Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

It has been 3 years since Neko Case has graced the world with a studio album and this time she's back with a broadsword. If anything, this interim has delivered us a Neko even more polished, shinier and even more ready to cut your head in half with her vocal skills if not her considerable skills at carback sword fighting. "The Pharoahs" is a jewel of scintillating guitar riffs thrown up in the dust of what used to be your heart and is vocally strong enough to be a fortress in the storms that are running all over this record. Throughout her ventures in country music Neko case has challenged people's conception of what a country singer can tackle lyrically, stylistically and culturally. In spirit, if not in style, she is the inheritor of the storm front named Emmylou Harris that was pushing hard against the Nashville clone factory in the early 80's and winning. Middle Cyclone weaves a whirling path between stark beauty and lavish sonic storms, dipping through your hometown and up the highway towards the lights on the horizon.

A preview of this record is up on NPR.

Phosphorescent: To Willie

To Willie is an album long tribute from one very talented singer-songwriter (Matthew Houck) to another. These are the faded memories of honky tonk bars sung from the bottom of a lonely well, a near perfect selection of Willie Nelson tunes representing a broad spectrum of his career dancing on the fingers of a deft arranger and his reverb drenched production. Standing out among these gems is “Can I Sleep In Your Arms” which is treated with all of the warmness and intimacy Phosphorescent can offer. It is as delicate as a snowflake on your fingertip and as strong as the wind outside the windows. Willie did much the same for his hero Lefty Frizell in 1977 with To Lefty, From Willie and it is fitting that the man receive his tribute in turn. This is country music as it is meant to be; fresh, funny, heartbreaking and played with an undying love of the art.

Good for: Lamenting your bourbon soaked memories, or making some new ones.

Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

I'm watching the stars glide past my eyes in the back of a 1976 Buick station wagon, the smell of the vinyl seats mixing with the pine trees flying past. This is a late night trip down an ancient road past the city lights and noise. Here is the sound you need while you watch moths struggle to join the fluorescent oblivion of a gas station parking lot sign on the road back from a place you never wanted to be.

Neko Case weaves your desire for a better life around a rusted state road sign and wraps the whole thing in an old newspaper before passing it down the bar to you. This album exists in that incredible undefined space between country music, indie folk and singer-songwriter material. It makes me remember why I think genre is bullshit. It's so hard to pin this album down and it's even harder to try and put a label on Neko Case.

Her work has ranged significantly since starting out and it just keeps getting broader and better the more she works. On another awesome note, she grew up in Northern Virginia which is none too far from my own city of Richmond and knowing a bit about the area gives me an understanding of the musical authenticity she's seeking. For those who don't know, Northern Virginia is like Disneyland for conspicuous consumers. It's ridiculous, trust me. This album is rocking me gently with Ryan Adams, Nick Drake, Gillian Welch and Ron Sexsmith.

Good for: Watching blue smoke curl off the bar in a Waffle House just down the road from the dump.

Listen to samples at Last.fm! I recommend you check out Star Witness, soooo awesome.

Iron and Wine: The Shepard's Dog

I started listening to Iron and Wine a few years back, and every time they release a new album I love them a little more. The Shepard's Dog is a direct evolution from In the Reins, an album produced and recorded with Calexico.

The influence of those sessions is all over this album, larger arrangements, more complex harmonies and significantly more vocal presence than earlier albums. I appreciate the stripped down ballads of earlier works, but this albums dynamics gives it a little more room to wiggle. I've always thought of their earlier works as late night blueberry wine, crickets in the yard, summer breezes and lamenting loves lost.

This album finds me enjoying an afternoon with friends, driving down dirt roads to secret places and washing my face in sunlight. It lives in my iPod with Jim White, Damien Rice, Elliot Smith, Sun Kil Moon and Calexico.

Good for: Making out on the banks of a river, drinking beer in the sun. Going back to your place for dinner and undressing by the ashes of the fire (from Resurrection Fern, Track 8). It's like that.