Sugar Blow.
Perfectly Tiny, Neko Case
by Hollis Broderick
In my other world (where I’m a Brazilian trannie named Kalinka) it’s always 73 degrees with a slight breeze, circumcision is a capital crime, and 90% of all CD releases are EP’s.
Oh, the transfixing loveliness of small, shiny objects: gemstones, teardrops, iPods, dew-sprinkled fairy wings. And mini-albums.
EP’s understand that few artists are capable of recording twelve decent songs in a single paroxysm of creative juice. EP’s are adventurous while limiting commercial risks for both the producer and the consumer. An EP knows that less is more, God is in the details, and girth is more important than length.
The illiterati that rule the realms of corporate music sometimes use the term to mean “multiple redundant remixes of a single song”, “promotional samplers”, or “audio garbage to be sold as limited-edition collector’s items”. But no self-respecting music lover is ever swayed by the deceptive marketing jargon spilling from the unclean mouths of record execs.
The well-conceived EP is the best possible debut for a new artist. It introduces them to the world at large. It gets us wet and bothered. It makes us yearn for more.
In this category, the Sugar Blow Standards of Rules and Practices are as follows: An EP should have four to seven songs. Five is best. Non-album tracks must be included. No more than one remix of another track is tolerable. An affection for quirky covers is good, but should not be overindulged. Total running time should not exceed thirty minutes. Twenty minutes is perfect. An EP is not a trash bin. Within this format, it is acceptable and perhaps advisable to flaunt your stretch marks.
The first band to truly understand and master the extended-play medium is the Cocteau Twins. They never reserved their best songs for full-length releases. The milestones in their artistic development were released on smaller recordings and then extrapolated within their albums. During the Eighties, these EP’s were vital to the Twins’ underground success in America. For reasons unknown or forgotten, it was always easier to find imported copies of EP’s like Sunburst & Snowblind [1983] and Love’s Easy Tears [1986] than any of the albums.
In 1991, all Cocteau Twins EP’s to date were compiled in an oxblood-upholstered box set. What a smashing holiday gift for your goth/fag girl/boyfriend and/or that Brazilian-trannie wannabe.
Some examples of masterful EP’s I have known and loved include:
* Suicide Kings [1989] by Mary My Hope
* Scar [1989] and Mad Love [1990] by Lush
* Yeah Yeah Yeah’s [2001] by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
* Such Great Heights [2003] by The Postal Service
* Sonic Souvenirs [2003] by Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham
Belle and Sebastian are the current champions of the craft. On occasion releasing as many as three a year, there has been no decline in quality. Long may they shower us with their silver treasures.
Neko Case: The Tigers Have Spoken
[Anti, 2004]
I’m not sure that the world needs live albums. Something happens during a performance that is never captured on tape. Maybe it’s the crowd’s aura or the inability of the recording process to successfully mimic organic, uncondensed vibrations originating from multiple sources that are reflected and absorbed in a sonically unique environment. Maybe.
In keeping with Neko’s body of work, this is an excellent album. It reminds me of the good ol’ days when I went to ALL of her shows. That was before she got freaked out, and then her friends got freaky on me, and then my friends got freaky on her friends. Soon we were caught up in a sloppy daisy chain of published slander, no-contact orders, and puerile threats written in lipstick across tour-bus windshields. The litigious chaos made it difficult for me to convince Neko that God meant for us to co-write our lives together.
I later realized God was actually telling me that Bjork’s child by Matthew Barney was really MY child by Matthew Barney, and that I must reclaim him before Satan (a.k.a. Goldie) dragged him into the Underworld (a.k.a. London).
Anywho, with the Sadies at her side, Neko roars through this set of seven covers, three new originals, and the title track from Blacklisted [2002]. Commingling country-fried rockin’ blues and classic pop revamp á la Tracey Ullman (you heard right), her base is broad but grounded. And that ain’t just ass-talk.
Miss Case may be a saddle-full of filly, but the Sadies are up to the challenge. Her swagger is matched note for note with a bee-bop and stomp from the drums and guitars that chime and slur, recalling Galaxie 500 (that’s what I said) and crystalline mornings after a night of cheap whisky and cheaper romance.
Although recording songs written by the likes of Loretta Lynn and Buffy Sainte-Marie sounds kitschy on paper, the covers are well chosen and admirably executed. Placing herself within this pantheon of alternately revered and misunderstood women, the album’s best moments are Neko originals such as “If You Knew”, “The Tigers Have Spoken” and “Blacklisted”. With talent like this, she must be beating the crazies off with a stick.
Will there be any freight trains in heaven
Any boxcars in which we might hide
Will there by any tough cops or brakemen
Will they tell us that we cannot ride
Sugar Blow, Smart Music for the Anti-Masses by Hollis Broderick will appear with fresh insights, reviews and opinions here each week.
