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
recent Marianne Faithful, at least based on that Metallica song
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