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Neko's Middle Cyclone


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Been in my rotation for a few days... pretty solid, but she could put out an album singing an econ 101 text book and sound solid. Some tracks are starting to emerge above others.

 

She did get a glowing review from my 4 year old while I was driving her to day care: "Daddy, her voice is big". She was struggling to find the right adjective but somehow settled on something appropriate.

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Been in my rotation for a few days... pretty solid, but she could put out an album singing an econ 101 text book and sound solid. Some tracks are starting to emerge above others.

 

She did get a glowing review from my 4 year old while I was driving her to day care: "Daddy, her voice is big". She was struggling to find the right adjective but somehow settled on something appropriate.

 

 

I think your 4 year old's description covers it.

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nope

 

but it's better than him claiming it's U2 or Bruce :lol

Sad thing is, we'll see U2 and Bruce get nominated for their mediocre albums at the grammy's.

 

Middle Cyclone is pretty good. I'm not quite sure how she tacked on that last track even if I do appreciate it, I'm just not sure if this album is the home for that track.

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ok the single off this album - i downloaded from amazon the other day

 

that is the best song i've heard in the last 2 or 3 years. the vocals on it are mesmerizing - every time i listen to it i pick up on something new. i'm really really hyped for this album now... can't wait for tuesday

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damn finally heard this cd (listened to it about 20 times already) in full on npr - wow unbelievable. i'm going to easily say this album is better than anything released in 2008 (one of the weakest years for music in a long time). this is an album that i'd pay $50 for.

 

neko has really outdone herself. only bad part of the entire album is the last track, but i guess i've come to accept that all musical geniuses have their eccentricities that sometimes make it onto albums... jeff did something similar with ghost is born.

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i dunno if this has been posted, but the entire album is streaming for free at npr, or at least will be for another day before it releases.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=100826714

 

seriously - one hell of an album. best thing i've heard in a year and a half. better than fox confessor, possibly better than blacklisted. she's the complete package these days - being just as impressive with the instruments and arrangements as she is with her voice.

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seriously - one hell of an album. best thing i've heard in a year and a half. better than fox confessor, possibly better than blacklisted. she's the complete package these days - being just as impressive with the instruments and arrangements as she is with her voice.

Agreed. This CD feels like it pick up where "The Needle Has Landed" left off and just keeps rising.

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I dig it, and it's growing on me with each listen, but no way is it as good as either Blacklisted or Fox Confessor.

it is the most impressive thing she's done, easily in terms of vocal range and skill. the backup vocals are also a step above what she's recorded in her previous albums. i'm also quite digging the whole theme of the album, it isn't just a collection of songs like blacklisted was and confessor. all of these songs contribute to the themes of nature and humanity and love. we are simply products of nature and will return to the earth when we die. she is crying out against the idea that humans are special just because we say we are. nothing new to be sure, this stuff has been dealt with in philosophy for eons, but she does it very well in song and verse using illusions and characters created in her mind and brought to life through her songs. she's done this type of "character creation" before with confessor, but not nearly as successfully.

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Curious -- does Neko write her own tunes? I assume she does on these albums, right? Does she write the tunes that she sings for NP, too? For some reason, I thought Carl newman wrote the NP tunes.

 

Haven't heard the new album yet, but very much looking forward to it.

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She writes all of her own solo stuff and as for stuff in the NP, Newman and Bejar do the writing (mainly Newman though Bejar usually brings a couple for each album, although usually the best songs on the album!) and they just get Neko to sing from what I understand.

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She writes all of her own solo stuff

Not exactly true -- these days she co-writes a lot of her solo stuff with Paul Rigby, her guitarist. As I understand it, she writes the lyrics and gets the general tune down, and Rigby adds musical ideas (e.g., chord changes).

 

edit: this was my understanding, but the track lists on All Music Guide list only Neko for most tracks. So I'm confused.

 

edit pt. II: the NYT story bears me out:

 

She has recently turned down major-label overtures (“And I’m so glad that Elektra, for example, didn’t come to me early on with an offer,” she says), retains all the rights to her songs and has never made a publishing deal. She does share revenues with Rigby, the guitarist. “Paul really helps me compose my music,” she says, “he always knows which chords to use when.” Otherwise she retains artistic and financial control of her productions.
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we are simply products of nature and will return to the earth when we die. she is crying out against the idea that humans are special just because we say we are.

 

I totally agree with this (I think I said something similar in a thread about God somewhere else on this board). Will buy the CD soon.

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