Dear folkies and friends,

Mer’s Best Bets is a new feature on the OFC Music site. I have been a musical consultant at the OFC off and on for the past couple of years. Recently, I have been given the daunting but wonderful task of managing our CD inventory! Chopper has left very large shoes to fill, so I will do my best to provide the best selection of new music, local finds, and folk treasures to fill your ears. My goal is to carry a selection of music that will suite kids, parents, grandparents, and your uncle’s cousin, while maintaining a focus on music under the folk/roots umbrella.

Mer’s Best Bets will highlight a monthly Top 4, including a “Mer’s Pick” album review and a “Small Talk” local artist interview.

Hope you enjoy!
Your ear on what to hear,
--- Meredith

1. Mer’s Best Bet
JUNE 2008

Jason Collett – Here’s to Being Here (Arts&Crafts/2008)

A darling of the Arts & Crafts label and the Canadian indie scene, Jason Collett brings us his latest release Here’s to Being Here. Idols of Exile (2005) is an enjoyable folksy pop collection, but this, his fourth release, demonstrates some of his strongest writing.

The album sets sail to the beat of “Roll On Oblivion,” a lyrically beautiful song speckled with synth and warmed with melodic electric guitars. “Out of Time” has a contagious chorus-- “oo-oo-oo-oo-oo, we’re out of time!”—delivered with a charming Dylan-like mumble that Collett somehow gets away with. However, there is little time to reflect on this track as Collett rolls into the punchy and creative “Papercut Hearts.” Perhaps it is the satisfying production on this record that carries the listener through Collett’s mumbled moments into his beautiful choruses, as in “Henry’s Song.” The mid-album “Charlyn, Angel of Kensington” is a quirky change of pace: rhythmically creative and fresh. “Every little bit of light helps get us through the night, these days”; Another strong chorus on “Through the Night.”

This is a strong album that you will be singing along to by your second listen.

Here’s to Being Here is available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

This record won’t disappoint. Pick up a copy for $21.95 + tax at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

MER’S BEST BETS

Neko Case – Furnace Room Lullaby (Mint/Bloodshot/2000)

American-born Neko Case found her legs in music as a punk drummer, and eventually developed a following through her Patsy-Cline-esque vocals as an alt-country singer performing both traditional and original material. Spending a spell in Vancouver at an art school, Case began to develop her own backing band, The Boyfriends. This album, one of her earlier releases, established her as a distinctive and refreshing artist.

Her rockin’ roots come across in the driving guitars and edgy delivery of her finely crafted country songs. The control she exercises in her dynamic and emotional vocal delivery is a strength common to all of her recordings.

Furnace Room Lullaby is an excellent example of Case’s masterful song-craft. Her melodies are bold and unexpected, as on the stop-and-go “Mood To Burn Bridges” which jumps between ballad and western-chase-music from verse to chorus. “No Need To Cry” is a soft and sweet love song that could play out of a juke box in a 50s diner and hold its own next to any classic. Her ballads often have a rough twist—perhaps the edge she picked up from her punk roots—as in the short “Twist The Knife.” Case writes of her adolescence spent in Tacoma, WA, in “Thrice All American”: “The buildings are empty, like ghettos of ghost towns.”

Whether you find yourself with a copy of this album, The Tigers Have Spoken (2004), or Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006), you will have an excellent collection of songs by one of this decade’s most distinctive singers.

A selection of Neko Case recordings are available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

OTHER RECOMMENDED NEW ARRIVALS

Justin Rutledge – Man Descending

Luke Doucet – Blood’s Too Rich

Jill Barber – For All Time

Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

Beach Boys – Pet Sounds