12.1.06

"when i was a younger, i never thought i'd like country music" or "the beginner's guide to neko case"

i first became acquainted with neko case when my then-housemate, ben, picked up "blacklisted" when it was first released way back in 2002. he was completely obsessed with the album at the time and made me a copy. i listened to it, but i wasn't too fussed over it. a few months later, i'd kinda forgotten about it and ben mentioned that she was going to be playing here. we decided to go check it out. seeing her live completely struck a nerve for me. let's see, voice of honey. check.
charisma. check.
stage presence. check.
wicked sense of humor. yup.
h0ttt. oh yeah.
what's not to love? i went back home with a newfound appreciation for blacklisted, and quickly picked up the rest of the albums that i could find. since then, i think i've seen her about 8 or 9 times. this past summer, i flew out to denver to see her play a pair of gigs at the bluebird theater. very cool.

these are pretty much all of the regular releases, so i'll list those (in order of release) and my favorite tracks. so what you need to do is open up another browser (or tab), get your credit card out, log onto your favorite online music shop, and do a search for "neko case" and add all of these albums to your shopping cart. seriously, you can't go wrong with any or all of these.


"the virginian": check out "bowling green", "misfire", "thanks a lot", "high on cruel", and "the virginian".

"furnace room lullaby": check out "set out running", "twist the knife", "thrice all american", "whip the blankets", "south tacoma way", and "bought and sold".

"canadian amp": check out "dreaming man", "knock loud", "make your bed", "in california", and "favorite".

"blacklisted": check out "deep red bells", "tightly", "look for me (i'll be around)", "stinging velvet", "i wish i was the moon", and "runnin' out of fools".

"the tigers have spoken": check out "if you knew", "soulful shade of blue", "this little light", and "wayfaring stranger".

i also have a copy of an appearance she made on the john peel show back in 2000 which is fucking superb. her new album is coming march 7th. it's on anti and it's titled "fox confessor brings the flood".

neko case @ anti.com
www.nekocase.com (hasn't been updated in quite a while)
album reviews @ allmusic.com
tonevendor cool online (US based) music store. i recommend them, they're nice people.

9 comments:

Stef said...

Neko Case? Not even heard of her. Country you say..?

Can I download some stuff first to see if I like it?

robot hero said...

i can send you some stuff thru yousendit.com, just need an address from you.

Stef said...

Cool, thanks.

Address is contact at stefaninstall.com

Very kind. Not seen yousendit.com before either. Does it send a link to the file for downloading or actually mail the files into the email mailbox?

robot hero said...

yeah, it saves the file on their server for a few days and emails a link for download. i'll send you some stuff soon.

Stef said...

Cool, just got it and listening to it now.

I think, like you, I may have to come back to this. I can see that she's good, really good but it's not hitting the right notes at the moment. That might have something to do with my listening to the Arctic Monkeys all evening.

I'll give Neko another whirl over the weekend and see how it sits then. If you haven't tried the Acrctic Monkeys yet, you really should. I notice they're playing SF in the spring and they're supposed to be killer live...

robot hero said...

arctic monkeys, i've heard of them. i'll look them up this afternoon.

shaz said...

I can't imagine a time when you weren't obsessed with Neko! I need to get more, I only have Blacklisted and The Tigers that I picked up with you at Amoeba.

As for Arctic Monkeys... well, you might've garnered that they're not my favourites. Back in October I said "The Arctic Monkeys are the kind of bollocks drivel that Pete Fucking Doherty and KaSHITEian are responsible for. Please! Can we have some decent new bands?! Why should I be having to revert back to the 60s to get a fix of decent music?".

My opinion hasn't changed!

xx

robot hero said...

lol you posted this on bowlie i presume. i'll have to look for it. i've been surfing bowlie very lightly the past six months or so. notice that i've nearly dropped out of the top ten posters.

and yes, i've been worshipping at the altar of neko since i saw her that first time. you need to complete your collection and get furnace room lullaby, canadian amp and the virginian. i swear you'll love them.

Stef said...

Sharon, I know what you mean about the Arctic Monkeys, but I can't say I totally agree.

Pete Dougherty is a talentless tosser and most of the bands of that genre including The Stokes, The Libertines et al have completely left me cold but the AMs seemed to at least have the balls and the passion that rock is supposed to have. Whether they'll be a lasting 'talent' we shall see but I certainly think they are better than their cohorts at the moment and I'm craving a bit of rock in my life to be honest.