In case you missed the movie, Wilco, Inc., is an entity directed by CEO Jeff Tweedy and CFO Tony Margherita — which means, among other things, that Jay Bennett had to go. OK, it's not that simple, but by the end of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the guitarist, songwriter and engineer who was pushing Wilco beyond alt-country into psychedelic, genre-fucked pop was out of the tape-loop and alone with his own talents. Those are considerable, as Bennett's most recent album, The Magnificent Defeat, makes blindingly (if chaotically) clear. With out-of-control guitars, honky-tonk pianos, whack-a-mole drumming, drunk-at-noon vocals and a lost-weekend desperation, Bennett surrenders to rock & roll's twisted glee and decadence — and against the odds of his limited voice and lyrics, somehow sounds like a winner.
