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Guest Don Draper

That Over/Under is fantastic.

 

I really want to like Neko more than I do, she's fantastic, but if this makes sense, I think her voice is too powerful to convey the vulnerability that some of her songs demand.  That being said, "I Wish I Was the Moon" is a Top 10-ever song for me, and this new album is pretty great.  Can't wait to see her in October.

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 "I Wish I Was the Moon" is a Top 10-ever song for me

 

Same here.  That's the song that convinced me Neko deserved attention.  Been a huge fan ever since.  (Incidentally, around the same time that I discovered Neko, I interviewed an indie filmmaker who had used "I Wish I Was the Moon" in his movie.  I asked more questions about that scene than any other, perhaps betraying my bias!)

 

Still love that song beyond reason.

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Guest Don Draper

Yes, it really is amazing.  I heard that she wrote it about her father, watching him come home tired from work every day.  Whatever the context, it is a beautiful love song about unrequited something.

 

And surely I'm not the only person in the world who wants to be her best friend?

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This whole album is great (I still applaud Honolulu, while not really enjoying it).  Calling Cards has quickly become a favorite along with City Swan.  I think of her solo albums I could say:

 

The Harder I Fight....

Fox Confessor

Middle Cyclone

Canadian Amp

The Tigers Have Spoken

the boyfriends albums

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This whole album is great (I still applaud Honolulu, while not really enjoying it). Calling Cards has quickly become a favorite along with City Swan. I think of her solo albums I could say:

 

The Harder I Fight....

Fox Confessor

Middle Cyclone

Canadian Amp

The Tigers Have Spoken

the boyfriends albums

Where's "Blacklisted" on that list?

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I haven't listened to it enough to rank it, but it would be hard for anything to top Middle Cyclone for me.

 

I still remember the first time I listened to that album. I was in my office listening on headphones, being blown away and then it all culminated with Prison Girls and a moment in that song that caused me to well up. It's a reaction I get whenever I'm experiencing something that can't be described by words.

 

Anyway, all that to say Neko Case is a transcendental artist.

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I haven't listened to it enough to rank it, but it would be hard for anything to top Middle Cyclone for me.

 

I still remember the first time I listened to that album. I was in my office listening on headphones, being blown away and then it all culminated with Prison Girls and a moment in that song that caused me to well up. It's a reaction I get whenever I'm experiencing something that can't be described by words.

 

Anyway, all that to say Neko Case is a transcendental artist.

 

Middle Cyclone ranks at the top for me as well. I've only seen her play live once, and it was in support of this album. She played every track off Middle Cyclone (minus the field recording, and the tunes were out of sequence) and pretty much all the "greatest hits" from Blacklisted, Fox and a few non-album live favorites. That show was transcendental.

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A bad one at that, too. In the comments section, someone posted links to the writer's previous reviews of Middle Cyclone and The Tigers Have Spoken... for other publications. She lifted a lot of the same stuff she wrote about Middle Cyclone for this review.

 

Not to mention the fact that she didn't seem to listen to any of the lyrics.

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Lou, I think I agree.  There are tracks on the new one that rank among her absolute best--"Ragtime" comes to mind--but as a total package, it's a tad uneven, much like "Middle Cyclone."  "Fox Confessor" remains my favorite.  That said, the last two records, despite their flaws, still strike me as vibrant and exciting, because they represent such a unique and evolving vision.

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Ragtime is great. I think it's a solid album with some of the most interesting songs she's ever written. It isn't as great as her previous two, but that's an unfair and impossible standard to hold her to.

 

I am surprised that I seem to be in the minority in thinking Middle Cyclone is her best.

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Wow, I guess I am in the minority here thinking this album is Neko's absolute best work.  It is densely layered and exceedingly dark without succumbing to its own weight.  

 

I found an interesting article, not so much about the album (though there is a review at the end), but about the new alt-folk bands that have been popping up in the last couple of years (Avett Bros, Mumford and Sons, Lumineers, etc.) and what they can do to learn from acts like Neko Case and Richard Buckner.  Interesting read

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2013/09/the_lumineers_and_mumford_sons_what_they_could_learn_from_neko_case.2.html 

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