As Charles Bronson used to say, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Quite a few musicians are taking these words to heart, composing records, indeed entire repertoires, all by their lonesome; the increasing sophistication of recording software, coupled with the now-ubiquitous DIY aesthetic being taken to its technical limits, has resulted in a level of autonomy unprecedented in popular music. This is not to say that songs composed by one person......

Wilco Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) Recorded in Wilco's own Chicago studio, the album was recorded by TJ Doherty (the Hold Steady, Sonic Youth) and mixed by Jim Scott (the Rolling Stones, the Dixie Chicks), Sky Blue Sky finds Tweedy & Co. leaning closer to the down-home gritty side of their sound, all while bending glass with avant-jazz guitar hero Nels Cline. Full of guitars and electricity, songs like "Impossible Germany" highlight the relationship between......