At his best, Cass McCombs is one of the best songwriters alive, and he is at his best on Wit’s End. Leonard Cohen is perhaps his nearest relative now, though without the religion and with a little more diversity in song structure. They have in common the darkness, the patient unravelling of the song, and the willingness to let sadness and longing stew in their own juices until there’s something akin to redemption.

County Line is the album’s first track and its standout. It stands out not so much in quality—all the songs are of very high quality—but in style and mood. There’s almost a slowed down BeeGees feel to it that generates at least a little something uplifting. Don’t get used to it, though. A scan of the coming titles tells a lot: The Lonely Doll; Buried Alive; Memory’s Stain; Hermit’s cave… One is reminded of Eliott Smith—both Smith and McCombs have a penchant for the sad waltz—but Smith’s reaching voice could always fool you into hope. No such tricks with McCombs.

In the singer/songwriter tradition, there seem to be guitarists and pianists. McCombs is proficient at both, but this is a piano album. It’s composed with the sort of musical awareness that one sees in (later) Elvis Costello or others who dabble in musicology, but it doesn’t come off pretentious. Instead, the forms very much serve the functions and the result is beautiful.

Don’t look for many better albums this year. Buy this and Low’s new album, and be happy with your misery.

You can stream the whole album at The Guardian.

Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings have been getting a lot of press recently for their hook laden guitar pop, and deservedly so. Although they’re probably not going to change anyone’s idea of what music should be, they offer energetic little jewels that stay in your head long after they’ve left the speakers. The band is led by Cleveland’s Dylan Baldi, who at twenty (or just under) has internalized the key to the three minute pop song. His nasal voice and distorted guitar might invite some surface comparisons to pre-suck Green Day, but Baldi knows more than just three chords. The simple song structures allow for some pretty spastic and innovative jangles, and more than one genre gets layered into the mix. At moments it reminds one of Descendents if they were lead by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. (That looks odd to me too, but see if you can’t hear it.)

Thought Baldi is precocious, his age seems to show at times in the lyrics. They doesn’t really seem to be something he has much patience for and too often the songs end up in the repetition—sometimes ad nauseum—of a central line. It makes the band feel slightly unripe, but fair enough. Baldi will be around for a while with plenty of time to polish that stuff up. As it is, we have a record that makes for an excellent part of the spring soundtrack.

Understand It All by Cloud Nothings

New York’s Pains of Being Pure at Heart return after one of the most winning albums of 2009, and though Belong doesn’t amount to a sophomore slump, the freshness that accompanied their earlier album isn’t quite there. That’s inevitable, I suppose. First albums succeed in part because of the new, and PBPH’s self-titled album radiated the kind of youthful charm that depends in large part on timing and sincerity. But Belong lacks freshness mostly because the influences, or antecedents, are just a tad too obvious. There was never any doubt, I think, that these guys were influenced by British bands of the 80s-90s, but there was enough synthesis to make it work. The best song on the first album, Young Adult Friction, sounded like it could have been sung by Morrisey with The Strokes as a backing band. Belong, though, almost sounds like an homage. Some of this has to be intentional—the first fifteen seconds of track one, Belong, have to be a tribute to My Bloody Valentine. As we move into the middle tracks, it’s harder for me to pin down specific bands, but it’s difficult not to imagine Molly Ringwald biting her lower lip to a John Hughes soundtrack. When we reach “My Terrible Friend,” however, the jig is up. The song is a dead ringer for “Friday I’m in Love” by the Cure, with the same dancing basslines and synth overlays, and the following two tracks are pure Jesus and Mary Chain circa Automatic.

Despite all this, I can’t help but enjoy this album. Partly, I’m just a sucker for these bands that shaped my youth. But partly because The Pains do add enough of their own stuff—mostly through Kip Berman’s still sweet singing and the more American style guitar work—to keep Belong from sounding like another Fakebook. It’ll stick around in my player for a while.

The whole album can be sampled on their site.

Apparently Nerve will have a corresponding article on sexy lead men, for those who are interested.

Info here.

Shows:

Viva Voce (Mohawk)–I found earlier work by these guys a letdown, but their live show has turned me around.  I look forward to their new release.  These guys are from Portland, and they sound like it–although they originate from the south, I’m led to believe.  Very melodious, femme-fronted guitar pop.  Good feelings all around.

Peelander z (Mohawk)–This is the craziest show I’ve seen in a long time.  These Japanese freaks may or may not be good musicians, but they are excellent entertainers.  They got the crowd so pumped that the next act was almost forgotten.  Human Bowling, bassists hanging upside-down from the rafters, broken engrish, what’s not to like?

Camera Obscura (Mohawk)–After the wildness of Peelander Z, the crowd and that stage filled with pasty, self-aware white folks.  Camera Obscura has put out some of my favorite music in the past handfull of years, so I was pretty excited.  While they sounded pretty good, they also seemed exhausted–it was their third show at SXSW and Scotland she was calling.  I loved it anyway, and will buy their newest upon release.

Akron Family (Waterloo Park)–Did I really know what these guys sounded like?  Too jammy for my taste.  Left as soon as the hippies started to dance.

Steve Burns (Central Pres. Church)–This was interesting:  Burns and band seated up on the alter, with a screen behind them playing an oddly moralistic tale involving a puppet.  The songs were a soundtrack the the movie, and the movie was a sort of “choose your own adventure.”  The audience was given laser pointers, and between songs they were instructed to choose by pointing which course they wanted events to take.  (Save a Kitten?  or Recreational Drug Use?)  The concept was good, even if the movie was slightly absurd, ending with an excellent Galaxie 500 cover.  This guy has talent coming out of his ears.

Marnie Stern (Central Pres.)–Biggest letdown of SXSW.  This really sucked.  To be fair, apparently her drummer made advances on her the night before (“he wanted to have sex with my vagina,” she told us, cross behind her) and she dismissed him from the band.  So, she loaded herself up with alcohol and a supporting cast of Austinites who proceeded to jam incompetently.  I had to leave…

Echo and the Bunnymen (Rusty Spurs)–This was the show I had planned to see all day, but when we got there were were told badges only.  That’s why we went to see Marnie in the first place.  Luckily, she sucked, we left, and when we checked back by Rusty Spurs they let us slide in with elevated seating behind the sound board!  This club is about the size of a large apartment, and Echo is one of my all time heroes.  Call me old, but when they broke into “Back of Love,” “The Cutter,” and other sing-alongs I almost wept.  Ian’s voice is still strong as hell and the band is a bunch of reliable professionals by now.  Highlight–near the end, they covered Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side.   Made my entire weekend.

It even made up for the most excruciating moment of the weekend.  Unable to get into the venue at Stubbs to see PJ Harvey, we were able to eat there.  As I was ignoring my moral qualms about BBQ, I could hear barely her through the walls, but couldn’t see her.  One of my serious heroes, that one.

I’m exhausted, and trying to catch up on my work, but I’m already talking about making hotel reservations next year.

So far, I’ve seen:

Blind Pilot (Club DeVille)–The main guy has a lovely voice, and the songs are catchy, but it’s a little too vanilla for my taste.

Langhorne Slim (Club DeVille)–Fun Shit.  The songs are of a predictable structre and the lyrics are pretty much phoned in, but the enthusiasm makes up for a lot.

Woods (Emo’s)–Led by a nerdish castrata, these guys put off some pretty good basic pop noise.

Wavves (Emo’s)–One of the best shows yet.  Simple adolescend garagy punk pop.  Prolly gonna have to get their album.

King Khan and the Shrines (Emo’s)–A really impressive show.  “Khan” has a voice like Screamin Jay Hawkins, and the show puts a spell on you indeed, with the semi-voodoo theme and the dancing blonde.  Like Stax resurrected.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Emo’s)–Good, sorta britpop sounding.  Pure at heart doesn’t even begin to say it.  These guys just left the chess club.  Really strong songs.

Crystal Stilts (Emo’s)–I think these guys sorta let themselves down.  The crowd didn’t help, but the show fell flat.  Lead singer is like Ian Curtis if he were a Brady.  To quote Ana “they had the goods, but they just didn’t bring it.”

Time to go…music to hear…

Granted, this is not so scientific, but it was blind.  I plan to do more tests in the future, if my wife will humor me.  I’d be interested in testing 320 with other discs.  It should be said, though, that very few places offer 320kbs downloads for sale.  Amazon’s downloads are at the inadequate 256, and emusic and others are even worse.  More evidence, for me at least, that buying mp3s is not an option right now.