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11 posts tagged Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan: "So Long, Marianne"
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Bill Callahan: “So Long, Marianne” (Leonard Cohen Cover)
If ever there were an heir apparent to the poetic legacy and measured grace of Leonard Cohen, Bill Callahan would be my pick—with perhaps Jens Lekman, in terms of humor, being a worthy runner-up. Now the man formerly known as Smog has joined a host of artists paying their debt to Cohen in the wake of his new record with a reverent cover. Joining the likes of Will Oldham, emerging 24B fave Michael Kiwanuka, Cass McCombs, Marc Ribot, and others, Callahan mined Cohen’s debut LP for a faithful take on “So Long, Marianne.” Stream it above, while samples from MOJO’s full tribute disc can be previewed here.
Bill Callahan, 'If You Could Touch Her at All' (Lee Clayton Cover)
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Bill Callahan, ‘If You Could Touch Her at All’ (Lee Clayton Cover)
Bill Callahan closed out the year of his Apocalypse with a fall jaunt through Europe that wrapped in Paris over the weekend. Included in the encore at that show and others was a rare cover tune from the man formerly known as Smog: “If You Could Touch Her at All,” a Lee Clayton-penned song made popular by Waylon Jennings in 1974. Thanks to Permanent Smile, we can hear a recording of his faithful take from the set in Poland above.
Video: Stephen Malkmus Covers Bill Callahan
In addition to streaming his new Beck-produced LP, Mirror Traffic, Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus recently took on a few tunes without his usual backing band, the Jicks, for a pair of solo acoustic performances. Last month, he played album cuts “Tigers” and “No One” in Paris before his set at Portland’s Quiet Music Festival this week, which included a shortened rendition of a Bill Callahan fan favorite: Smog’s “Cold Blooded Old Times.” Check out footage of Malkmus’ relatively faithful cover above.
Video: Bill Callahan - “America!”
Just in time for Independence Day, Bill Callahan unleashed his second animated music video off this year’s Apocalypse LP. Watch “America!” — the Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and David Letterman-referencing third track from the AOTY contender — depicted via a cross-country traveling cowboy hat, postcards, and other images mentioned in the tune at the 7:15 mark above.
Related: Check out this excellent live take on “Riding for the Feeling”:
We’ve been introduced to Bill Callahan’s new LP, Apocalypse, via an opening pair of stunning tracks, but now an opportunity to dig deeper into material bookending the record’s pivot from “darkness” to “this explosion, [that]’s like enlightenment” in “Universal Applicant” (as Callahan described) has arrived. First up, the relatively optimistic standout cut “Riding for the Feeling” now has a symbolic official video, featuring an animated ski jumper that steadily flies over a mountain range with no descent in sight, created by Archie Radkins from artwork inspiration by Max Galyon (via Pitchfork). Then we have our first look at how these tunes sound live via footage of Callahan with his band performing the Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and David Letterman-referencing third track, “America!” in Dublin, Ireland last week. Check out both clips below:
Bill Callahan’s latest album, Apocalypse, might contain some of the most poetic lyrics of the year so far (e.g., “Baby’s Breath,” “Drover”), but don’t expect the great Austin singer-songwriter to follow up last year’s fictional effort, Letters to Emma Bowlcut, with a poetry collection anytime soon. The Rumpus published an interview with Callahan yesterday, in which he discussed a range of subjects, including the House of Representatives (“It’s like Needle Park”), current music (“bands are trying to play as if they are samplers”), and his definition of the word apocalypse, before offering the following choice quote on poetry:
I’m not a poetry guy… Emily Dickinson I like. She was a rare seed with a rampant flaring core. I’m surprised no one has founded a religion in her honor. Or maybe they have. All these poetry readings attended by poets. But mostly I find that poetry doesn’t suit my speed. Mostly I cannot understand what is being said. I don’t want to be teased with feathers by someone tittering in a harlequin mask hiding behind a pillar—I want to be high-fived or hugged by a blinged out mothereffer. Hug a thug!
Perhaps Callahan, like Tom Waits, would prefer to call his lyrics “an improvisational adventure or an inebriational travelogue.” Check out the full Q&A here.
Listen: Bill Callahan - “Drover”
Each time the opening track off Bill Callahan’s brilliant new LP, Apocalypse, hits the 1:17 mark, I’ve found myself internally repeating a tired cliché: He’s killing it. And so, with great pleasure, a choice quote from Sasha Frere-Jones’ profile on the Austin singer-songwriter in the New Yorker jumped out at me this week: “I think I killed it on ‘Drover,’” admitted Callahan, in response to a question that Frere-Jones “immediately regretted” asking about his oeuvre.
With a little help from Neal Morgan’s nuanced percussion, this acoustic guitar-driven, peripheral electric guitar and violin-accented ode to a stark, “wild, wild country” does just that, though. As with much of Callahan’s best work, the cattle drover narrator carves sentiment out of stone, leaving the tune’s best moments (the aforementioned hiss/tsk part, the foreboding ticking metronome at 3:05, etc.) hard to articulate beyond employing a simple phrase. If I could borrow a lyric from the song itself: “It takes a strong, strong it breaks a strong, strong mind.”
Our first listen to Bill Callahan’s forthcoming Apocalypse LP is here, and, yeah, it looks like we’ve got another stunning classic from the former Smog mastermind. Set coldly against repeating finger-picked acoustic guitar strokes over bare percussion via a dry snare drum with moody guitar accents tracing Callahan’s intimate vocals by alternating between distorted dissonance and familiar twang, “Baby’s Breath” gives me goosebumps with its chilling, poetic beauty. If this song is any indication, the record, which is due on April 19, will be one of the best singer-songwriter efforts of the year. You can download a free MP3 via Drag City here and/or stream the tune below:
Thrilled to hear the announcement today that Bill Callahan’s follow-up to Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (one of my favorite albums of 2009 and one of Lee Ranaldo’s top 3 LPs of the decade) will arrive on April 19 via his longtime label Drag City. Unfortunately, other details are scarce at this time, aside from the Old West-inspired flier above, which reveals Callahan’s intriguingly bold album title: Apocalypse.
In other Callahan news, he recently shared a bill with Jeff Tweedy, Danielson Famile, Steve Albini, and others for a benefit concert at Chicago’s Second City. While we wait for the first signs of the Apocalypse, enjoy a video of Callahan performing his 2005 Smog tune “The Well,” live at that show, below.
Not to frustrate anyone not living in the Chicago area, but I’d be remiss in not mentioning the great lineup at this year’s annual “Letters to Santa” benefit run by Second City. In addition to performances by resident cast members and famous alumni of the comedy troupe, guest performers announced for the 24-hour charity event so far include JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound, Jeff Tweedy, Robbie Fulks, Bill Callahan, The Blisters, Steve Albini, and Danielson Famile on December 14. Pretty amazing.