story/ Aly Vander Hayden

photographs / Angel Ceballos

Beat Connection is more than just the title of a LCD Soundsystem song.  This tropical-psychedelic-pop duo composed of Jordon Koplowitz and Reed Juenger—with the help of vocalist Tom Eddy and drummer Jarred Katz—are trending their way into the electro-surf scene, even though they are from Seattle.  Their 2011 debut EP, Surf Noir, is self-described as “a labor of love reflecting the wait for the summer months when everyone cuts loose… The first sunny day, getting the girl, slacking off, partying…” The guys definitely know how to let us slip back into that perfect summer memory of “waking up to a sunset” during the dreary winter months with these washed-out, dream-like tracks.  After a cluster-fuck of showcases at CMJ, I got to chat with Koplowitz and Juenger about their “more concise” new album, the possibility of getting a Wikipedia page, and their obscure (read: fictional) recording locations.

What were your influences for Surf Noir?

Koplowitz: We have a ton of different influences, especially each of us individually. For me I would say like The Warning by Hot Chip was pretty influential, and Air France as well.

Juenger: A lot of things that influence us I don’t think came off that strongly in the record, which is kind of funny.  Air France is a really important one for me, and also The Avalanches, but I don’t know how apparent that is.  A lot of it was also like production on the DFA Record label and things like that.  When we recorded that [Surf Noir,] I was basically listening to Nas’ first album Illmatic.  I guess it influenced me somehow but Surf Noir sounds absolutely nothing like it.  Aesthetically, a pretty big influence as well is that we both started out as DJs.  Creating something that flowed together and was concise beyond one song was something really important to us.  It’s something that we experimented with and continue to experiment with.

The album art of Surf Noir and the collage for “In the Water” are amazing. Did you guys create those?

K: Yeah, we do the album art. I learnt how to use InDesign and Illustrator basically because of this band, so it’s been fun.

J: Those collages were all just born out of when we moved into this new house that we all live in now. It’s Jordan and I, the guy who plays drums [Katz], and a bunch of our friends—you guys went to pick up a couch, is that right?

K: Yeah, we went to pick up the couch and the guys asked us, “Hey do you guys want a bunch of National Geographic magazines?”  We were moving into a new house and didn’t have anything so we were like, “Yeah sure we need some stuff.”  So he handed us these copies of National Geographic and he has around 80 boxes. We got every single National Geographic from 1958 to 2000.

J: Yeah, it was pretty crazy. We trolled though those and sliced up pictures that we found interesting, and that’s what the collages came to be.  I still find scraps in my bedroom in random spots.

Your live shows are pretty intense with all of the lighting and amount of electronic equipment you guys have. How did you design the lights to go along with the music?

J: Okay live show, light show.  It’s all pretty nerdy to be totally honest. My computer is on the verge of crashing at every single one of our live shows; it’s really stressful. Obviously that’d be rough—and it did happen once at CMJ—but I’ve got four separate applications all working together that play the backing track, and also the vocals are going in at the same time, keeping the lights synchronized.  That’s what’s going on there, and it kind of came about as an opportunity to make our live shows a little more exciting.  A lot of venues that we would play at didn’t really have light shows or anything like that, and it would just be a little awkward on stage. For a while, it was just Jordan and I without the drummer, and I think it’s just a more fun now.

K: I think it added a little bit more to our live show. We didn’t have a singer and we were kind of stuck behind tables. We wanted to give the audience some lights that they could all get stoked out on.

What are you guys listening to a lot of right now that you think our readers should listen to?

J: I’ve been listening to a lot more ambient music lately.  I’m really, really enjoying Tycho’s new record. I think I’ve actually listened to Dive two times today, so something along that line.  Also, bands like The Field.  High Places’s new record is really good as well.

K: Some of the weird future R&B kind of stuff like How to Dress Well and Star Slinger remixes. I really like this band Groundislava, I think it might just be one producer’s, but it’s really good.

J: And Silky Johnson.

K: Laughs. Yeah, and Silky Johnson. And African tapes, like weird tapes from Africa.  It’s this blog website [Awesome Tapes from Africa] that has all of these old tapes from Africa and African bands.  Some of it’s like jungle music, but there’s some rap and stuff too. It’s sort of weird because it’s taken from these little tapes so the sound quality’s pretty funky.

So I read “In the Water” was recorded in a sorority basement “secret late at night” and you guys were caught.  Tell me about that.

J: Ah, we’ll have to dig deeper into our lie then.

K: Laughs. Yeah, that’s all bullshit.

J: But we have recorded in a lot of weird places—like my apartment shortly before going to parties. Jordan usually recorded in the basement of that party room, just wherever there was a place with a good set of speakers to work on.

K: But not actually in a sorority basement.

Laughs. Yeah, a lot of your online biography is satirical, so I wasn’t sure what to take away from that.

J: Laughs. I think some of it was done in a fraternity basement actually.  I definitely did some of the stuff on the bus going to work with headphones and stuff like that. It was anywhere we could work on it at any minute.

K: A lot of it was done in our attic.  Our attic is really nice though now; it has a lot of room.  That’s where we actually put everything together and finished Surf Noir, in the attic of the new house that we’re at now.  That is where we are also recording our new album.

What’s the new album going to be like?

K: Probably more concise than our last album on a genre level.

J: Some of it is also really wide-focused. It’s hard for us to [stick with one genre]—actually this is just more concise than the last album. Laughs. I don’t know.  It’s still all over the place in a good way. We’re using a lot more real instruments now, which is cool.

K: It’s probably a little bit more dance-y overall. Not in like a—

J: There’s no dubstep on this album.

So unfortunate.  If you were the age you are now in the 70s, what band’s poster would you have on your wall?

K: I would probably have a Beach Boys poster, even though they’re not from the 70s really. I’d be livin’ in the past.

J: The fact that I, well we, make electronic music is a little bit of a rebellion to what my parents subjected me to as a kid. So it was The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan and stuff like that, and I was just like ‘No, fuck that, I don’t wanna listen to your records from The Cure and shit like that. I wanna make electronic music.’ I guess with that in mind, I’d probably be into the emerging punk scene or I would randomly be into the funk that became hip-hop.

K: Actually now thinking about it, I’d probably be into disco because I’m still into disco. Maybe like the underground disco. If anything it’d be jungle disco. I’m sure on Reed’s wall would be “Thrown Love in C minor.” Laughs.

When are you guys going to get a Wikipedia page?

K: I don’t know.  Will you make us one?  We got interviewed once when we were over in England, and the guy said that he was going to make us a Wikipedia page—then he never did.

J: Just add for the genre: Meta-pop.

K: Laughs. The guy was super stoked on the idea of coining this term for us, being like ‘I’m going to put that on the Wikipedia page.’

J: When I actually coined the term meta-pop.

Well, I’ll definitely pull through and make you guys a Wikipedia page.

K: I want you to just make one and put a picture on there and have no definition. Just say, ‘This is the band.’

J: Then it’ll be just taken down by the Wikipedia committee!

What’s some advice you’d like to pass along to our readers?

J: You are beautiful, you are awesome, you can do it. That’s more of a motivational statement than advice.

K: This is a hard question. I don’t think I can pull out any gold here.

J: Don’t think too hard about questions in interviews!  That’s some advice for you.

Check our more of Beat Connection in our Nostalgia Issue!

story + interview / LOGAN BRENDT  photo / DEAN CHALKEY

British rock band Kasabian is currently touring in support of their fourth album Velociraptor! released late last year. Though they are well received by the indie rock contingent and the underground alternative music scene, their dynamic and aggressive cool sound has yet to pierce the mainstream rock audience stateside. Those who are in the know will hopefully get the good fortune to see them live when they tour North America this spring for the first time in 5 years. Probably their most talked about stop is their return to the Coachella festival in California this year.

Kasabian guitarist and songwriter Serge Pizzorno talked to Ladygunn about music, life, and the anticipated Coachella. Not only was he humble, but he also had a mysterious poetic air about him. Definitely what a rockstar should be.

In the spring, you’ll be touring North America for the first time in 5 years. We’ve missed you over here. Where have you been?

Well we’ve made two records, and we’ve been playing in the rest of the world, having a great time.

You do have a devoted fan base here in the United States. But, how happy have you been with the radio play that you’ve been getting here?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything about it. The reason why we didn’t make it on the last record is ’cause the label was just not into it. So there is no point if you’ve not got the backing from that— then it’s a big place to go and just hang around you know. So we’ve moved labels. That’s helped, and things seem to be going really well with that.

You’ll be playing Coachella this year and since you’ve played at the festival in the past, do you remember anything about it? What do you look forward to most?

It was great. I remember meeting Vincent Gallo there which for me was quite incredible. He came to see us play. I remember just having a really good night, just sort meeting people and having a good drink. It was great.

Do you have any cool stories with Vincent?

I think we went back to someone’s house. It was incredible. Just listened to music and sat by this huge pool. It was great. It was nice. I remember it being a sort of beautiful setting as well. It felt like a proper festival, like the ones you see on those old DVDs, like the 70s or something. It felt good.

So then I guess you do get an opportunity to see the places that you tour?

You tend to, yeah. Depends how much motivation you’ve got. If you really wanted to you could get out there and go and see stuff. It depends you know, if you just want to close the curtains and just like stay in your own little den.

You toured with Oasis. Do you have any stories from when you toured with them?

There was so many really. We took over a bar in New York and just tore it up you know. It was a great time. Did some acid at [Red Rocks]. That was pretty phenomenal.

How much trouble did you get into with them?

It was all good clean fun really. We just hung out and listened to music and just talked. It was sort of perfect.

What do you do before a show to get into the live performance mindset?

I only have one ritual. Half an hour before the gig, I pour myself Sailor Jerry’s, like a 60/40 shot. That kind of sets me up then for the gig. That’s kind of about it really. I listen to tunes. We have huge speakers in the changing room, but I like a big drink about a half an hour before I go on. That’s the only thing that I really do that’s constant.

What’s generally irritating to you when it comes to the current music culture?

I’m not really that irritated by it. I don’t really care about it really. I just listen to what I like, and the things that irritate me I find easy to ignore.

You covered Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” during a live BBC Radio session. What do you think of all the criticism she’s been receiving recently regarding her Saturday Night Live appearance?

I don’t know anything about it. I honestly don’t know anything about Lana Del Rey. We had to do a cover. I heard the song on the radio and thought it was beautiful so we just did it you know. I innocently sort of heard this beautiful song and covered it. I think it’s an incredible song. I have no idea about any performance.

I really liked the aesthetic of your music videos for “Club Foot” and “Days Are Forgotten”. Is making music videos something you enjoy or something you find tedious?

Music videos is a strange one because you sort of rely on other people coming up with good ideas and you don’t really get a great deal of time. You make one and you get a couple of months to come up with ideas to make another. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. It’s difficult. I think you always have to remember when you’re making them, they mark history in the end. Making them is quite tedious— sat in a studio playing the same song for like twelve hours. But while you’re playing that song you have to remember that’s going to be immortalized, well not on television anymore, on the internet. You kind of have to stay with it, and then years later you can look back and laugh at yourself when you were kids.

Which Kasabian song is your favorite, based on a lyrical perspective?

I suppose “Where Did All The Love Go?” from the last record. It sort of predicted what happened in England. Some crazy rioting last year which was completely fucking messed up. That tune kind of called that. For that reason, I choose that.

Did you have any literary influences when you wrote Velociraptor!? Have you been reading anything recently that you’ve really enjoyed?

For the last record I kind of hugely immersed myself in everything I could get hold of really. But this time around I just decided not to listen to music, or read, or watch too many films. It has a habit of really influencing what you do which is great sometimes but I just felt like I didn’t want any of that this time.

Away from the touring, the music, the work, what is your personal sanctuary that you like to recover to?

It’s my family really. I love being at home with my family, that’s it.

You’ve recently become a father, is that right?

Yeah.

How has that changed everything?

It’s not changed. Touring’s still the same. It’s still absolute chaos. It’s incredibly fun. You live like an outlaw which is incredible. Before, I was living like that at home as well. But when you have a kid— I took the decision not to carry that lifestyle home with me. It’s crazy you know. It’s changed home life for the better really. I really enjoy getting home but it’s not really changed me on the touring side of things. It’s still insane. It has to be insane or else I wouldn’t go on tour.

Bridget Kelly embodies the energy of what you would call a beautiful tomboy. She has an edge of assertiveness mixed with just enough lady like qualities. On this beautiful fall day in New York, she dons an interesting manicure job, cleverly skunk streaked bangs and yellow sneaker shoes.

Many know her simply as the girl who sang the anthem “Empire State of Mind” in place of Alicia Keys for Jay-Z’s 9/11 tribute concert. Yet, after taking a listen to her EP Every Girl, it’s easy to see that she is a shining star in her own right. Kelly’s single “Seek and Destroy” is abrasive with just a touch of pop and speaks to literally Every Girl. In fact, minutes after listening I posted a link to her SoundCloud page, on my boyfriends Facebook wall. Ladygunn chopped it up with Ms. Kelly, Roc Nation’s reigning princess.

Who wrote “Seek and Destroy”?

The Dream! Don’t you hear all those damn curse words! Lol

Did he also write Every Girl?

No. James Fauntleory wrote it! He’s an amazing writer too!

How accurate are these songs to your life?

Very accurate! They describe me very much.

How would you describe your style?

Soft and hard. I wear a lot of feminine pieces like the shirt I’m wearing now that has the back out but then I’ll wear shoes with chains hanging off.

Curios, Are you single?

Kinda sort of. (Pause) I’m going to say yes!

What can’t you live without?

Hmm I don’t know….I guess water! That’s a good one.

New York or LA?

New York! I’m from here!

I see you covered Frank Ocean’s song “Thinking About Forever” on your EP?

Actually, Frank wrote that song for me initially but there were some discrepancies on when my project would be dropping so he went ahead and released his version.

When is the album dropping?

2012. Many of the songs on the EP will be on the album so if you liked the EP then you’ll like the album.

story+photos / Meghan O’Connor

Here at Ladygunn, we’ve been obsessing over Santi “Santigold” White since 2008, when her debut album “Santogold” dropped and rocked our world. Needless to say, her intimate performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday was our definition of a fairytale.

My boss Koko and I  weaved our way through the hipster elite that had gathered to celebrate the return of the real queen of pop. (All hail the queen and her reign!) Immediately  I spotted Alexander Wang who showed up at the same time we did and was in the same amount of rush to get in. Did I mention this was the place to be on Monday?

The audience consisted of the diehard fans who were quick enough to whip out their credit cards in the five minutes it took for the show to completely sell out, and list worthy press (like me!) that were eager to hear what Santi had been working on for the last few years. We were well-rewarded. The spell-binding show seemed personally catered to us hardcore fans with shout-outs like a special rendition of “Brooklyn We Go Hard” performed alongside surprise stage guest Spankrock. Other surprise guests included Karen O who made her appearance on the first song of the night, “Go” a slight Caribbean flavored dance heavy song that got the crowd moving out the gate.

Santi’s entire performance was endlessly entertaining; we got the classics we love (personal favorite: the superhuman sounding “Creator,” complete with animalistic vocal cries) and new singles off her soon-to-be-released album “Master of My Make-Believe,” due to drop this spring. We’ve been waiting in anticipation for this second album since the original “Santogold” and if the singles we heard were an indication of the album to come, we won’t be disappointed. The singles we heard were enough to obsess over themselves, but add the artist’s infectious smile and stage presence and we were full-blown junkies. Adding to the aura of awesome were two co-performers, a pair of dancers whose wardrobes may have changed countless times (from tuxedo dresses to army green bedazzled pantsuits to Marie Antoinette-style shorts and umbrellas no less), but their stoically badass expressions surely didn’t as they pulled the coolest dance moves we’ve ever seen. Clearly the artist found two dancers who were just as generally effortlessly cool as she.

We died. Santigold, we want to be you when we grow up, but we’ll totally settle for being your back-up dancers. Please call.

See more pictures here.

Beyond Amazing!

Directed by Cody Critcheloe. Download “Big Mouth” for free at santigold.com

Jacket; Sally LaPointe

First off, congratulations on all the wonderful success of Wounded Rhymes! Generally, along with success comes more major expectations. How do you avoid the pressures of the great expectations that go along with great success?

It all goes back to not believing in any hype but only listening to my inner voice and what I want to say and do as an artist. I don’t believe in letting other people into your creation process, for me it’s such an intimate thing and I guard my inspiration and will to create with my life, without it I am nothing so to answer your question. The only pressure I take in is from myself, which is more than enough.

Where are you personally in terms of your evolution as an artist?

I’m such a restless person, I always feel like I’m fantasizing of being anyone and anywhere far away from myself so everything I do is probably a reaction to what I just did before. The journey has just begun and I don’t know where it is going to end.

When you aren’t doing music, what else to you love to do?

I love breakfast in bed while watching a good film, walk and talk about life, cook Moroccan stews for my friends, go to flee markets, bike aimlessly, daydream.

You’ve lived in a lot of diverse places: New York, California, Stockholm, Morocco, Portugal, New Zealand-is it easier for you to breathe & create music in a new town that isn’t deeply connected to your past and what is familiar?

It is a misconception that I’ve lived everywhere. It’s more like I’m a shark, I move around so I haven’t really “lived” anywhere accept from Portugal, Sweden and a little in the US. I more a traveller then a house owner so to speak.

What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

Honesty and vulnerability.


It’s important not to get too comfortable as an artist-there has to be something at stake that keeps one honest.

What for you is at stake when you write or perform a song?

There is always something at stake, I feel like I’m failing every day, but at the same time winning. Rainer Maria Rilke said that the point of life is to fail at greater and greater things.


Are there any people or things you find yourself thinking about often, if not daily?

There a lot of little ghosts in my head that I like to keep private, they are my muses and are not meant to be abused.
What have you been listening to? Reading? Watching? What is inspiring you lately?

Rainer Maria Rilke.

What’s on the Lykke To-Do List?

Films, babies, homes, casseroles.

I’ve read you don’t like the “business” side of the music industry, yet when a band becomes successful they get to the level where they have to really deal with being part of that record industry machine, some manage to still do things their own way, as it seems you have. How do you feel about the potential extremes of success?

I don’t like the word success because I’m not exactly sure what it means? Success just like everything else in life is fleeting. The only thing I hope is that I still have some inner flame left when all is said and done.

I know you are a private person and I respect that, I think fans should get to know an artist through their songs, so I won’t ask you to describe them on a personal level. That said, can you tell me about the journey of the songs on Wounded Rhythms, what they symbolize and the overall themes of album?

Well it’s about getting lost and then found, and then lost again. A little crash and burn theme I would suppose.

What was it like working with Tarik Saleh on “Sadness is a Blessing”? It’s a very beautiful short film. You’ve voiced an interest in making more films, do you have any plans to do acting?

It was a battle but so wonderfully worth it. It was all about finding a new emotional aspect to something I’ve penned and lived. I would love to do it over and over again.

What was the first music video you remember loving?

The first video I ever saw was Michael Jackson’s “Black and White”. It left me really confused but was a life changing moment. It had everything a seven year old could ever dream for and from that day on all I wanted was to live that video.

A lot of your videos incorporate movement and dance, do you get these choreographed, do you have a dancing background?

Oh god no, I don’t work well at all with choreography. I think what I’m striving for with my body is to achieve some kind of freedom sense, to follow my bodies impulse and forget about the shame and malice. With that said, I do feel a little ashamed of how I dance, I’d love to be better at it.

You once said that now you have achieved most of your dreams, you didn’t feel how you thought you would.What do you dream of for the future?

I’m not sure I ever said it just like that cause I’ve never felt that, my dreams are fluid and they change, I think life is a long pearl necklace of dreams, as soon as you come close to them they change cause dreams are dreams just because they are dreams, something that exists in your mind.

I had the lucky chance of seeing you play an intimate show in LA at Bardot in 2009, you put on one great show! Do you feel some intimacy is lost when you play larger venues as opposed to smaller venues?

You lose some but you win another type of feeling. It is really challenging to play big shows cause you really have to work hard but it is very developing for an artist. You can’t always play it safe in your corner.

“I Follow Rivers” was covered by Tina Cohen-Chang (played by Jenna Ushkowitz) on the American hit-show Glee episode ‘A Night Of Neglect’, have you seen it/heard about it? If you have, what are your thoughts about it?

I haven’t seen it so the only thought I have about it is that it’s quite interesting for my songs to be swimming in those waters, it’s cool that the song can transcend to different audiences.



 A lot of journalists seem to be focusing on the “heartbreak” aspect to the record, attributing it to the pain of a breakup, but lots of things can be heartbreaking in life and it seems your album subliminally conveys many layers of this-how aware are you of how your music is received by the press as opposed to the fans?

–Whatever they say it is it is probably not, society works in the way that we have to label and explain things that can’t really be explained. But it is true that it is about heartbreak, not necessarily  a relationship. Heartbreak comes in many forms, a  very vivid one is when you break your own heart.

You have done several great collaborations in all genres of music, from Rokksop & Kleerup to Kanye West and Drake. Other than Leonard Cohen, who do you hope to collaborate with in the future?

I haven’t done collaborations in quite a while but there is a lot of filmmakers I would dream to collaborate with but I am little too shy to spell it out.

Since it’s the Crush Issue of Ladygunn, What/Who are your crushes?

Linda Mannz in Days of Heaven.

What’s in the works for you next?

I’ll be touring til my heart stops.

Any last words?

The whole world is only three drinks away.

Pantsuit; Mandy Coon. Lykke’s own blazer, Lykke’s own rings.

The widely anticipated music video for Lana Del Ray’s “Born To Die” is finally here and surpassing all expectations of greatness I had for it. Lana Del Ray is a star to say the least and this video is a pure hipster noir. It’s beautifully narrated through her pouty mouth and perfectly coiffed hair. Lana looks stunning in every scene and paired with hot tattooed face Bradley Soileau up goes the ante and it’s almost too orgasmic to watch. The scenes of youth, opulence and dark twisted turns are captivating, especially at the end when we watch Bradley hold a blood drenched Lana in his arms and the viewer is left wondering such things like, did they crash? Were they both so hot that they imploded? How can Lana’s face still look so good drenched in blood? Tigers and flower crowns and burning cars, oh my! She brings the glamour.

story / Ilyse Kaplan

photographs /  Philip Cosores

The audience was shoulder to shoulder on Wednesday, November 30th as Cass McCombs took the stage at The Echo.  I’m not sure if the amount of people packed in the small space was shocking because I’ve been somewhat of a homebody lately or if I was shocked to see that amount of people for Cass McCombs.  My hopes of a mellow night swaying back and forth were immediately dashed as I walked in to–what should have been a quiet set–from the lustrous White Magic, but the sold out crowd was drowning out her lovely voice that sang sweet acapella melodies.  This banter made the performance nearly unwatchable and thus we decided to retreat to the smoking area which shockingly held about thirty more people (to put it in perspective, the venue holds about 250 people uncomfortably and the inside room was filled completely).

I said a silent prayer, hoping the concert experience I’d imagined would still play out as my brain wanted when Cass McCombs entered the stage.  The prayer was soon followed by the group behind me audibly mistaking a Yoko Ono song for Dan Deacon but before I could bow my head in shame, the stage completely darkened and a replica of the gold lit background a couple danced in front of in McCombs’ “You Saved My Life” video appeared.  Unlike most musicians who raise the audience’s excitement by entering the stage in pitch black and having the lights rise as fans cheer, Cass McCombs and his band entered in the darkness and simply began to play, “My Master.”

From the first note strummed, Mr. McCombs’ set was haunting.  He silenced the drunken banter and the set I’d hoped for silenced my initial negative attitude.  With two albums released this year (Wits End and Humor Writ), the San Francisco dweller had much new material to share with the LA crowd though he drew mostly from his earlier work.  As I glanced at the audience, I noticed the die-hard fans were pleased he was playing early work as they mouthed the words.  I caught myself doing the same as “Dreams-Come-True-Girl” was played second.

With little chord progression and simple melodic tones backed only by light drums and poetic lyrics, McCombs seems almost like a grunge version of Neil Young.  He has the droning instrumentals of a Mazzy Star but husk voice of Young.  One would think the light chord progression and complete darkness on stage would make for a boring show but McCombs has a way of transporting the audience.  Music of the past two years has been saturated by the term “chill-wave,” I would not say McCombs fits in that category but he certainly made the audience “chill out” as opposed to the restlessness displayed during White Magic’s set.  The crowd was feeling the music in their entire bodies and through my initial disdain for some of the crowd (due to conversations overheard), came the feeling that we were one.  I felt like the Grinch when his heart turns from two-sizes to small to normal size.  Then came the Grinch-like realizations accented by the darkness of the stage, I realized the feeling McCombs wanted to get across.  It was not about us (the audience) or him (the performer) but simply about the music coming from the speakers.  Sadly, it is rare to experience the feeling that it is just about the music anymore in this age of social media and flailing cell phones you-tubing.  It was refreshing for the artist to widdle it down for us so we did not need to ask as politely as possible to “stop taking pictures with your iPhone please”.

McCombs closed the show with a rocking version of “I Can Not Lie,” bringing an extra guitarist on stage.  It was the loudest song played in The Echo that night yet McCombs still seemed to end the show as subtly as he began, by simply walking back off the stage.  As concert goers exited the venue, the wind howled with record-breaking speed and I wondered if Cass McCombs had been drowning it out the whole show, or if I was too mesmerized to hear it.