last night we caught califone at the record bar here in kansas city. although this was a sunday night, i was still surprised to see the turnout as low as it was. ce le vie, right.

because the bar closes at 1:30 on sunday nights instead of 3am, everything was moved up a few hours from the usual weeknight/weekend schedule. this meant the show began around 10pm instead of 11 or midnight. this might not sound like much of a difference but 6:30am comes pretty early.

the opening “act” was the band playing soundtracks to brent green’s animated films. the accompaniment provided by califone ranged from ambient shading to full-on walls of sound, all the while moving beneath the dark, somber images and green’s narration. while the film’s stories were by and large unpleasant in theme, green’s words and the crudely beautiful construction of the animation itself made for an entertaining opening set.

after a short break, califone itself took the stage. playing as a trio, the amount of sound that the band, especially tim rutili and jim becker, were able to produce was amazing. the stage itself was littered with instruments, wires, and metal boxes - it looked like califone had brought their studio on the road with them. even drummer joe adamik, who played hidden behind the film screen during the opening set, was able to add to the layers with a variety of elements.

one thing i greatly appreciated about califone’s set was the band’s willingness to experiment. last night’s show was the first of their tour in support of the great new album roots & crowns (on thrill jockey), and even though the set was heavy with tracks from the album, they still treated us to several sonic excursions that brought to mind the band’s long history of cinema-related projects. banjoes, synths, multiple guitars, bells, effects pedals hooked up more pedals hooked up to samplers . . . califone’s ability to create soundscapes that were at once both archaic and futuristic was a real treat to witness.

i’m honestly overjoyed to see the record bar is continuing to push the boundaries of kansas city’s music scene, which has grown stagnant through concentration on supporting locally-grown bands at the expense of recognizing artists of varying degree from elsewhere in the country, much less the world. with a lineup over the next two months that includes caspian, asobi seksu, green milk from planet orange, charalambides and tara jane o’neill, and the return of one of - if not the greatest - dj in kansas city history, ray velasquez, this place is making it a lot easier to avoid the drive out to lawrence and back. since they do seem to be on really good terms with people over at kork and windish, let’s hope that they’re able to bring even more of the upper crust artists on these two rosters to town.

here’s a couple of pictures and a video shot on my wife’s camera of the night.