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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
 Posted - 11/11/2013 : 19:19:28
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BILL CALLAHAN
Callahan began working in the lo-fi genre of underground rock, with home-made tape-albums recorded on four track tape recorders. Later he began releasing albums with the label Drag City, to which he remains signed today.
Appears on the Judee Sill tribute album, Crayon Angel.
RADIO SESSIONS...43 mintes of brilliance, live on radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JLKYnQHfDU
Listen and read on...
Bill Callahan (born June 3, 1966), is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has also recorded and performed under the band name Smog.
Though he was born in Maryland, Callahan's family spent a total of eight years living in Knaresborough in England's North Riding of Yorkshire, with a four year return to Maryland from 1969 to 1973. His parents worked as language analysts for the National Security Agency.
Career
Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, using substandard instruments and recording equipment. His early songs often nearly lacked melodic structure and were clumsily played on poorly tuned guitars (possibly influenced by Jandek), resulting in the dissonant sounds on his self-released cassettes and debut album Sewn to the Sky. Much of his early output was instrumental, a stark contrast to the lyrical focus of his later work. Apparently, he used lo-fi techniques not primarily because of an aesthetic preference but because he didn't have any other possibility to make music. Once he signed a contract with Drag City, he also started to use recording studios and a greater variety of instruments for his records.
From 1993 to 2000, Callahan's recordings grew more and more "professional" sounding, with more instruments, and a higher sound quality. In this period he recorded two albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and Tortoise's John McEntire, and collaborated with Neil Hagerty. Callahan also worked closely with his then-girlfriend Cynthia Dall in his early career, and they contributed vocals to each other's albums. After 2000's Dongs of Sevotion, Callahan began moving back to a slightly simpler instrumentation and recording style, while retaining the more consistent songwriting style he had developed over the years. This shift is apparent in albums such as Rain on Lens, Supper, and A River Ain't Too Much to Love.
Smog's songs are often based on simple, repetitive structures, consisting of a simple chord progression repeated for the duration of the entire song. His singing is characterized by his baritone voice and unemotional style of delivery. Melodically and lyrically he tends to eschew the verse-chorus approach favoured by many contemporary songwriters, preferring instead a more free-form approach relying less on melodic and lyrical repetition. Themes in Callahan's lyrics include relationships, animals, relocation, nature, and more recently, politics. On the subject of voice in his albums, Callahan has said, "It’s usually one character per record. So, the character appears in all or most of the songs on one record and then is gone. Though it makes me feel weird to talk about. Because I don’t really think in clear terms of characters. My albums as a whole could be seen as one character with many voices." His generally dispassionate delivery of lyrics and dark irony often obfuscate complex emotional and lyrical twists and turns. Critics have generally characterized his music as depressing and intensely introverted, with one critic describing it as "a peep-show view into an insular world of alienation."
Cat Power (Chan Marshall) recorded Callahan's song "Bathysphere" on her 1996 album What Would the Community Think and also covered another Callahan song, "Red Apples", on her Covers Record, released in 2000.
In 2007, Callahan released Woke on a Whaleheart, his first solo album released under his own name. Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle followed in April, 2009. Both recordings were released through Drag City, worldwide. In 2009, Callahan contributed cover songs on four separate tribute albums to Judee Sill, Kath Bloom, Chris Knox, and Merge Records. Apocalypse, was released in April 2011 to favorable reviews. Critic Sasha Frere-Jones called it "my favorite of Callahan’s albums, not because it has better songs—those are scattered among at least five others — but because it does exactly what he wants it to do: it conveys an album’s coherence." A tour film chronicling Callahan's 2011 Apocalypse tour was released in 2012. His latest album, Dream River, was released in September 2013.
Personal life
He is currently engaged to photographer and documentary-maker Hanly Banks.
Works in films
Smog's "Cold Blooded Old Times" appears on the High Fidelity soundtrack.
In 2000, Smog's "Hit the Ground Running" (from Knock Knock) was featured over the ending credits of the film Swimming.
The song "Vessel in Vain" (from Supper) was used on the soundtrack of the independent British film Dead Man's Shoes in 2004.
In 2005, the track "A Guiding Light" (from Supper) appeared on the soundtrack of Winter Passing.
In 2008, the Bill Callahan song "Night" (from Woke on a Whaleheart) was featured in the teen buddy comedy College.
The 2012 film Smashed features the track "Our Anniversary" on its soundtrack and during the closing
credits.
Books
In July 2010 Drag City published Callahan's Letters to Emma Bowlcut, an epistolary novel.
Discography
Main article: Bill Callahan discography
As Smog[edit]
Sewn to the Sky (1990)
Forgotten Foundation (1992)
Julius Caesar (1993)
Burning Kingdom (1994)
Wild Love (1995)
The Doctor Came at Dawn (1996)
Red Apple Falls (1997)
Knock Knock (1999)
Dongs of Sevotion (2000)
Rain on Lens (2001)
Accumulation: None (2002)
Supper (2003)
A River Ain't Too Much to Love (2005)
As Bill Callahan[edit]
Woke on a Whaleheart (2007)
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009)
Apocalypse (2011)
Rough Travel for a Rare Thing (2010)
Dream River (2013)
Filmography
Pola X (1999)
Apocalypse: A Bill Callahan Tour Film (2012)[12]
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 06/02/2014 02:42:11 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2013 : 19:20:12
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Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
is the second solo album by Bill Callahan under his own name, released on April 14, 2009 via Drag City. It was recorded by John Congleton and arranged by Brian Beattie. In an interview with Uncut, Callahan described the recording of the album:
“ I recorded the basic tracks with a band, in August I think. Then gave the tracks to the arranger Brian Beattie to write some string and horn parts while I was on tour in South America and North America. When I got back we put the overdubs on, in an old fashioned way - four or five string players gathered around one microphone. The basic band is a couple fellers who I'd been touring with a bit lately, Jaime Zuverza on fine and pretty guitar - Brian described his playing style as "unmacho" which I thought was great. And Luis Martinez on special drums. The bassist was Bobby Weaver who was a friend of the engineer John Congleton. I could go on but this is supposed to be a short blurby interview, right?
The album received very positive reviews and made many best of year lists, notably 2nd best album of 2009 in Mojo Magazine.
In 2013, NME listed the album at 443 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 11/11/2013 19:23:16 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2013 : 15:16:17
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Oh yeah.
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle....LP
Jim Cain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r7D2G6GdPY&list=RD-r7D2G6GdPY
Let the player play on...
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 06/02/2014 02:58:17 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2013 : 15:25:04
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Tiny Desk Concert....sweet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHVNUrcyJy8
It's a high compliment to suggest that these three Bill Callahan songs may well implant themselves in your brain, lay eggs and sprout horrifically disturbing dreams at that point when you're banging on the snooze alarm in a state of anguished early-morning half-sleep. Hear and watch Callahan perform at the NPR Music offices.
More at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106471639
All three songs are highlights from Callahan's magnificent new album, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009), and all three are rendered here in faithful detail by Callahan and his crack team of backing players. The singer is, for obvious reasons, the driving force in these performances — every sound orbits around his deep, detached voice — but all those strings and guitars exude subtle warmth to match Callahan's sly but sneakily empathetic words.
The result is a Tiny Desk Concert that's more serious than most, and at times almost eerily transfixing. Immerse yourself in it, and you may just re-live it in your darkest dreams.
Comments
Vassilis Papaevagelou • 4 years ago #8722;
It is just amazing that good music is always somewhere out there; all you have to do is raise your head and listen...
Great music...I like that voice...as if coming straight from his guts...and such effortless power...
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 12/11/2013 15:27:45 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
Posted - 15/11/2013 : 17:01:41
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with...SMOG (before Callahan became "himself")
Teenage Spaceship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6RJ7xzCQ4A
Flying around
The houses at night
Flying alone
A teenage spaceship
I was a teenage spaceship
Landing at night
I was beautiful with all my lights
Loomed so large on the horizon
So large, people thought my windows
Were stars
So large on the horizon
People thought my windows
Were stars
A teenage spaceship
A teenage spaceship
And I swore I'd never lay like a log
Bark like a dog
I was a teenage smog
Sewn to the sky
........................................
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 06/02/2014 03:41:05 |
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dyecraig
Fourth Love
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 17/11/2013 : 02:43:43
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It took me a few spins before I "got it", but "Dream River" is a beautiful and disturbing listen. And those flutes!
His music is new to me, but after reading the recent Uncut interview, I've got a lot of catching up to do. |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9876 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2014 : 02:45:53
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Baby's Breath from Apocalypse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li9fZOGckVA
So beautifully sublime, with his signature lyrics that are always a bit disturbing.
If you missed a listen of "THE SING"...please do listen now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSdN5_-pb3c
Drinking while sleeping strangers
Unknowingly keep me company
In the hotel bar
Looking out a window that isn't there
Looking at the carpet and the chairs
Well the only words I said today are "beer" and "thank you"
Beer, thank you
Beer, thank you
Beer
Giving praise in a quiet way
Like a church
Like a church
Like a church that’s far away
I've got limitations like Marvin Gaye
Mortal joy is that way
Outside a train sings its whale song
To a long, long train long, long gone
Then silence comes back alone
High as scaffolding
'Til the wind finds something to ping
When the pinging things finds the wind
We're all looking for a body
Or a means to make one sing
....................
NIGHT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxYgSNg91KM
We do not know
How things work
We do not know
Where you go in the night
Through the door
Through the door that holds you
Through the door that holds you
Out of the blue
We do not know
The door that holds you
Silent as glue
We stand under it
But we don't understand it
We stand under it
But we don't understand it
The door that holds you
Silent as glue
And stars fall on
Stars fall on
Silent as glue
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 06/02/2014 03:43:22 |
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dyecraig
Fourth Love
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2014 : 04:01:14
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| new 'dub' version of 'dream river' titled 'have fun with god' is worth a listen, but only if you're familiar and a fan of the parent album. cool idea, I liked it. |
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BILL CALLAHAN lo-fi underground rock
