Raised form the semi-ashes of Red Red Meat, Califone started as a soloproject of sorts for that group's Tim Rutili. Eventaully, however, hestarted to bring other people in to play, adding dimension and flavorto the sound, and, eventually, two of the other three members of RedRed Meat, Ben Massarella and Brian Deck. After the release of theircohesive and coherent debut LP "Roomsound" last year on Rutili andMassarella's own Perishable imprint, this year Califone reissues theirfirst self-titled EPs on Flydaddy and Road Cone on Perishable, addingtwo tracks and an official title. "Good Weather" is a view into theCalifone of before, and having heard "Roomsound," it's a great lookinto how jaunting and disparate their sound was early on. Yes, there isclearly a Bowie influence, as well as rural mountain geetar-pickin'.But work it all together with some driving percussion, samples andpiano here and there, and change direction on virtually every track,and what you get takes on a life of its own. You can almost hear aconscious shift between tracks 1-7 and 8-12, where the productionvalues went up, the vocal harmonies move to the front seat, and theinstrumentation is more varied. It's a fascinating listen, evolution ofsound-wise. Of the two bonus tracks, one is a remix of the earliertrack "To Hush a Sick Transmission" sans vocals, and the other is thebest Califone track you've never heard, as it's never been heard untilnow. All in all, a great reissue that shows the early potential of thisensemble considering where they are now. samples:
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