American Flag - Cat Power - Moon Pix - 1998

Now this is the Cat Power I used to love...batshit crazy, drunk off her ass, morose, barely coherent...music filled with odd ominous sounds and feedback rather than Memphis horn sections and a professional drummer.

I sit here enduring the longest Friday afternoon in human history while my girlfriend sits on the beach. The old Cat Power was right. Life is hell.

After It All - Cat Power - The Greatest - 2006

I maintain that sobriety will be the death of Chan Marshall. You can accuse me of glorifying substance abuse or buying into the myth that art is only produced through misery and self-destruction (which I do), but seriously listen to this song...under the classy Memphis soul arrangements...isn't this really a Norah Jones track?

Sure, Hipster moms need music to let them feel cool in their pimped out mini-vans, but I miss the bat shit crazy girl who'd cry on stage. We have too many professionals running around as is.