Weekend Playlist: The Best of Neko Case

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 8, 2013 8:30PM

Neko Case at The Hideout Block Party on September 20, 2008

In honor of one-time Chicagoan and former Hideout bartender Neko Case's appearance at the Hideout Block Party this weekend, as well as to celebrate the release of her new album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, our weekend playlist compiles the best of Neko Case.

The playlist includes both her solo work, including her last run of critically-acclaimed albums from 2002's Bloodshot-released breakthrough Blacklisted to her latest album, and her work with Canadian power-pop group The New Pornographers.

Case is an amazingly gifted talent, not just in terms of her own gut-wrenching singing and songwriting, but in terms of how she interprets the material of others. Witness her cover of Tom Waits's "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis." While her new album doesn't quite match the standards set by her previous three, it does find her boldly experimenting with her own songwriting style and adding a more somber, soulful depth to her sound. We hope you enjoy this playlist.

(Fun fact: when this writer got married, his now-wife's processional was to a cello-arrangement of Case's "Magpie To The Morning," from her 2009 record Middle Cyclone.)