Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

So, this one's been out for a week now. I got to hear it streaming on NPR for a week or so prior to its release, and dutifully went and got my copy when it came out. Neko Case has made a trend of her albums subtly improving from one to the next, while all being excellent. I guess it's a pretty fine distinction to make between being disappointed and feeling let down, but let's say this is a bit of a letdown when viewed against the fibonacci-like thread of her entire catalogue up to this point. Don't take that to mean I don't like this, though. Like I said, I dutifully got a copy as soon as I could, and I did so because it's still a fine album. I listened and listened again, and when my feelings on the matter were clear, I decided this: Her strength in performing is at its peak when the songs aren't too slow, and this is a slower album than the perfect "Fox confessor brings the flood". Of the 15 songs, 4 of 'em could have been on her last album. 2 of 'em were covers, (a first for her) Sparks' "never turn your back on mother earth" and Harry Nilsson's "don't forget me", which I saw fit to turn my back on and forget, respectively. One is a field recording of frogs croaking at night and lasts for a half hour. I really like that one, actually, but I also like the sound of Sonic Youth plucking bedsprings in Wharton Tiers' basement, so be advised. The remaining songs are all quite good. The remaining songs are all too slow for me. Almost all of them pick up at some point in the song, which I like. A couple don't, which is meh.
The title track sounds almost like a lullaby, and then a damn music box comes in. Don't try so hard to put me to sleep, Neko! Still, it's a good song. Everything she wrote for this album is good. It's just a whisker too slow to be truly great to my ears. This one straddles the razor's edge of A and B material for me. What to do? Oh, I'll give it two letter grades. That'll work.

More love for Neko Case

On Sound Opinions on Chicago Public Radio, there's a podcast with Neko Case talking and playing some songs from her new album, Middle Cyclone, which comes out in a couple of days.

If you want to just download it and listen at your leisure, you may utilize this conveniently provided link.

If you'd like to listen to streaming tracks from Middle Cyclone, you can accomplish that by clicking here.

If you want to hear her play a full, awesome concert, click here.

If you like what you hear, go buy her stuff. Don't be a cheap ass and download it, either. She deserves to get paid.

Neko Case - Fox confessor brings the flood

How the fuck? Seriously, how the fuck can one person be this fucking good? I'm not even going to try answering that, but suffice it to say, she sloughs off more talent when she scratches her head than most musicians (even good ones) can manage to muster at any single point in their lives. My little love affair with Neko Case started back in the early/mid 90s when she played drums on the first Cub record. She quit after that, but I knew who she was at that point. She dropped off my radar for a couple of years, and all of a sudden she was in town playing country music. Turned out she'd spent summers with her grandma listening to Loretta Lynn records, just a few miles down the road from me. When she started coming to town playing her country, I'd just rediscovered my own love of the genre by scoring Conway Twitty LPs from the free bin in front of the record store across the street from a bar I frequented. I'd scoop 'em up drunk and take them home for a listen. She was headlining shows in short order, and her reputation was growing fast. Like, really fucking fast. Sure enough, I went and saw. She was fantastic. But you know what? She was just learning to fly at that point. Fox confessor brings the flood, compared to her earlier, wonderful stuff, is kind of like a unified field theory as opposed to the earlier work's discovery of the mechanics of gravity. Her lyrics are on par with any of the greats, and the music is a cut above most of those same greats'. It has its country twang, sure. I'd really hesitate to call her music country at this point, though. It's at once accessible and familiar, but while you can point out elements of any number of styles, it would really be a disservice to categorize it. Her voice is amazing and she belts shit out, and the overall effect is that you're dragged through melancholy and she makes you love every second. Her device is storytelling, and that's something you don't hear in music enough anymore. The album starts with a strange story, and becomes sadder as it progresses through the songs, ending with a really sad about coming back to Tacoma, WA. If you know that area, the whole atmosphere of the song actually becomes a tangible thing. She can make you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell every single fucking thing she wants you to, and leaves you humbled for the experience. There's a richness in her music that's seldom encountered, and I really think that you have to have spent time in the northwest to fully get the impact, which I personally love. It's like being privy to a juicy secret that's out in the open but nobody can see. Don't let that discourage you from buying everything she's ever recorded, though.

I love this album so fucking hard. It's in my top 5. Maybe even top 3. She has a new album coming out in March. I won't even be surprised if she tops this one.