Nellie McKay

[andrewgd]

Since I mentioned that she's coming to seattle in my other post, I figured I'd start a thread here and see if anyone has heard of Nellie McKay.

I guess she's a NYC artist who just released her first cd (a double cd set, no less.) Lemme see if I can find the description of her stuff that got me into it:

I'm gonna put my credibility on the line and recommend Nellie McKay's new album after only one listen. She's a 19-year-old songwriter/pianist/rapper. Her flow is totally copped from Paul Barman, but who really cares? She rhymes about high school bullies, Dr. Phil, Paul Wellstone's funeral ... but most of the songs on these two discs (yes, a double CD debut -- ballsy) are Tin Pan Alley-style ballads with lines like, "Give me head or you'll be dead / Salute the flag or I'll call you a fag." Hott. Obviously she's making no attempt to pander to record buyers -- this disc is all over the place. There's a silly song where she serenades her CLONE (whom she affectionately calls Clonie): "The Olsen twins got nothing on us." Later she calls herself a "yuppie f***." It's a cabaret-pop album with a PARENTAL ADVISORY warning! Full of contradictions. The most original disc(s) I've heard all year. Of course, next week I'll be sick of it. Until then ... recommended for fans of MC Paul Barman, The Magnetic Fields, and girls with dirty mouths.

You can download two of her promo tracks here:
http://www.nelliemckay.net/mp3s.html

There's a few live performances at that site as well, but they are live, so the sound isn't so hot.

[dTheater]

I dig her.

I saw her on Letterman a month or 2 ago. The Dog Song. I didn't like it, but I appreciated it.

Then the record came out and I heard her on the World Cafe being interviewed and playing some tunes and I liked them. And I was very into her bizarre personality. So it's not an album I'll play a lot, but it's good to me.

[andrewgd]

The show was last night. Really really cool. Probably in my top 5 favorite shows I've seen. Wow. It was just her and a keyboard. She'd joke around with the audience, and how her mom set her up with a hard playlist to get back at her for playing Pink in the car over to the show. Just really really cool. I recommend everyone go to nellymckay.net and downlaod some of her sample tracks. Really fun and witty jazz/pop stuff. And she's only 19!

[muruch]

I love Nellie Mckay. Especially "Sari" and "The Dog Song". I hope to catch her in concert next month.

[dTheater]

Well, several months after saying, "Yeah, she's okay" in my other post, I ended up seeing her in concert at the TLA in Philly this past Friday. I went in as sort of a fan, but now my enjoyment and appreciation of her and her music has tripled. It was a great show, and I'm not easily entertained by solo pianists (I loooove Tori Amos, but even she couldn't hold me for her entire solo performance). So yeah, it was good.

[Teacher's Lunch]

Nellie McKay is great! I heard her on NPR and bought the CD. I ended up buying a copy for my Mom, too. heh. Had to make a copy for my wife's car because she kept stealing mine.

Album is "Nellie McKay: Get Away From Me"

Some neat stuff on NPR that you can listen to about her, interviews and the like.