ROOTS & CROWNS (INDIE EXCLUSIVE, ICE AGE BLUE VINYL)

Roots and Crowns. "Uniting where you come from - your roots -- with what you strive to be or what you reinvent yourself to become -- crowns," explains Califone's Tim Rutili. "At the bottom of these songs are the memories and images you sift through in the process."

Califone's earliest roots lie in the band Red Red Meat, from whence came Califone's founding members Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella and its longtime producer Brian Deck. The band's first release was a self-titled EP on Flydaddy in 1998, followed later by the full-length debut, Roomsound, in 2001 (recently re-issued on Thrill Jockey) and eventually the band's Thrill Jockey debut, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes in 2003. After touring for the release of Roomsound, Califone had little time off to take in the impact of the music they were creating. In three years, they recorded four albums (two instrumental, two song-based including Heron King Blues) and toured heavily in between with Wilco, Modest Mouse, Sea and Cake and others. They performed at All Tomorrow's Parties curated by Sonic Youth and Rutili contributed to Isaac Brock's Ugly Casanova project and Michael Krassner's Boxhead Ensemble with Fred Lonberg-Holm and members of Smog and Dirty Three.