Loose Fur

Infobox musical artist
Name = Loose Fur


Img_capt = The trio of Loose Fur (c. 2003)—Glenn Kotche, Jim O'Rourke, and Jeff Tweedy.
Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genre = Alternative rock
Indie rock
Post-rock
Years_active = 2000—present
Label = Drag City Records
Associated_acts = Wilco
Uncle Tupelo
Sonic Youth
Gastr del Sol
Golden Smog
URL = [http://www.dragcity.com/bands/loosefur.html Loose Fur at Drag City]
Current_members = Jeff Tweedy
Jim O'Rourke
Glenn Kotche

Loose Fur is an American rock band comprising of Wilco members Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche, and Wilco collaborator Jim O'Rourke. The trio first convened in May 2000 in preparation for a Tweedy performance at a festival in Chicago. Tweedy was offered the opportunity to collaborate with an artist of his choosing, and he decided to work with O'Rourke. O'Rourke brought Kotche to a rehearsal session, and the trio recorded an album's worth of songs. The trio have since released two albums, 2003's "Loose Fur" and 2006's "Born Again in the USA", for Drag City Records. The band has only toured once.

The band is noted for its influence on Wilco's fourth album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". Tweedy was unhappy with how music from the initial recording sessions for the album were sounding, resulting in a lineup change for the band. Both O'Rourke and Kotche replaced members of Wilco during the recording sessions for the album, and are still contributors to the band as of 2007.

Formation

In winter 1999, Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy acquired a copy of Jim O'Rourke's 1997 album "Bad Timing". The album featured four instrumental tracks that juxtaposed guitar parts with orchestration. Tweedy liked how O'Rourke's music was varied and "not easily categorized". According to Tweedy:Kot 2004. p. 176-7]

Tweedy was invited to perform with a collaborator of his choice for the 2000 Noise Pop Festival in Chicago. The festival promoter offered to pair him with members of the Mekons, but Tweedy decided to collaborate with O'Rourke. [Kot 2004. p. 178] cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1659964|title=Tweedy, O'Rourke Untangle 'Loose Fur's|publisher="Billboard"|date=September 4, 2002 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] The pair met at O'Rourke's apartment a few days before the festival. They listened to gramophone records by T. Rex, Phil Niblock, and Roy Harper; later that night they wrote material for the concert and agreed to meet the next day at the Wilco loft in Chicago. O'Rourke invited Glenn Kotche, a drummer who played in a similar musical style, to the practice session. [Kot 2004. p. 179] Tweedy found lyrical inspiration from word exercises; for example, he picked out random words from a copy of "TV Guide" and formed abstract lines such as "you boil hearts and discuss birds". He also sought to improve as a guitarist, taking influence from free jazz artists such as James "Blood" Ulmer. [Kot 2004. p. 181]

On May 14, 2000, Jeff Tweedy played the Noise Pop Festival at Double Door in a concert that polarized Wilco fans. Natalie Merchant joined the band onstage, but left after Tweedy requested that she perform Utah Phillips' murder ballad "Rock Salt and Nails". Among the new material performed at the concert was "Laminated Cat", a reworked version of a Wilco demo entitled "Not for the Season"—Tweedy was unhappy with the straightforwardness of Wilco's version. The trio decided to name their band Loose Fur and recorded a six-song album in the summer of 2000. The band also made an uncredited appearance on O'Rourke's 2001 solo album "Insignificance". [cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1965000|title=Tireless O'Rourke at Work on Many Projects|publisher="Billboard"|date=August 28, 2003 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] The Loose Fur album was not released at the time because Tweedy was busy recording Wilco's fourth album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". [Kot 2004. p. 182-3]

Influence on "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

By winter 2000, Wilco had completed enough material for an album release. However, Tweedy was dissatisfied with the "emotional center" of the recordings. He wanted the release to sound more like the music he had recorded with Loose Fur, although he "couldn't put his finger on why." [Kot 2004. p. 185] Tweedy wanted the album to advance the sound of Wilco in a similar fashion as "Being There" and "Summerteeth". He became irritated by Wilco drummer Ken Coomer because Coomer disliked playing consistent drum patterns each time that the band played a song. [Kot 2004. p. 188] Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett also soured on Coomer because of the drummer's lack of patience and consistency. [Kot 2004. p. 190] Although he briefly considered adding Kotche as a secondary percussionist, Tweedy decided to replace Coomer with his Loose Fur bandmate: [Kot 2004. p. 187]

Kotche re-wrote the drum parts for the album almost immediately upon his acceptance into the band. In one instance, he reworked "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" by adding parts played on hubcaps, crotales, and floor tiles. Although some members were unsure about the decision to replace Coomer with Kotche, the band unanimously supported the decision after hearing Kotche's new percussion parts. According to Bennett: [Kot 2004. p. 193]

Coomer wasn't the only band member that struck a nerve with Tweedy during the recording sessions. Tweedy was unhappy with the way that Bennett mixed parts of the album, particularly the sequences between songs. [Kot 2004. p. 196] Tweedy felt that Bennett was "burning out" while mixing the album, and invited Jim O'Rourke to remix "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart". Although Bennett conceded that O'Rourke did a better job of mixing the song, animosity arose between the two engineers. O'Rourke continued to remix more songs, and attempted to increase the drama of the album by reducing the contributions by the backing members of Wilco. [Kot 2004. p. 197-8] He removed so many parts on some songs that only music by Tweedy, Kotche, and himself—the three members of Loose Fur—appeared on some songs. [Kot 2004. p. 199]

Recording career

On January 28, 2003, Loose Fur released the six-track album that they recorded at the Wilco loft in 2000. Unlike "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", "Loose Fur" featured only one overdub per song. The band played two shows in Brooklyn, NY in support of the album, playing their first live show as "Loose Fur" on December 6, 2002. [cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1742143|title=Billboard Bits: Vandals, Little Steven, Loose Fur|publisher="Billboard"|date=October 15, 2002 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] [cite news|last=Dansby|first=Andrew|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5934022/orourke_wilco_men_get_loose/print|title=O'Rourke, Wilco Men Get Loose|publisher="Rolling Stone"|date=December 6, 2002 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] In October 2005, Tweedy announced that the band was nearly finished recording their second Loose Fur album. The album, "Born Again in the USA", was the first album to consist mostly of O'Rourke lyrics since "Insignificance". [cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001392837|title=Tweedy Tackling Loose Fur, Golden Smog CDs|publisher="Billboard"|date=October 31, 2005 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] Unlike their first album, Loose Fur did not tour to support the album. [cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001808408|title=Loose Fur 'Born Again' On Sophomore CD|publisher="Billboard"|date=January 9, 2006 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] In contrast to their eponymous debut, "Born Again in the USA" was heavier with more harmonized guitar parts. [cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002199249|title=Furry Things|publisher="Billboard" Online|date=March 19, 2006 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] Both of their albums were received favorably by critics. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/loosefur/loosefur?q=Loose%20Fur|title=Loose Fur: Loose Fur (2003)|publisher=Metacritic Last accessed July 25, 2007.] [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/loosefur/bornagainintheusa?q=Loose%20Fur|title=Loose Fur: Born Again in the USA (2006)|publisher=Metacritic Last accessed July 25, 2007.] Tweedy performed "The Ruling Class" and "Laminated Cat" on a solo performance DVD in 2005. [Hasty, Katie & Cohen, Jonathan. cite news|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003052984|title=Wilco Books Fall Trek, Tweedy Solo DVD Due|publisher="Billboard"|date=August 24, 2006 Last accessed July 25, 2007.] Glenn Kotche is still the drummer for Wilco, and Jim O'Rourke is a regular collaborator with the band; both performed on "A Ghost Is Born" and "Sky Blue Sky".

Discography

Notes

References

*Citation|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|year=2004|title=|edition=1st|place=New York City, NY|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=0-7679-1558-5

External links

*allmusic|Loose_Fur
* [http://www.dragcity.com/bands/loosefur.html Loose Fur at Drag City]