Cass McCombs plays Lincoln Hall Sunday
Cass McCombs put out two exceptional albums last year, the somber Wit’s End and the more uptempo Humor Risk. I named both top albums in 2011.
One of the more interesting singer/songwriters out there, he plays Lincoln Hall Sunday in what should be a very good show.
McCombs previewed the song Mystery Mail (from Humor Risk) at Pitchfork fest in 2010.
Check out this video for the 2009 song Dreams Come True Girl, featuring … Karen Black!
New video: The War on Drugs’ ‘Brothers’
Take a look at the new video for Brothers, a song from the War on Drugs’ excellent album Slave Ambient.
New music: Cloud Nothings, Craig Finn, Wilco
This past week featured new albums by Cloud Nothings and the Hold Steady’s frontman Craig Finn.
Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi is taking a harder approach than his past offerings with the help of Steve Albini on Attack on Memory. Even though Baldi joked about Albini’s influence in a recent interview, the producer’s touches are clearly heard on singles No Future/No Past and No Sentiment.
No Future No Past – Cloud Nothings
While Baldi started out in his parents’ basement a couple of years ago and later formed a full band, Finn is taking a break from his band of eight years with a decidely slower approach on Clear Hearts Full Eyes. I think Finn is awesome, but I can’t help but look forward to the next Hold Steady album. It will be interesting to see how his break shapes the next release. (Finn is playing the Empty Bottle February 7!)
In other notable news this week, folkie singer/songwriter Laura Gibson released La Grande. Check out this very cool single and video for the title track:
Wilco released its eight-song iTunes session featuring five alternate takes of songs from the new album The Whole Love. While the songs aren’t dramatically different from those on the album, the release also includes new versions of older songs War on War and Passenger Side. It also features the band backing Nick Lowe performing his Cruel to Be Kind hit, which he also performed in concert during shows in which he opened for the band last year. It’s probably a fans-only type of release but I’ll say again that this Wilco album is the best thing the band recorded in years.
Here’s a video for the song Dawned on Me and featuring Popeye!
Guided By Voices’ album takes trip back to ’90s
My introduction to Guided By Voices was the 1994 lo-fi release, Bee Thousand, and the following year’s Alien Lanes. Both were great albums and I always felt that Robert Pollard’s later offerings with different lineups didn’t quite live up to the those mid-90s efforts.
So I was thrilled to hear that years after retiring the band, he was putting the “classic” GBV lineup back together for a tour and–not one, but–two albums this year. The first of those albums, Let’s Go Eat the Factory, is now out. And while it’s no Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes, the new one definitely is a worthy follow to those great releases (especially the ultra quirky Bee Thousand). Almost all of the songs on Factory clock in under 3 minutes and more than half are shorter than 2 minutes.
Factory includes plenty of highlights (Laundry and Lasers, The Unsinkable Fats Domino) and some expected low points. But, overall, it’s a blast, especially for those of us who prefer the taste of classic GBV.
New video: Trash Talk’s ‘Slander’
Just say no to drugs kids? Sacramento thrashers Trash Talk have a new, highly entertaining Jay Howell-animated video for Slander, a song from the band’s 2011 EP Awake. The video is produced by Creature Skateboards, which is commemorating the collaboration with 400 Trash Talk skateboard decks. Jim Dirschberger directed the video.
A Place to Bury Strangers releases new video, ‘So Far Away’
Check out this cool new video from A Place to Bury Strangers. The visuals were produced with frontman Oliver Ackermann’s photos. He created the video using an iphone app. The song, So Far Away, is from the forthcoming EP Onwards to the Wall (due out February 7)
Guided By Voices storms Letterman
The reunited “classic lineup” of Guided By Voices just played a new song, The Unsinkable Fats Domino, on Letterman. The song is the first single off the band’s new album Let’s Go Eat the Factory. It features Robert Pollard’s mid-90s lineup, which produced two of the best GBV offerings, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. After an initial listen, the new album sounds pretty good. More on that later.
Nice recovery by guitarist Greg Demos, who took a spill on stage. It’s certainly not the first time a member of GBV fell down during a performance.
Iowan says fuck you to nation’s stereotype of his state
With the Iowa Caucuses held Tuesday, the state remains at the center of the political universe for at least another day. In the closing hours of the Iowa race, Republican candidates try to one up each other to show who’s the farthest to the right.
A couple of Iowans made a pretty funny video, Iowa Nice, to rebut the image of the state as an ass-backwards pool of inbred hate mongers. The video below is the uncensored version. There’s a clean version if you click here.
Buddy Guy set to play his Chicago club in January
It’s January in Chicago and that means Buddy Guy begins his monthlong residency at his Legends club in Chicago this week. The Saturday shows are sold out but there appears to be tickets available for some other nights.
There’s nothing like seeing Guy, one of the last of the truly great, old-times blues legends, play his own club. And where better to hear Sweet Home Chicago than on the city’s south side (well, South Loop).
From a Legends show:
And from some years back:
