The more I listen to this record, the more I love it, and the more I understand that this band gets nowhere near the recognition or accolades that it deserves.
Since the demise of Red Red Meat, Califone's made consistently great music, record after record, from their first experimental EP, to the excellent follow-up and now classic Roomsound, to the intricate and amazing Heron King Blues and Roots and Crowns, to their work with film scores in the Deceleration releases, to all points in between and eventually, masterfully, to All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.
Tim Rutili distills all of American music like no other artist in indie rock today. And that's no hyperbole. Blues and folk are the bedrock for his fuzzed out rock and explorations, sounding at turns convincingly traditional and solidly outside.
And this new record, it's something else. Every song, every transition, seems a culmination of all the things this band (and the Meat before them) has done. Were I to rewrite my best of 2010 list today, this one would be at the top. Nothing against The Antlers, of course, but I hadn't spent enough time with this at that point to really have it hit.
Do yourself a favor and check this out. And if you've not found Califone yet, I urge you to do so. Start with Roomsound. Move to Roots and Crowns. Then give this a spin. Or even start here and work backward. Wherever you start, it's bound to be only the first one of many that you get.
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