Pitchfork: Neko Case on Mini-Tour Through April

Neko Case on Mini-Tour Through April
Don't be fooled by the chops that I got, I'm still Neko from the block

Let's get one thing straight: Neko Case is a singer, not a "chanteuse." Nor is she a "siren," "songbird," or "diva." Is she lying atop a grand piano wearing a sequined evening gown in a hotel lounge? Did she entice you to crash your ship on a skerry of rock with her dastardly song? Did you find her warbling in a tree next to your window one morning? Did she throw her glass of Chablis in your face for serving it in the wrong flute? No sir, she did none of these things.

I know that music writing offers an extremely limited palette, and that we poor and unheralded literary manqués sometimes feel the need to stretch the boundaries of good sense in order to unveil the bounty of our genius to the world (as Lifter Puller's Craig Finn put it, "Wanna be some super genius novelists, wind up music journalists-- chicks aren't that into it"). But I'm making it official right now-- calling someone a "chanteuse" is perhaps acceptable (since it does refer to a female nightclub singer) but definitely stupid (since nightclub has a specific sense in this case, one that doesn't really jibe with the indie mise en scène), and is overused enough to not make you seem smart. Now deal.

And don't even get me started on calling dudes "troubadours." Unless a motherfucker is strolling around Southern France in the 13th century, plucking a lute singing lyric poems about courtly love, I don't want to hear it.

A musician of diverse talents, Case began her career as a drummer in punk bands like Cub and Maow, sings power-pop with The New Pornographers and old-timey classic country in The Corn Sisters, and laces her rich, slightly Southern drawl through glittering alt.country compositions (on which she plays everything from guitars to singing saw) as a solo singer. Case has scheduled a sporadic batch of live performances throughout the next couple months, with a variety of accomplished supporting musicians. And-a-one and-a-two (tour dates courtesy of the Billions Agency):

03-02 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture (w/ Carolyn Mark, Kelly Hogan and Josh Rauhouse)
03-30 Chicago, IL - Schuba's (w/ The Sadies)
03-31 Chicago, IL - Schuba's (w/ The Sadies)
04-03 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace (w/ The Sadies)
04-04 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace (w/ The Sadies)