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8 posts tagged Smog
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.
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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.
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:
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.
A few links of note before regularly [un]scheduled programming beings…
- As we mentioned when the trailer hit the web, Spike Jonze’s new 30-minute robot love story, I’m Here, features music by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, Flea, and a gorgeous song by the Moonrats’ Aska Matsumiya called “There Are Many of Us.” Now Jonze and company are offering limited free screenings of the full film online (via /Film) every couple hours.
- Jack White did a fashion photo shoot and interview with AnOther magazine, and they’ve posted a nice preview online in which he connects Larry David’s character on Curb Your Enthusiasm to the blues and more.
- Flavorwire counted down 35 great musical moments in film, and graciously limited their list to only 3 Wes Anderson picks. Off the top of my head, I would add Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” in Squid and the Whale and Smog’s “Vessel in Vain” from the Dead Man’s Shoes opening sequence.
- Spoon broke down their set list strategy to 10 easy steps.