New stuff

In the past couple of months I went on a little bit of a
tunes buying spree, and I've settled on a couple of platters that really
stand out and brighten a day. I picked up Neko Cases' last three albums
(Blacklisted, Tigers Have Spoken (Live), Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
and while the two studio albums are great in their 'chamber-country'
way, this woman has such an amazing voice and writes such great songs
that you'd like to hear her in a little more traditional setting. Well,
the live album does that, and is in constant rotation. Case's originals
are great, especially the opener and the title track, and she chooses
some great cover material from Loretta Lynn, Buffy St. Marie, and
others. Buy it.
The other standout (of over twenty albums) is "The Trials Posthumous of"
the Minus Five. I've mentioned this one before, but it's pretty amazing.
There's one hoppin' punker on track two, but the bulk of the album
consists of expertly done modern Beatles pop. Somehow the the whole
record is tied together with a gun theme that I haven't really digested,
but the individual tracks are stellar, hooky little nuggets. How else
could I find myself dancing with my sixteen-week old daughter, singing
happily to her "Your mama knew it/ now I know it too/ all you really
need is/ cigarettes, coffee and booze..."
Go get these records.

TB