On record _. The week's essential new releases

r CD 1 FTH VEE1 u Pop, rock and jazz CAUFONE ★ ★★★ All My Friends Are Funeral Singers Dead Oceans DOC028CD I’ve admired Califone since they emerged from the ashes of Red Red Meat a decade ago, but I’ve never been entirely clear where they fit in the grander scheme of things. Their sound is so extraordinary that it's hard to give someone who hasn’t heard them a solid reference point. Yes, most of their percussion appears to involve heavy things being dropped on other heavy things, or really heavy things being hit with an iron bar, so you could argue that they live in the same world as Tom Waits; but they don’t. As the group, led by the front man Tim Rutili, has evolved, it’s finally become clear what's going on. Califone are essentially making the exact opposite musical journey to Wilco, that other great Chicago band. While Jeff Tweedy’s group moved from accessible Americana with a keen pop sensibility to more experimental, cathartic work, Rutili’s band has been steadily moving from an experimental project based on found sounds into an ever peppier, hookier Americana outfit. Which is a long-winded way of saying: this is Califone’s most accessible record yet, and Wilco fans should love it While Rutili’s trademark approach — mumbled or growled vocals over disconcerting noises that somehow form a circling rhythm — is powerfully restated on the opener, Giving Away the Bride, it's clear from track two, Polish Girls, that the band are now ready to make friends with those who prefer their pop with a more conventional sound and shape. ME •* «mm