vol. 43

i have waited with a glacier's patience...
-- neko case

there was a time in the 80s when i was really discovering music at a rapid pace -- in about a 3 year span, i really got into rem, U2, depeche mode, the smiths, the police (i started on born in the 50s, not roxanne -- i have never liked that song...) tears for fears, new order, a-ha, the mighty lemondrops, the psychedelic furs and many, many other bands that filled my walkman with incredible music -- it was during this time that many of my likes and dislikes were formed --

i can honestly say that there has been music that i've liked since then, but i don't know that there's been anything beyond a handful (jeff buckley, pearl jam) that i've truly been passionate about... until the last year or so, that is -- tony introduced me to ray lamontagne, nick to kings of leon and rolling stone to neko case --

i picked up neko case's cd (yes, a hard copy, wrapped cd -- i couldn't tell you the last time i actually bought one) i bought it partly due to the hype -- but also partly due to the fact that she's also a graphic artist and i was interested in seeing what she had worked up -- i wasn't disappointed on any front -- i can't get this tornado loves you out of my head -- the line leading this post off is from it -- there's a simple line in it (i want you) that she sings on two separate occasions and each time, her tone is just magical -- it's different for each -- her voice is very different from what we're hearing today -- it takes me back to kirsty maccoll and a little bit of alison moyet -- but not really -- i keep trying to figure out who it is that she reminds me of the most, and while i keep coming back to those two, it's not quite there -- just past my memory's reach -- her writing's eclectic but grounded -- she's not just throwing strings of words together for the sake of doing so -- her arrangements are tight...beyond this, she's a beautiful redhead with absolutely incredibly pale skin -- ummm, yeah...

so here's the studio version (it ends at about 3:10 - not sure why the clip keeps going) and here's a live version that shows she's got the pipes (although she's looking a little ragged in this one, if i must say...)

it's amazing how the little things make us tick...