Roots and Crowns
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Track:Spider's House, Vampiring Again, Bottles & Bones (Shade & Sympathy)
I had the distinct pleasure of recording a song with Jim Becker of Califone on Sunday. He recorded a small version of the Roommate band (Erica Dicker on violin, Mercedes Landazuri on banjo, Anton Hatwich on upright bass, Evelyn Weston on saw, me on keytar and vocals) at his apartment to a cassette four-track recorder. I had heard and totally dug some music he recorded this way for my friend Jim Finn's film Interkosmos, but I was still amazed at the depth and fullness of the sound he got out of a $200-300 recorder. I'm not sure if the song will end up on the next Roommate album or an intermediary EP or what, but I plan to work with Jim again soon.Jim was generous enough to let me leave with a beautiful hand-screened vinyl copy of Califone's new album Roots & Crowns. I put it on as soon as I got home, and it's a gorgeous record. I've been a big fan of Tim Rutili's songs since the Red Red Meat days and have kept up with every single Califone release since then. Every album of theirs has a few songs that stop me in my tracks, but quite often I find myself skipping past somewhat amorphous experimental "jam" tracks to get to gems like "Vampiring Again" or "Bottles & Bones (Shade & Sympathy)". I can't imagine myself skipping anything on Roots and Crowns--it's a gem from start to finish.Hmmm. I don't know that I want to venture into writing album reviews here or anywhere, so I'll leave the descriptive analysis and rhetorical arguments to the professionals (hi Jenny). I will say this: if you're a fan of Califone, I think you'll be very pleased with the record (that is, unless you've always preferred their 7-minute rusty chain-jangling stoner jams to their proper "songs"), and if not, take a listen to this track via Stereogum and see what you think. I believe the record will be officially released October 10 on Thrill Jockey. Booyahkah.
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