I got the album a few days ago. I have to say, the posts here didn’t prepare me for how much I actually like it!
Well, I’ve only heard the first two songs so far because I’m saving it for when I’m in the right mood, but man, they’re great songs. I like the first one better than a lot of the songs on Blacklisted, and I love the harmonizing on the second one. It’s amazing. How come nobody mentioned the awesome harmonizing?! :mad: For me it makes the song better than anything on Blacklisted by miles. It’s exactly what she needed.
Can someone explain to me why people are so in love with her voice? I feel like I’m missing something and would like to appreciate it as much as everyone else.
Talon Karrde - Loving a voice is a visceral response to a sound, IMHO. You love a voice in the same way you love a color or a smell or the taste of something. If you don’t love Neko Case’s voice, having someone tell you why they like it won’t make you love it. I listen to a lot of opera. Some people, for example, love Renata Tebaldi’s voice. I don’t. And I never will. But Anna Moffo - wow!
Kelly Hogan and Rachel Flotard back Case up in vocals and harmonies. And at one point Case employs some sort of Hungarian choir (on Fox Confessor, I think).
If you like harmony-driven music, give Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins a try.
Anecdote: I was at the Minus 5 show at SXSW at the Continental Club, a little place across the river from downtown. I had just been talking music with the guy sitting next to me, and we both turned out to be big fans of Neko. (We also talked about how crazy hot we both thought she was.)
About fifteen minutes later I noticed a woman standing at less than arm’s length in front of me with striking red hair. It didn’t register at first, but I finally nudged the guy next to me and said, “My ten o’clock…is that who I think it is?” It was. She was in a denim jacket and Chuck Taylors, drinking what appeared to be bourbon and water, and singing along with some fairly obscure Minus 5 tracks.
It was no surprise that she was in town; she had performed with the New Pornos the night before and had her own show the next night. It was just cool that I had had her CD on repeat for a week, I had just been talking about her, and there she was.
I didn’t talk to her; she was out with her friends, and I’d had enough to drink that I knew I would turn into Slobbering Fanboy in about ten seconds. (I did get Peter Buck’s autograph later on, for a friend of mine who is the world’s biggest REM fan.)