Bill Callahan
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When I first heard the Bill Callahan — aka Smog — song, Rock Bottom Riser, I didn’t know whether I loved it or hated it. Loved it because it stuck in my head for a good hour and twelve minutes afterwards (not that I was counting); hated it because … well, that’s an awful long time to have one tune spinning around your inner ear iPod. In the end, I gave myself over to it completely; to its organic beauty; its sense of imperfect pleading; it’s purity and sentimental hopelessness. It’s a major chord lament with minor chord persuasions. Listen to it under the warm sway of a glass of Australian red and it’ll sit inside your heart like every childhood dream you never had.
Listen to Smog’s Rock Bottom Riser and watch the illustrated clip to the song.
[audio:http://radiofreechicago.typepad.com/reredesign/files/04_rock_bottom_riser.mp3]
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Lost At E Minor: Music, illustration, art, photography and more » Bill Callahan Woke on a Whaleheart Wednesday 18 June 2008
[...] Bill Callahan’s Woke on a Whaleheart is a little trip I take myself on every now and then when I’m looking to really sink myself into a piece of music. The album is packed full of sweet turns of melody, rich narrative – one of the most distinctive baritone voices around today – and a quirky, but highly original, quality that can be hard to find amongst singer/songwriters at the moment. If pressed you could pitch him somewhere in the massive spectrum between Jens Lekman and William Whitmore, both other-worldly yet very organic, as if his mind has been weathered by a few storms but still retains an edge of sharpness. It’s certainly interesting stuff, suited to those boozy evenings of introspection: a good experience, but not one you’d want every day. time savedtime saved [...]