Califone have announced a full run of UK and European shows throughout November and December 2013. The full list of dates is below, starting off in Prague on the 9th November and stopping off in the UK in Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Dublin, Oxford and eventually London’s The Lexington on the 25th November. Support comes from Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers on the majority of the dates. The tour will be the first time audiences on this side of the Atlantic can hear the fizzing electronics and Americana of current album ‘Stitches’ performed live. ‘Stitches’ was released earlier this month on glorious vinyl, cd and mp3 through Dead Oceans.
Anchored by Califone mainman Tim Rutili, the new record threads together a flock of musicians from different times and places, sounds he recorded in his backyard and while driving his car, gritty electronics, eerie keyboards, garage sale drum machines. All these disparate parts are sewn together at their adjoining borders to create something that sounds wholly new.
Last week, Califone shared another album track online, namely ‘Frosted Tips‘. Blended and frayed at the edges, the track starts with the sound of rain on a metal ceiling vent mixed with a hurdy gurdy. These sounds bleed into a rumbling refrain “In the old, watching the new world die.” There are horns, there is fuzz bass, the vocals get chopped and screwed under the expert direction/execution of Rutili.
Back in July we shared their groundbreaking use of Tumblr, Califone in conjunction with filmmaker Braden King and programmer Jeff Garneau, recently debuted the new video for their first single, ‘Stitches’. This ever-changing ‘music video’ creates itself on the fly using static imagery and animated GIFs drawn from a curated subset of blogs within the Tumblr ecosystem. It is available via a secret link by clicking “show me your stitches” in the lower left hand corner at califonestitches.tumblr.com
Califone UK/EU tour dates:
09/11/13 : Pilot Club – Prague (CZ) *
10/11/13 : Urban Spree Galerie – Berlin (D) *
12/11/13 : Pustervik – Gothenburg (S) *
13/11/13 : Debaser – Stockholm (S) *
14/11/13 : Folken – Stavanger (N) *
18/11/13 : The Cluny – Newcastle (UK) *
19/11/13 : Roadhouse – Manchester (UK) *
20/11/13 : Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds (UK) *
21/11/13 : Whelan’s – Dublin (EIR) *
22/11/13 : Taylor Johns – Coventry (UK) *
23/11/13 : Audioscope festival – Oxford (UK)
25/11/13 : Lexington – London (UK) *
26/11/13 : St. Bonaventures – Bristol (UK) *
27/11/13 : Musicbunker – Aachen (D) *
30/11/13 : King Georg – Köln (D)
01/12/13 : Club Manufaktur – Schorndorf (D) *
02/12/13 : Palace – St Gallen (CH) *
03/12/13 : Exil Club – Zurich (CH) *
04/12/13 : Tender Club – Firenze (I)
05/12/13 : Locomotiv – Bologna (I)
- with Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers)
Stitches is out now on Dead Oceans
Order it via Amazon