All Tomorrow's Parties - Dirty Three Preview #4 - Cat Power & Bill Callahan

Deary me. I'd forgotten how much energy moving house takes. Thus i'm afraid tonight will have to be the last of my ATP previews, as tomorrow night i'll no doubt be rushed off my feet scrubbing away at a year's worth of built up body matter. And with that pleasant thought, let's listen to some MUZAK. Music.


Bill Callahan, or Smog, as he's been known for the majority of his career before the release of this year's Woke On A Whaleheart. Callahan has released 12 albums of softspoken alt-folk/country over the last 17 years, and continues to knock out classic song after classic song with each and every record. My personal favourite is 1997's Wild Apple Falls, but it seems that he's one of those artists where each fan really does differ in their opinion over his best work. Which is always nice, because you can quite easily be convinced to go back to albums you'd overlooked in the past and then discover something lovely. He also oftens wears a hat, making him one of the few musicians in the world who is both a hat-wearer and a non-insufferable shit. So good for him. Here's one of my favourites from 2005's A River Ain't Too Much to Love.

Smog - Drinking at the Dam


Cat Power, the first of tonight's two silly folky pseudonyms, is of course Miss Chan Marshall, uberhip and slightly mental purveyor of jilted folk pop, and with last year's The Greatest, part-time merchant of slightly boring jazzy bluesy Brit-Awards courting disappointment. Ahem. Sorry about that folks, but I really was kind of disappointed with that album, which seemed to lose all of the magic of albums like Moon Pix and What Would The Community Think behind layers of competent and yet uninspired big band arrangements. Still, one album will not my enthusiasm break, and as she was soooooo good before The Greatest, i've no doubt she will be again. And thus; a song. Enjoy, and I hope to see some of you at ATP. Please do come and say hello if you see me (and buy me alcohol/food/haribo)! I'm the one with the big hand. In the photo.

Cat Power - He War