"American Canyon Sutra" is one of the starkest songs you’ve ever made—and lyrically, by Cass McCombs standards, it’s a pretty forthright statement on capitalism and consumer culture. So, I don't know if it's a statement as much as it's an allegory. It's a parable. It's a metaphor. It doesn't really tell you what to think. There's nothing pedantic in it, to my recollection. The narrator is telling you what he's observed. He's telling you what's terrible about this place that he's seen—about the WalMart and the recycling center. It's almost like the same voice as the "Big Wheel" character, even though the "Big Wheel" character is even more solipsistic, you know? Like, the "Big Wheel" character actually says, "This is what a man is to me." The "American Canyon" person is kind of lost. I don't think it's a statement.
But also another thing is Eastern consciousness and this kind of meditative quality of music. I think a lot of rock and roll music, or just Western pop music, has an incantation. It's a prayer in the sense that if you say [it] in a certain way, you will invoke a certain god. With eastern sutras and meditative processes, it's a continuous thing; you're not looking for a dissertation, or demanding a result. In Western meditative practices—not all of it, but certainly some—people go, Please, God, Jesus, restore my mother's health or something. You're praying for something material, for material things.
I wanted the sutra to be just an endless stream of thought about Western life. I wanted to kind of blend Eastern thought with WalMart and materialism. Because that's how we live our lives. At least, that's the way I've always lived. I've been reading the Bhagavad Gita [since] high school. It's always been present in my consciousness, even though I still have to go to Target.
So that blending of Eastern and Western thought—it's reflection of the Cass McCombs who has to go to Target, but who is thinking about the Bhagavad Gita at the same time. I mean, yeah, it's inevitable. And if you have to go to Target, you know, bring the Gita.
steakspoon wrote:sorry if sounds corny fellas but i'll always remember where i was when i heard my first big star song..the internet.
been listening to Humor Risk tonight and absolutely loving it in a way i don't think i have before. at the time of its release, i remember being still so obsessed with Wit's End that i don't think i really gave it a fair shake, which is weird. those opening 3 tracks though. i feel like "the living word" could be a top 5 Cass vocal performance.
it's interesting, i still think Wit's End is his best work, but i probably only listen to it 2x a year because it's such a specific mood/vibe. HR is definitely the more accessible of the two.
steakspoon wrote:sorry if sounds corny fellas but i'll always remember where i was when i heard my first big star song..the internet.
i do think i'm nostalgic for his younger voice. as was said upthread about the new record, i feel like the way he writes vocal melodies has changed. can't really picture him ever writing in falsetto register as much as "the living word" ever again.
steakspoon wrote:sorry if sounds corny fellas but i'll always remember where i was when i heard my first big star song..the internet.
I listened to this all weekend and really like it but agree with many sentiments expressed here
The first few spins made me just want to listen to Mangy Love but now I'm feeling it. I kinda like this albums tendency to write new songs out of like tiny successful bits of other songs
It's grateful dead-y in certain parts such that I think about suggesting it to fans of that band but I'm sure it wouldn't really jive
The arrangements are kinda repetitive on some of the songs but dude can really write to the point where the lyrics and vocals keep it real fresh and weird/interesting
I love you saved my life most of all if I had to pick, it's just so pretty and the synth part is so hot hot hot That acoustic performance of subtraction I probably posted a year or two back is a strong contender I just love it
ripersnifle wrote:i do think i'm nostalgic for his younger voice. as was said upthread about the new record, i feel like the way he writes vocal melodies has changed. can't really picture him ever writing in falsetto register as much as "the living word" ever again.
This is why I love "Absentee" so much, he kinda dips into his younger voice/melody style. Also composed on piano which he doesn't do much anymore
The three bonus songs on the deluxe edition are all pretty good, definitely fully formed tunes and not just jams or whatever. "Confidence Man" is like a tough '70s soul thing and he sings about it raining piss several times. "Root Hog or Die" is a dumb trashy blooz. And "The Open Door" is a cool closer where the title's repeated mantra-like with this cool guitar filigree. Record ends on a cool weird lock groove. It all sounds amazing on record, way better than all the mp3s/streams I've heard.
damn i need to hear those bonus tracks. i just got around to listening to this for the first (and second) time today and like it a lot pretty much immediately
gandhi wrote:I love you saved my life most of all if I had to pick
Yeah this is probably my single fave song of his
this is my second favourite song of his. my favourite is harmonia. But county line is probably his ‘best’ song - it feels like a standard written hundreds of years ago. It should be in the library congress or the smithsonian or wherever USA keeps its national treasures.
i appreciate Dropping the Writ but it feels ... so young or something. there's like a very different sonic vibe to the instrumentation/production. also his Younger Voice, as discussed upthread.
steakspoon wrote:sorry if sounds corny fellas but i'll always remember where i was when i heard my first big star song..the internet.
i think i've known about mccombs for ten years or so now, and have listened to at least one song from each record he's released since then, but for whatever reason i've never really been interested in him until the last few months. you ever have an artist who doesn't click with you because you're unconsciously trying to impose a set of assumptions onto them, and they don't fit, so you assume by not meeting those assumptions that they're a failure? i think i always saw him as a second rate dan bejar, or bill callahan, or whichever other guy you can name who writes great lyrics and has a weird voice. because the websites say that's what he's like, and so that's what i thought he had to be like for him to be good. and he has some great lyrics, but they don't really announce themselves as such.. the last few weeks though i've been going through his albums and been straight up fuckin blown away by some of these songs, and the arrangements and the weird structures and beautiful guitar playing. like, why did i never get into this guy when i like everything tangentially related to him? eh. he rocks. and it's cool that i get to go through and listen to everything for the first time.
Cass was in fine form last night. One of the most satisfying shows I can remember ever. He did one date in LA for Mangy Love in 2016 on a Tuesday night and he made up for it by playing much of that record in addition to Tip Of The Sphere. I cannot emphasize enough how sick American Canyon Sutra is live. Got basically every song I needed to hear. Thank u Lord Cass.
Also he had Blake Mills come up and the guitar interplay was excellent. I hope there are some good soundboard recordings of this tour. He should put out a live record/film.
Mandible wrote:Also he had Blake Mills come up and the guitar interplay was excellent. I hope there are some good soundboard recordings of this tour. He should put out a live record/film.
sounds sick!
steakspoon wrote:sorry if sounds corny fellas but i'll always remember where i was when i heard my first big star song..the internet.
I heard "sleeping volcanoes" in a j. crew outlet store of all places the other day and I remembered I hadn't listened to the newest album yet. Sounds pretty good. "Sleeping volcanoes" is awesome.