So, Does Everyone Hate Cass McCombs?

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.

Amazing and beautiful record. Person upthread with all that narrative distance stuff may well be right. Thats what makes this record so much more interesting than other records of a similar ilk. Its good that it is mysterious.

new single is gorgeous
http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15354-county-line/

btw, i really hope he has a best of titled Does Everyone Hate Cass McCombs

mm, love this. so stoked for new album. "You Saved My Life" has lingered in my head for like two years.

Catacombs has quietly become one of my favorite albums of all time.

Wit's End is my most anticipated 2011 release by far. Well, maybe not 'by far.' There's Callahan, Josh Pearson and Gang Gang Dance to consider. But you know. Pretty fuckin' stoked.

I think there's a bit of a lull up front - Don't Vote, You Saved My Life, Executioner's Song - but from Harmonia to the end Catacombs is fantastic. I'm looking forward to the new one too.

hahah those are my three fav songs on catacombs

It's the next three that are my favorite - Harmonia, My Sister My Spouse, and Lionkiller Got Married.

Have you heard the new track from this album yet? It's great.

http://vimeo.com/20794924

you saved my life is probably my favorite cass song overall.

County Line is sublime. Anyone else excited about Wits End? Heard anything else on it? Can't wait for this etc etc..

i can't wait for it either. haven't seen anything else from the album turn up anywhere, and i giess it has been pushed back to april 26

Heard this thing now. Unsure what to think. Very slow with lots of simple repeated melodic lines. A bit of piano. County Line still so great. Dreamy and lethargic. I hope my first impression is only the beginning of a beautiful relationship and not the end.

A Knock Upon the Door is jaw-dropping. 2 of these songs feature what may be a bass clarinet, one of my favorite instruments.

album is very dirge-y

haven't heard anything other than "county line" but it is a great great song. anticipating!

Superb album. A definite downer, but in a beautiful, uncompromising way. "County Line" is still the highlight IMO, but every song is woozy and gorgeous and spooky in all the right ways. Dude's a genius.

New album sounds good, but I already miss the twang that attracted me Catacombs. I have been in a country mood lately, though.

this album has most of the qualities i look for in music. lovely!

"county line" is just

I know, right? My favorite song of 2011.

wish there were more songs that sounded like this

i get a definite neil young vibe from it. neil young covering lionel richie or something.

with a healthy dollop of Leonard Cohen.... at least on the rest of the lp.

this album is fantastic

cass is dreamy.

this story is about the last album, but its probably the best thing i've read/ heard with him
http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/cass-mccombs%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2-catacombs#

I *love* the weird, "too loud" bangs/smacks that act as snare noises on some of the longer songs late in the album- they're so jarring in the midst of how melancholic the tunes are

plus, "Buried Alive"! what a tune!

Okay I hate to be one of those guys that jumps all over something BNM'd on Pitchfork, but I was browsing at Reckless last night and "County Line" straight up stopped me in my tracks when the guy behind the counter put it on. Didn't know who it was at the time, but, damn, fantastic song.

I *love* the weird, "too loud" bangs/smacks that act as snare noises on some of the longer songs late in the album- they're so jarring in the midst of how melancholic the tunes are

plus, "Buried Alive"! what a tune!

― the tune is space, Wednesday, April 27, 2011

These caught me too. It sounds like a balloon being burst.

I also love that he is only conducting press on this record via letters in the post and that his current press shots were taken by a private investigator.

haha i was wondering about this photo

http://www.pitchperfectpr.com/images/hires/CassMcCombs2_photobyPaulValenciaPI.JPG

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.

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.

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.

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.

whoops sorry for that

album of the year

Wow, really? I can't get into it at all, aside from "County Line".

"County Line" is definitely track of the year, not so sure about heaping that much praise on the album as a whole yet.

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.