Bill Callahan/Smog

[Simple Torture]

Damn! 20 songs!? Can’t wait

Number of songs and length of the tracks makes it look, on paper, like an early Smog album.

[Simple Torture]

Six new tracks released today; this is such a nice breath of fresh air: https://open.spotify.com/album/4oVCQiTtHe0fQptCkkXSal

[kreng]

man those songs are great.

[Simple Torture]

5 new songs released today. Seems like he's putting out 4-6 songs per week until album's release on 6/14

[tragabigzanda]

New album out today, hallelujah! I won’t be able to give it a proper listen until this afternoon or maybe this weekend.

[washing machine]

Kind of wild that this album at long last is the true follow up to Dream River. That one hit me hard, and at the exact right time.

[Simple Torture]

I'm hoping to buy this local this weekend, and I'm trying to hold off on listening to it all until then (although I listened to the first two sides on Spotify and loved them).

[washing machine]

I'm hoping to buy this local this weekend, and I'm trying to hold off on listening to it all until then (although I listened to the first two sides on Spotify and loved them).

Strongly considering not only buying a physical copy of the new record but designating it for heavy rotation to ring in life in a new house.

[Alex]

where does one start with smog? i've only listened to knock knock because pitchfork gave it a 10 or something and i didn't listen to anything in college if it wasn't blessed by pitchfork.

[washing machine]

I was about to say the track on the High Fidelity soundtrack was where I started with Smog but then I remembered that it’s also on Knock Knock.

[Simple Torture]

I would go with A River Ain't Too Much To Love, but then again, I am a bigger fan of and came to BC through his solo work, and I think that record sounds more like his post-Smog sound.

[tragabigzanda]

I’d also start with A River Ain’t Too Much To Love

[Alex]

Is the River in question the river of Hericlitean unity of opposites or a simply puerile effluvium of Jungian dream-shadows?

[tragabigzanda]

I don’t know what that means

[washing machine]

I think we can all agree that the knock knock album cover is a hilarious precursor to internet cat culture in the 21st century.

[tragabigzanda]

I think we can all agree that the knock knock album cover is a hilarious precursor to internet cat culture in the 21st century.

Agreed

[tragabigzanda]

So I’ve made it through the first two sides. My early hot take is: Lovely domestic vibes that Callahan wears well, but the short song lengths really hinder my enjoyment. I miss the settling into a minimalist song for five minutes and letting his words slowly paint a picture. These 2-3 minute songs feel more like (beautiful) sketches.

[washing machine]

I miss the settling into a minimalist song for five minutes and letting his words slowly paint a picture. These 2-3 minute songs feel more like (beautiful) sketches.

Baby's Breath comes to mind.

[tragabigzanda]

Anyone else have more thoughts on this? I keep having this problem that's never before happened with a Callahan album: I'll put it on, it feels and sounds lovely, but I'll be damned if I can remember a bit of it once it's over. I'll recall little phrases here and there, but whole songs sort of drift in and out of my awareness to the point that nothing really sticks.

[kreng]

Anyone else have more thoughts on this? I keep having this problem that's never before happened with a Callahan album: I'll put it on, it feels and sounds lovely, but I'll be damned if I can remember a bit of it once it's over. I'll recall little phrases here and there, but whole songs sort of drift in and out of my awareness to the point that nothing really sticks.

this summed it up pretty good for me too: viewtopic.php?p=1363191#p1363191
i've only listened once or twice so far to the whole thing though.