Califone

Califone
Califone primaries Ben Massarella and Tim Rutili at a 2005 Tower Records performance.
Background information
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Indie rock, post-rock, experimental rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Flydaddy Records, Road Cone Records, Perishable Records, Thrill Jockey, Dead Oceans
Associated acts	Red Red Meat, Ugly Casanova, Fruit Bats, Modest Mouse, Freakwater, Tim Kinsella
Members	Joe Adamik Jim Becker Ben Massarella Tim Rutili
Past members	Wil Hendricks Brian Deck

Califone is an experimental rock band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, an audio equipment manufacturer. Their work has been critically acclaimed.

Califone has released an album and feature film, both of which are titled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers. The album was released October 6, 2009 on Dead Oceans. The feature film was made available in 2010, and the band's current tour features a live soundtrack to the film.

All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is the follow-up album to 2006's Roots & Crowns, which The New York Times called "enthralling."

In 2011, a feature-length tour documentary about Califone, called "Made a Machine by Describing the Landscape", was released by IndiePix. The film was directed by Solan Jensen and Joshua Marie Wilkinson, and presents an intimate portrait of the band on tour in Europe and the US after the release of "Heron King Blues".

Califone released their latest album Stitches in September 2013 on Dead Oceans.

After the breakup of his former band Red Red Meat, frontman Tim Rutili formed Califone as a solo project. Rutili's solo effort soon became a full-fledged musical project with a regular and rotating list of contributors, including many former members of Red Red Meat and some members of other Chicago bands.

According to Rutili, Califone started as a home project: "The statement of intent would have been 'easy listening' compared to what we were doing with Red Red Meat. This was supposed to be making little pop songs out of found pieces. It was supposed to be just a little home project, and it slowly grew from there. Now it seems like just about anything goes."

Califone's sound is a combination of Red Red Meat's blues-rock and experimental music, with inspiration drawn from early American folk music, pop, as well as electronic and groups like Psychic TV. Listeners familiar with Red Red Meat can quickly tell that Califone is not an attempt to revive the old band; elements from a number of musical styles contribute to their distinctive sound.