Cass McCombs has released a new album, Seed Cake On Leap Year, which is out digitally today via Domino with vinyl and CD out November 8. It consists of previously unreleased music recorded in 1999 and 2000 at Papercuts’ Jason Quever‘s apartment while McCombs was living in Berkeley. Here’s more:
The Bay Area in the late ’90s housed a special community of artists including Papercuts, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Chris Cohen’s Curtains, and Mt. Egypt. The ethos was for maximum integrity and intimacy, and often music would only be shared with close friends. Graffiti writers, skaters and old timers from the ’60s were never far away or far from mind.
Always following a mindset of moving forward, ever forward, this was a brief but productive phase in McCombs’ career before he hit the road and traveled the country, eventually landing in New York City, where he would make the music that would come to reach a wider audience. What’s so remarkable about Seed Cake On Leap Year is how vibrant and raw these songs remain, full of insight and wonder, in conversation with everything yet to come.
You can listen to Seed Cake On Leap Year below.
Cass will be on tour this month, with West Coast dates opened by Jason Quever and East Coast shows with Advance Base. He’ll play Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 25. All dates are listed below.
McCombs also just reissued his debut EP and first two studio albums.
Seed Cake On Leap Year
1. I’ve Played This Song Before
2. Anchor Child
3. Baby
4. Gum Tree
5. Wasted Again
6. If I Was A Stranger
7. You’re So Satanic
8. Always In Transit
9. What Else Can A Poor Boy Do
10. Northern Train
Cass McCombs “As Paint On Fur Tour”:
Wed. Sept. 19 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley *
Thu. Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
Fri. Sept. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room *
Wed. Sept. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ^
Thu. Sept. 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s ^
Fri. Sept. 27 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar ^
* w/ Papercuts
^ w/ Advance Base