Middle Cyclone is the fifth studio album of American alternative country singer-songwriter Neko Case, released on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 on the ANTI- record label. Her first solo effort in three years, Case stated that "it took a very long time to make." As the title of the album suggests, the record's lyrics are permeated with imagery of tornadoes and, more generally, nature. Thematically Middle Cyclone concerns how Case's upbringing socialized her to form strong emotional attachments to nature and animals, to the neglect of human relationships, and her reconciling "the fact that I need love".

Middle Cyclone features a variety of guest performers, including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, Kurt Heasley of Lilys, and Giant Sand. It also features two prominent covers: "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" by Sparks and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson.

Middle Cyclone debuted to strong reviews from contemporary mainstream and independent music critics. In particular, Case's voice garnered unanimous praise for its strength, clarity, and emotional range. In December 2009 Case was nominated for two Grammys for her work on Middle Cyclone: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Recording Package (the latter alongside fellow art director Judge).http

Conception and recording

The recording of Middle Cyclone took place in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. Case herself stated that only the "piano orchestra" sessions were recorded in Vermont and that the rest was recorded using WaveLab in Tucson. At the time, Case was transitioning from living in Tucson to a recently purchased farm in Vermont, where she recorded in a barn on the property. Case described how the barn was retrofitted to suit her musical needs, as well as the "piano orchestra" that appears in three of Middle Cyclones tracks:

Of the eight pianos that Case rescued, six were playable after two days of tuning by two tuners. One was a broken player piano, which Case decided had the potential to be repurposed.

The open and unconstrained nature of the barn-as-recording studio resulted in several of the tracks on Middle Cyclone having elements akin to a field recording. Case asserted that because of the barn "We ended up with robins on the recording and frogs and all kinds of stuff. And with a barn, you just don't have control, which was another element I really liked." "Polar Nettles" features the aforementioned birdsong 39 seconds into the track, as well as a chorus of spring peeper frogs at the track's end. (The latter fortuitous event was recorded on video and published on ANTI-'s YouTube channel.) "Don't Forget Me" contains a gust of wind close to the song's end. The final track, "Marais La Nuit" (French for "Marsh at Night"), is an actual field recording of the environs around a pond on Case's farm. When asked about the track in an interview with Paste magazine, Case responded "I actually went down to the pond and recorded that myself."

Publicity

New material from Middle Cyclone was first widely publicized when Case performed at Bumbershoot in Seattle, WA on Saturday August 30, 2008 from 1-2:15 pm. In addition to older material such as "Favorite", "Margaret vs. Pauline", and "That Teenage Feeling", the set included four songs from the unreleased album, including "I'm an Animal", "The Pharaohs", "Don't Forget Me", and "Vengeance Is Sleeping". Fan-made video recordings of the songs were posted the next day to YouTube and received widespread attention shortly thereafter in early September when the videos were posted to websites such as Stereogum.

The cover art for Middle Cyclone was released in early December 2008. The image of Case, crouched and ready to spring off the hood of a 1967 Mercury Cougar with a sword in hand received enthusiastic responses from Internet-based media. In a news article entitled "Neko Case, Reigning 2009 Album Art Champ", Matthew Solarski of Pitchfork Media, stated "So Fox Confessor Brings the Flood had some awfully lovely, subtle artwork. But this? My friends, pictures created to accompany music just don't come any better than this." "Dear God she is wielding a sword" was the subtitle of the article. Images from the sword-and-muscle car photo shoot were also used in advertisements on the ANTI- blog to encourage preordering of Middle Cyclone.

On December 15, 2008 ANTI- released an electronic press kit for Middle Cyclone in the form of a YouTube video. It features selections of an interview with Case, excerpts from several Middle Cyclone songs, footage of Case and her band performing the songs, and collage art and animation to bridge segments. The video also provided fans a first listen to parts of "Magpie to the Morning", "This Tornado Loves You", "Middle Cyclone", "Polar Nettles", and "Fever" (in addition to two already featured at Bumbershoot: "Don't Forget Me" and "People Got a Lotta Nerve").

On February 18, the entirety of Middle Cyclone was streamed by NPR until the album's release on March 3.

On February 24 the ANTI- blog released a free mp3 of Neko Case's song "Middle Cyclone" to commemorate the one year anniversary of the label's blog. The promotion also included a give-away of four autographed copies of the album, with the fifth winner receiving not only a signed copy of Middle Cyclone but also her entire ANTI- catalog: The Tigers Have Spoken, Blacklisted (reissue), Furnace Room Lullaby (reissue), Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (bonus), and Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

"People Got A Lotta Nerve"

The first single from Middle Cyclone is "People Got a Lotta Nerve", which initially was released as a free download on January 13, 2009 on the ANTI- blog and the day after on their website. In celebration of Best Friends Animal Society's 25th anniversary in 2009, for every blogger that reposted "People Got a Lotta Nerve" or iLike user who added it to their profile, Neko Case and ANTI- made a cash donation to the charity. The promotion ran from January 13 to February 3, 2009, with five dollars donated per blog post and one per iLike profile-add.

On February 24, "People Got a Lotta Nerve" was featured as a downloadable track in the "Alt Country Pack 01" extension for the video game Rock Band 2.

Case was interviewed and performed "People Got A Lotta Nerve" live for QTV on February 24, accompanied by Paul Rigby on acoustic guitar and Kelly Hogan on backing vocals. On March 4, 2009 Case performed on The Tonight Show.

People-got-a-lotta-nerve-video.jpgthumbrightThe red-head takes aim at a monkey.

On March 20 ANTI- released a music video for "People Got A Lotta Nerve" on both MTV2's early-morning show "Subterranean" and its YouTube channel. The animated video, created by brother/sister team Paul and Julie Morstad, depicts a red-headed schoolgirl - ostensibly Case - who is ejected from a Killer Whale's blowhole onto the grounds of an estate. The red-head witnesses the interactions of a multitude of other girls with animals, but is returned to the belly of the whale when she takes aim at one of the animals with a rifle found in the estate's manor house.

Various types of interactions between humans and animals are presented in the video, including the care, stewardship and play associated with domesticated animals, hunting, animal servitude, and man-eating. Despite the prominent repetition of the lyric "man-eater" the video does not depict men or boys. The schoolgirls' child-like activities (climbing, swinging, walking on stilts, jumping rope, piggy-back riding, pillow fighting, and clapping games) take place near and even on animals such as elephants, greyhounds, tigers, rheas, falcons, and monkeys. Animals are depicted in the video with as much agency as the humans: monkeys read pieces of paper, falcons intervene to prevent the red-head from shooting a monkey, the rhea allows two girls to ride on its back, and the tiger eats the girls brushing him. The video also contains several depictions of Case in the form of a portrait hung in the manor's stairwell and the transposition of one of Case's promotional portraits from Middle Cyclone onto the paper one of the monkeys possesses. The black comic scene in which the tiger has eaten his youthful groomers (their shoes and brushes have been left behind as the animal licks its chops) alludes to Case's song "The Tigers Have Spoken", whose lyrics describe a man-eating tiger driven mad by the isolation of captivity and shot on his chain.

Personnel

* Neko Case - vocals, guitar, piano

* Paul Rigby - guitars

* Tom V. Ray - bass

* Kelly Hogan - backing vocals

* Lucy Wainwright Roche - backing vocals

* Jon Rauhouse - various instruments

* Barry Mirochnick - drums

* Kurt Heasley - guitars, various instruments

* Sarah Harmer - backing vocals

* Carolyn Mark - backing vocals

* Howe Gelb - piano, guitar

* Garth Hudson - organ, piano

* Dallas Good - guitar

* Travis Good - guitar

* M. Ward - acoustic and electric guitar

* Nora O'Connor - backing vocals

Critical reception

The album received largely positive reviews from critics. NPR praised the songs of Middle Cyclone as "heartbreakingly beautiful and, at times, comical" and praised Case's as "one of the most memorable and seductive voices in music." The New York Times' Daniel Menaker praised her "real richness and body," writing that "She has often been described as a belter, a force of nature, a kind of vocal tornado. So this increased admixture of playfulness, delicacy and orchestral effects strikes you as the kind of variegation that artists — and species — make in order to survive and thrive."

Chart performance

Middle Cyclone debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts in its first week of release, making it Case's first album ever to reach the Top Ten in the United States.. The New York Times, March 11, 2009.

Middle Cyclone Tour

The Europe February 2009 Tour, described as "a sneak peak of the new album", began in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday February 18, 2009 and ended on the 23rd in London England. A second, longer tour of Europe is in the works.

Middle Cyclones Spring 2009 Tour begins at Stubb's BBQ in Austin, TX on March 31, 2009. It will then snake through the Southeast, East coast, Canada, and Midwest through the end of April. It will be expanded to include locales in the Southwest, West coast, other locales across North America, and eventually expand to other continents/countries such as Australia. The band Crooked Fingers will open for the majority of Case's Spring 2009 shows.

References

Artist/Band Information

Neko Case (;, Time born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers.

Case recorded and toured for several years as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends before performing solely under her name. She primarily performs her own material, but also performs and has recorded cover versions of songs by artists such as Harry Nilsson, Loretta Lynn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Queen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Hank Williams.

Biography

Early life

Case was born in Alexandria, Virginia, to teenage parents of Ukrainian ancestry. The original family name, changed before she was born, was Shevchenko.Michael Berick, "," Entertainment Weekly, Feb. 11, 2005. Retrieved on 01-11-09. Her family traveled around while she was young before settling in Tacoma, Washington, the city she considers her hometown. She left home when she was fifteen. Her father was in the United States Air Force.

Vancouver

In 1994, Case moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. While attending school she played drums in several local bands, including the Del Logs, the Propanes, the Weasels, Cub (which featured I Am Spoonbender's Robynn Iwata), and Maow. All of these bands were local punk groups except for Cub and The Weasels, which Case described as a "country music supergroup".

In 1998, Case graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, which meant the loss of her student visa eligibility. She left Canada for Seattle, Washington. Before leaving, Case recorded vocals for a few songs that ended up on Mass Romantic, The New Pornographers' first album. Her lead vocals on songs like "Letter from an Occupant" are straightforward, full-volume power-pop performances, entirely shedding any country elements. Released on November 28, 2000, Mass Romantic became a surprise success. Although the band was originally conceived as a side project for its members, The New Pornographers decided to tour and eventually to record a second, third, fourth, and fifth album.

In addition to recording with The New Pornographers, Case frequently collaborates with other Canadian musicians, including The Sadies and Carolyn Mark, and has recorded material by several noted Canadian songwriters, in particular on her 2001 EP Canadian Amp. As a result, she is also considered a significant figure in Canadian music—both CBC Radio 3 and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada have referred to Case as an "honourary Canadian"., Socan.ca. Retrieved on 05-21-07.

Seattle

Case fully embraced country music on her 1997 album with Her Boyfriends, The Virginian. The album contained original compositions as well as covers of songs by Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn and even the 1974 Queen song "Misfire". When the album was released, critics compared Case to honky-tonk singers like Lynn and Patsy Cline, and to rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson, particularly in her vocal timbre.

On February 22, 2000, Case released her second solo album with Her Boyfriends, Furnace Room Lullaby. It introduced the "country noir" elements that have defined Case's subsequent solo career. That tone was evident even from the cover photo, featuring Case sprawled out corpse-like on a concrete floor. On the album itself, her vocal style moves away from outright honky-tonk but retains her twang, garnering comparisons to musicians such as Cline, Lynn, Hazel Dickens, Tanya Tucker, and Dolly Parton. The title track was included on the soundtrack to Sam Raimi's film The Gift, and "Porchlight" was featured on the soundtrack to The Slaughter Rule.

Case sometimes tours with her friend Canadian singer and songwriter Carolyn Mark, as The Corn Sisters. One of their performances, at Seattle's Hattie's Hat restaurant in Ballard, was recorded and released as an album, The Other Women, on November 28, 2000.

Chicago

At about the time Furnace Room Lullaby was released, Case left Seattle for Chicago because she felt that Seattle wasn't hospitable to its local artists.

Case's first work in Chicago was an eight-song EP that she recorded in her kitchen. Canadian Amp, her first recording without Her Boyfriends, was released on her own Lady Pilot label in 2001. She wrote two of the tracks. Six tracks are covers, including Neil Young's "Dreaming Man" and Hank Williams' "Alone and Forsaken". Four of the covers were written by Canadian artists. The EP was initially available only at Case's live shows, but it eventually saw wider release.

Case recorded her third full-length album, Blacklisted, in Tucson, Arizona. Her first album credited to Case alone, without Her Boyfriends, it was released on August 20, 2002. Some believe the title Blacklisted alludes to Case being banned for life from the Grand Ole Opry because she took her shirt off during a performance on August 4, 2001,, Vh1.com. Retrieved on 05-21-07. though Case herself has denied this., Rollingstone.com. Retrieved on 05-21-07. Asked about the incident in 2004, Case said "I had heatstroke. People would love it to be a 'fuck you' punk thing. But it was actually a physical ailment thing.", Richmond.com. Retrieved on 08-13-08.

Most of the album's fourteen songs are originals, except for covers of "Running Out of Fools", previously a hit for Aretha Franklin, and "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" by Sarah Vaughan. Blacklisted finds Case even deeper in a "country noir" mood, and was described by critics as lush, bleak, and atmospheric. Case cited filmmaker David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti, and Neil Young's soundtrack to the film Dead Man as influences. One track, "Deep Red Bells", was inspired by Case's memories of being a vulnerable young woman in the Seattle area while the Green River Killer was at large.

In April 2003, Case was voted the "Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock" in a Playboy.com internet poll, receiving 32% of the vote. Playboy asked her to pose nude for the magazine, but she declined their offer. She told Entertainment Weekly that "I didn't want to be the girl who posed in Playboy and then—by the way—made some music. I would be really fucking irritated if after a show somebody came up to me and handed me some naked picture of myself and wanted me to sign it instead of my CD.", EW.com. Retrieved on 08-13-08. In later interviews, she declined to discuss the survey at all.

New Pornographers follow-up albums

The New Pornographers' second album, Electric Version, was released on May 6, 2003. Case sang lead on even more of the songs on this album, and toured with the group again.

On April 3 and April 4, 2004, Case played two shows with longtime collaborators The Sadies at Lee's Palace in Toronto, which were recorded for release as a live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, in October of the same year.

Twin Cinema, the New Pornographers' third album, was released on August 23, 2005, with Case again providing vocals on several tracks. In addition to providing backing vocals on several songs, Case performs lead vocals on two ballads, "The Bones of an Idol" and "These Are the Fables". She opted out of most subsequent touring duties with the band; however, her parts were taken over by Kathryn Calder.

On Challengers, released on August 21, 2007, Case contributes lead vocals to the title song as well as "Go Places", in addition to her backing vocals on the other tracks.

The 2010 album Together features Case as lead vocalist on "Crash Years" and "My Shepherd."

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was released on March 7, 2006. The album was recorded primarily in Tucson, over the course of two years as Case worked on the live The Tigers Have Spoken and continued to play with The New Pornographers. Critics hailed the record not only for Case's trademark vocals but also her use of stark imagery and non-standard song structures. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood wound up on many "Best of 2006" lists, such as No.1 on the Amazon.com music editors' picks and No. 2 on NPR's All Songs Considered. The album debuted at #54 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It contains Case's most autobiographical song, "Hold On, Hold On". Case said: "the song is actually about me. It's not metaphorical about other people. It's not little pieces of my life made into a story about someone else or someone fictitious."

"Hold On, Hold On" has since been covered by Marianne Faithfull on her 2009 album Easy Come, Easy Go.

Middle Cyclone

Case's latest album, Middle Cyclone, was released on March 3, 2009. In advance of a U.S. and European tour, Case appeared as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Later in 2009 she also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Amazon.com rated Middle Cyclone the number one album of 2009.

Case performed "This Tornado Loves You" from the Middle Cyclone on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 11, 2009.

Middle Cyclone debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts in its first week of release, making it Case's first album ever to reach the top ten in the United States. When released no other record from an independent record company had debuted at a higher position in 2009.

She toured extensively to promote Middle Cyclone with dates in North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as a performance at Lollapalooza 2009 in Grant Park, Chicago.

Awards

Case was honored as the Female Artist of the Year at the Plug Independent Music Awards on February 2, 2006., Plugawards.com. Retrieved on 08-14-08.

Acting career

On January 28, 2008, Case's voice appeared in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Sirens". Case is also scheduled to participate in a new series with Aqua Teen Hunger Force co-creator Dave Willis titled Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge., Pitchforkmedia.com Retrieved on 1-28-07

On March 3, 2010 Case appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz show Spicks and Specks. Her team, led by Alan Brough, won 18-16. At the end of the show she sang a cover of Heart's "Magic Man", backed by Kelly Hogan and Paul Rigby.

Discography

Cub

*Betti-Cola (CA: Mint Records, 1993)

Maow

*I Ruv Me Too (7" EP) (US: Twist Like This Records, 1995)

*Unforgiving Sounds of Maow (CA: Mint Records, 1996)

As Special Guest

*Well Have Yourself A Meaty Little Christmas, There (2009). (Williams Street Records) song: "Santa Left A Booger In My Stocking" guest to: Meatwad

Neko Case

The Corn Sisters

*The Other Women (CA: Mint Records, 2000)

The New Pornographers

*Mass Romantic (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2000)

*Electric Version (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2003)

*Twin Cinema (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2005)

*Challengers (CA: Last Gang Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2007)

*Together (US: Matador Records, 2010)

The Sadies

*Make Your Bed/Gunspeak/Little Sadie (7") (US: Bloodshot Records, 1998)

*Car Songs My '63 / Highway 145 (by Whiskeytown) (Split 7") (US: Bloodshot Records BS 037, 1998)

Other contributions

* "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" on New Coat of Paint: The Songs of Tom Waits (Manifesto Records, 2000)

*The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Still Lookin' Good to Me (Thrill Jockey, 2003)

*Touch My Heart: a Tribute to Johnny Paycheck - If I'm Gonna Sink (I Might as Well Go to the Bottom) SugarHill Recording Studios, 2003)

*Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs - "Buckets of Rain" Live More Musically, 2005)

*"Yon Ferrets Return" (with Carl Newman) - Esopus 10: Good News (Esopus (magazine), CD insert, spring 2008)

*"Santa Left a Booger In My Stocking" (with Meatwad) - Have Yourself A Meaty Little Christmas (Williams Street Records, 2009)

*Jakob Dylan - Women and Country (Sony Music Entertainment, 2010)

*Sarah Harmer - Oh Little Fire (2010)

*Peter Wolf - "The Green Fields of Summer", (2010)

*Fran Healy - "Sing Me To Sleep", (2010)

*Andrew Bird - Fiery Crash

*The Dodos - Tracks "Going Under", "Good", "Sleep" "Don't Try and Hide It", and "Companions"

Videography

*Live from Austin TX Neko Case (DVD) (US: New West Records/Austin City Limits/KLRU, 2006)

See also

*List of musicians from British Columbia

*Music of Vancouver

References