best female artist...

Natalie Merchant
Madonna
Bjork

I also like a bit of Whitney - the odd time she actually uses her amazing voice instead of churning out generic pop/R&B rubbish.
 
Hmm, I have to be honest I dont listen to many female artists at all. Off the top of my head, most probably Maria Callas. She is pretty amazing.
 
Björk, to me, is the perfect model for a female artist. Constantly pushing the envelope and not stagnating musically, a unique and accomplished voice and great sense of aesthetic, and not traditionally attractive enough to be getting by on just her looks (as, let's face it, many female artists do).

However, I think without a doubt, my favourite would would have to be Joanna Newsom. She's lumped in with the rest of the Bay-area freak-folk, or 'New Weird America' if we're going to use the fashionable term, artists like Banhart and Vetiver, but I consider her to be quite apart from that sound. In fact, I don't feel I've ever heard anything specifically like her before. Certainly she's the first in a genre of 'caterwauling harpist' :D.

I wouldn't deny her voice is serious Marmite. I love it though, and she's got to be one of my favourite vocalists. 'Music from Annie' and 'cat being strangled' are two terms banded about, and while I can hear it, that's part of why I like it. Before I heard her music I couldn't envisage the harp to be an expressive lead instrument like a guitar, but in her hands it it becomes pretty special and completely changed my opinion of it. She calls herself a 'harper' rather than a 'harpist'.

Lyrically is where she really shines. Perhaps slightly pretentious in parts, she's a real wordsmith. Loves to play with alliteration, odd meters and vocal rhythms, and that's what gives her the most appeal for me. Very much poetry put to music, without it sounding as such, she's come up with some brilliant lines. Written in her early 20s makes it all the more impressive. Saw her live at the ATP festival a few months ago and it cemented my appreciation of the music. I think she totally plays on the ingenue role, but I was completely transfixed on this tiny figure dwarfed by a huge harp producing this amazing music for the entire set. Worked for me. The Milk Eyed Mender doesn't do her justice, and in fact I much prefer the first record versions [Walnut Whales / Yarn & Glue] over the proper LP - way more passionate and untamed.

Ask me the question 6 months ago, and I would have come straight back with Cat Power.

However, I've become a touch disallusioned with her as an artist. I'm really unsure whether Chan Marshall is really the same person we see as Cat Power, or that has become a character she's now acting out. Like many artists, I'm wondering whether she's become wrapped up in her own mythology and become a parody of herself. She's notorious for stopping and starting songs, having rock'n'roll tantrums on stage while at the same time being very coy onstage. It's very endearing the first time you get it, but then you wonder if she's now doing it because we expect it - part of the 'Cat Power Show'. I'm unsure how to take the most recent time I saw her at the Barbican. On the one hand it was one of the most genuine and fantastic performances I've seen, but on the other I'm worried what I saw was a farce. Reading a review of the New York gig a few days prior, it turns out she did exactly the same thing. Walked offstage, stopped-and-started and made great shakes to tell us about her recovering alcholism. No doubt she's incredibly talented and responsible for some of my favourite music, but I just wonder where she's going with it.
 
Augmented said:
Björk, to me, is the perfect model for a female artist. Constantly pushing the envelope and not stagnating musically, a unique and accomplished voice and great sense of aesthetic, and not traditionally attractive enough to be getting by on just her looks (as, let's face it, many female artists do).

However, I think without a doubt, my favourite would would have to be Joanna Newsom. She's lumped in with the rest of the Bay-area freak-folk, or 'New Weird America' if we're going to use the fashionable term, artists like Banhart and Vetiver, but I consider her to be quite apart from that sound. In fact, I don't feel I've ever heard anything specifically like her before. Certainly she's the first in a genre of 'caterwauling harpist' :D.

I wouldn't deny her voice is serious Marmite. I love it though, and she's got to be one of my favourite vocalists. 'Music from Annie' and 'cat being strangled' are two terms banded about, and while I can hear it, that's part of why I like it. Before I heard her music I couldn't envisage the harp to be an expressive lead instrument like a guitar, but in her hands it it becomes pretty special and completely changed my opinion of it. She calls herself a 'harper' rather than a 'harpist'.

Lyrically is where she really shines. Perhaps slightly pretentious in parts, she's a real wordsmith. Loves to play with alliteration, odd meters and vocal rhythms, and that's what gives her the most appeal for me. Very much poetry put to music, without it sounding as such, she's come up with some brilliant lines. Written in her early 20s makes it all the more impressive. Saw her live at the ATP festival a few months ago and it cemented my appreciation of the music. I think she totally plays on the ingenue role, but I was completely transfixed on this tiny figure dwarfed by a huge harp producing this amazing music for the entire set. Worked for me. The Milk Eyed Mender doesn't do her justice, and in fact I much prefer the first record versions [Walnut Whales / Yarn & Glue] over the proper LP - way more passionate and untamed.

Ask me the question 6 months ago, and I would have come straight back with Cat Power.

However, I've become a touch disallusioned with her as an artist. I'm really unsure whether Chan Marshall is really the same person we see as Cat Power, or that has become a character she's now acting out. Like many artists, I'm wondering whether she's become wrapped up in her own mythology and become a parody of herself. She's notorious for stopping and starting songs, having rock'n'roll tantrums on stage while at the same time being very coy onstage. It's very endearing the first time you get it, but then you wonder if she's now doing it because we expect it - part of the 'Cat Power Show'. I'm unsure how to take the most recent time I saw her at the Barbican. On the one hand it was one of the most genuine and fantastic performances I've seen, but on the other I'm worried what I saw was a farce. Reading a review of the New York gig a few days prior, it turns out she did exactly the same thing. Walked offstage, stopped-and-started and made great shakes to tell us about her recovering alcholism. No doubt she's incredibly talented and responsible for some of my favourite music, but I just wonder where she's going with it.
Click to expand...


Don't consider this a personal attack (I like all the singers you mention) but i've just realised I am physically incapable of reading any music review, however well intentioned, without wishing bodily harm on the reviewer. ;)

Back on topic, check out The Straining Teaspoons. They manage to combine an Olivia Tremor Control-esque melodic sense with the effortless diversity of a White Pepper era Ween, all led by a latter-day Chrissie Hynde in the form of lead singer Ami Joe King.
 
chrisd said:
I am physically incapable of reading any music review, however well intentioned, without wishing bodily harm on the reviewer. ;)

Back on topic, check out The Straining Teaspoons. They manage to combine an Olivia Tremor Control-esque melodic sense with the effortless diversity of a White Pepper era Ween, all led by a latter-day Chrissie Hynde in the form of lead singer Ami Joe King.
Click to expand...


Did you do that on purpose?
You slagged off reviewers and then wrote in the style of a reviewer.
 
chrisd said:
Don't consider this a personal attack (I like all the singers you mention) but i've just realised I am physically incapable of reading any music review, however well intentioned, without wishing bodily harm on the reviewer. ;).
Click to expand...
Okay. Not sure why you're telling me that. But, okay.
 
Unless I'm way off the mark his 'review' was a jibe at the non-sense reviewers write, ended with 'Am I Joking'...

Edit: Just seen your edit;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom