LIVE MUSIC: Cass McCombs @ Ottobar - 1/21/12
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LIVE MUSIC: Cass McCombs @ Ottobar - 1/21/12

It’s important to note that taking in a performance by Cass McCombs isn’t so much simply about seeing the man performing his songs as it is engaging in an experience. Saturday night in Baltimore that experience was akin to a post-surgery, anesthetic fog, where the real world around you frequently fails to register, but those moments where the world does manage to slip through are, if anything, entirely and utterly pleasing. And this, at least if you’re Cass McCombs, is a good thing.


Cass McCombs @ Ottobar in Baltimore, MDDespite the fact that he is touring behind his second 2011 album, Humor Risk, the majority of that record, and the one that came before it were largely ignored by McCombs and his band. The set began with a druggy rendition of “Love Thine Enemy”, the opening track of Humor Risk, but from there took a sharp plunge into the dark, somewhat unexplored corners of McCombs catalog. The close to 90 minute performance weaved in and out of tracks from his earlier works. Songs from 2003’s A, and 2009’s Catacombs (you can see him perform “My Sister, My Spouse” from the show in the video below) and 2005’s Not The Way, dominated a pleasingly lethargic and moody set whose highlight seemed to be that it was simply happening.

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IT'S BEEN A GOOD YEAR: Wye Oak @ Ottobar - 12/17/11
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IT'S BEEN A GOOD YEAR: Wye Oak @ Ottobar - 12/17/11

You gotta give it to Wye Oak, when they do a homecoming show, they do it in style. Playing at the completely sold out Ottobar Saturday, Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack ended what can be considered a remarkable year by anyone’s standards in the warm (really warm) embrace of their hometown fans. 

This is the third time we’ve talked about the band this year, and so there’s really not that much more to say. You already know how the band began 2011 by releasing their latest album Civilian to widespread acclaim. You already know that they showcased those songs along with fellow Charm City musicians Lower Dens at The Black Cat for an NPR broadcast. You already know that the band has already had one homecoming show this year in throwing a pseudo release party at Baltimore’s 2640 Space, and abandoned church that has been converted into a performance venue for just such occasions. And all of that was before things got really crazy.

It would seem that the rest of the world has finally discovered our little hometown band. The potential was there a few years ago for this duo to take over the world with their music, and it would seem that 2011 is the year that that potential was realized. Whether it was touring the US nonstop in support of Civilian, recording not one but TWO songs for the A.V. Undercover series(Danzig’s “Mother” no less), or finding themselves opening for The National as they close out their year of awesome, it would seem that Wye Oak have, put simply, f@#ing arrived.

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