Neko Case

Neko Case is a member of the New Pornographers (I bloged about their latest here), but her solo work is much more soulful, less poppy and in general a more fulfilling listen. Her latest effort, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, strings together alt-country and folk-rock styling with her much acclaimed vocal ability to create an album steeped with emotion, lush vocals, a few hooks, and tons of spirit. But enough stupid words, I can't do her justice, scroll down and listen!

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Ryan Dombal - 7.7/10.0 Nobody today does eerie dust-bowl balladry and anachronistic rustic-murder milieu quite like Case. Combining country, folk, and old-school rock, she faithfully invokes scenes of late-night wandererings illuminated by a jalopy's lone functional headlight. As a refined version of Blacklisted, Flood provides alluring riddles and obsessive desolation, Case subverting her easy-access vocals with difficult abstractions and heady projections.

What other bloggers have to say:
An Aquarium Drunkard - I highly recommend purchasing this album in it's entireity, and of course see her Live if the opportunity presents itself. That voice of hers is even more spell-binding in a Live setting.

Ashcan Rantings - After posting about Neko Case this morning, I had a chance to listen to the majority of her NPR performance and was amazed. I bought a copy of her new album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, this afternoon and it's solid from top to bottom.

*Sixeyes - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, and the accolades began to roll in. I'm not a fan and even though some profess that Case has moved away from the alt-country siren leanings, I can hear wopping dollops of by-gone country queens in every thing she sings... and more than a touch of '50s torch seeps into her songs here and there.


Exercises for the reader:
Hold On, Hold On
Teenage Feeling
The Needle Has Landed

Controller.Controller

I'm a little behind the times folks... I discovered Controller.Controller only a few months ago. They have a new album titled X-Amounts which is good, but not as astounding as their 2004 release History.

This is one of the most concise and engaging albums I have ever heard. At ~25 minutes it is more of an EP than an album, but the quality of those 25 minutes is remarkably high. That is, the density of good music is quite large.

Their music is some form of beat driven electric rock. At times ethereal but never far from a high energy chorus with blaring guitar work and pounding drums. It's the beat freak in me that is most engaged by this music, I can crank up the volume and thrash my head around, stomp my feat and just enjoy the rhythm.

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Joe Tangari - 8.3/10.0 The opening title track states the band's intentions to move you in every way possible with copious hi-hat, scratchy, clean-toned guitar chords and Basnayake's Byrne-ish sing/speak admonitions, "You need to make corrections/ You need to pay attention." And that's just one of the nearly constant highlights as the band grooves through a half-hour of sharply honed post-disco, shuddering through the frenetic and dramatic chord changes and buildups of "Silent Seven", and slipping on the viscous rhythms of "Disco Blackout". Controller.Controller have pulled together a deftly funky debut, as full of thoughtful songcraft as pure kinetic energy. And that's really what separates History from the dance-rock pack-- it's not just something to sweat to, it's something to sing along to, and something to come back to.


Exercises for the reader:
History
Silent Seven
Watch