(Bloodshot)
Prior to the early 1960s, public opinion held it so that if a person had a raspy, irritating voice, then that person would probably not have a successful recording career. Enter Bob Dylan, who helped change expectations of what was \pleasant"" to the point where people enjoy listening to Jeff Magnum. In fact, there are so many bad singers today that people aren't sure what to think when they hear someone like Neko Case, who has, in this reviewer's opinion, the finest voice in country and western music since Patsy Cline. Warm and evocative while alternately harrowing and heartbreaking, Blacklisted contains some of her finest work yet; her voice is finally matched with equally nuanced songwriting.
Blacklisted sheds the twangy stylings of Case's last two albums, instead opting for minimal arrangements of brushed drums, tinkling pianos and reverb-heavy guitar, which perfectly backdrop 13 dark American stories, all of which seem to end badly but are made all the more tragically beautiful with Case's narration, which tends to just hint at details, like ""a handprint on the drivers' side."" Covering Aretha Franklin (""Runnin' Out Of Fools"") is a risky bet for any singer, but Case's howling breakdown version is destined to become as much of a classic (at least in certain circles), much like Blacklisted is sure to prove to be one of the best albums of the year.
(Merge)
If there were such a thing as The Retro-Minded Art-Rock Olympics, Spoon would surely make their hometown of Austin, Texas proud. Last year's Girls Can Tell even had the Russian judge gushing over Spoon's brand of garage-rock-gone-new-wave, a daring routine of triple-synth-swipes and snare loops. This year, Spoon is in the best shape of its life, and expectations are high that Kill the Moonlight will sweep both the pouting and clapping competitions.
Kill the Moonlight is a slicker and more upbeat affair than Girls. Britt Daniel emotes so quickly on ""Small Stakes"" that he's almost rapping his distaste for the current rock 'n' roll scene, and it just gets faster from there'Kill the Moonlight packs the riffs in good and tight. Still, there's enough background noise and false starts to betray the fact that Spoon's still a lo-fi operation. If Moonlight has a shortcoming, it's a lack of cohesiveness. Some of Spoon's best songs to date are on this disc, but being so divergently different, it's not the straight-through-amazing listen that Girls is. By any other yardstick, though, it's a killer album, and a well-mannered change of pace from nearly anything else out there.
