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Bill Callahan, born in Silver Spring, Maryland. Callahan followed 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 lack of knowledge of recording studios, and fear of giving up control to professional engineers. Read more on Last.fm
The singer/songwriter genre is perhaps best known for its personal, confessional nature and while Bill Callahan doesn’t abandon these conceits, he goes about them in a rather distinct way. Instead of relying solely on his voice and an acoustic guitar – though there is some of that here – Callahan utilizes his lo-fi aesthetic to inhabit a number of emotional states. Each individual song seems to be ripped from the pages of a bipolar patient’s diary – while tracks like “Your Wedding” and “Stalled on the Tracks” use odd instrumentation and production techniques to plumb the depths of hell, “I Am Star Wars!” is pure dysfunctional joy and “37 Push Ups” perfectly encapsulates the fraying mindset of the isolated.
This isn’t to suggest that the album is totally off-putting or inaccessible, however. The second side is especially loaded with great and memorable numbers – the aforementioned “I Am Star Wars!” is something of a geeky stoner anthem & worth an entire review unto itself for the effect of its minimalist sampling technique (if you can really call it that) and “Stick in the Mud” is one of Callahan’s most delicate and heart-breaking folk numbers. The album’s absolute highlight, though, is the wistful “Chosen One,” which hints at the direction Callahan would take after this album with a slicker-than-average production and one of his most lovelorn and beautiful vocal performances. This album represents the pinnacle of the first era of Callahan’s career and one of the absolute best lo-fi records of the 90s.