Wilco Go Online With Free EP
Though Wilco scrapped plans to release a six-song EP commercially,
the band will place it on wilcoworld.net for fans to download
starting Tuesday night using a code included on copies of the
band’s 2002 release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Despite industry complaints that the Internet has been
detrimental to album sales, Wilco has been successful online. After
being cut loose by Warner Bros. in the summer of 2001, the band
placed Foxtrot on its Web site for streaming that fall.
The album was released the following spring and has posted better
sales than any of the band’s previous three releases.
The EP was initially released as a bonus CD on the Australian
version of Foxtrot (currently available in the U.S. as an
import), issued to coincide with the band’s January tour Down
Under. The set features Foxtrot outtakes including “A
Magazine Called Sunset” and an alternate version of “Kamera” (now
titled “Camera”). Also included are “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard” (which
has been regularly included in the band’s live shows), and three
newer cuts, “Handshake Drugs,” “Woodgrain” and “More Like the
Moon.” The site will also offer three different artwork packages,
each with a different title: More Like the Moon,
Australian EP and Bridge.
The band had planned to do additional recording this year for
what will eventually become its fifth album. Any work will have to
fall in between sporadic touring which is now underway. Wilco have
lined up seventeen summer tour dates, six of which the band will
share a bill with Sonic Youth. In September, Wilco will spend five
dates opening for R.E.M.
Wilco tour dates:
4/22: Lexington, KY, Singletary Center
4/25: Burlington, VT, Flynn Theater
4/26: State College, PA, Penn State University
5/1: Asheville, NC, Orange Peel
5/2: Memphis, Beale Street Music Festival
6/13: Minneapolis, Walker Arts Center
6/19: Cleveland, Tower City Amphitheater (with Sonic Youth)
6/20: Toronto, the Kool Haus
6/21: Pittsburgh, Three River Arts Festival
6/23: Boston, FleetBoston Pavilion (with Sonic Youth)
6/24: Wallingford, CT, Oakdale Theater (with Sonic Youth)
6/26-27: New York, Central Park Summerstage (with Sonic
Youth)
6/28: Philadelphia, Penn’s Landing (with Sonic Youth)
6/30: Washington, DC, Constitution Hall (with Sonic Youth)
7/2: Detroit, Comerica TasteFest
7/3: Milwaukee, Summerfest
9/3: Portland, OR, New Amphitheater (with R.E.M.)
9/6: San Francisco, Shoreline Amphitheater (with R.E.M.)
9/10: Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl (with R.E.M.)
9/11: Las Vegas, Thomas and Mack Center (with R.E.M.)
9/13: Denver, Red Rock Amphitheater (with R.E.M.)