SOUNDTRACK: NEKO CASE-Middle Cyclone (2009).
I first learned of Neko Case through The New Pornographers. Their song “Letter from an Occupant” blew me away. But when I’d investigated her solo work, I learned she was more of a country singer than anything else. Reviewers said that Middle Cyclone broke from that mold a little into more rock territory.
I don’t know her early stuff, but I can attest that these songs are mildly rocking. However, it’s hard to take the country out of the singer. There’s something about Neko’s voice on this disc that screams country (even as her songs get faster and more furious). But, much like k.d. lang who won me over when she broke away from her country roots, so did Neko Case.
Rather than explicit country, Neko case seems to be filling in the shoes of the sorely missed Kirsty MacColl, another great singer-songwriter who melded genres like so much fondue.
Case never hits the manic intensity of “Letter from an Occupant” (she admitted on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me that her vocals were sped up for that song), but she proves to be a powerhouse singer. And once I got over the fact that this album didn’t ROCK, I accepted that it was very good. I don’t know if I have a favorite track, although I do like her cover of Sparks’ “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth.”
I finally managed to listen to the last track, “Marais la Nuit” all the way through on my lunch the other day. It is, literally, 30 minutes of frogs and bugs chirping away. It’s quite relaxing, but not really worth listening to all 30 minutes.
[READ: October 8, 2009] “Summer of the Flesh Eater”
The title is not misleading exactly, but it may make you think zombies are afoot. But they are not. (I debated about revealing this, but figured it would win more fans of people who don’t like zombies than lose people who do). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS-Mass Romantic (2000).
I Just Read About That... 