Friday 10.05.07: BILL CALLAHAN @ Echoplex

Bill Callahan || Listen

Since the lo-fi indie-rock band Smog has always been Bill Callahan and whomever he’s hanging out with at any given time, it may strike some as odd that Callahan has ditched the Smog moniker and released an album under his own name. But while Callahan’s Woke On A Whaleheart shares Smog’s rumbly tone and rootsy foundations, it is a bit of a departure. Consider “Diamond Dancer,” the best song on the album, and one of the standout rock tracks of 2007. Between the Euro-funky bass runs and sinister fiddles, “Diamond Dancer” comes off like mid-’70s David Bowie with a light country overlay. It’s downright visionary, and hardly Smoggy. Elsewhere, Callahan evokes John Cale and Lou Reed, with relaxed, nasal singing on pop-folk ballads like “Sycamore” and “Day.” And he takes a weird spin through the call-and-response gospel tradition by feeding himself his own lines on “The Wheel” and “A Man Needs A Woman Or A Man To Be A Man.” – The Onion AV Club

with:
Sir Richard Bishop || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026