John Cale Releases New Album, Tours, Gets Reissued

Today, October 18, Cale's restless experimentalism will be on display once more with the release of blackAcetate via Astralwerks. The album was produced by Herb Graham Jr. (B Sharp Jazz Quartet, Macy Gray), Mickey Petralia (Beck, Rage Against the Machine, Dandy Warhols), and Cale himself, and is described as "a much harder contemporary rock album than its predecessor [2003's Hobosapiens]" on the artist's official web site. He also claims to have been inspired by Dr. Dre, Pharrell, Erykah Badu, Gorillaz, Doves, and Curtis Mayfield while recording it. Hopefully it's less of a mess than that would indicate.

Tracklist:

01 Outta the Bag
02 For a Ride
03 Brotherman
04 Satisfied
05 In a Flood
06 Hush
07 Gravel Drive
08 Perfect
09 Sold Motel
10 Woman
11 Wasteland
12 Turn the Lights On
13 Mailman

The single for "Perfect" was released yesterday, and Cale will support the album with a tour starting later this month. One time in 1977, he beheaded a dead chicken onstage, tossed the body into the audience, and watched half his band quit on the spot. But we think he's calmed down a little bit since then. Just in case, wear a raincoat to these shows:

10-26 Los Angeles, CA - Amoeba Records instore
10-27 Los Angeles, CA - Royce Hall at UCLA
10-30 Denver, CO - Twist and Shout Records instore
10-30 Denver, CO - BlueBird Theater
11-01 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
11-02 Austin, TX - Waterloo Records instore
11-02 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ
11-03 Oklahoma City, OK - Bricktown Live
11-04 Conway, AR - Hendrix College
11-10 Chicago, IL - Double Door
11-12 New York, NY - St. Ann's Warehouse
11-13 Toronto, Ontario - Lula Lounge
11-14 Toronto, Ontario - Lula Lounge
11-15 Toronto, Ontario - Lula Lounge
11-17 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight Social Club
11-20 Montreal, Quebec - Spectrum De Montreal
11-22 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
11-25 San Francisco, CA - Café du Nord
11-26 San Francisco, CA - Amoeba Records instore
11-26 San Francisco, CA - Café du Nord

For a musician of Cale's stature, one's career is subject to much recasting, reinterpretation, and retracing. A classically-trained violist who studied under John Cage, Cale cultivated his rock roots as a member of LaMonte Young's minimalist Dream Syndicate in the 1960s. In 2000, Table of the Elements released Sun Blindness Music, Dream Interpretation, and Stainless Steel Gamelan, three discs of reel-to-reel audiotapes dating back to this period, all recorded and produced by fellow Syndicate member Tony Conrad. They quickly went out of print.

In February, Table of the Elements will reissue the volumes in a lavish 3xCD/5xLP black-lacquered wood box, complete with black paper libretto, poster, and liner notes by longtime Rolling Stone writer David Fricke. Your other box sets will weep with envy. The set is entitled New York in the 1960s and features rare and previously unreleased recordings, including performances by Cale, Conrad, Terry Jennings, Velvets' guitarist Sterling Morrison, original VU drummer Angus MacLise, and filmmaker Jack Smith.

Attesting to Cale's visionary artistry, the volumes lay the foundation for countless musical developments that followed. Sun Blindness Music beats Eno to the ambient game and anticipates turntablism by decades, while Dream Interpretation's feedback and noise would open the gates for the likes of Sonic Youth. So think of this box as a womb from which all the cool bands you like were birthed.

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