Neko Case — The Needle Has Landed

Okay, so given my predilection for female vocals, I was always going to love Neko. And I did. But Fox Confessor Brings The Flood took it further this year (going to see her in Carrboro helped, as well, I think). That voice. Haunting, sultry, playful, damning, joyful; the charms of the South. Sitting on a porch on a humid evening, watching the sun go down. And other such things.

The Needle Has Landed is the final track on the album, and it's just sublime; a tale of returning back to old haunts, of gossip and why you got the hell out of there in the first place. Complete with a chorus to die for.