New video: Cass McCombs’ ‘Bradley Manning’
Check out this stunning video for Cass McCombs’ song Bradley Manning. Manning is the Army intelligence analyst accused of giving the “Collateral Murder” video and documents about the Iraq war to WikiLeaks.
The video was filmed by director Bradley Beesley (who previously worked with the Flaming Lips) in Manning’s hometown of Crescent, Oklahoma.
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!
All the Young Punks’ Top 40: Best Albums of 2011
There was so much good music released in 2011 that I find it’s actually hard to confine a list to the top 40. These are some of the albums that struck me as interesting, exciting or irresistible.
I’ll count down from 40 to 1 in two posts.
40. Bass Drum of Death – GB City: This is such a fun debut from two guys from Mississippi. It rocks hard.
Young Pros – Bass Drum of Death
39. The Obits – Moody, Standard and Poor: Indie vet Rick Froberg plays stripped down, loud rock ‘n’ roll.
38. Male Bonding – Endless Now: Great second album from these London punks.
37. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien: Band pays respectable homage to Pavement.
36. The Babies – The Babies: What do you get when you cross Woods with the Vivian Girls? A pretty boss album.
Meet Me In The City – The Babies
New music: Atlas Sound, Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile
It’s been a good week for new releases, highlighted by Atlas Sound’s Parallax and Cass McCombs’ Humor Risk. McCombs’ album is his second of the year and a more uptempo follow to the somber Wit’s End. For Bradford Cox, it’s his first official Atlas Sound album since the awesome Logos in 2009. A year ago, you may recall, he released a ton of free music, the Bedroom Databank songs.
Also out this week: Kurt Vile’s EP, So Outta Reach. The release features five songs from the recording sessions for the excellent Smoke Ring for My Halo and a Bruce Springsteen cover. (In addition to making one of the best albums of the year, Vile was one of my noted highlights from Pitchfork fest.) As I posted earlier this week, Summer Camp released its debut, a fun, synth pop album that pays homage to the ’80s.
