Wilco (the Stream)

As has become de rigeur for America's greatest working band, Wilco has made their forthcoming record available for your listening pleasure well ahead of its release date.

You can hear a stream of the cheekily titled Wilco (the Album), due out June 30, here.

In addition to being among the most talented, hardworking and inventive groups on the planet, Wilco is also among the most sensible. The band released the following email to fans today, complete with a plug for their favorite charity and a free screening of their new film:

Well, we made it nearly a month with copies of Wilco (the album) floating around out there before it leaked. Pretty impressive restraint in this day and age. But the inevitable happened last night. Since we know you're curious and probably have better things to do than scour the internet for a download (though we do understand the attraction of the illicit), we've posted a stream of the full album at http://wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/. Feel free to refer to it as "wilco (the stream)" if you must.

We also have our usual guilt abatement plan for downloaders. If you have downloaded the record, we suggest you make a donation to one of the band's favorite charities, the Inspiration Corporation -- an organization we've supported in the past & who are doing great work in the city of Chicago. Information and donation button here: http://inspirationcorp.org/.

That's all. Enjoy the stream. Tickets for summer shows, etc. http://wilcoworld.net/tours/ Note that we'll be holding a free online midnight screening of the Ashes of American Flags film this Friday night (at both midnight US Central time and again at midnight Pacific). So get the popcorn or whatever together and be sure to log on and tune in on Friday.

Thanks Wilco, for having faith in your fan base. Me, I'm still clinging to the notion of actual "albums" with "release dates" so I may just torture myself and wait it out until June 30. Anyway, here's a dandy performance from The Colbert Report of Wilco (the Album)'s power-poppy lead track: "Wilco (the Song)."

"Wilco (the Song)" The Colbert Report, October 30, 2008

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