So, Does Everyone Hate Cass McCombs?

Yeah, feels very unlike him but also...not?
Probably my favorite Cass song since 2013.

I started to lose track of his work when too much of his material traded in the vocal melodies in favor of a sort of speak-singing storytelling thing, and when he did this it was with a very similar cadence. I missed the distinct vocal melodies circa Catacombs. He never got bad imo but the shift meant I was paying less attention. Going to keep an eye on this release though.

"The Wine of Lebanon" is the best piece of branded content of all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9qJxTB5oU

new album is great, getting ryley walker vibes

saw him live, excellent stuff, he really has a great catalog by now

new album very blue, very good

i think this is a new song? sounds really good. bummed i missed all his recent shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YDdMtdncM

Definitely new. Loved his last album (no respect in the ILM top 77 was criminal!).
Catacombs has been getting a lot of spins by me lately too. A timeless classic, desert island pick for me.

Catacombs is my favorite of his. “Harmonia” is probably my favorite song of his, any album.

Every year it’s gets a few spins and every year I get a new favourite song. My sister my spouse is 2023’s hit for me, though yeah harmonia had that place for a while

Wits end is what I consider to be his other classic, but falls to catacombs due to not having the variety of style that catacombs does. Reading a lot of the reviews on catacombs where it’s described as a one-note, plodding sort of album which is totally off the mark. Sure the songs can be one-note, but which artists can pull more from one chord progression and one vocal melody than Cass? I love that part of his style, no bells and whistles, no big thrills and changes, no accessories, just a killer story, a killer melody, a killer spirit, a killer tone, killer everything

Aside from County Line, which is all-time, I really dislike most of Wits End (and I’ve also fallen out of love with his more recent stuff too.)

He collaborated with Blake Mills on Mills’s excellent Mutable Set album and I feel like his influence there is very palpable (even though his voice isn’t); but it’s offset by Mills’ musicianship which is another level.

It’s less a variety of style that wits end lacks, more a variety of tone. It’s all so solipstic, melancholy, blue, existential. Great if you’re in the mood, and the last track on that album is one of my favourite sets of lyrics ever. I’m always partial to lyrics that function as a philosophy of aesthetics, and a knock upon the door still knocks me on my feet with its beauty and smarts

I’ll check out the mills album, I listened to the first track of his most recent one and his musicianship was distracting to me. I’m correct in thinking he was the guitar player for some tracks on catacombs right? Remember looking at the liner notes a while ago. If it’s him that plays that solo on harmonia then he’s got all my love.

County line is the anomaly of style on that album. A pop hit surrounded by dirges. Classic track though. Definitely give a knock upon the door another chance if you can be in the mood for it, it’s a knock out

it really is - and it's a very fun song to... knock along to

that live video, what a location! looks great
his bands are always great

last album was very good, "a blue, blue band" and "belong to heaven" personal faves

"tip of the sphere" is also a great album, had that on repeat in 2021

never listened to catacombs for some reason... I will

Report back with your findings!

I’m correct in thinking he was the guitar player for some tracks on catacombs right? Remember looking at the liner notes a while ago. If it’s him that plays that solo on harmonia then he’s got all my love.

I don’t think he plays on Catacombs, but o could be wrong. Wikipedia doesn’t list him among the personnel but I don’t have the actual liner notes to refer to.

I think Wit's End is meant to be an experimental album via its uncomprimisingly stubborn compositions. It's a difficult album with a lot of really understated subtle beauty. County Line however is effortlessly beautiful but I do think it fits in just fine with the rest of the album.

uncompromisingly*

Last album seems SUPER slept on by the way?

I’m correct in thinking he was the guitar player for some tracks on catacombs right? Remember looking at the liner notes a while ago. If it’s him that plays that solo on harmonia then he’s got all my love.

I don’t think he plays on Catacombs, but o could be wrong. Wikipedia doesn’t list him among the personnel but I don’t have the actual liner notes to refer to.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, July 28, 2023 10:08 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Blake toured with Cass in 2009/10, so right around Catacombs, but according to discogs, the only album he's on is Mangy Love.

Last album was super slept on. Maybe my favourite of his in the past decade.

I don’t take wits end as anymore understated/subtle/ than catacombs. Though yeah maybe it’s slightly more difficult due to being a more claustrophobic album (the middle two tracks of harmonia and the executioner’s song bring a lot of fresh air to Thats combs which wits end doesn’t really have). Part of why catacombs is my favourite is it’s pacing, it’s such a well layed out journey. I actually think of catacombs as more subtle as it’s doing most of what wits end does (in its creation of a mood), but with more conventional musical forms.

The executioner’s song also one of my personal favourites this year

I voted for Heartmind pretty high but unfortunately no-one else on ILM did. "Karaoke" is such a beautiful song. I really love "Estrella" from Tip of The Spheres too which is another totally slept-on album of his. As is Mangy Love from 2016! There's a lot of soul stylings on that one that really work well. It took me a while to come around to Wit's End. Its pretty dark and one-note. I'm in agreement with most here that Catacombs is his classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2FM4zuAlNI

Cass has always been an incredible vocalist, and I knew the bridge of this song was incredibly difficult vocally, but seeing someone else try it really gives some context to how much he kills it.

Perfect song for a harp cover too!

I do think that his vocal melodies really toned down after around Catacombs by and large. His vocal delivery approach narrowed and lots of songs ended up sounding kinda samey as a result.

Windfall is the polar opposite of that problem, as demonstrated there

On the other side, windfall has always bordered on the offensively saccharine for me. I still love the song because its really the only saccharine song in his discography, so its worst qualities are balanced out by the rest of the work (I think I'd have no time for this song by anyone else). His wide vocal stage were definitely still there for Wit's End. County Line, Memory Stain (a top 5 Cass melody), buried alive/the lonely doll/hermits cave/pleasant shadow song.... so really everything besides a knock upon the door and saturday's song.

Windfall also has to be one of his only songs with a third section! It's normally always either A or A-B. Amazing how much putting a bridge in a discography without them makes the song sound completely out of character. The more time I spend with Cass's music, the more I grow to love his "one section repeating over and over" songs more

A return to a wider vocal range on his new album too. Love the vocal harmonies on Karaoke. The wandering, where the hell is this melody going? vocal lines on Music Is Blue. Every track is interesting vocally, it's the instrumentation and production that I haven't fell in love with on Heartmind (except for Karaoke, a cracker track)

enjoy reading your thoughts

I never considered Cass a strong singer, in the sense that his vocals seem a bit fragile or... well, they're very understated... but they work perfectly, live too

can't put a finger on the instrumentation, my favorite from Heartmind is A Blue, Blue Band