Tim Rutili's Califone had been mixing trad-minded folk-blues flavors with more experimental inclinations for a good decade by the time they put this album together, and the combination has grown increasingly seamless along the way. The electric drones, scrapes, buzzes, and squalls of avant-garde abandon are not isolated occurrences that exist outside the structure of the songs; they're encompassed by the structures. If anything, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is a more lambent effort than its predecessors, but one that feels fully a part of the band's evolutionary progress. The marimba-like tones of "Krill," for example, bear echoes of Psychic TV's "The Orchids," covered by Califone on their previous album, Roots & Crowns, and the ambient folk side of the band's musical personality has been more pronounced with each release. Even the most overtly experimental moments on the album often feel homemade and organic -- more like madmen clanging around in an underground cave than sonic scientists engaged in academic exercises. Ostensibly, the big news item about All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is the fact that it's the musical companion to a film of the same name, directed and written by Rutili, about a woman living in a house full of ghosts. On tour, the band's plan would be to provide a live soundtrack to the film. This isn't their first venture into film scores, but even if it were, the real question is whether or not the album stands up on its own. It does, as it's filled with engagingly warm-sounding tunes mating melodic accessibility with a winning lyrical evanescence powered by the same kind of poetic dream logic that's cropped up in Califone's concepts before. So do those voices and sounds that occasionally fly in from out of nowhere come from the film? Who cares? They work within the music, and for our immediate purposes, that's what matters.
Named after an audio equipment manufacturer, Chicago quartet Califone trade in mostly acoustic, alt. country and folky tunes. Not that you’d ascertain that from ‘Giving Away The Bride’, their opening salvo on this, their second long-player: it’s all staccato percussion, groaning samples and ethereal vocals. It’s experimental and exciting, like a lo-fi Beck out-take crossed…
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Elements of blues, country and folk all interspersed with sparse electronics and atmosphere. Califone return with new album 'All My Friends Are Funeral Singers'. Marc Higgins reviews.
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califone - funeral singers from Califone on Vimeo.Califone - Funeral Singers
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New WaxChicago's Califone, now signed to Dead Oceans, which is home to the likes of Bowerbirds, Akron/Family, Phosphorescent, and John Vanderslice among others, follows up their wonderful 2006 album Roots & Crowns with a new album entitled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers. While the album stand's on its own musically, it is also a companion piece to Califone lead singer Tim Rutili's first fea...
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Elements of blues, country and folk all interspersed with sparse electronics and atmosphere. Califone return with new album 'All My Friends Are Funeral Singers'. Marc Higgins reviews.
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As I mentioned a few weeks back, Califone has a new album coming out October 6. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is the first new material from the Chicago art-folk contingent since 2006’s splendid Roots & Crowns, and the 14-song set doubles as a sort-of film soundtrack to band leader Tim Rutili's directorial debut of the same name. Stereogum premiered the abbreviated title track, “Funeral
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califone - funeral singers from Califone on Vimeo.
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One day last week, as I sat down with my breakfast and coffee and The Globe & Mail, My eye was drawn to a short review for All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, the new LP from Chicago’s Califone. The album has popped up in a lot of discussions and blogs lately, and not having [...]
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Califone, the four-piece experimental, roots folk band out of Chicago, are set to release their sixth album All My Friends are Funeral Singers later this fall on Dead Oceans. Hitting stores on October 6th, the new album will be the band's first for Dead Oceans and will serve as the follow-up to their fantastic 2006 release Roots and Crowns (which featured the stunning cover of Psychic TV's "T...
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Named after an audio equipment manufacturer, Chicago quartet Califone trade in mostly acoustic, alt. country and folky tunes. Not that you’d ascertain that from ‘Giving Away The Bride’, their opening salvo on this, their second long-player: it’s all staccato percussion, groaning samples and ethereal vocals. It’s experimental and exciting, like a lo-fi Beck out-take crossed…
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i should probably visit either a. stereogum b. brooklyn vegan c. pitchfork or d. dead oceans more often cause they all info on the upcoming califone record that i had no idea was coming out. i am very psyched to say the least. its called all my friends are funeral singers and its due out [...]
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