so far has been new songs that are completely foreign to almost the entire audience – quite a bold move, particularity at the two festivals they’ve played so far (especially when considering the understated nature of some of these songs). Oddly, their single “I’ll Sing It” – the one song fans might know – has not been played live.
The tour began June 5th at Detroit’s Masonic Temple Theater with the live debuts of 14 new songs: Down From Above, Flowering, Summer Noon, World Away, New Moon, Where My Love, Slow Love, Nobody Dies Anymore, Honey Combed, Desert Bell, High As Hello, Wait For Love, Low Key and Diamond Love (plus 11 older songs from Jeff’s catalog). The tour continued at Pittsburgh, PA’s Three Rivers Arts Festival on June 6th with 9 of the 14 new songs debuted the night before in Detroit (plus 9 oldies in a 90 minute condensed “fest” set). TWEEDY’s webcast performance on June 7th at Mountain Jam included 11 of the new songs introduced in Detroit plus the debut of “Fake Fur Coat.” June 9th’s concert at Baltimore’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall included 13 of the new songs introduced in Detroit and June 11th’s in Louisville, KY included 14 newbies.
The only show to include all 15 of the new songs played live to date is June 10th’s Washington D.C concert. Both that show and June 5th’s tour opening gig were recorded and will be available as official Roadcase Series downloads on September 20th. In other words, there will essentially be two live albums highlighting the bulk of Sukierae available just after the studio versions are released. The June 10th show is particularly anticipated – not just because it included three-quarters of the new album as well as a rare solo acoustic performance of Wilco’s “Deeper Down,” but also because fans are raving the band gelled better at this show than any other night yet.
Preview the majority of Sukierae in the video streams above and below, followed by three pro-shot videos from Mountain Jam:
Quite awesome…right? The second leg of Jeff Tweedy’s tour kicks off today in Milwaukee (a few tickets are still available at wilcoworld.net).
In somewhat related news, Wilco’s next album is allegedly coming along as well. Last year Tweedy teased it “feels a little bit more restless within the group than maybe on the last few records.” Will it please the Yankee Foxtrot fans that complain the band has gone too “dad rock“? Perhaps. But even if not, Tweedy rocking with his son might be enough for now.
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