Smog (band)
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- Bill Callahan, is also the name of a head football coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
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The indie rock band Smog, later known as (Smog), is the alias of Bill Callahan, born in New Zealand, but raised in the United States. Callahan pioneered the lo-fi genre of underground rock, with homemade tape-albums recorded on four track tape recorders. Later he signed a record contract with the label Drag City.
Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, utilizing sub-standard instruments and recording equipment. His reason for using the lo-fi approach was not so much an aesthetic choice, rather it came from his fear of recording studios, and giving up control to professional engineers.
His later work saw him overcoming his fear of studios and producers, and in this period he recorded several albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and musicians from the circles around Drag City, as well as collaborating with the similar-minded Will Oldham and Cynthia Dall.
His songs are based on simple, repetitive themes, characterized by his low-pitched vocal. His lyrics are often centered around themes of extreme alienation and emotional pessimism, with the use of subtlety and dark irony.
Though still more or less left out in obscurity, Callahan is widely seen as one of the important figures of American indie rock in the '90s.
A fine representation of his later work is found on the country- and folk-tinted album Red Apple Falls (Drag City, 1997).
Discography
- Sewn to the Sky (Disaster, 1990)
- Floating (7" EP) (Drag City, 1991)
- "My Shell/"Astronaut" (7" split with Suckdog) (#1 Hits!, 1991)
- Forgotten Foundation (Drag City, 1992)
- Julius Caesar (Drag City, 1993)
- Burning Kingdom (12" EP) (Drag City, 1994)
- "A Hit" (7" single) (Drag City, 1994)
- Wild Love (Drag City, 1995)
- Kicking a Couple Around (12" EP) (Drag City, 1996)
- "Came Blue"/"Spanish Moss" (7" single) (Hausmusik, 1997)
- The Doctor Came at Dawn (Drag City, 1997)
- Red Apple Falls (Drag City, 1997)
- "Ex-Con" (7" single) (Domino, 1998)
- "Held" (7" single) (Drag City, 1998)
- Knock Knock (Drag City, 1999)
- "Look Now" (7" single) (Drag City, 1999)
- "Cold Blooded Old Times" (7" single) (Domino, 1999)
- The Manta Rays of Time (EP) (Spunk, 2000)
- Dongs of Sevotion (Drag City, 2000)
- "Strayed" (7" single) (Drag City, 2000)
- 'Neath the Puke Tree (12" EP) (Drag City, 2000)
- Rain on Lens (Drag City, 2001)
- Accumulation: None (rarities compilation) (Drag City, 2002)
- Supper (Drag City, 2003)
- A River Ain't Too Much To Love (Drag City, 2005)
Sources and external links
- Drag City (http://www.dragcity.com)
- Keep Some Steady Friends Around (http://keepsomesteadyfriendsaround.cjb.net)
- Bathysphere (http://www.pry.com/smog)