On July 16th, Wilco shocked their fans in the best way possible: by releasing Star Wars, the band's first album in four years, for free on their website, with no advance warning. The album is Wilco's best in at least a decade, full of loose, poppy rockers like "Random Name Generator" and "The Joke Explained." After recording the basic tracks himself in the Wilco loft in Chicago, frontman Jeff Tweedy brought in the other members of the band separately to play on them. The process has proved so productive that Tweedy says he's already halfway finished with the next Wilco album. When asked about Bob Dylan, Tweedy explained,
"We've talked a little bit, and I actually get a really warm feeling from him. There's a lot of middle ground there between somebody like Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney, who totally gives it up every night for the people and the songs."
