So, Does Everyone Hate Cass McCombs?

ihttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000777J3M/ref=dp_product-image-only_0/104-0006613-9323968?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=5174

ping ping goes the shovel
pang pang goes the pail
the middle of summer
and the furnace will be burning
when she gets some mail!

Tourist Woman is also great
Not crazy about the production and a little disapointed in some of Tim DeWitt's drumming; he's usually great.

so, the single is out there. That's That. sounds pretty good.

nice guy

great name, too...sounds like a hero of the Wild West...

the first song (Lionkiller) on the new album is pretty sweet. kinda dark, with a dinky keyboard riff towards the end. has anyone heard the record?

since the last album really lit up ilm, i am proud to announce that a new album, Catacombs, is coming out in June. First single, dreams come true girl, is out there on the internet. I didn't like a lot of Dropping the Writ, but based on the last time I saw him live, I am anticipating this.

feel a little bad that i didn't hear the last album and now there's a new one. but i'm a busy guy.

the new album,Catacombs, (he probably thought about this title for years..) is very good.
in fact, it's probably one of the better records of 2009.
References:John Lennon,Robyn Hitchcock,Calvin Joohnson,Nick Drake,Robert Wyatt...

great, minimal production too.

I've only heard one song by him: "Full Moon or Infinity". A friend put it on a mix for me. I really liked it! Is that song of typical quality for McCombs?

i don't know that song.
the only record i heard from him is perfection, which is very good, but he changed styles almost totally afterwards.(less 80's more 70's and accesible, in short)

also sounds kinda like a richard davies solo record. or bill fay, which is a great compliment.

i like "full moon or infinity" despite it sounding like elliot smith. i've never heard it mentioned as a highlight, and he has better songs. if you like that song i think you will find plenty to like on his albums.
i'm not totally convinced by the new one yet. it's too long by about three songs. the first track is really excellent, though.

if you are looking for something that sounds like richard davies, i recommend aptos by the moore brothers, which is probably my favorite album of 2009.

"Harmonia" is my JAM right now.

New record might be his best.

wow I forgot about cass mccombs. I really liked those first two records and then somehow totally forgot about them.

dude, she choked on a ham sandwich. preserve what little dignity she has left.

akm, I did the same as you. But this new single brought it all flooding back. Such a beautiful song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyeBD4MYRk8

i kinda ignored that song at first cause there are too many slow ones on the album but it is really excellent.

A is still one of my favorite records of the 2000s!

Just got the new album and listened to it once - "Harmonia" is the track that is really jumping out at me thus far. And "Dream Come True Girl," but that one not in a good way. The rest of the album I need more time with.

i saw him last night with a new band including andy mcleod on drums and the bassist from bishop allen. they were great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVo7eueP6wA

i'm gonna turn this into a youtube thread now. last summer he played this fun, sun records-ish instrumental, wonder if he recorded it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c5wMLspJN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSZ1QEUwRy8

never heard of him until his new one. like it a lot, reminds me of prime go betweens at points.

i've gotta get this -- i think he's a super-talented guy, and have loved some individual songs over the years, but from what I've heard, he's yet to make a truly great record. maybe this is it?

It is pretty good - turning out to be quite a grower. I wrote about it yesterday.

nice review!

i have listened to catacombs and can only conclude that this guy is a low-level sociopath.

please elaborate

karen black!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5l8lqNakPI

theres just such an insane amount of narrative distance with his stuff--i can only conclude that he's insincere, that he's fucking with me, or that he's more of a cranky editorialist/ironist than anything else. like "executioner's song" is so gorgeous melodically, and it's a great performance by him, but the lyrics + the title are fucked, and you can tell he knows this and knows the effect he's going for. a lot of his songs are also concerned with participating/not participating in mainstream normal stuff ("don't vote" being the biggest example but there are more) and he consistently comes down on one side of that debate. he's just a weird fucking dude.

that being said, it's an excellent record and a few of the tunes are really sticking with me and having an emotional effect--totally glad i bought it.

video is certainly strange:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KtPQt8B8HA

theres just such an insane amount of narrative distance with his stuff--i can only conclude that he's insincere, that he's fucking with me, or that he's more of a cranky editorialist/ironist than anything else.

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:26 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I first meet Cass McCombs in a dressing room...His first sentence after “I’m Cass” is “Give me a minute to get changed into my outfit.” He returns 25 seconds later wearing a round straw hat and a denim jacket with a bright pink, airbrushed scorpion on it. Across his shoulder blades are the self-referencing bubble letters “Lion Killer.” Also sunglasses.

“It’s easier to be somebody when you have an outfit,” he tells me as we spill from Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom out into an alley through alarmed fire doors.

BUT! There are some songs that are very emotionally direct and sincere. Dreams Come True Girl for one. Harmonia is a gorgeous song, about making yourself vulnerable, getting hurt, and realizing that the risk was worth it.

i like Catacombs a lot. i could see that being someone's fave Cass. that has such great songs on it. i wouldn't mind having that on vinyl. 2XLP.

still listening to Wit's End and "Buried Alive" is up there for me too. sounds so good. the guitar especially.

I remember "Memory's Stain" really blowing me away, too--am in need of a relisten myself!

Have only cherrypicked/skimmed through his Anti- output in recent years, am now thinking I should attempt to give those later albums some (mangy) love

don't sleep on Tip of the Sphere!

gotta agree wit's end is impeccable

Scott, have you ever listened to this? Cass is in this group:

https://theskiffleplayers.bandcamp.com/album/skifflin

that Skiffle Players album never clicked with me. I kinda want to sell it, given the prices it seems to get.

I saw him play a small intimate gig with Steve Gunn last Thursday. They did a gorgeous psychy rendition of "Wild Mountain Thyme".

Skifflin'! oh man no i didn't know about that one.

"County Line" is one of my favorite songs.

that Ned Collette album i praised above is kinda like the new Taylor Swift. the first LP is perfect and all you need out of an album and then some. BUT if you want more there is a 2nd LP.

The “Coo Coo Bird” cover is good! I like the Skifflin’ album

I don't know why exactly but this one really gets me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWX09AivQGk