In case you missed it, the new Wilco album leaked on the Internet last night, a full six weeks before its official release date.

For those who may not remember, Wilco was an early adopter among bands using the Web to their advantage. Way back in 2001, they were dropped by their then-label, Reprise Records, when bigwigs there didn’t like the sound of the band’s just-completed album, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” Weeks later, when songs from the record began appearing on file-sharing sites, Wilco fought back by streaming every minute of “Yankee” on its Web site.

Back then, that was a novel idea.

And it worked. The band eventually signed a new deal (with a different subsidiary of Reprise’s parent company, no less) and released the album in 2002. It was a commercial success, peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and eventually going gold. Critics also loved it; “Yankee” was named the top album of the year in the annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll.

Without question, the story behind the record — band makes challenging album, label doesn’t hear a hit, band gets dropped, band releases album on its own, album is huge hit, original label execs are DUMMIES! — caught the attention of music writers and fans, who relished the opportunity to giggle and point fingers at the industry, and to laud the band and its hard-won artistic integrity.

Add it all up, and it equaled buzz — the kind of buzz that catapulted Wilco to where it is today: able to make movies and have toy dolls and play large amphitheaters.

Of course, when a band’s as big (and revered) as Wilco, you can bet Web-savvy music fans will be watching for ways to get their hands on a highly anticipated new album as early as possible. Thus, this morning, Twitter and bloggers were buzzing about “Wilco (The Album).”

(Funny … I just went to Twitter to find a breathless 140-character-or-less insta-review of this thing, and instead I find links to the band’s official stream of the full album. Obviously, Wilco was ready for the leak. It’s right here if you’d like to hear it.)

I wish I shared the buzz.

I’ve listened to “Wilco (The Album)” twice now. I think, at first glance, it sounds better than their last two releases, though not as good as the first four. Time will tell.

But I can’t help but feel a bit of wistful nostalgia for the old days, when records had release dates, and we fans knew those release dates weeks or months ahead of time, and there was time to let anticipation build, y’know?

Under the old model, anticipation was like a balloon growing inside a fan’s heart, expanding each day as the record release drew near. Maybe you saw ads. Maybe you read reviews. Maybe a lucky acquaintance had received an advance copy, and you were jealous.

These days, there’s a frenzy when these things leak, but there’s no anticipation beforehand. You can’t pop a balloon that hasn’t had a chance to grow.

I remember bringing home Nirvana’s “In Utero” and throwing it in my boombox, then calling my friend Mark to discuss the merits of each track. I remember sitting on my bed and reading the liner notes of Pavement’s “Brighten the Corners” while soaking in my first listen. I remember I was late to work because of that.

Now, come June 30, I’d guess that few people will rush to the record store (or a digital shop, for that matter) to get their hands on “Wilco (The Album).” People will buy it, of course. But many will have already spent six weeks with the songs, and will feel no particular urgency to pick up the physical product.

That’s too bad.

I’m not saying things must change. (Even if I was, they won’t.) If you’re a GO! Magazine reader, you might remember the admiration I expressed 18 months ago for Radiohead’s free digital release of “In Rainbows.” (If you missed that article, you can read it here.)

With that, Radiohead created anticipation and buzz, even if only for a week. Fans waited for the album to arrive, and they listened, and they gathered — not on the phone, but online — to talk about what they heard.

That’s happening today with Wilco’s new record, sort of. But yesterday, I wasn’t even jonesing for a taste of “Wilco (The Album).” Today, I’m digesting it.

Where’s the fun in that?

(Photo courtesy vrogy’s Flickr photostream.)

Tags: leaks, Radiohead, Wilco

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 3:09 pm and is filed under ramblings, the web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.