haha i was wondering about this photo
http://www.pitchperfectpr.com/images/hires/CassMcCombs2_photobyPaulValenciaPI.JPG
― mizzell, Wednesday, 27 April 2011 18:21 (thirteen years ago) link
wit's end gets better and better. at first i was kind of luke warm on half the songs, now i love all of them except the lonely doll. especially liking hermit's cave and pleasant shadow song right now.
― mizzell, Friday, 29 April 2011 00:21 (thirteen years ago) link
A Knock Upon the Door is jaw-dropping. 2 of these songs feature what may be a bass clarinet, one of my favorite instruments.
― mizzell, Saturday, April 9, 2011 1:32 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
album is very dirge-y
― mizzell, Saturday, April 9, 2011 1:57 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
u were v. otm with both these posts. good album. cass is still a fucking weirdo.
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 23:07 (thirteen years ago) link
excellent, very quiet show last night in nyc. county line sounded great and just about everyone in the audience (including peter saarsgard) was grooving along to it. other highlights were meet me here at dawn, harmonia, equinox, and when the bible was wrote.
― mizzell, Friday, 13 May 2011 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
whoops sorry for that
― mizzell, Friday, 13 May 2011 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
album of the year
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 13 May 2011 19:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow, really? I can't get into it at all, aside from "County Line".
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Friday, 13 May 2011 19:55 (thirteen years ago) link
"County Line" is definitely track of the year, not so sure about heaping that much praise on the album as a whole yet.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 13 May 2011 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link
The thing that broke it open for me was playing the tracks in a different order. I had to skip County Line altogethor cos its so sublime it was overshadowing everything. Now I pretty much like everything except for Lonely Doll and A knock upon the door. Memories Stain and Buried Alive in particular are stunning. I have even come round on Saturday which I thought was a serious misstep initially. Overall listening to this I can't help thinking how defiant and lacking in compromise - the whole thing is. I love the eccentric little touches ie on Memories Stain with that strange rattling drums that signal a change in direction- this just lifts the tune immeasurably and the beautiful coda. Lonely Doll and Knock I like the least because there is so little melodic development- but I wouldn't bet against that opinion changing too.
― Hinklepicker, Friday, 13 May 2011 22:56 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=5974
― Barnaby, Hardly, Sunday, 22 May 2011 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
after this being hammered into me by repeated plays in the office, I am liking this quite a lot. are any of his past albums as good?
― I'm A Genius, Too! (Jamie_ATP), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
Catacombs is still my fav, by a good amount.
― Z S, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:29 (twelve years ago) link
catacombs and maybe a are better, prefection nearly as good though different sound
― mizzell, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:40 (twelve years ago) link
ironically, even though A is the only one i physically own, i listen to it the least because the LP skips so much :(
― Z S, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
Dropping the Writ is incredible, too.
― Wacky Way Lounge (Evan), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:30 (twelve years ago) link
Dude was amazing in Birmingham, AL Monday night. About 12-15 people there. Long versions of "Harmonia" and "Dreams Come True Girl." His band on this tour is incredible. People were complaining later about a 'lack of dynamics,' whatever that means (they played in complete darkness but for a flickering backdrop of projected lights behind them), but I thought it was the best show I've seen all year.
Lower Dens, who opened, were also awesome. Like if a Krautrock band knew how to write actual songs.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 14 July 2011 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
Sounds like a great show, wish they'd come to my town. Still loving Lower Dens.
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 14 July 2011 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
cool, he's rolling through here in a couple weeks, i think i 'm going. haven't gotten heavily into the new one, but i just need to give it a few more listens i think.
― tylerw, Thursday, 14 July 2011 18:50 (twelve years ago) link
Wits End is a perfect album and I love every song on it. I am going back to Dropping The Writ and Catacombs to find out if I was a cloth eared cunt for not really getting into them.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Monday, 12 September 2011 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, it is really good. wonder if the new one will be more "rock" though. that seemed to be the direction he was leaning in during the live show -- didn't even play very much from wits end.
― tylerw, Monday, 12 September 2011 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
def will be more uptempo and rockseems like the two were recorded in the same group of sessions
― mizzell, Monday, 12 September 2011 21:08 (twelve years ago) link
"Windfall" off Dropping the Writ is seriously about the most beautiful thing ever right now.
― Moreno, Monday, 19 September 2011 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
Can't wait for Humour Risk. Was this part of the strategy all along, to release two records this year - one sad slow and deep and the other more up tempo- or did they just decide to put more stuff out after Wits End. Hard to get much info from the Mccombs camp. I guess thats how he likes it.
― Hinklepicker, Monday, 19 September 2011 23:12 (twelve years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/tv/special-presentation/1788-cass-mccombs/2917-more-or-less/
― mizzell, Tuesday, 20 September 2011 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
where do the first and third songs ("More or Less" and "Angel Blood") come from? are they on singles or something? i don't see them on the tracklists to any of his albums, including the one that's about to come out.
― rebels against newton (Z S), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 23:45 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i guess they are newer than the new album. he played angel blood last time i saw him. not on any singles that i know of. his b-sides are good though.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 20 September 2011 23:46 (twelve years ago) link
so for this album's interviews he's going pithy
Were Wit’s End and Humor Risk recorded at the same time?
Wit’s End started years ago. It just took a long time. It wanted to be that way, to be a slow record. Humor Risk began about halfway through (the creation of) Wit’s End. It was like the tortoise and the hare, you know what I mean? Except if the tortoise and the hare sort of tied.
Were you surprised by that surge of creativity?
I write every day just to keep the wheels greased.
If you don’t, do your wheels get rusty?
No, I haven’t been rusty in a real long time. It’s just a job, you see. Not a lot of hocus pocus. You just build these little songs and slowly but surely they become finished.
That’s a very unpretentious attitude. A lot of musicians I talk to seem to regard writing as a mentally arduous process.
They should get stoned more.
― mizzell, Friday, 21 October 2011 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzGJYjsfwQk
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 3 November 2011 14:20 (twelve years ago) link
Dude is easily one of my favorite songwriters, one of the greats, I'd say, but I hate that he feels the need to be all belligerent and off-putting to prove it. Lou Reed's Disease, I reckon. (I refer to the Pitchfork interview posted today and not the video above, which I haven;t seen yet).
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 3 November 2011 14:38 (twelve years ago) link
the video is lol
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 3 November 2011 14:42 (twelve years ago) link
i dunno, i think it's ok that he is not a very forthcoming interview subject, it really doesn't matter too much. he was actually a pretty lively, warm presence when I saw him play last summer -- seems to be serious about the music, but also serious about *enjoying* the music. if that makes sense.
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 November 2011 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
New one is AOTY for me. Just outstanding.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Monday, 7 November 2011 05:37 (twelve years ago) link
didn't you say that about the last one?
― mizzell, Monday, 7 November 2011 14:30 (twelve years ago) link
i do like this one more than Wit's End. Looking forward to getting to know this through many, many plays. "Mariah" is a killer song.
― double whooooaaaaa! (Z S), Monday, 7 November 2011 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
I did say it about Wits End, but this one is even better. Maybe far better. I don't know. Listening to it last night for the first time, I was having a hard time remembering when I heard a 'new' record I liked as much. Silent Shout and The Drift come to mind, but this album...holy smokes.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 01:15 (twelve years ago) link
this $3.99 on amazon mp3 today...going to download when i get home!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
STOKED
the field recording/processing on "love thine enemy" is so cool
― the tune is space, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
I guess I need to go back and give Wit's End another change. "County Line" is still one of my favorite songs of the year, but the rest never really grabbed me as much as that one did.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
"county line" does kind of tower over the rest of the record, but there's some great stuff on there.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
Hope we got Humor Risk at the radio station. Hope I can find it in a store on vinyl.
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
it's streaming at http://www.dominorecordco.us/usa/news/07-11-11/cass-mccombs-humor-risk-out-today/
― caek, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, I've been listening to it on Spotify. But I want to own it on vinyl, and I also want other programmers at the radio station to play tracks from it.
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 17:41 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i meant that for anyone rather than as a reply to you
― caek, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
Its riduculous that he can release two albums of such brilliance in the same year. Two very different CmC albums as well, what a top class songwriter.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 18:25 (twelve years ago) link
the two albums really interlock in a cool way - twins in which there's the introvert and the extrovert?
like the long ramble of "Mystery Mail" and the long ramble of the "Knock Upon the Door" kind of balance each other within the respective ecosystems of the two albums
I see what you mean that "County Line" is so great that it overshadows stuff, but "Buried Alive" is pretty goddamn fantastic too
I'm glad that these were two albums rather than one big thing- it would have been exhausting- and each is fab
― the tune is space, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
^^^^ otm
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
I'm listening to this album again, this time not high as hell, and I like it just as much. White it's probably too obvious a comparison to make, a lot of this reminds me of some lost 'good' Lou Reed solo album. It also has a heavy Moz Factor, which I always appreciate in Cass's music. Don't mean to pile on the hyperbole - the truth is I usually find something to hate about everything - but every song on this album is a perfect '10.' If P**chfork gives this anything less than a 9.5, they have cloth ears.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 20:26 (twelve years ago) link
I love how after a record of brilliant, meticulously produced pop, he out-private presses everyone with "Mariah," which is like, I dunno, Jakob Olausson or Greg Ashley or something. Outstanding.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
Buried Alive, Saturday Song & Memory's Stain. What a fucking sequence of songs. I like County Line but that is just the warm up for me.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Tuesday, 8 November 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link