As previously posted, Neko Case and Kelly Hogan both contributed heavily to Jakob Dylan's new album, and for what it's worth, are touring as part of his band. The tour will include shows at SXSW and one in NYC at Town Hall on April 21st. Tickets are on sale (@ noon). All dates TBA.

by Andrew Frisicano

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeletons are two bands that have to be seen live, not only for their talents (which are considerable), but because their current live sets are basically unrepresented on record. The last albums for both were in 2008 (Ceramic Dog with Party Intellectuals and Skeletons with Money) and there have been plenty of changes since. First off, new personnel: Ceramic Dog frequently performs with violinist/melodica player/singer Eszter Balint, and Skeletons, shortly before their show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on February 2nd, went from a quartet to a trio. As three, their avant-pop jams and grooves were expansive with the help of some pedals and electronics. The band is led by a recognizable core aesthetic - but exactly what that is is hard to pin down. The band is both scientific and effortless in its interlocking pulses. Skeletons Big Band, their vehicle for long-form compositions (and another unrecorded project) layers jazz dissonance in a similar way, but with a dozen-member lineup.

Ceramic Dog similarly bends between extended jazz improvisation and a traditional song-based rock set. Songs seem to spontaneously come together, sometimes without introduction, as if variations on the previous tune. They pound out noise and blast beats, and then counter with a tender guitar figure and melodica. There are music stands in front of the musicians, but those seem to be of only occasional interest (then again, Eszter puts on her reading glasses to get a better look, and Marc's specs are attached by a croakie so they don't slide off his perpetually bent posture). Drummer Ches Smith reaches into his bag and tosses a piece of sheet music at bassist Shahzad Ismaily. It doesn't land that near him, and anyway he's already into the song by that point. Lyrics enter just in time for the song to end.

Like the shifting Skeletons' line-up, Marc Ribot can be found in different musical settings (eg. his Albert Ayler-influenced Spiritual Unity, solo, on a forthcoming country record with Bill Frisell & Buddy Miller, and as a sideman on records like the new Jakob Dylan album, details below). The only way to catch either band is live, and I recommend you do before they evolve again. More pictures, info and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Skeletons played Guitar Fest @ LPR (pics), Neko Case on new Jakob Dylan album, more dates"

photos by Chris La Putt

Neko Case's tour hit The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ last night (11/15). The show was on the short side, possibly due to some electric shocks Neko got from the microphone earlier in the show. According to Mike Van Den Broek, it was "18 songs, 65 Minutes. Zero Encore. Disappointed to say the least." Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico opened the show, and will do so again tonight (11/16) at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.

Neko did play an encore two nights earlier at the Calvin Theatre in Massachusetts...

Case was certainly in excellent form Friday in Northampton, where she and her band played an 80-minute set that focused on songs from her latest album, this year's "Middle Cyclone," and mixed in older tunes, too.

Hers is the sound of vast, twilit skies and distant freight trains, weed-strewn industrial lots and deep sighs. It's enveloping, unknowable and sometimes powerfully lonesome: Her voice, strong and clear, intertwined in harmonies with backup singer Kelly Hogan, the band surrounding them with rippling waves of trebly guitar, dense silver curtains of pedal steel or the low groan of a bowed upright bass.

At times, Case sang as if to herself, musing quietly at the start of "Maybe Sparrow" and mournfully recounting an ill-fated infatuation on "Polar Nettles." Other times, her voice filled the room, ringing with authority on "Deep Red Bells" and spilling over with indignation on "The Tigers Have Spoken." [Courant]

Continue reading "Neko Case got shocked, played a short show @ The Wellmont Theatre in NJ (pics) -- plays Beacon Theatre in NYC tonight "

photos by Chris La Putt

Neko Case played her first of two shows at the Nokia Theater in NYC last night (4/13). Guests and bandmembers included Rachel Flotard from Visqueen, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Norah O'connor and Kelly Hogan. At one point Neko gave a shoutout to fellow New Pornographer AC Newman who appeared on Letterman (with Nicole Atkins) on the same night. Neko will play Letterman on Wednesday (tomorrow). The second Nokia Theatre show is tonight (4/14). More pictures from the first night, including one of the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Neko Case & Crooked Fingers @ Nokia Theatre - pics, setlist"

Neko Case @ ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

AC Newman's new solo album is out in January on Matador. Fellow Pornographer Neko Case's album "Middle Cyclone" will be released on March 3rd on Anti. Lots of special guests, etc. - all details abelow...

Continue reading "new Neko Case album - Middle Cyclone - out in March"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

A surprisingly small crowd was on hand to see sometime New Pornographer Neko Case at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on the AMD Stage. Case and her band have been touring on her successful 2006 release "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" for two and a half years, and this was their last show of the tour. According to her Web site, she has a new album coming in 2009, and she played a few new songs at ACL. [Austin360]

Continue reading "Neko Case @ Austin City Limits 2008, Austin, TX - pics"

It was a late night indie-americana mind explosion...

Continue reading "VIDEO: M Ward, Neko Case, Kelly Hogan & Jim James (My Morning Jacket) on Conan O'Brien"