I don't reach for Neko's music very often, but I do think she has her own way of writing that is different from anyone else, and thus awesome. I feel like she lives in a different world than the rest of us.
― alpine static, Friday, 1 June 2018 17:53 (six years ago) link
have been listening to middle cyclone a lot this past weeklike it a lot more now than i did at the time
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:03 (six years ago) link
― alpine static, Friday, June 1, 2018 1:53 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah, exactly -- I also hear a lot of Kristin Hersh on here, especially on "Gumball Blue" (the melody is kinda like "Cottonmouth," "stain the edges of the nebula gumball blue" is 100% something she would write)
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:22 (six years ago) link
xp middle cyclone is my favorite
― niels, Friday, 1 June 2018 18:30 (six years ago) link
She's doing a short tour w/Dan Bejar opening late this year.
― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:44 (six years ago) link
That sounds amazing
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Friday, 1 June 2018 18:45 (six years ago) link
Your blues rules
first time thru Gumball Blue I thought, well, she should've given this one to the New Pornos ... then learned it's a Newman co-write.
and with that said, it's pretty amazing how much Newman's style infiltrates that song, considering Neko's distinctive (writing) voice.
― alpine static, Friday, 1 June 2018 18:51 (six years ago) link
note that she has 63 dates currently booked in the six months before the leg with Destroyer
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Friday, 1 June 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link
I love Middle Cyclone and I listen to it all the time. I pull out Furnace Room and Blacklisted pretty often too.
I really liked the last one but there were just a couple songs I had a hard time listening to (notably the "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu"), which keeps me from putting on the album regularly.
In any case I regard her as one of my very favorite artists. I haven't yet listened to the new one though the singles have been hit and miss for me.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 2 June 2018 00:24 (six years ago) link
"halls of sarah" is excellent
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:51 (six years ago) link
i think i like this one better than the last one, feels more balanced
somewhat ot but fox confessor increasingly seems like one of the best albums ever made to me
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:52 (six years ago) link
Yeah, probably her best, still feels mysterious and new every time I hear it. The Sadies did a fantastic job backing her up.
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
fox confessor is absolutely extraordinary
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
I'm still fan of Middle Cyclone too. This one's good, but her albums take a while, mostly.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:00 (six years ago) link
"behind the reservoir of collarbones / forms two private lakes" she's also one of the best lyricists going rn
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:02 (six years ago) link
She is a crazy talented writer for sure. "Margaret Vs Pauline" sketches out a whole world in under three minutes.
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 15:04 (six years ago) link
god yeah, 'one left her sweater sitting on the train / the other lost three fingers at the cannery' is just such a perfectly telling juxtaposition
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:07 (six years ago) link
"star witness" is my favorite lyric of hers, it is just incredibly vivid from line to line. the second verse alone ("trees break the sidewalk and the sidewalk skins my knees / there's glass in my thermos and blood on my jeans / nickels and dimes of the fourth of july / roll off in a crooked line / to the chain-link lots where the red tails dive" breathtaking)
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:09 (six years ago) link
just remembering the way her voice dips when she sings 'dive' there gives me goosebumps, honestly
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:10 (six years ago) link
pro tip: fox confessor is also a great album to fall asleep to
― and TOWERS MONACO as 'seaman' (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:11 (six years ago) link
we've never done a fox confessor or albums poll, just sayin'
― Simon H., Monday, 4 June 2018 15:12 (six years ago) link
Heard some of this in someone else's house last night! Sounded even better following that Kanye krap.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 June 2018 15:12 (six years ago) link
'red wine is fast/at the lip of your glass/and I'm going to ruin, everything...' A minute and a half of utter perfection.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 4 June 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link
this album is extremely good, I rank it highly in her discography. prefer it to the last couple (which i also really love admittedly.) the Crooked Fingers cover/duet is really astonishing.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:40 (six years ago) link
It's taking longer to sink in than expected; every time I listen to her I have to accustom myself to long verse lines settling into or occasionally fighting the melody, not to mention her sudden key changes. "Gunball Blue" and "Winnie" and "Pitch or Honey" are the standouts. Had no idea she was singing "mercurochrome and merthiolate stains, oh" on "My Uncle's Navy."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:50 (six years ago) link
she seems to sing about love a lot more on this album than in the past
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:54 (six years ago) link
every time I listen to her I have to accustom myself to long verse lines settling into or occasionally fighting the melody, not to mention her sudden key changes.
^This is very well put...
I am enjoying this more than her last few, on first listen... but she's prob. not the kind of artist to form impressions based on "first listen, at desk while working" (if that's fair to any artist!).
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:58 (six years ago) link
(I dug the Case/Lang/Veirs album, but it felt like Laura Veirs led the charge on that one.)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:01 (six years ago) link
she definitely did, once it got going. whenever they needed songs, they went to her considerable well. (Veirs writes dozens and dozens of songs per album.)
― alpine static, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:29 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I dipped into her catalog after that album – it’s so extensive!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:40 (six years ago) link
when ppl say “better than her last few” are you including middle cyclone? because that is her best album
― sciatica, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:40 (six years ago) link
yep
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 18:48 (six years ago) link
Personally, yes -- it never clicked w/me. But I'm open to the idea that I should revisit it!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:26 (six years ago) link
it clicked w/me but i just prefer the new one. it's very hard to choose favorite, though. or to really place the albums in much of an order.
i think her most underrated one these days might be The Tigers Have Spoken, that's a killer.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link
Blacklisted->Tigers->Fox Confessor is one of those astonishing trios of albums, I just value them so highly. I try not to get "locked into" a certain era of an artist's work, and I have given her subsequent albums a fair shake... but for whatever reason, those three have remained the untouchable totem for me.
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:32 (six years ago) link
Lukewarm take blacklisted ->tigers->fox->cyclone is as good as Led Zeppelin 1-4
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link
You can go Funrace room instead of tigers if you want to separate live/studio but
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:40 (six years ago) link
middle cyclone has her best lyrics imo, that’s what puts it over the top for me
haven’t spent much time with the new one but the wordiness Alfred points out is really bugging me, she’s less focused on concision it seems and that was one of her greatest strengths, three or four albums in a row of perfect miniatures. also Bad Luck sounds like lol Cults
― sciatica, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
idk what made Middle Cyclone attractive to me on first listen is that she got down to business in the first three songs: her immediate hooks, that huge voice, the perfect instrumental accompaniment.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:00 (six years ago) link
i got issues with middle cyclone's pacing. otherwise fantastic
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:25 (six years ago) link
I'm halfway through a "Middle Cyclone" re-listen... I feel like a bum insisting on a negative assessment, but these songs do not hold a candle (IMO) to those on the preceding albums(!!) (To each their own, tho!!)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:27 (six years ago) link
"The Pharaohs" is a really nice song, in a classic Neko mode (almost sounds like pastiche of earlier songs).
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:47 (six years ago) link
“i’m an animal” is easily my favorite song of hers
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:52 (six years ago) link
"This Tornado Loves You"!
Love the Nilsson cover too.
"The Pharaohs" is too spacey for me.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:54 (six years ago) link
Ends w/half-hour of crickets! Forgot about that...
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:54 (six years ago) link
The Nilsson cover ("Don't Forget Me") is great, I agree
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 21:56 (six years ago) link
“Red Tide” is real nice, and I love the opening of “Fever.”
The last album is good but kind of hurts to listen to in places, there’s something so desolate about most of the songs. “Ragtime” is a great closer though.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 22:03 (six years ago) link
Forgot Magpie to the Morning
"He laughed under his breath because you thought that you could outrun SOOOORRROOOOOWWWW"
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 22:40 (six years ago) link
I do wish more of her recent uptempo songs featured the Sadies.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 22:52 (six years ago) link