It’s rare to attend a concert where the musicians’ backs face the audience for the duration of the show, and it’s perhaps even rarer when those same faceless musicians skillfully manage to not only engage but captivate the attention of their listeners. But Califone is not like every other band.

Read more at Time Out Chicago

In anticipation of Califone’s March 9 and 10 shows at Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln Ave.), the website True/Slant has published an interview with Tim Rutili.

Five Questions and Answers with Califone’s Tim Rutili

Chicago experimental rock band Califone has been challenging music lovers with its eclectic, ambitious, enigmatic grooves since 1997. But with its latest undertaking, “All My Friends are Funeral Singers,” the band is challenging itself, going places few bands have gone before.

“Funeral Singers” is the name of Califone’s latest album, out last October on Dead Oceans, and also the title of frontman Tim Rutili’s film directorial debut, about a fortune teller living in a house filled with spirits. The two go very much hand in hand, to the point that Califone is performing the album as essentially a live soundtrack to the film, including a hometown gig at Lincoln Hall March 9. (Those more interested in the back catalog can see a straight up show March 10).

Chicago Beat contacted Rutili to answer five pressing questions via e-mail.

Chicago Beat: So which came first, the album or the film?

Tim Rutili: Songs started first but once it got rolling both the script and the album fed into each other at the same time. We finished the album in March and shot the film in April.

Read the rest of the interview at True/Slant

Tickets for tonight’s show are here (film/music performance). March 10 tickets are here (rock show).

3/9/10 (9pm) – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (with film)
3/10/10 (9pm) – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (without film)
3/11/10 (7pm doors) – St. Louis, MO – Luminary Center for the Arts (with film)
3/15/10 (9:30pm) – Austin, TX – Alamo Lamar 1 – SxSW (with film)
3/17/10 (midnight) – Austin – Club DeVille – SxSW – BrooklynVegan Showcase
3/18/10 (1pm) – Austin – Other Music Lawn Party, French Legation Museum – SxSW
3/18/10 (4:10pm) – Austin – Team Clermont Party, Flamingo Cantina – SxSW
3/19/10 (12pm) – Austin – Alamo Ritz 1 – SxSW (with film)
3/30/10 (8pm) – Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House (w/ Sonoi)
3/31/10 (7pm) – New York, NY – IFC Center

Here is a list of Califone’s confirmed SXSW shows. Hope to see you there!

3/15/10 – Alamo Lamar 1 – 9:30pm*
3/17/10 – Brooklyn Vegan Showcase Club Deville – midnight
3/18/10 – Other Music Lawn Party, French Legation Museum – 1pm
3/18/10 – Team Clermont Party, Flamingo Cantina – 4:10pm
3/19/10 – Alamo Ritz 1 – 12:00pm*

*film w/live band soundtrack

March 9, 2010 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall w/ Funeral Singers screening
March 10, 2010 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall w/ Roommate
March 11, 2010 – St. Louis, MO – The Luminary Center for the Arts w/ Funeral Singers screening

They’re also still on tour with Wilco in Canada. For their full list of tour dates, click here.

View the entire gallery at BackBeatSeattle

I leave for Park City, Utah in five days. Other than a half-day of skiing and a couple of parties, I’ll mostly be sitting next to other “Press & Industry” inside dark hotel conference rooms converted into movie theaters. Some come for the glamor. We come for the films. Oh, Yarrow Screening Room, next to the Albertson’s parking lot, I’ll be with you soon enough.

But Sundance has also always been a time to experience great music. The ASCAP Cafe and Harry O’s always put on great shows. I—and the world, I think—first heard the duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who would later become The Swell Season, perform songs from their film, Once. I first saw Cary Brothers, Meiko and so many others on the Hotel Cafe stage at Sundance. I even got to break bread with Suzanne Vega, Alexi Murdoch, Mary Gauthier and Nickel Creek at an ASCAP dinner. This year, music plays a particularly big role in several films, and these are just eight that I’m going to try to see:

2. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
As if Tim Rutili, the frontman for Califone, wasn’t accomplished enough, he’s the writer/director behind this film about a fortune teller, Zel, who lives with ghosts. They help her help her clients, but begin to get a little restless, and Zel doesn’t want to see them go. Califone, of course, provides the soundtrack.

Read more at Paste.

Califone’s Sundance dates:
anuary 26, 2010 (9pm) – Park City, UT – New Frontier On Main (live music to film)
January 27, 2010 (9pm) – Park City, UT – Egyptian Theatre (film only)
January 28, 2010 (2pm) – Park City, UT – Holiday Village Cinema II (film only)
January 29, 2010 (7:30pm) – Salt Lake City, UT – Broadway Centre Cinemas IV (film only)
January 30, 2010 (3pm) – Park City, UT Park City – Yarrow Hotel Theatre 1 (film only)

Wilco drummer/virtuoso/all-around handsome nice guy Glenn Kotche recently disclosed to Filter Magazine his Top 10 albums of 2009. Guess what? All My Friends Are Funeral Singers was his number one pick!

Glenn Kotche of Wilco’s Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
2. Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
3. Alex Cline – Continuation
4. John Luther Adams – The Place We Began
5. Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship
6. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
7. Frank Rosaly – Milkwork
8. Nels Cline – Coward
9. Bobb Bruno – Dreamt On EP
10. Chris Corsano – Another Dull Dawn

For more of Filter’s end of year Top 10 lists, check out their website.

Califone’s film, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is going to Sundance. The band is “shocked and amazed” (and, of course, excited). They’ve been touring behind the film and their acclaimed new album since October.

In addition to Sundance, the band will go northward this February, in support of Wilco’s Trans-Canada tour. It’s gonna be chilly. Dates are below. Woot!

Sundance Film Festival

January 26, 2010 (9pm) – Park City, UT – New Frontier On Main (live music to film)
January 27, 2010 (9pm) – Park City, UT – Egyptian Theatre (film only)
January 28, 2010 (2pm) – Park City, UT – Holiday Village Cinema II (film only)
January 29, 2010 (7:30pm) – Salt Lake City, UT – Broadway Centre Cinemas IV (film only)
January 30, 2010 (3pm) – Park City, UT Park City – Yarrow Hotel Theatre 1 (film only)

With Wilco (no film)

February 07, 2010 – Missoula, MT – Adams Center
February 09, 2010 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
February 10, 2010 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre
February 12, 2010 – Victoria, BC – The Royal Theatre
February 13, 2010 – Vancouver, BC – David Lam Park
February 15, 2010 – Edmonton, AB – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
February 16, 2010 – Calgary, AB – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
February 17, 2010 – Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place
February 19, 2010 – Duluth, MN – Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center
February 20, 2010 – Madison, WI – Overture Center for the Arts
February 21, 2010 – East Lansing, MI – Wharton Center for the Performing Arts
February 23, 2010 – Hamilton, ON – Hamilton Place Theatre
February 24, 2010 – London, ON – Centennial Hall

Dec 3 2009 – Husky Union – University of Washington – Seattle, Washington
Dec 4 2009 – Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver, British Columbia
Dec 5 2009 – The Mission Theater – Portland, Oregon
Dec 7 2009 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, California
Dec 9 2009 – Hammer Museum – Los Angeles, California