Thought this might need its own thread after some discussion on the Pitchfork Peoples List thread. I often find myself drawn to singers with unusual voices - Tom Waits, Neil Young etc. But other than a handful of examples (Bjork, Joanna Newsom who are both GREAT) I would like to hear more women who exhibit weird/unusual vocal styles.
So far some suggestions from Ilxors on the other thread:
patty waltersyma sumacjudy henskejoan labarbaracatherine ribeiroun TogawaDagmar KrauseNina HagenYoko OnoBjörkLhasa de SelaMrs MillerTanya Tagaq Macy GrayMary Margaret O'HaraMeredith Monk
― Remember you can talk to me any time, asshole (dog latin), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:25 (eleven years ago) link
recent Marianne Faithful, at least based on that Metallica song
― Poliopolice, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:26 (eleven years ago) link
Linda SharrockElizabeth FraserJarboeDiamanda Galas
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:26 (eleven years ago) link
What do you think of MTV Teen Mom Farrah Abraham's first single?
― lex pretend, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:27 (eleven years ago) link
first name should be patty waters btw, no 'l'
― mod night at the oasis (NickB), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:28 (eleven years ago) link
Josephine Foster
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:29 (eleven years ago) link
there is totally a thread for this.
― scott seward, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:30 (eleven years ago) link
and its a good thread too.
Fiona Apple can hit some interesting registers on some of her songs. I'm particularly thinking of moments on "To Your Love" which sound almost frightening.
Oh yeah and of course The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson
― Remember you can talk to me any time, asshole (dog latin), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:30 (eleven years ago) link
I'm fairly sure there already has been a similar thread, but these ladies all deserve some more love (or should that be hipster kisses?). And how could I have forgotten Diamanda Galas? Jeez, that should be the first name on any such list.
― emil.y, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:31 (eleven years ago) link
Victoria Williams, at least on Happy Come HomePhew was weird voiced wasn't she? Or do I have the artist name wrong there? Just know that the same singer cut 2 lps with very different line-ups under the name Phew.
Liz Fraser or is that more what she sang with it than the weirdness of the voice itself?
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:31 (eleven years ago) link
Nico too obvious?
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:32 (eleven years ago) link
Phew isn't that weird a singer, I don't think. Her stuff is great, though.
― emil.y, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:32 (eleven years ago) link
This thread has some suggestions:
classically trained female singers who sing weird songs
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:33 (eleven years ago) link
Kristin Hersh
― mod night at the oasis (NickB), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:33 (eleven years ago) link
soz for the patty misspell
also:junkoblossom dearielene lovich
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:34 (eleven years ago) link
Also this:
if I like Diamanda Galas/Patty Waters/Fatima Miranda/Meredith Monk...
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:34 (eleven years ago) link
Buffy Ste. Marie has a fairly unique delivery.
Groups I enjoy featuring distinctive/weird female vocals:
Melt BananaZap MamaCocteau TwinsZeek Sheck
― Old Lunch, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:34 (eleven years ago) link
I still can't quite enjoy Dagmar Krause. Her voice tends to fit the music though.
― jim, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:36 (eleven years ago) link
that's the one! the if i like diamanda/patty/etc one. read thru that thread definitely.
― scott seward, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:39 (eleven years ago) link
Judee Sill
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
Kathleen Yearwood
― this is the dream of avril and chad (jer.fairall), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
Buffy Sainte-Marie
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:41 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, dunno why i didn't immediately think Buffy. Especially against the electronics of Illuminations.
Thinking of which can add Anette Peacock.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
Jana Hunter. The singer/guitarist of Lower Dens.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
Louise Rhodes of Lamb doesn't have a "weird" voice per se, but she sometimes does odd stuff with it
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
Planningtorock
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:52 (eleven years ago) link
Sa Dingding
Shiina Ringo solo, some of the time. Also some of the time with Tokyo Jihen: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v15379232YqTQjRCC?h1=Tokyo+Jihen+%28Just+Can%27t+Help+It%29+~+Yukiguni+
Most of the major female singers in Arabic music might fit, e.g.: Oum Kalthoum, Asmahan, Faiza (aka Fayza) Ahmad, Warda, Naget, Shadia (getting a bit less "major"), etc. Perhaps not so much Fairouz for what you are looking for.
For that matter, lots of foreign singers are probably going to sound weird. But I get the feeling that's not what you are looking for.
Intense and stylistically varied, but not necessarily all that weird: Genevieve Schatz of Company of Thieves.
Actually, I get the sense people are pushing into more experimental territory than you really want, but maybe not.
x-post:
For Dagmar Krause, try the first album of Brecht/Weil/Eisler songs she put out, Supply & Demand.
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link
Apologies for checking off all my usual obsessions, but what do you expect really?
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:54 (eleven years ago) link
Yes!!! I love her pretty much unconditionally, but this is what she does best.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:55 (eleven years ago) link
Leila Mourad, Betty Davis, Serafina Steer
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:58 (eleven years ago) link
ha now I'm reaching because I want to say Santigold
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:59 (eleven years ago) link
Nora Dean!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKYr-pQ4htE
― zappi, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:59 (eleven years ago) link
Tank battles was also pretty tasty. Dagmar wise anyway.
Trying to think if Sylvia moore is actually a weird singer or if its just the context created by her posh vox against african instrumentation.
Also Emmanuelle Parenin is the voice weird or just the music sublime?
Would think Gal Costa would fit though
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:00 (eleven years ago) link
itt DJP attempts to make "weird" into a synonym for "distinctive"
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:00 (eleven years ago) link
Our goals are similar.
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:00 (eleven years ago) link
I already started a thread like this and also it is my birthday! Ha! Hold on, lemme find it...
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
But it's kinda different, I guess.
Anyway Josephine Foster
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:02 (eleven years ago) link
lots of good stuff that you may be looking for in ^^ that thread but carry on if you must
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:03 (eleven years ago) link
i think the "classically trained" part was a red herring anyway
Did Karen Dalton get onto the list yet?
Or Pinkie Maclure? certainly her early stuff showed that, haven't heard her stuff with John Loop.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:06 (eleven years ago) link
Regina Spektor? She can get a bit old sometimes but when the urge strikes, she's fantastic (try: Pavlov's Daughter)
<3 Yoko so much
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:09 (eleven years ago) link
Sue Tompkins of Life Without BuildingsMolly Siegel of Ponytail
― zappi, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:09 (eleven years ago) link
xp and on a completely different tip.. Wanda Jackson? Fujiyama Mama and others?
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
Dorothy Moscovitz and Nancy Blossom.Grace slick
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
Leila Mourad, Betty Davis, Serafina Steer― Melissa W, Thursday, August 23, 2012
― Melissa W, Thursday, August 23, 2012
I was thinking of coming back and adding Leila Mourad! Shocked to see her name pop up.
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Nice! I really love her.
― Melissa W, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:34 (eleven years ago) link
La Lupe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRIV23LQyI
Yes, she was a self-parody, but great nevertheless and she could kill (in a good sense!) a straight bolero without camping it up.
Yolanda Rivera, mostly known for her work with La Sonora Poncena. I still find her vocal timbre a bit weird at times, but in most cases I've grown to enjoy her songs. Also a decent timabelero, incidentally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvvUngEjcHA
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
looooove la lupe
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
Also happy birthday La Lechera!
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:47 (eleven years ago) link
Smack Dab?
― cwkiii, Thursday, 23 August 2012 17:11 (eleven years ago) link
Yes!!!!!!!!
― dlp9001, Thursday, 23 August 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
God bless you! I've been trying to remember that for years.
That is some classic Joan La Barbara. I misread that as "redundant gypsy" even though I already know the title.
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 17:27 (eleven years ago) link
xp Haha, no problem! I was going to mention her (Linda Hagood) earlier, but she could be a bit much.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 23 August 2012 17:31 (eleven years ago) link
Mimi Goese was one I thought of earlier then Kristen Hersh came on my walkman too.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 19:40 (eleven years ago) link
Anita Lane might fit toojust being reminded by the C&TCS thread
― Stevolende, Thursday, 23 August 2012 19:41 (eleven years ago) link
Hey. It's Jun Togawa!
― frogbs, Thursday, 23 August 2012 19:41 (eleven years ago) link
Soap & Skin is phoney baloney. Yecch.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 23 August 2012 19:44 (eleven years ago) link
sidsel endresen - seek her albums with humcrush & helge stein which are bizarre smoky abstract vocalese - usually (on other albums) she's working a more conservative beth gibbons/ diana krall thing but she weirds it up a treat when she wants to.also if you don't know les rita mitsouko you need to check them for catherine ringer's spine tinglingly screechy punk-chansonrie. i'd recommend "bestov" & "marc & robert" . padma talwalkar - best hindustani khyal singer i ever heard. tujiko noriko i find not much like björk at all, despite comparisons. thankfully she doesn't work predictable scale-runs, etta james wookie belches or b52s rip offs into her vocal style, which is considerably more breathless & minimalist. tsehaytu beraki worth checking - eritrean krarist & singer. some groove - sounds like black sabbath to me but then my brain is corrupted. XP:mimi goese's singing on hugo largo's "mettle" album particularly but also her "soak" album under her own name. sainkho namchylak - tuvan throat singer who ventures successfully into free improv outer space.stina nordenstam gets some stick for doing cutesy ickle high voiced squeak-singing jazz-pop early in her career, but became the utmostest deadpan noir-dramatist with her "dynamite" album, "morning belongs to the night", "the birds sing for their lives" and a buncha other stuff.
― iglu ferrignu, Thursday, 23 August 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
A lot of these suggestions are just weak singers who sing English with bad accents. Living in Europe long enough has cured me of any fascination I once had for such.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:17 (eleven years ago) link
Mrs. Miller is something else though. I think she's brilliant!!
― frogbs, Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:19 (eleven years ago) link
Pretty much all of the female vocalists mentioned on this thread will seem weird to western ears (sometimes SWM ones):
Carnatic Music Recommendations?
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:26 (eleven years ago) link
Ayelet rose Gottlieb
― windjamm voyager (blank), Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
Weird how there's so many Swedish female singers who seem to downright imitate her now, like the singer form Zeigeist, Malin Dahlström from Niki & The Dove, and Karen Park especially.
― LeRooLeRoo, Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:02 (eleven years ago) link
Anybody mentioned Grimes and Lizzi Bougatsos from Gang Gang Dance yet?
― LeRooLeRoo, Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:06 (eleven years ago) link
Karen Dalton. Gorgeous.
― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:07 (eleven years ago) link
who I had mentioned on one of the threads I linked to, not that it's not worth repeating. She's not always that weird though really.
― an infusion of catharsis (_Rudipherous_), Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:11 (eleven years ago) link
Lisa Gerrard has one of the most impressive and unusual voices. Hard to believe sometimes that it's all from the same person.
― LeRooLeRoo, Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:14 (eleven years ago) link
Charlotte Marionneau from La Volume Courbe
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
Marie Daulne from Zap Mama
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 23 August 2012 21:35 (eleven years ago) link
Melissa Arpin-Duimstra does a nice hissing gas shoegaze coo with lovesliescrushing who out-cocteau the cocteaus by sounding more like thomas köner goes pop. really can't listen to liz fraser these days - often sings flat - embarrassing lyrics & cheap ethno-forgeries, honestly think alison goldfrapp is a better vocal technician. also julee cruise - want to hear her doing shoegaze? pluramon's "dreams top rock" & the one after deserve attention.
― iglu ferrignu, Friday, 24 August 2012 06:44 (eleven years ago) link
The point at which "weird-voiced female singers" or even "distinctive female singers" (because, honestly, what on earth is weird about Kristin Hersch's voice? Or Charlotte Marionneau's?) becomes just "recognisable female singers, let us list them."
Anyway, if we're just doing distinct, I'd like to add Alison Shaw of Cranes.
― my god it's full of straw (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, 24 August 2012 07:54 (eleven years ago) link
i don't really understand what is meant by weird so will go along with distinctive instead just so i can recommend romica puceanu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGYYtxJqFak
― cestu, Friday, 24 August 2012 08:28 (eleven years ago) link
also idjah hadidjah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJDd49R6ZIU
― cestu, Friday, 24 August 2012 08:30 (eleven years ago) link
what on earth is weird about Kristin Hersch's voice?
To be honest I have no use for Throwing Muses beyond House Tornado so maybe I have a different impression of them to everyone else, but certainly Hersh used her voice in a very idiosyncratic way on some of those early tracks. Thinking of the epiglottal garglings on Call Me, the way she jumps all over the scales on those staccato bits of America (She Can't Say No) and generally the way she would switch into different modes of singing within the same song, something very Monk-like about that.
― mod night at the oasis (NickB), Friday, 24 August 2012 08:39 (eleven years ago) link
Anna-Lisa Ingemansson
― cock chirea, Friday, 24 August 2012 09:16 (eleven years ago) link
Huh. I guess that Hersch's voice is so familiar to me that I've stopped even thinking of it as strange in any way, but I guess I see your point.
― my god it's full of straw (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, 24 August 2012 09:20 (eleven years ago) link
not sure if annisette's voice is weird enough for this thread but i love her anyway. she sounds like a more tuneful yoko to me sometimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYX7ZdPOCpg
― cock chirea, Friday, 24 August 2012 09:30 (eleven years ago) link
I wholeheartedly second Judee Sill, although I've always found her voice to be beautiful in its plainness. Wouldn't call it "weird" in itself really, but certainly atypical from the flourish we're accustomed to hearing from female vocalists.
I'd add: Kath Bloom, both members of CocoRosie, and I'm gonna go ahead and throw Antony Hegarty on this list.
― Grease Jones (scottfree), Friday, 24 August 2012 13:24 (eleven years ago) link
I was thinking of adding Little Jimmy Scott cos he does sound androgynous enough to be a female singer.
& finding it very odd that Kristen Hersh's vocals on the Throwing Muses track I was listening to yesterday might not be viewed as odd. Certainly not the straightest sounding thing i could think of .
Might actually find Shirley Collins's voice odd in its lack of affectedness though.
― Stevolende, Friday, 24 August 2012 13:37 (eleven years ago) link
Well, I dunno. This thread is really just hammering home the concept that there is such a much narrower range for what is considered a "normal" female voice. Or maybe people have higher expectations of "perfection" or accomplishment from a female singer in a way that male singers are expected to have quirks or idiosyncrasies which would be unacceptable in a woman?
― my god it's full of straw (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, 24 August 2012 13:48 (eleven years ago) link
Wondered that about the two that I posted (I don't think either are 'weird sounding' - and their 'distinctiveness' is perhaps contingent on how familiar you are with music from those places in those genres)
caveat: I'm not all that big on quirks or idiosyncrasies in vocalists
― cestu, Friday, 24 August 2012 13:59 (eleven years ago) link
Well, the OP said he liked unusual male voices but wasn't well informed on unusual female voices. I think this thread is just a response to that request for information, really.
xp
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 24 August 2012 14:00 (eleven years ago) link
Anne Briggs
― bham, Friday, 24 August 2012 14:00 (eleven years ago) link
sidsel endresen - seek her albums with humcrush & helge stein which are bizarre smoky abstract vocalese - usually (on other albums) she's working a more conservative beth gibbons/ diana krall thing but she weirds it up a treat when she wants to.
Just came here to post about the new Sidsel Endresen and Stian Westerhus album, Didymoi Dreams. Definitely on the vocalese/extended technique side of things, but still very human and inviting. It's on Spotify.
also if you don't know les rita mitsouko you need to check them for catherine ringer's spine tinglingly screechy punk-chansonrie. i'd recommend "bestov" & "marc & robert" .
Never really thought of Catherine Ringer in this connection, most of the time she's not far from a typical post-punk singer (would you say David Byrne is a weird-voiced male singer?). But then with a song like Le Petit Train I see where you're coming from.
― Cong rat ululations (seandalai), Friday, 24 August 2012 14:07 (eleven years ago) link
Marianne Faithfull has released seven albums and collaborated with Daniel Lanois, Jon Brion, Hal Willner, Blur and Damon Albarn separately, Beck, Billy Corgan, Etienne Daho, Pulp and Jarvis Cocker (repeatedly) separately, Nick Cave (repeatedly) and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds separately, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, the McGarrigle sisters, Keith Richards, Antony, Rufus, Teddy Thompson and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since that "recent" Metallica song.
― itt: i forgot that he yells at a butt (sic), Friday, 24 August 2012 14:46 (eleven years ago) link
This thread is really just hammering home the concept that there is such a much narrower range for what is considered a "normal" female voice.
This is a request-for-recommendations thread, not a thinly conceiled manifesto.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 24 August 2012 15:13 (eleven years ago) link
Yma Sumac OWNS
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 24 August 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
rebecca black
― KitevsPill, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:44 (eleven years ago) link
Yoko kinda maybe owns this thread. First Plastic Ono Band album is basically "What if the Beatles survived into the 70s and made a krautrock album?"
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:55 (eleven years ago) link
Scout Niblett, maybe?
― Mule, Friday, 24 August 2012 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
Minnie RipertonMelanie SafkaMae Questel
― rods & cones (doo dah), Friday, 24 August 2012 23:28 (eleven years ago) link
Yolandi Visser
― cock chirea, Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:11 (eleven years ago) link
Catherine Jauniaux from Aksak Maboul (her solo record from the early 80s is great)Anna Nacher from Atman/Magic Carpathians
― cock chirea, Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:13 (eleven years ago) link
fell like posting some Ewa Demarczyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2RusSu-IY
goosebumps. this performance is amazing beyond words.
― cock chirea, Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:20 (eleven years ago) link
Robin Holcomb
― Earth, Wind & Fire & Alabama (Eazy), Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
Shelley Hirsch
― cock chirea, Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
urszula dudziakflora purim
― KitevsPill, Saturday, 25 August 2012 13:39 (eleven years ago) link
her voice isn't weird so much as it is a powerful deep bellowone to watch for surehttps://circuitdesyeux.bandcamp.com/
― groundless round (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 January 2015 14:30 (nine years ago) link