Pitchfork

2001 has been quite an eventful annum for Wilco. First, drummer Ken Coomer left the band. Then, so did multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett, who is frequently credited as being a vital force in pushing frontman Jeff Tweedy in more experimental directions. All parties cited the usual "creative differences." (Details, guys! Come on!) And in the midst of all this, Reprise Records declared the band's forthcoming album, the Jim O'Rourke-produced Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, too non-commercial for their tastes. Wilco naturally refused to make any changes to the record and were cut by the conglomerate in August.

Fortunately, Wilco were able to purchase to rights to Yankee Foxtrot Hotel for the paltry sum of $50,000 (and you thought $16 was steep), and have since been shopping it around to other labels while simultaneously streaming all eleven tracks off their website for the paltry sum of nothing. And let's not forget the relentless touring.

But now, it's official: according to their website, Wilco have now signed to Nonesuch Records, the experimental subsidiary of Atlantic. So one would presume that, sometime early in 2002, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will be released in the classic, if outdated, form of a tangible object you can purchase at the mall on your way from Mr. Bulky's to the Great Frame-Up. The marriage will likely be a good one for the band-- Nonesuch is home to such acts as Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass, among others, so they probably won't get upset about the tape loops and ambient noise in the background of Wilco's five-minute rock songs.

So after a difficult 2001, it looks like the '02 is where it's all gonna pay off, as the band has more projects in the works than you can shake a baby at. These projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

* Tweedy is working on the soundtrack for the upcoming Ethan Hawke vehicle Chelsea Walls

* Tweedy and O'Rourke reportedly have an album in the works

* Wilco will be playing in March at the Sonic Youth-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival

* A documentary on the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, entitled I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, is currently finished and rumored to be prepared for a DVD release.

* Bullet-point! We love these things.

.: Wilco: http://www.wilcoworld.net