Califone is a critically-acclaimed experimental post-rock band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, an audio equipment manufacturer.
Califone will release an album and feature film in 2009, both of which are titled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers. The album was released October 6, 2009 on Dead Oceans.
The feature film will be submitted to festivals in 2010, and the band
will play a live soundtrack to the film during their tour.
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2006's Roots & Crowns, which The New York Times called "enthralling." The first single released for the album is called Funeral Singers.After the breakup of his former band Red Red Meat, frontman Tim Rutili
formed Califone as a solo project. Rutili's solo effort soon became a
full-fledged musical project with a regular and rotating list of
contributors, including many former of Red Red Meat and some of other Chicago bands.
According to Rutili, Califone started as a home project: "The
statement of intent would have been 'easy listening' compared to what
we were doing with Red Red Meat. This was supposed to be making little
pop songs out of found pieces. It was supposed to be just a little home
project, and it slowly grew from there. Now it seems like just about
anything goes."
Califone's sound is a combination of Red Red Meat's blues-rock and experimental music, with inspiration drawn from early American folk music, pop, as well as electronic and groups like Psychic TV. Listeners familiar with Red Red Meat
can quickly tell that Califone is not an attempt to revive the old
band; elements from a number of musical styles contribute to their
distinctive sound.
Califone's current lineup includes Joe Adamik (drums), Jim Becker (banjo, violin), Ben Massarella (percussion), and Tim Rutili (vocals, guitar, keyboards). Each member is a multi-instrumentalist.-Wikipedia