Pitchfork

[Posted Thursday, September 25th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Califone, unplaceable and incomparable, are going out on a nationwide tour with Clem Snide starting at the end of September. You may get to hear some new tunes this time around, as the band is putting the finishing touches on a new album which is due early in 2004. The tour kicks off with the band playing Chicago's Empty Bottle this Saturday, September 27th, as part of Wire magazine's Adventures in Modern Music festival.

The new album, to be titled King Heron Blues, was recorded at bandleader Tim Rutili's studio with Michael Krassner (Boxhead Ensemble, Truckstop Audio Recording Company), and is currently being mixed down for release in January or February of next year. Rutili described the recent recording experience as "truly frightening," a process during which he began to "doubt [his] existence." He went on to provide a scary litany of weird scenes from the recording of the album, including, believe it or not, "a man on stilts wearing a beak and a crown." Yikes. But when you're keepin' it real in the heart of Americana, things can kind of go down that way sometimes.

You know what needs to happen here? Wim Wenders needs to get these guys together with Tom Waits and Sparklehorse and a limitless supply of bourbon, put them on a rickety old bus and follow them around the country for a while until somebody has a near-death experience. Then we'll be really cookin'. Wouldn't you go see that movie? The dates:

09-27 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
09-28 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-01 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
10-02 Charlotte, NC - Visualite Theater
10-03 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
10-04 Nashville, TN - Exit Inn
10-08 Memphis,TN - Hi Tone Cafe
10-10 Houston, TX - Fat Cats
10-11 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-12 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
10-14 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
10-15 Los Angeles, CA - Troubador
10-16 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10-18 San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord
10-19 Portland, OR - Dante's
10-20 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
10-23 Lincoln, NE - Knickerbockers
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - Ascot Room
10-25 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
10-26 Madison, WI - Luther's Blues