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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v8n36 (09/02/2009) » Section: Left of the Dial


Cass McCombs - Catacombs

Cass McCombs’ fourth full-length release, Catacombs, delivers 11 haunting, vivid, and sometimes amusing folk-driven ballads dripping with a youthful Americana that was merely hinted at on McCombs’ previous albums. Almost gone are the lo-fi, bedroom-crafted charms of previous efforts A and PREfection. On this record, McCombs takes a cleaner approach, focusing more on the songs and melodies than the reverb-drenched waves that they sometimes hide behind.



Blur - Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur

To help introduce Blur to a wider audience, Virgin brings us Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide to Blur, which earns its scholarly name by being a curious best-of compilation. If you’re looking to be blindsided by a pack of hits, this disc isn’t for you. (2000’s The Best of Blur would be more fitting.) Instead, Midlife attempts to give a general feel of the band, and tries to display Blur’s knack for making albums more than their knack for making singles. This isn’t to imply a lack of hits—most of the band’s biggest songs are here—but thrown in beside them are deeper album cuts that are more admired by avid fans than by the singles charts.





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