Something Else! sneak peek: Emperors of Wyoming, “Rebirth of the Cool” (2014)

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How appropriate that the Emporers of Wyoming, a Butch Vig band more than three decades in the making, has fashioned a folk-reverie out of the Afghan Whigs’ crunchy “Rebirth Of The Cool.”

The members of Emperors of Wyoming met not in, well, Wyoming but in Madison, Wisconsin. Vig, long before rising to fame with Nirvana, Sonic Youth and with Garbage, was childhood friends with Frank and Peter Anderson, and Phil Davis. They all knocked around in bands. Later, Vig and Davis were on the Atlantic Records-signed Fire Town, while the Andersons eventually had their own LA outfit.

Time passed. A lot of it. Then everybody started drifting back together a few years ago, with Vig — who had just finished working with Green Day — completing the lineup for the newly dubbed Emporers of Wyoming. A selt-titled album followed on Proper Records UK — but this effort, a canny melding of folk, country and roots rock, goes largely unheard stateside.

Until now. The Emperors of Wyoming has been remixed and augmented by three new songs, including this track from the Afghan Whigs’ 1992 Uptown Avondale EP. Meanwhile, the Emporers have added Kim Henry, a singer and guitarist, as well. The now-13-track effort has been issued via the newly formed label Liaison Music.

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Jimmy Nelson