Cass McCombs - "The Same Thing"

The "unobtrusively brilliant" singer-songwriter Cass McCombs released a video this week for "The Same Thing," an August track that had escaped troysnoise until today.  Better late than never.

The video features a collage of black and white footage, some including Cass himself.  His sixth LP, Humor Risk, is due out November 8 less than seven months after the release of Wit's End.  This dude is a genius.

Cass McCombs - "Same Thing"

The Phantom Band - The Wants

8 different band names and multiple labels later, it seems The Phantom Band moniker has finally stuck for this Glasgow-based group.  How many fans did they confuse and lose? "Not many," said bass player Gerry Hart. "Really, we weren't very good back then."

After hundreds of tracks were pushed aside, the sextet finally publicly released Checkmate Savage in 2009 to critical acclaim (28th ranked Scottish Album of the Decade).  Fast forward to now and last month's release of their second EP, The Wants.  Despite the mainly local success of their debut, the sense this time is that their fan base is going to extend outside the Scot borders, and I concur.  This EP is quite eclectic, with a variety of undertones and reverbs twisting their way throughout each track.  The disparate sound leaves you gloriously confused and intrigued all at once, which is what makes it great.  From the background effects in "Into the Corn," to the Eddie Vedder-like vocals in "The None of One," and the strangely ebullient darkness that "Everybody Knows It's True" exudes, these Scots are well on their way to cementing their place in the hallows of indie rock, and more importantly on my tape deck.

Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs"

The SuburbsNot unexpectedly this album has again helped take them further into the main stream.  No longer an emerging band I think The Suburbs is their best work so far.  As a follow up to the album Canada-based Arcade Fire created a pretty cool interactive video expirement based on the "We Used to Wait" track, click on the album artwork to the left to check it out.

Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs"

You'll like the whole album but be sure to peep a few of my favorites - "Rococo," and "City with no Children."