As an artist, Neko Case is both fascinating and enigmatic. A goddess to legions of flannel-wearing hipsters, who listen to country “ironically,” she has worked tirelessly throughout her career to scratch out a niche of her own. Her songs, while nominally falling under the banner of folk or alt-country seem almost genreless, borrowing from rock, pop, psychedelic rock, punk and even the avant-garde. (After all, she closes out Middle Cyclone with half an hour of swamp noises.)
So put on your beanies, cuff your jeans, and check out this ranked list of Neko Case’s seven studio albums (made with and without Her Boyfriends), and as always, feel free to rant and rave at us in the comment section about how we’re dumb little donkeys who deserve to be burned in an oil fire.
Honorable Mention: The Tigers Have Spoken (2004)
I’m not gonna cry during the title track. I’m not gonna cry during the title track. I… “And he lived that way forever, separate from the other tigers. He could not know another tiger.” And I’m crying, great. Alright, well… “The Tigers Have Spoken” is an interesting addition to the Neko Case canon because unlike most live albums, it’s not just her playing the hits, but rather it’s mostly songs that don’t appear on studio albums, such as “If You Knew” and “Favorite” as well as covers of traditional songs like “Wayfairing Stranger” and “This Little Light” and songs by artists like Buffy Ste. Marie and Loretta Lynn. There is also a humorous (and educational) hidden track at the end, in which Case suggests that a great way to help the diminishing tiger population would be to feed them our brattiest children. Sure beats Meow Mix in my book.
Play it again: “If You Knew”
Skip it: “Favorite”
7. The Virginian (Neko Case & Her Boyfriends) (1997)
Released in 1997, “The Virginian” is a collection of straight-up country songs and covers (often of a honky and/or tonk variety) and co-written originals. At times, “The Virginian” feels like a drunken night out, with “Thanks A Lot,” “Honky Tonk Hiccups” and “Timber” all being incredibly danceable. Too danceable, really. Other songs like “Somebody Led Me Away” are mellow torch ballads that highlight the artist’s incredible voice. Still, it’s the title track that seems the most Case-like. “The Virginian” tells the tale of a girl who “would not love God as a test,” and who was “free to do what she wanted with clouds of her own.” Ultimately, this album is very much worth checking out, if you can put aside your pride and your ego and admit that there’s even a small part of your dead little soul that still wants to boot-scoot and give a little yee-haw! And let’s face it. We all do. We all want to yee-haw.
Play it again: “The Virginian”
Skip it: “Duchess”
6. The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (2013)
(Affecting a Trump voice) Wow… what a title. We love a catchy title, don’t we folks? We… that title, I mean, it just… just rolls off the tongue. It’s an absolutely tremendous title. Alright, enough of that. Case’s songs have always featured surreal lyrics and unusual structures, but this album takes the experimentation one step further. The only drawback is, it doesn’t always do this in a very interesting way. Many of the ideas feel more chrysalized on “Hell-On,” but there’s a lot to love here from the “Hamlet” inspired opener “Wild Creatures” to the punk-rocking gender-smashing “Man” to the raw, a capella “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu.” Given the chance, we bigly recommend listening to the deluxe version of this album, which features covers of Robyn Hitchcock’s “Madonna of the Wasps” and a bluegrass cover of Case’s own “Magpie to the Morning.”
Play it again: “Local Girl”
Skip it: “Where Did I Leave That Fire”
5. Furnace Room Lullaby (Neko Case & Her Boyfriends) (2000)
The second (and final) album made with Her Boyfriends, released three years after “The Virginian,” “Furnace Room Lullaby” feels like such a tremendous leap in ambition in just a small stretch of time. But still, it seems like a completely natural progression, much like how a DMV worker will inevitably come to moonlight as a dominatrix. It’s an astonishing work that becomes more and more enjoyable with repeat listens. It also happens to be a perfect album for people who are really into Fall. You know the types. The kind who fantasize about driving down a country road on a clear, crisp Fall day to go apple picking, with a pumpkin spice coffee in hand. Yeah. This is an album for them. And I mean that in the absolute best possible way.
Play it again: “Set Out Running”
Skip it: “Whip the Blankets”
4. Hell-On (2018)
“Hell-On” takes the macabre, Southern gothic innovations we’ve seen throughout her career and adds in heavy doses of experimentation found on “Worse Things Get” The opening title track, a story of God and the destruction of planet Earth, feels like it belongs in Aronofsky’s “mother!” while “Last Lion of Albion” sounds like the kind of indie rock you’d wanna hear at your favorite barcade. The almost cartoonishly bleak “My Uncle’s Navy,” tells the tale of a monstrously abusive uncle who enjoys torturing small animals. (It’s sad, most people grow out of that by adulthood.) On “Curse of the I-5 Corridor,” Case laments that “I left home and faked my ID, I fucked every man I wanted to be,” while on “Halls of Sarah,” she sings of poets who “love womankind like lions love Christians.” And “Sleep All Summer” adds a nice touch of piano-driven mellow sweetness to an otherwise hellish record.
Play it again: “Halls of Sarah”
Skip it: “Gumball Blue”
3. Middle Cyclone (2009)
The top three on this list could all stand at number one, but we ultimately had to rank them and this is how the chips fell. As always, dissent is welcomed, but bear in mind that we here at The Hard Times have never once been wrong about anything ever. This record features some of Case’s best song-writing, on tracks like the dream-inspired “This Tornado Loves You,” the uplifting “Magpie to the Morning” and the soothing “Vengeance is Sleeping,” while “Polar Nettles,” “Prison Girls” and “Red Tide” add an almost horrific element to the mix. Ultimately though, it’s the album’s closing track, the 31-minute long “Marais La Nuit” (night swamp) that issues the biggest challenge, but it’s also a deeply meditative experience and one that we insist you listen through at least once. Do it. Listen to the swamp noises. Embrace the swamp.
Play it again: “People Got a Lotta Nerve”
Skip it: No Skip Album!
2. Blacklisted (2002)
“Blacklisted,” much like overhearing your Mom on the phone with your grandparents, is an album that becomes more distressing the further you listen. “Blacklisted” first paired Case with her signature instrument, the tenor guitar, a smaller, four-string guitar known for its clear, bright tone and ability to play without making ones fingies hurt. Partially inspired by Case’s fraught childhood in Washington, the specter of Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway haunts this album like a malevolent phantom. The song “Deep Red Bells” is wholly about him, while his presence is felt scattered throughout in songs like “Ghost Wiring,” where Case sings: “The river is watching you at the drive-in tonight.”. Meanwhile, songs like “Tightly” and “Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)” set the perfect atmosphere for an evening walk through crime alley and “Stinging Velvet” and “I Wish I Was the Moon” are perfect for a night ride home.
Play it again: “Ghost Wiring”
Skip it: The last 60-seconds of “Ghost Wiring” (it’s a blank minute that leads to a hidden track on the vinyl. You can skip it and go right to the reprise of “Outro With Bees” for digital listening.)
1. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)
This album is perfect both for sitting at a coffee shop (drinking a $11.00 charcoal chai latte) or for walking in the woods in the middle of Winter. In Uggs or Doc Martens of course. “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood” is Case’s most folk-oriented album, and in many ways the bleakest. “Star Witness” tells the tale of a depressed widow seeking stimulation from dangerous men and “Maybe Sparrow” tells an almost hopelessly bleak story of grim warnings unheeded. It’s not at all surprising to learn that this entire album was inspired by fairy tales. And not the Disney kind. More the “my stepmom was a cannibal and that’s why I’m so messed up” kind. Ultimately, though, as with most of Case’s discography, she is always able to rescue us from her darkness: She gets spiritual with her cover of “John Saw That Number” and continues with “At Last” serving as a late-in-the-album shout back into the void.
Play it again: “Hold On, Hold On”
Skip it: No Skip Album!