Cass McCombs is the kind of guy to always keep you guessing. While each of his albums could easily be identified as his own work - his characteristic acoustic guitar strums and gently reverberating voice are constant - the thing that makes McCombs so interesting is how he has managed to make each of his albums a separate artistic statement while maintaining his signature sound. Think of him as a kaleidoscope and each album may be a few rotations apart, but they're still all part of the larger picture.
Cass's new one, Catacombs, is the first to grab the ear as immediately as his 2004 album, A. Catacombs a decidedly down-tempo, undadorned affair, so if you can't take the heat, you know, stay in the living room.
Listen, I have as much respect for Michael Jackson as an artist as anyone else, but I was really trying to avoid getting involved in the media cluster-fuck that has been the past few days. Well, that was until this post at Best Week Ever reminded me of probably the last best thing Michael ever did, besides that Free Willy song. That was my jammmmm in 93'.
If you don't remember, in the Simpsons' episode "Stark Raving Dad," Homer is sent to a mental institution for some erroneous reason and befriends a fellow patient named Leon Kompowsky, who believes himself to be the King of Pop. Naturally, no one believes him, but the Simpson family humors him and he proves his worth when he helps Bart compose a Happy Birthday song for Lisa. Thanks for letting my geek out over this everyone. Here it is, the Happy Birthday Lisa song:
You may or may not have heard the news, and you may or may not have cared, but the king's of waggish Brooklyn pop-punk, Oxford Collapse are calling it quits. As they stated via their appropriately droll MySpace blog:
To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, “what a long, strange, eye-opening, stomach-bursting, heart-breaking, bittersweet, educational, enlightening, mind-numbing, ‘why-are-we-doing-this-shit?’/‘who-gets-to-do-this-shit?,’ absurd, amazing trip it’s been.” To paraphrase another sage poet, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.” To quote G. G. Allin, “life sucks, scum fuc.”
So that their greatness can live forever on these fine pages of whiskey-fueled blog-drivel I asked the guys for a Hi-5! They agreed, prompt and gracious, and sturdy of palm. So, here we go, our Hi-5, and possibly the very last interview with one of my favorite bands ever, Oxford Collapse (may they rest in peace):
1) What's the one thing you're most excited about right now (or in the near future)? I think we're all excited about perusing new creative ventures, be they of a musical or steamed cheeseburger cart variety.
2) What are your two pieces of required reading (a.k.a. the books you recommend the most)? 1. Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe. Read the book, DO NOT see the movie! 2. Billion Dollar Baby - Bob Greene. True story of a square journalist going on the road with Alice Cooper in '73 and getting his mind blown.
3) What three things have been inspiring you the most lately? 1. Netflix Instant Viewing 2. Mike's homemade bolognese sauce 3. This band in Portland, Maine made up of three 15-year old kids who play killer Neil Young covers.
4) Tell us four things about yourself (or anyone in the band). 1. Mike lives in Austin and is working on his inevitable, disappointing, "adult" solo album. 2. Adam lives in Vancouver and is designing a bedframe for Elvis Costello's wife. 3. Dan lives in New York and is going into food service. 5. Mike's bolognese is to die for.
5) What five songs or albums are you listening to the most right now? 1. Fleetwood Mac - Penguin LP 2. Bachman-Turner Overdrive - "Hey You" single 3. The Incredible String Band "Maya" single 4. Soundgarden Badmotorfinger LP 5. Al B. Sure - Collected Works 6-disc compilation
Norse Horse is umm, uh, uhhhh... I don't really know anything about them, but they're good. They fit right in with the recent wave of "beach pop" bands (Ducktails, Desolation Wilderness, Ganglians) that are getting passed around the blogodrome like something that gets passed around a lot.
Look for a full-length that should be out by now but isn't, on Family Time.
I don't know if this band has as much promise as they seem to think over at MOKB, but these two songs were enough to make me head right over to Insound and pre-order a copy of their super-limited debut LP, Grew Some Feet.
any mp3s posted here are intended for sampling only. if you like the music, support the artist and buy the cd, or better yet, buy the record. those are way cooler these days. if you're an artist and would like us to remove an mp3 that we posted, shoot us an email and we'll gladly take it down.
if you like what we do here at bread n' butter and want to advertise on our blogor are interested in getting involved in some way holler at me and lets talk about it.
contact bread 'n butter at: breadnbutterblog [at] gmail [dot] com
Posts
