Labelling Music

So, initially I had planned to tell you all of the amazing CDs I picked up at the Calgary Folk Fest a few weeks back, but I've gotten hung up on how to describe the music.

The CD I've been listening to the most ("constantly, unending, I'm going to smack him if he plays it one more time" Sheila thinks to herself) is Blacklisted by Neko Case. Eons ago I heard a track from this CD on the CBC, and wrote down Neko's name and the CD title. I had since forgotten what she even sounded like, but the CD was still on my "to buy list" and as she was to perform at the Folk Fest, I picked up the CD there. Her performance was fantastic, and I wasn't sorry I bought the CD.

The Folk Fest program described her music as "twang-noir" which I think is a brilliant description, and applies to a lot of other artists I'm into right now. I'd been trying to come up with other ways to describe Neko's sound, so that I could inform you all of her awesomeness, and I decided that if Patsy Cline, and Nick Cave had a fling, Neko Case would be the love child.

Now, most of you reading this know who Patsy Cline is, and probably know what she sounds like, but only a few of you will have heard Nick Cave and know what you heard.

So then I was trying to figure out how one would classify Nick Cave... The best I could come up with was that he was equal parts Emo and Goth, but the problem is that he predates both styles.

Most of you can identify a goth-type person on sight (black clothes, severe make-up, and an attitude that says "Someday I'll slit my wrists for Jesus"). Emo is a bit dodgier, and I'll confess after I first heard the term tossed about, I was so out of touch I had to google it to find a definition. Since then I've come to recognise emo as lots of piercings, lots of tattoos, and the geekiest eye-glasses money can buy.

I digress...

I'm wondering if I need to start reading music magazines to find out what the descriptive terms are, who the key figures of comparison are, and why, when I walk into HMV, I never find the CDs I'm looking for in the sections I'd expect.

So yah, um, Neko Case is cool, check her out.

For interest's sake, if you feel like responding, answer these 3 questions:

1. Are you listening to anything obsessively right now (and what)?
2. How would you describe the style?
3. What is the most bizarre, or most brilliant description of a musical style you've ever heard?