It doesn't matter that she now lives on a farm in rural Vermont?we'll always lay claim to Tacoma girl Neko Case as a Northwest artist. Plus, she still makes sure to perform at least one of our big festivals each year: She'll show up at Bumbershoot in September and played Sasquatch! in May with her band the New Pornographers. It was with the Pornos that she really shone in 2010. The band's excellent new album, Together, released in May, is carried by her trademark vigorous vocals. As she brazenly declares on the exuberant single "The Crash Years": "There's no other show like it 'round here." It's Neko's best song in years. ?Erin K. Thompson