not a lot of space for the song to breathe, makes me feel like I've airplane ears
still not lovin' overcompression
― niels, Thursday, 12 April 2018 17:20 (five years ago) link
Neko Case is opening for Ray LaMontagne!? Not the other way around? What a world...
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 12 April 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link
^^Reminds me of this time I was watching The Tonight Show when they had Jakob Dylan on and I realized Kelly & Neko were his backing singers AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING.
― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 12 April 2018 20:10 (five years ago) link
Re-listened to Furnace Room Lullaby for the first time in ages. I'd forgotten how great that disc is & just how spectacular her vocals are.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 19:52 (five years ago) link
Not sure about any of these new songs tbh - I should be excited for a slow burning seven-minute duet with Mark Lanegan but it's not clicking for me yet
― Simon H., Tuesday, 22 May 2018 19:54 (five years ago) link
I love her every note but feel the same way about the new one
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 22 May 2018 21:18 (five years ago) link
surprised people don't like this, I do, reminds me of carol keogh actually
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, 30 May 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
New album is more of a grower than an immediate love affair like previously.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 30 May 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link
One of my favorite singers/solo artists I really never listen to. Always great, weirdly not compelling.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 May 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
How’s the new one ?
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Friday, 1 June 2018 17:32 (five years ago) link
Didn’t read xpost my bad
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Friday, 1 June 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 June 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
I gave the new one a listen - it def seems like it would take some time to reveal itself. (The duet w/ Lanegan has definitely grown on me.) A part of me still misses the unadorned beauty of stuff like "Wish I Was the Moon" and "South Tacoma Way" but she's obviously doing exactly what she wants to do.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2018 17:41 (five years ago) link
I don't reach for Neko's music very often, but I do think she has her own way of writing that is different from anyone else, and thus awesome. I feel like she lives in a different world than the rest of us.
― alpine static, Friday, 1 June 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
have been listening to middle cyclone a lot this past weeklike it a lot more now than i did at the time
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:03 (five years ago) link
― alpine static, Friday, June 1, 2018 1:53 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah, exactly -- I also hear a lot of Kristin Hersh on here, especially on "Gumball Blue" (the melody is kinda like "Cottonmouth," "stain the edges of the nebula gumball blue" is 100% something she would write)
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:22 (five years ago) link
xp middle cyclone is my favorite
― niels, Friday, 1 June 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
She's doing a short tour w/Dan Bejar opening late this year.
― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:44 (five years ago) link
That sounds amazing
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:45 (five years ago) link
Your blues rules
first time thru Gumball Blue I thought, well, she should've given this one to the New Pornos ... then learned it's a Newman co-write.
and with that said, it's pretty amazing how much Newman's style infiltrates that song, considering Neko's distinctive (writing) voice.
― alpine static, Friday, 1 June 2018 18:51 (five years ago) link
note that she has 63 dates currently booked in the six months before the leg with Destroyer
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Friday, 1 June 2018 19:35 (five years ago) link
I love Middle Cyclone and I listen to it all the time. I pull out Furnace Room and Blacklisted pretty often too.
I really liked the last one but there were just a couple songs I had a hard time listening to (notably the "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu"), which keeps me from putting on the album regularly.
In any case I regard her as one of my very favorite artists. I haven't yet listened to the new one though the singles have been hit and miss for me.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 2 June 2018 00:24 (five years ago) link
"halls of sarah" is excellent
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
i think i like this one better than the last one, feels more balanced
somewhat ot but fox confessor increasingly seems like one of the best albums ever made to me
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:52 (five years ago) link
Yeah, probably her best, still feels mysterious and new every time I hear it. The Sadies did a fantastic job backing her up.
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
fox confessor is absolutely extraordinary
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
I'm still fan of Middle Cyclone too. This one's good, but her albums take a while, mostly.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:00 (five years ago) link
"behind the reservoir of collarbones / forms two private lakes" she's also one of the best lyricists going rn
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link
She is a crazy talented writer for sure. "Margaret Vs Pauline" sketches out a whole world in under three minutes.
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 15:04 (five years ago) link
god yeah, 'one left her sweater sitting on the train / the other lost three fingers at the cannery' is just such a perfectly telling juxtaposition
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
"star witness" is my favorite lyric of hers, it is just incredibly vivid from line to line. the second verse alone ("trees break the sidewalk and the sidewalk skins my knees / there's glass in my thermos and blood on my jeans / nickels and dimes of the fourth of july / roll off in a crooked line / to the chain-link lots where the red tails dive" breathtaking)
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:09 (five years ago) link
just remembering the way her voice dips when she sings 'dive' there gives me goosebumps, honestly
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
pro tip: fox confessor is also a great album to fall asleep to
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:11 (five years ago) link
we've never done a fox confessor or albums poll, just sayin'
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 15:12 (five years ago) link
Heard some of this in someone else's house last night! Sounded even better following that Kanye krap.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:12 (five years ago) link
'red wine is fast/at the lip of your glass/and I'm going to ruin, everything...' A minute and a half of utter perfection.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 4 June 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
this album is extremely good, I rank it highly in her discography. prefer it to the last couple (which i also really love admittedly.) the Crooked Fingers cover/duet is really astonishing.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:40 (five years ago) link
It's taking longer to sink in than expected; every time I listen to her I have to accustom myself to long verse lines settling into or occasionally fighting the melody, not to mention her sudden key changes. "Gunball Blue" and "Winnie" and "Pitch or Honey" are the standouts. Had no idea she was singing "mercurochrome and merthiolate stains, oh" on "My Uncle's Navy."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:50 (five years ago) link
she seems to sing about love a lot more on this album than in the past
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
every time I listen to her I have to accustom myself to long verse lines settling into or occasionally fighting the melody, not to mention her sudden key changes.
^This is very well put...
I am enjoying this more than her last few, on first listen... but she's prob. not the kind of artist to form impressions based on "first listen, at desk while working" (if that's fair to any artist!).
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:58 (five years ago) link
(I dug the Case/Lang/Veirs album, but it felt like Laura Veirs led the charge on that one.)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:01 (five years ago) link
she definitely did, once it got going. whenever they needed songs, they went to her considerable well. (Veirs writes dozens and dozens of songs per album.)
― alpine static, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:29 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I dipped into her catalog after that album – it’s so extensive!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:40 (five years ago) link
when ppl say “better than her last few” are you including middle cyclone? because that is her best album
― sciatica, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:40 (five years ago) link
yep
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:48 (five years ago) link
Personally, yes -- it never clicked w/me. But I'm open to the idea that I should revisit it!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:26 (five years ago) link
it clicked w/me but i just prefer the new one. it's very hard to choose favorite, though. or to really place the albums in much of an order.
i think her most underrated one these days might be The Tigers Have Spoken, that's a killer.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:28 (five years ago) link
Blacklisted->Tigers->Fox Confessor is one of those astonishing trios of albums, I just value them so highly. I try not to get "locked into" a certain era of an artist's work, and I have given her subsequent albums a fair shake... but for whatever reason, those three have remained the untouchable totem for me.
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:32 (five years ago) link
Lukewarm take blacklisted ->tigers->fox->cyclone is as good as Led Zeppelin 1-4
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:35 (five years ago) link