Female Singer/Songwriter Thread

[maltaille]

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Wade in the Water -- this is pretty easily the best recording of this song that I've ever heard.

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Perhaps I just like more pain in my female singers, but for me Judy Henske nails this song better than anyone: Judy Henske doing Wade in the Water.

This isn't actually the version I most like - this is from an 60's tv show rather than a live gig - but it captures some of the squeeze-your-heart-in-a-vice feeling that she does so well.

Youtube doesn't have a lot of stuff for her, I guess because not a lot is captured on video, though she's now performing again, and seeqpod isn't that great either. Trust me though - if you like a lot of feeling in your blues, she's about as good a singer as you will ever hear. Writes a lot of her own stuff, but really shines doing the classics.

Two of the songs seeqpod has do happen to be favourites of mine though, Hooka Tooka and the amazing Til The Real Thing Comes Along - http://www.seeqpod.com/music/?q=judy+henske. Til The Real Thing Comes Along still blows me away despite having listened to it thousands of times over the last ten years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Henske
http://www.judyhenske.com

Judy Henske trivia: Magic Judy (bonus points for Dominic if you get that reference) once had a relationship with Woody Allen, and the character of Annie Hall is supposed to be based on a combination of her and Diane Keaton.

[maltaille]

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A very haunting and emotionally raw version of a song that started a music revolution. Smells Like Teen Spirit

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It's amazing how many people do great live versions of this song. Paul Anka's swing version might be the weirdest, but following the theme of under-appreciated female singer/songwriters Patti Smith does a great stripped back one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=M_ciiCyxOJA.

[maltaille]

Much as Judy Henske deserves a full post in this thread (no less so than Melissa Etheridge, or Shirley Manson, or Jann Arden, or Janis Ian, or Neneh Cherry, or Suzanne Vega, or even Patti Smith), my contribution will be Thea Gilmore.

She falls pretty squarely into the alternative pop category, though she's been called "punk folk." Most of what she does is built around an acoustic guitar and her voice.

British music magazine Uncut calls her "the best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years...and then some." Q Magazine, another big British music mag, went for "Britain has spawned very few world class singer songwriters, Gilmore is in a league of her own."

In her late 20's, she's been releasing albums for almost ten years now, but a succession of label changes has meant she hasn't been very well marketed, so she hasn't had wide exposure outside England. Despite being noted as a songwriter, perhaps the most-heard song she's done is actually a cover, her version of Cover Me on the Bruce Springsteen tribute album Born To Run a few years ago: http://www.seeqpod.com/music/?q=thea+gilmore+cover+me. I'm a big Springsteen fan, but her's is about a million times better: jazzy, soft, and slow, it's a plea much more fitted to the lyrics than the Boss' poppy track.

She's worked with Steve Earle, Beth Orton (another under-appreciated British female singer/songwriter), Joan Baez, The Waterboys, and most recently supported the Cowboy Junkies in London.

I couldn't find many of her best songs on Youtube or Seeqpod , but I did get two:
This Girl is Taking Bets (err, over a montage from Veronica Mars is the best I could find, sorry)
Movie Kisses

Others include Razor Valentine, The Things We Never Said, Gun Cotton, Benzedrine, and Apparition #13. Lots of samples on iLike, as there is for everything: http://www.ilike.com/artist/search?a...mp;x=0&y=0.

Her site is www.theagilmore.net, and Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/theagilmore.

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wade in the Water -- this is pretty easily the best recording of this song that I've ever heard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps I just like more pain in my female singers, but for me Judy Henske nails this song better than anyone: Judy Henske doing Wade in the Water.

This isn't actually the version I most like - this is from an 60's tv show rather than a live gig - but it captures some of the squeeze-your-heart-in-a-vice feeling that she does so well.

Youtube doesn't have a lot of stuff for her, I guess because not a lot is captured on video, though she's now performing again, and seeqpod isn't that great either. Trust me though - if you like a lot of feeling in your blues, she's about as good a singer as you will ever hear. Writes a lot of her own stuff, but really shines doing the classics.

Two of the songs seeqpod has do happen to be favourites of mine though, Hooka Tooka and the amazing Til The Real Thing Comes Along - http://www.seeqpod.com/music/?q=judy+henske. Til The Real Thing Comes Along still blows me away despite having listened to it thousands of times over the last ten years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Henske
http://www.judyhenske.com

Judy Henske trivia: Magic Judy (bonus points for Dominic if you get that reference) once had a relationship with Woody Allen, and the character of Annie Hall is supposed to be based on a combination of her and Diane Keaton.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha! Burke!

I had no idea about the Woody Allen relationship....cool deal.

[daveT]

Atrixo

A little divergent of the general theme of this thread, Atrixo is a band that could be considered a slap in the face to the sad music that was coming out in the late 90s. Let by the georgeous Cha Cha Gonzales, Atrixo's music is akin to 80s techno. Her vocals are highly expressive, perfect for an over-all fun album that features many obscured words.

Signed to Hollywood Records, this four-piece disbanded in 2002, but can still be found conversing with die-hards on myspace.

myspace: including a few song samples.

[hanimal]

Jenny Lewis

She's most famous for being the frontwoman for the LA indie rock band Rilo Kiley.

She has a really pure, pristine voice, something that I honestly didn't like as much at first. I have an affinity to more smokey, rough around the edges voices like Fiona Apple and Norah Jones.
But now I think she sings really well. She can be folksy and a bit country.

Her songwriting is superb. Rilo Kiley has a lot of straight forward pop melodies in their songs that kind of make them sound a bit saccharine so they cover up Jenny's sometimes very subversive lyrics.

She writes songs with great melodies and smart, clever indie lyrics. I also think she's friggin beautiful.

In 2006 she released a solo album called Rabbit Fur Coat. It's tinged with country and is pretty laidback. Really lets her vocals and songwriting shine.

I saw Rilo Kiley in August in Paris and they rocked the house.

I had this song on repeat for a couple weeks straight: Rise Up With Fists!!

One from Rilo Kiley's new one.

Arms Outstretched


The Big Guns

On Pancake Mountain: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pXSyztgPQi0
Bizarre... but kind of hot...?

You Are What You Love

[MrWookie]

All,

I've gone through and listened to some of these artists, and I'd like to post some honest thoughts. Hopefully no one will be offended if I don't dig their favorite artist, but here are some brief takes on what I've heard thanks to this thread.

Sarah Brightman - I enjoy Phantom, but the "Time to Say Goodbye" video rubbed me the wrong way, mostly due to my training in classical singing with a world-renowned opera singer. What bugged me about her singing here was how she was basically singing in two different styles for this song. At the beginning of the English section, she's singing in a bright, sweet, spread, almost pop music style without much vibrato, but then for the loud high notes, she switches to a vertical, focused, dark, operatic style with lots of vibrato. In part, that's good, because the high notes would probably sound terrible if she was singing them in the first style. Still, it rubs me the wrong way for a couple reasons: one, I'd kind of like her to keep the more operatic style throughout the piece -- I like that sound better, and two, the high notes, after the lighter section, sound by comparison overly melodramatic, showy, and out of place. To me, it's kind of like watching a basketball player who has difficulty making layups, but then all of a sudden he takes off from the freethrow line and dunks it. He spent all his time practicing how to show off, but he doesn't have his fundamentals in order. For me, that performance was no slam dunk.

Patricia Barber - I dug her voice and her piano playing, but they style of jazz she seems to play, especially in the second video, is pretty far removed from the styles of jazz I enjoy most. I may investigate for stuff of hers that's in a style I like, but otherwise I'll just have to note her as good, but not really pick up any of her music.

Kathleen Edwards - Certainly sounds like a decent female pop artist, but again it's not my style of music.

Utada Hikaro - Same idea as Kathleen

Iris Dement - Even farther removed from the styles of music I like.

Fiona Apple - I generally liked the songs Extraordinary Machine and Paper Bag from a composition standpoint, but I wasn't big on the performance. Unfortunately, her voice sounded a little scratchy in each. The part of EM where she goes way up high and is extra breathy and scratchy just was not pleasing to my ear. I'll look into some of the other videos or recordings there and see if there are any other tracks I like.

That's all I have for now. Again, I know some people can take trashtalk about their favorite artists personally, but I mean no disrespect to the people who like these women. These are just my personal impressions.

[hanimal]

Yeah, Fiona is definitely not a 100% polished singer, especially live. I kind of like when she goes out of key with emotion though.

[Kimbell175113]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiOmhOumh-w

[daveT]

I take no offense, Wookie. My music ear is spread very far, and it would be a boring world if we all agreed on the same thing. Just think of how huge Britney Spears would be then!