March 3, 2006
New releases: March 7, 2006
Posted by Stacy Chandler at March 3, 2006 6:02 AMI was just settin' and thinkin' the other day about how many CDs I've bought already this year -- most of them, luckily for the ol' checking account, with various gift certificates from birthday and Christmas. But what it tells me, besides that it's a good thing I'm hooked on music and not on black-tar heroin, is that 2006 so far has been a bright, bright year for new releases. Which bodes well for the quality of the year-end's best list, though not for the process of narrowing down all the great candidates to make that list. Hrrmmm.
Continuing the string (no end in sight, folks!) of promising releases this year from established artists is Neko Case. Neko Case can fucking sing -- and I'm sorry, but profanity really was necessary there. Her awesomeness is such that I harbor almost no bitterness after that time I went to a lot of trouble to see her live in DC, only to be treated to a show so shitacular that I left after two songs. It's not that the music was shitacular -- quite the opposite. It's just the sound, though fine to me, was apparently problematic to the band, and instead of dealing with it and moving on like professionals, they futzed for many, many agonizing minutes (hours? days?) while their audience, all standing in a hot, airless club, suffered. But that's OK. Neko's CDs are so good I can overlook it. I may think twice before buying another concert ticket, but I've already ordered her new CD, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" and can't wait to hear it. So there. I'm not bitter. Not at all. I can forgive and forget.
The new releases of note for Tuesday, March 7, 2006:
Neko Case -- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti)
Pinmonkey -- Big Shiny Cars (Back Porch)
Kris Kristofferson -- This Old Road (New West)
Mark Erelli -- Hope & Other Casualties (Signature)
Billy Bragg -- Volume 1 [BOX SET] (Yep Roc)
Mogwai -- Mr. Beast (Matador)
Van Morrison -- Pay The Devil (Lost Highway)
Better read Amanda's post on this one before you buy ...
Tres Chicas -- Bloom Red and the Ordinary Girl (Yep Roc)
Hickorywind.org review of this one coming Monday.
Anything I missed? Hit the comments!
I'll have something up about the new Kris album in a couple of days.
Posted by: Amanda at March 3, 2006 2:02 PMGood Harp profile of Neko (I saw her opening for Nick Cave a few years back).
I especially like this bit:
she's usually described, in critic shorthand, as an "alt-country chanteuse"--a phrase she considers both "horrible" and a "massive disservice." "It's like we're saying, 'Don't worry, it's not country.' Well, I love country music.
Posted by: Amanda at March 5, 2006 4:08 PM
