Neko Case - Blacklisted

This, BTW, is the problem I have with the "adult radio" stylings of Michelle & Vanessa & Avril, but fuck that, let's talk about how great this record is and save that grousing for another place (like my ginchy groovy website).

The bonus track, in case you were worried, was a quaint little slice of pseudo-field recording chicanery. A nice chaser.

also released last week (or the week before) is the vinyl-only album 'canadian amp' recorded in her living room. i'm curious about this ...

My copy's on CD - I'm not aware of a vinyl version, but it came out last year on Lady Pilot and isn't available through retail channels. You can get it from Bloodshot Records or at a Neko show.

I was reading the Yummy Fur compilation _The Little Man_ a few weeks ago, by Chester Brown, and he mentions his relationship with Sook Yin Lee. Hmmm, that name sounds familiar. I finally realized that she wrote the amazing "Knock Loud" (covered on _Canadian Amp_). So do ALL cool Canadians know each other?!

So, wot's Maow like, then?

from scratch distribution's website

canadian amp was initially released as a tour and mail order only cd last year on neko’s own lady pilot label

and then ...

she has decided to let Lance Rock put it out as a vinyl only release proper, for the territory of the world, exclusively from us. There are no plans at present to release a CD version.

ernest, chester brown is great. sook yin lee also is great. neko case is great. i haven't met these people personally, but as with 99% of cases, someone i know has. not _everybody_ knows everybody in canada but there's one degree of seperation.

But I think her songwriting is the weak part of the equation. The New Pornographers album makes this point almost embarrassingly well. I have little desire to buy Blacklisted because of the disappointing precedent set by the first two records. And it seems that this fact is being overlooked as she becomes a press darling, and I'm glad for her, but I wonder why.

I wonder if she would write better in a non-country idiom. I haven't heard anything of hers other than what I listed.

Any thoughts?

But, damn, based on this record, I can't see her songwriting being anything more than one helluva asset. If that's the weakness in her arsenal, then I pity the fool trying to take her on. I'll stop w/ the hyperbole here, BTW, but just in case you're not sure where I stand, I think she's swell in every regard.

Nony (& others), if you need proof, I recommend taking a listen to "Lady Pilot" or "I Wish I Was The Moon" or ESPECIALLY "Deep Red Bells". (Kudos must also go to the folks playing on this record, too, especially the Calexico kids offering superlative support, as always.)

Why, is the whole album mournful countryish balladeering? Wonderful as I'm sure that'll be, I was kinda hoping for some Shania-esque hoe-downs in there somewhere...

Shania-esque might as well be her tax evading sugar daddy Mutt-Langisms

;_-