Neko Case

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Neko Case at a concert in 2007
Neko Case at a concert in 2007
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
  US 54 03/25/2006 (7 weeks)
Middle Cyclone
  US 3 03/21/2009 (13 weeks)
The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
  UK 63 09/14/2013 (1 week)
  US 12 09/21/2013 (7 weeks)
Case / Lang / Veirs (with Laura Veirs & Kd lang )
  CH 66 06/26/2016 (1 week)
  UK 28 06/30/2016 (1 week)
  US 33 07/09/2016 (3 weeks)
Hell-on
  US 31 June 16, 2018 (2 weeks)

Neko Case (first name pronounced: Niko ; born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria , Virginia ) is an American singer-songwriter.

Career

She began her career in Vancouver ( Canada ), where they after school in Tacoma a graphic design studies at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design resumed. She played drums in several local bands (including Cub) and became a member of the band Maow . There she played the drums and sang a peculiar mixture of punk and country . First she toured under the name Neko Case and Her Boyfriends .

A year after the only Maow CD was released ( The Unforgiving Sounds of Maow ), Case released her first country-style solo album, still dominated by cover versions ( The Virginian ). This was followed by a duet album with the Canadian singer-songwriter Carolyn Mark under the band name Corn Sisters ( The Other Woman ), which Case and Mark recorded live in Seattle. Neko Case's breakthrough came in 2000 with the album Furnance Room Lullaby . For her album Blacklisted two years later, she received good reviews worldwide. In 2001 Case recorded an EP ( Canadian Amp ) in her kitchen , an unplugged album, mainly with cover versions (including Neil Young's Dreaming Man ).

In 2000, the band The New Pornographers formed in Vancouver . It consists of great local musicians like Carl Newman and John Collins. Case, who had to leave the city for immigration reasons after completing her studies and moved to Chicago , sings and plays the tambourine for the Pornographers on three albums. Katryn Calder has sometimes represented her at live concerts since 2005 . Case's first live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, was released in 2004 . On this 30-minute work, Neko Case brings together live versions of his own well-known pieces, new titles and cover versions. At the beginning of March 2006 her fourth official solo studio album Fox Confessor Brings The Flood was released in Germany. The basic themes are a loss of trust, which is also intended to be political, and references to Russian and Ukrainian folk tales. This album introduced in the United States the final breakthrough, as it not only in the Billboard - Charts moved in, but also in the well-known US talk sizes David Letterman , Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien could occur and thus a wide audience became known. Because of this, among other things, she succeeded in March 2009 with her album Middle Cyclone , which for her was sensational at number three in the Billboard charts.

style

Neko Case's musical style is often assigned to the genre Alternative Country , although she prefers the term Country herself . The album Blacklisted in particular was a big musical step for Case. Before she played country with a lot of rock elements with her own band ( Neko Case & Her Boyfriends ), the basic tone of Blacklisted is much darker. Musically, this album was shaped by the collaboration with Giant Sand and Calexico . In addition, musicians from the Canadian band The Sadies , who also accompanied Case on the solo album The Tigers Have Spoken , were represented on Case's third solo album. Through these dark tones in the music, Case developed her own style with her unmistakable voice, which she developed further on the studio successor Fox Confessor Brings The Flood . She calls the music Country Noir .

Besides working on the solo albums and with her bands, Neko Case has also sung on albums by artist friends. She can be heard on cover magazines by Giant Sand as well as on John Does Freedom Highway . She has also recorded songs with the band Mekons and Jon Langford . In addition to her own band and the Sadies, she also performed live with Calexico . At first the line-up was classic with drums, guitar and bass, then she performed on guitar with a musician on stand-up bass and another guitarist who also played steel guitar and other string instruments. Today another guitarist and a drummer have been added. Case himself usually plays four-string guitars. Like her songwriting, her guitar playing has improved significantly in recent years.

Her records appeared for a long time on the small Canadian label Mint from her adopted home Vancouver. Bloodshot released the albums in the US and Matador Records in Europe ( Furnance Room Lullaby and Blacklisted ) . Since the live album The Tiges Have Spoken 2004, Case has been under contract with the epitaph sub -label ANTI-Records , where Tom Waits and Nick Cave also publish their records.

Discography

Maow

  • 1995: I Ruv Me Too (7 "EP; Twist Like This Records)
  • 1996: Unforgiving Sounds of Maow (Mint Records)

Neko Case

  • 1997: The Virginian (with Her Boyfriends) (Mint Records / Bloodshot Records)
  • 2000: Furnace Room Lullaby (with Her Boyfriends) (Mint Records / Bloodshot Records)
  • 2001: Canadian Amp (EP; Lady Pilot)
  • 2002: Blacklisted (Mint Records / Bloodshot Records / Matador Records)
  • 2004: The Tigers Have Spoken (Live Album; Mint Records / Anti Records)
  • 2006: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Mint Records / Anti Records)
  • 2007: Live from Austin, TX (Live Album; New West Records)
  • 2009: Middle Cyclone (Anti Records)
  • 2013: The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
  • 2018: Hell-On

Case / Lang / Veirs

The Corn Sisters

  • 2000: The Other Women (Mint Records)

The New Pornographers

  • 2000: Mass Romantic (Mint Records / Matador Records)
  • 2003: Electric Version (Mint Records / Matador Records)
  • 2005: Twin Cinema (Mint Records / Matador Records)
  • 2007: Challengers (Matador Records)
  • 2010: Together (Matador Records)

The Sadies

  • 1998: Make Your Bed / Gunspeak / Little Sadie (7 "; Bloodshot Records)

Other publications

Web links

Commons : Neko Case  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Chart sources: CH US
  2. ↑ BBC Radio 1: " Neko Case ".
personal data
SURNAME Case, Neko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria , Virginia, USA