Last week, I came across an interview with Neko Case when reading the new issue of SPIN. It was a touching piece, showing how much she's had to overcome to get where she is now, with fame from The New Pornographers and all.
I put it in the back of my head to look up her music. Then I forgot about the matter until I was cleaning out my inbox, and I came across my Paste newsletter, featuring her on the cover. I headed to hype machine and looked her up. After the first song ("I'm an Animal"), I stuck it out for the next, "Don't Forget Me", which only affirmed that she sounds like a poor man's Jenny Lewis. I couldn't even get through listening to the third song, "Prison Girls" before angrily closing the browser in disgust.
Sadly enough, not all side/solo projects go well. Steer clear of this mess.
just look what she's done to Bob Dylan:
Neko Case - Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]
pitiful, just pitiful.
2 comments:
I think music is a different experience for each listener. For me, new music I instantly like on the first listen might get a second or third playing, but by then it usually bores me and I'm off looking for something new, seldom to return to it. It's the music that takes three or four listens before I start to get it, that stays with me, and stays in my listening rotation on a regular basis, year after year. I've always been that way with Dylan, Greg Brown, Conner Oberst, and several others, including Neko. Comparing notes and impressions with others about Neko Case I've decided people either like her vocals a lot or not at all, with little middle ground. If her vocal style doesn't work for you it's unlikely you'll listen enough to put that together with the lyric. It's this combination that completes the package for me. The music and voice don't work until I include the lyric. The first couple of times through "Middle Cyclone" left me flat. It seemed more polished and pop than previous releases, lacking energy, to reserved. It took twice as many play-throughs as usual before several of these tunes started to click. By then three or four were being skipped, deleted from my cue, which is on par with most new releases I come across. The remainder, for now, are winding up in my rotation regularly.
I usually don't post about artists negatively, I just was annoyed that everyone was gushing about this singer whom I didn't see as very talented. in the end, all criticism, music or not, is subjective. and, the way I see it, there are PLENTY of ace releases this year that have an album full of goodness. if I have to skip a track on an album, I usually just stop listening to the album. coherency is very important to me
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