Middle Cyclone ~ Neko Case

I admit it, I just discovered Neko Case. After all of these years, 5 albums and a successful career, she has only recently entered the realm of my tender, sensitive and discerning eardrums. What bliss.

Q:What the hell does she sound like?
A:Little House on the Prairie after a quart of moonshine

I haven't loved a vocalist this much since Patsy Cline. It doesn't hurt that she can also write incredibly good music and perform flawlessly with her super tight band. She is the whole package. Whip smart, no bullshit, lyrically poetic and biting...

Did I mention she is also G O R G E O U S?

I'm in love.

Buy Middle Cyclone now and watch this great performance of I Wish I Was the Moon. A song I can definitely relate to right now.

Deerhoof: Tell me about your purple past...

I love the latest Deerhoof video for My Purple Past save for one thing: the sound. Even though I realize this video was created as a living, retrospective photo album showcasing stereo gadgetry spanning decades ago to now and that, in the spirit of doing so, sound quality is inevitably sacrificed...I still contend that this song deserves to be played on a mighty motherfucker of a stereo system. You know, one with a gigantic set of balls and a swinging dick. When you have a drummer like Greg Saunier, the closest living approximation to John Bonham (send me exceptions to this statement as I'm sure they exist), sound quality is PARAMOUNT people. Whether or not you are a fan of Deerhoof currently, or have never heard a goddamn thing they've recorded (for shame!) you really ought to pleasure your sweet lobe (that's the left one) with this tune. It's a crackerjack Led Zep spinoff drenched in Malibu sunshine.

Olé!

Mastodon: Hot Fudge Metal and Cosmonauts

Mastodon - no, not the prehistoric Pleistocene Mammut Americanum - are a magma-loaded metal machine propelled by the forces of - wait for it, not yet - t a l e n t. Engineering songs with guitar layer cakes, fat bass, musically deft and unintrusive drumming, snakey hooks and time machine vocals - think Ozzy circa Paranoid in Divinations and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains in Oblivion. This group of hairy, tattooed and multi-talented Georgians serve up a meat pie of thunder and lightning storytelling slapped with heavy cream.

Bon appetit!

www.myspace.com/mastodon
www.mastodonrocks.com

Viva la weekend with Annie Clark

I have fresh material, I swear...but, anyone who follows this blog knows full well of my high estimation - okay, I semi-worship her! - for Annie Clark of St.Vincent, and thus you will have no trouble understanding why I'm sharing this beauty with you today.

Lay down your arms and open them instead.

Viva la weekend!

St. Vincent "The Strangers" from Lake Fever Sessions on Vimeo.

Kaki King ~ Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers

Once you've heard the name and heard the dame you don't even have to ask what the hell I'm talking about when I type 'Kaki King'. If you don't know, that makes me really happy because then I get the pleasure of introducing you to the phenomenal and gigantic talent that is Katherine Elizabeth King. She is beautiful, diminutive, a solid, kick-ass drummer and an absolutely virtuosic guitarista who can multitask better than the Pillsbury Doughboy at a jelly roll bake-off. And she is going on 29 years old. Her latest album Dreaming of Revenge (2008) is a must own for any musician. If you have 14 minutes and 49 seconds to stimulate your left frontal lobe and enjoy something awesome, watch this.

And watch this too.