Neko Case

"i don't know neko except for fox confessor..."

Jeez people. Try buying one of her albums that's NOT available at Starbucks. She's been around for quite a while.

― Nate Carson, Monday, December 8, 2008 9:33 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

whatever.

i don't even drink coffee i only drink pop.

Haha, no offense to you personally! Just saying.

Too many mentions on this thread of her majorly distributed works when she has a slew of great songs that predate it.

i don't know about "a slew" -- i think all her albums are uneven. haven't listened to them in a while, but off the top of my head i'd probably rank them:

furnace room > fox confessor > virginian > blacklisted.

(if the tigers live album counts, i'd probably put that second or third.) i know a lot of people love blacklisted, and i do love "deep red bells," but that album's always seemed like kind of a slog to me. the rest of them i like pretty well, but i could lose 3 or 4 songs off each without missing them.

tipsy otmhra

It's a pretty short slog, but I agree Furnace Room is the best.

I'm a Furnace Room guy too. Though if you took all the New Pornographers songs where she sings lead... you could make a pretty fantastic album.

Plus Corn Sisters et al. The lady is prolific. How many does it take to be an official "slew" anyway?

We call them the Newpies on this thread.

Haha, will do from here on out.

What, we save a syllable around here and just call them the Newps.

I'm still curious about the thing they did with Andre Williams, which I never got around to hearing. If you like fart jokes, it's ... ok.

The Sadies are a great backing band or club band but their records are kind of meh. "What's Left Behind" off New Seasons is an amazing single.

By "around here" I mean in my actual geographic location.

re: the Sadies. Yes, you should see them. In Mpls or anywhere. Buy them drinks, wish them luck, etc. Find out about this Neil Young thing, let us know. Random Sadies vids below. Their shows can go on for a very long time. Definitely worth while if you like psych country garage surf.

"Though if you took all the New Pornographers songs where she sings lead... you could make a pretty fantastic album."

which ones are those? i can only come up with
Mass Romantic
Jackie
Letter From An Occupant
To Wild Homes
The Bones Of An Idol
There Are The Fables

Jackie is Dan Bejar singing....?

All For Swinging You Around is one of her best New Pornographer songs.

You have to add her cover of Bowling Green to that list, a duet with Carl Newman from her first record. That's fairly epic.

Have any of you turkeys heard Your Control yet, her duet on the new Crooked Fingers record?

It took a recent reappraisal of Fox Confessor to get me to admit that it's a terrible album--bloated, pretentious, boring as hell. Neko has a great voice but does it no favors with oblique, formless story songs that don't actually tell stories.

So, sadly, I'm not excited for this one.

"Jackie is Dan Bejar singing....?"

i meant jackie, dressed in cobras but that's a duet i suppose. i can't find a list on the net that lists who sings which newpy song. anyone help make a neko-lead-vocal playlist?

I could help later - but off the top of my head you left off the outstanding title track from Challengers.

Left out:
Challengers
Go Places
All for Swinging You Around
Streets of Fire (not technically the lead)

Neko has a great voice but does it no favors with oblique, formless story songs that don't actually tell stories.

I think that "Star Witness" is her single best bit of storytelling, though.

That makes 9-10 Newp/Newpies songs that she sings lead on. Seems like an album's worth to me.

"Hold On, Hold On" is pretty oblique, but utterly sublime, IMO.

add Your Daddy Don't Know to newpies comp

I prefer the "When I Was a Baby" cover myself!

agree to disagree. I prefer Neko when she throttles out wrt the newpies.

The Neko Pornographers

1. Mass Romantic
2. The Laws Have Changed
3. Letter From an Occupant
4. Challengers
5. The Bones of an Idol
6. The Jessica Numbers
7. All for Swinging You Around
8. These Are the Fables
9. Star Bodies
10. Miss Teen Wordpower
11. Go Places

www.myspace.com/nekocase

NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

2009 is gonna be good.

I'm SUPER EXCITED about this.

hmm. single is ... ok.

http://www.amazon.com/Middle-Cyclone-Neko-Case/dp/B001MWGZDG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231969499&sr=8-1

SHE SPEAKS; LIVES ON FARM; WEARS ADULT SWIM HOODIE

Nice feature/interview piece on her in the new Oxford American magazine music issue

I kinda like the single, but was a little disappointed in the OA piece. I guess I wanted a little more point to it other than describing his play date with Neko. Which makes me wonder, does she get tired of everybody crushing on her?

OA link?

i like the new song because i feel it is a good song and i enjoy the way they play and sing the musical parts.

Hey, this "new single" on her myspace page isn't Neko Case, but a clever impostor. Hint: you can tell by WHERE'S ALL THE REVERB?

Me like, actually.

I meant to say a month ago, thanks to korn for recommending "Your Control", it's a really fantastic duet. I'm guessing with another vocalist it would have merely been an average Springsteen-style tune, but it really worked for me.

I had breakfast with Ms Case yesterday in New York. I can exclusively reveal that she opts for egg white frittatas to start her day.

I meant to say a month ago, thanks to korn for recommending "Your Control",

Finally, some recognition. I'll tell you, sometimes it's really hard being so ahead of the curve. Lonely.

Regardless, that song should really be a hit. And Bowling Green, from her first album, should have been a Hey Ya level smash.

I had breakfast with Ms Case yesterday in New York. I can exclusively reveal that she opts for egg white frittatas to start her day. Well, there goes that celebrity infatuation, then.

Because she opted for egg white frittatas or because she had breakfast with Stevie T?

People Got a Lot of Nerve is pretty sweet.

I could never abide a singin', travellin' woman who noshed on an egg-white frittata.

All I know is she is airbrushed into oblivion on that new album cover. Girl need to act her age.

She cooked my Thanksgiving dinner once.

She and I roadtripped to TJ in the summer of 2001.

she fixed my transmission with a roll of gaffers tape and a can of tuna

Lyrically, her obliqueness is both a virtue and a limitation. (I can identify.)

Anyone know what part of Ukraine her parents come from?

Nope. But in the Oxford American music issue article by Jack Pendarvis it says she speaks Russian. Alas, that article is not online at the Oxford American website (you'll have to buy it or read it a bookstore or something).

But Paste has a recent interesting interview with her and a list of 17 things she loves--http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/01/neko-case-drives-us-batty.html