From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V8 #52 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Wednesday, March 11 2009 Volume 08 : Number 052 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case ["Michael W. Zwirn" ] [loud-fans] just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? [outbound-only email address ] [loud-fans] Re: just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? [outbound-only email addr] [loud-fans] Re: just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? [outbound-only email addr] Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case [Gil Ray ] Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case [treesprite@earthlink.net] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:55:14 -0400 From: "Michael W. Zwirn" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case I have sometimes mixed feelings about Neko Case (who is indeed very noirish - but more mythologized Southern Gothic than Sam Spade urban noir, and who for the record, should really do an album of Lou Reed covers called the Velvet Underground and Neko - but I digress): I think she's an amazing, force-of-nature quality singer. Her work with the NPs and her solo cover materials is just that - blasting (or crooning) out songs that rely largely on the amazing strength and subtlety of her singing. As a songwriter, however, she has moved very far from the accessible Americana/country roots of The Virginian and the Boyfriends records (which I enjoyed a lot). The transition really started around the time of Blacklisted, with all the moody murder narratives. But notwithstanding the lyrics, she really has almost entirely discarded a standard verse-chorus-verse-bridge-etc format. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (which I also liked) REALLY doesn't have much pop songwriting on it at all. I haven't heard all of the new record (just added to my lala webplay list), but the reviews imply strongly that she's writing even fewer obvious hooks and choruses. In the early part of the decade I would see Neko a lot in Portland - probably four or five times in a three-year span not including one New Pornographers set, between 2002-2004. I stopped, not because I didn't enjoy the experience but because I found her stage presence somewhat repetitive. This was the Furnace Room Lullaby/Blacklisted period and she simply didn't have enough of her own material to make a full-length set, so there were always the same set of cover songs ("Wayfaring Stranger," "Buckets of Rain," etc.) to fill out the evening. My wife bought me the Austin City Limits DVD, which was recorded a few years ago, and I felt the same way. I like it all, and I like her self-deprecating humor, but I think she's getting more 'difficult' as an artist as she matures as a songwriter.Which is cool. Clearly, the readership on this list is not averse to "difficult" songwriting. I would hope that seeing her in concert in 2009 would offer a wider range of songs and styles than the shows I saw a few years beforehand. It'll be interesting to see how the more straightforward country stuff from her earlier records fits alongside the more gothic material she's recorded lately. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Marcinko" To: loud-fans@smoe.org Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Tommy Keene! Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 22:50:37 -0700 I was listening to Neko's new one on a long drive, and it hit me: A lot of country/folk-music women seem to be very much earth-mother types. Not that they have to be, or that I necessarily want them to be, but that' s how a lot of them strike me. Roseann Cash, for one (I like her a lot too). But there is nothing at all *comforting* about Neko's music. It's very noirish, and to paraphrase (or quote; I can't remember; it's been some time) what somebody said about Elvis Costello's early stuff, it startles you, makes you jump. Not saying that anybody who doesn't like her is secretly longing for, oh, Joan Baez or Judy Collins, but I can see how somebody could be actively put off by Neko's work. It really is challenging -- easy to listen to but not so easy to digest (as I think somebody also said about the Living Elvis). So many lyrical references to bad smells. I mean, you just don't go there ... OK, maybe this response reveals more about me than the artist, but there it is, FWIW. On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Tom Galczynski wrote: > First, let me say that I love Neko Case. Absolutely love her voice and I > think she is an integral and dynamic part of The New Pornographers, one of > my favorite bands ever. Yet for the life of me, and I have really, really > tried, I cannot get her solo stuff. It's very confusing to me why I don't, > but I just don't get it. Her songs just do not resonate with me even though > I think her voice is incredible, there is obvious intelligence and thought > and art going on in her songs, many of which have melodies I enjoy a lot. I > like "This Tornado Loves You", "People Gotta Lot of Nerve" from the new > record, but it is more in admiration than pure enjoyment. > Anyone else have an artist they have such a twisted relationship with? ;-) > > > Tom Galczynski tgalczynski@comcast.net > --------------------------------------- > Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. > -- Voltaire > > > > > > treesprite@earthlink.net wrote: > >> I think the Tommy Keene record is quite good -- probably among his best. >> It's a little more adventurous than the last one -- a little more colorful >> and diverse. Might not convert a newcomer, but it's worth picking up. >> >> The other new releases that i'm really thrilled with so far are the new >> Neko Case, Morrissey and Moore Brothers albums. I'm not sure about the new >> Outrageous Cherry yet and the new Don McGlashan is still on its way from New >> Zealand. >> >> The Moore Brothers album is, finally, the perfect recorded artifact of >> their strange folk-pop -- for years they've been incredible live and a lot >> less than incredible on record, but this time they got a really sympathetic >> producer (Kelley Stoltz) who definitely "got it". For those outside the Bay >> Area, they really are brothers who sing mind-blowingly great harmonies -- >> Simon & Garfunkel caliber harmony singing. Their influences could be listed >> as Robyn Hitchcock, Robert Pollard, Martin Carthy and Felt in a strange >> combination with the sophisticated songwriting of folks like Paddy Mcaloon >> or Green Gartside. If you go to the "shop" section of their label's website, >> you can listen to the whole album -- highly, highly recommended! >> http://www.americandust.net >> >> Bradley >> >> www.byebyeblackbirds.com >> > -- http://tomaq.livejournal.com/ "In a world so redolent with wonder, how can we allow ourselves to conduct our daily lives with so little insight, such absence of dignity?" Bruno Argento http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2009/01/the_true_21st_century_begins.php Michael W. Zwirn michael@zwirn.com Skype: zwirnm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:18:28 -0400 From: outbound-only email address Subject: [loud-fans] just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? I tried to pre-order the new Metric album at ilovemetric.com, and got an error message at the purchase confirmation step. My bank doesn't show a charge (although it might not until tomorrow) -- didn't get a confirmation email or the pre-release download links. Anyone else have better luck? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:24:59 -0400 From: outbound-only email address Subject: [loud-fans] Re: just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? Just in case it's not dead obvious, I'm NOT asking anyone to try to make a purchase. Just wondering if anyone has previously had a successful transaction (especially today). And yes, I've opened a trouble ticket w/ topspinmedia (who apparently do the transaction processing for the Metric site). Haven't heard back from a real person yet. On 3/10/09, outbound-only email address wrote: > I tried to pre-order the new Metric album at ilovemetric.com, and got > an error message at the purchase confirmation step. My bank doesn't > show a charge (although it might not until tomorrow) -- didn't get a > confirmation email or the pre-release download links. > > Anyone else have better luck? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:24:48 -0400 From: outbound-only email address Subject: [loud-fans] Re: just curious, anyone have a successful transaction with ilovemetric.com/topspinmedia? On the offchance anyone decides they care, the ordering process uses 3rd party cookies to get your login from the bands site to the payment processor ... so if you have restrictive (some might say "sane") cookie controls, the order won't be confirmed (there was no cc charge). I relaxed my cookie setting for the duration of a session, and everything went through fine. On 3/10/09, outbound-only email address wrote: > Just in case it's not dead obvious, I'm NOT asking anyone to try to > make a purchase. Just wondering if anyone has previously had a > successful transaction (especially today). > > And yes, I've opened a trouble ticket w/ topspinmedia (who apparently > do the transaction processing for the Metric site). Haven't heard > back from a real person yet. > > > > On 3/10/09, outbound-only email address wrote: > > I tried to pre-order the new Metric album at ilovemetric.com, and got > > an error message at the purchase confirmation step. My bank doesn't > > show a charge (although it might not until tomorrow) -- didn't get a > > confirmation email or the pre-release download links. > > > > Anyone else have better luck? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:25:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Gil Ray Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case - --- On Tue, 3/10/09, Michael W. Zwirn wrote: > I have sometimes mixed feelings about Neko Case> > I think she's an amazing, force-of-nature quality > singer. Her work with > the NPs and her solo cover materials is just that - > blasting (or > crooning) out songs that rely largely on the amazing > strength and > subtlety of her singing. As a songwriter, however, she has > moved very far > from the accessible Americana/country roots I agree with all of that, nicely put. I just ran through the new one and as with her other solo albums, I like it very much, even though it sounds a whole lot like her other CD's. But I LOVE her work with NP's. Her voice is magically "in there" with those other guy's voices. Stacey thinks I have a sort of Kim Longacre fixation with her voice, and that is probably true - when both of them belt it out, it sends a thunderous shiver down my spine. I guess I just need to rock more, but I do appreciate her writing. Gil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:00:03 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: treesprite@earthlink.net Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Neko Case I guess i've had a somewhat different experience with Neko's stuff. I haven't warmed to the NPs at all, and though I liked the Furnace Room Lullaby quite a bit, I wasn't a huge fan of her more straightforward, alt-country stuff (in the studio anyhow -- she's always been amazing live.) It wasn't until Fox Confessor that I really thought she was on to something -- and it was partly because I thought she'd finally started writing more melodically realized songs. "More pop" instead of "less pop", in other words! It's funny how that perception can differ from listener to listener! I also love how she's found her own voice as a lyricist -- it's really distinctive and evocative, almost like folk songs drawn from a mythology of her own creation. She's become one of my very favorite artists with these past two records. The live record's great, too -- I actually think her version of "The Train From Kansas City" might be the definitive one! Blasphemy. I worked with Neko briefly at a record store in Tacoma. I was 16 and too nervous to talk to her. The great Tacoma garage band Girl Trouble wrote a song about her called "Neko Loves Rock'n'Roll", long before anyone knew what a brilliant singer and writer she was going to be. She appears in one of their videos as a go-go dancer. I've got a tape of that somewhere... I forgot to mention that the Dan Auerbach solo album is really great. I haven't really liked the Black Keys much, but the solo album is really soulful and interesting. And the Morrissey record just gets better and better. How did he manage to land a Jeff Beck cameo? Bizarre. B ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V8 #52 ******************************