Today was a good day, and I haven't even seen the lights of the Goodyear Blimp reminding me Ice Cube's a pimp (yet). Usually I have a clear cut favorite album of the week, and this week any of three could lay claim to it. On second thought, maybe there is a clear winner:
Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
Thank God for Metacritic; I might have missed this release otherwise. And holy shit is this a good album. Kelly Hogan has made a living primarily singing backup for a number of bigger acts: she's probably most famous as Neko Case's second-in-command on her solo efforts, and Hogan gets a lot of big names to help her on this album: M. Ward, Vic Chestnutt, Robyn Hitchcock, and Stephen Merritt wrote songs for the album, and somehow she got Booker T Jones to play keyboard and James Gadson to play drums for her. Hogan possesses an incredibly strong, slightly country twang-y voice, and on this album she shows she knows how to control it. Musically, the album plays like a cross between country and soul. I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical after listening to the pretty country-heavy opener, but once the Edie Brickell-ish second track "We Can't Have Nice Things" came on, I was sold and remained enthralled until the end. I strongly recommend this album.
Selections
We Can't Have Nice Things
Haunted
Sleeper Awake
