yesterday marked the end of my 4th year using last.fm. i’ve been capturing my complete artist and song charts on december 12th each year to track how my listening habits change over time. in addition to tracking the progression of my overall charts, i also note the top songs and artists of each 12 month [...]

i don’t believe i had seen this prior to this evening. bill on the bench– “starting tonight.”– makes the video.
video: bill callahan – diamond dancer

did bill really bang out an 11 minute version of “cold blooded old times”? yes, yes he did. and you thought smogs couldnt jam
video: bill callahan — cold blooded old times

bill callahan chair dancing to “bathysphere” in iowa city.
video: bill callahan — bathysphere

6 other videos from the show here.

“too many birds” live last night at chicago’s bottom lounge… looks like 10 days into the tour, we’re finally getting some live footage. and it’s all fucking amazing. keep it coming video people.
video: bill callahan — too many birds (live)

also, check out “jim cain” and a rocking “diamond dancer”.

video of “rock bottom riser” live from the black cat last week, via the pleasure principle. thank you sir.
video: bill callahan — rock bottom riser (live)

i was kind of confused by the lights that last.fm suggests is opening for bill callahan tonight. and as it turns out, it is not the canadian synth-poptress lights, but the self-described “psychedelicmetalmojopop” drag city label mates lights that will be playing tonight. makes a little more sense.
these guys:

should be an interesting pairing… a few [...]

“oh i cantered out here… now i’m galloping back”
i have written before about my love for “say valley maker” and that magic moment when the song transitions from canter to gallop. there i focused primarily on the drums’ role in that transition, but watching this video of callahan playing the song solo back in 2005 [...]

mp3: smog – look now
an observation via last.fm … there’s smog with upwards of 175k listeners. then there’s bill callahan… with just over 50k. quite the disparity. it’s been a couple of albums… a couple of years… there’s been plenty of time to migrate over. sometimes i wish we were an eagle has got to [...]

mp3: the flaming lips – chosen one (live)
bill callahan is playing the black cat this friday. i am moving to a new apartment this saturday. so considering i am quite excited for the show, and quite busy packing, expect a series of smog related posts… because they are appropriate and super easy for me [...]