josephine foster vs joanna newsome

is this seriously the best we can do for josephine foster?

fraid so

i am pretty sure i have everything she has released, i feel i owe her a thread of exuberant praise

there should be a place where i can declare that graphic as a star is gentle, timeless, and ridiculously pretty
but all i got was this lousy thread

JOSEPHINE DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS

Newsom as "tedious, cutesy bullshit".. cutesy? CUTESY? That's ignorant and sexist and wrong on every level.

wait a second
ok

i see

TIME TO RETURN TO OUR ALL JOSEPHINE ALL THE TIME PROGRAMMING

Well, I'll add that yes, Foster is great. Definitely seek out the Born Hellar record (I think it is self-titled), which is Foster in collaboration with upright bassist Jason Ajemian. Really great playing and songs, just a very cool record.

Cosmetically similar, but oceans apart.

Josephine is like having a live-in court musician. Joanna is like having a Type A elf over while you try to do the vacuuming. (Both are obv. classic)

one of my most memorable live music experiences was hearing foster sing shirley/dolly collins' arrangement of "are you going to leave me" accompanied by a creaky slightly off tune piano.

in comparison, did not care for newsom singing "ca the yowes" tbh

i vote josephine baker

children's hour also classic

i vote..... THREESOME *guitar solo*

going to see josephine in chicago tonight
will report back with the highly anticipated results

that record of german lieder was pretty amazing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVzOJdH12-A

Yes, it was. I love her.

I'd never heard a note of Josephine Foster until that embedded video, and it makes me think that Hildegard von Bingen and Joan Baez somehow mated and produced this odd and quietly compelling offspring.

Haha, excellent description.

That composition she's singing in particular is Schubert.

What did La Lechera think?!
Seeing Foster with Jason Ajemian (as Born Heller) was one of the best performances i've ever seen.

(Turangalila, we must have very similar tastes as I often find myself on the same threads as you.)

I'm back! Jason Ajemian made an appearance at the show! They played stuff from all over the catalogue, including an interesting acoustic arrangement of Deathknell and some other songs I forget the titles of atm. Josie sounded great, and it was sort of a homecoming for her and there were a ton of people out. A little on the short side, as it's 12:12 and I am already home :-/
overall: better executed than the show i saw with the supposed, less riveting than the 2Mtongues performance (but that was the first one I saw)

opening bands were ok, included weird french duo who seemed horrible at first but grew on me
ps my name is amanda

xp Ha, yes, I have noticed that as well! :P

no wolf in sheep's clothing songs, nothing from hazel eyes that i can remember
i'm not as familiar with this coming gladness as i should be
i feel like a bad fan

have been enjoying graphic as a star but i don't find the songs very distinguishable from one another
also: apparently she has moved to spain and married a spanish guitarist?

almost forgot to mention that brian goodman was there as well

cocorosie v. joanna seems more fair. josephine foster is on a whole other level

Very cool to see so many people repping for her, she is great. Sad that I did not go to that Issue Project Room show, but I saw Jason Ajemian's band the night before as it was two blocks from my house. I am lazy.

Ajemian is awesome! Go see him if you can, as well as Josephine Foster. Big mistake is that, as she lives in Spain, it'll probably be a while till I can see her again.

How about another Born Hellar record!

New Josephine Foster song streaming here

http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/9502/

groovy kinda psych country groove, some weird singing that is not going to win her any new fans, the "child of god" chorus is cute. sounds like it would be fun to sing with kids?

not 100% in love but i'll give it a chance.

enjoying 'perlas', but i wish it wasn't in spanish.

josephine foster does what she wants, i appreciate that about her. i wish she would go through another heavy phase, but i'll wait it out.

Like this a lot! Really evocative of the whole late '60s/early '70s pop music that sounds like gospel/Protestant hymns thing.

yeah, when did she not sing weirdly? this new one sounds great

she just sings weirdly in different ways for different styles
i meant that there were moments in this song that fans of her weird singing will appreciate -- it's not straight pretty even thought it could be because her voice is so fantastically beautiful.

Again: how about another Born Heller record!

Really like this new track.

what grandavis said!

New album is called Blood Rushing and is coming out Sept 17.

Here's the promo copy (?)

A story within a story, Blood Rushing is a glimpse into the world of Blushing, a heteronym of the artist Josephine Foster. A rock-ballet chanté, the music is set to a Pueblo drum's metapulsing Pan-American heartbeat.

Recorded in Colorado by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes) with the collaboration of her partner Spanish guitarist Victor Herrero, and musicians Paz Lenchantin (The Entrance Band), Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Ben Trimble (Fly Golden Eagle).

"Cleansing. The sanitation of blood, even. Sometimes I hear my own flesh and it terrifies me - it's a sonic confirmation of everything we believe in. It's natures heart beating harder than any story I couldn't have written on my own. Last evening I wanted to cry - I couldn't, because the charm was diffused over the six or seven hours of dusk. Then I danced it off to the shaking of the pipes. For some time now I've been enchanted by these sounds. Again, because of the magic show: this one, of generosity, the kind that comes from sight. Clarity. I met a younger self the other day, seeing things just the way I do from the park bench. When I left her it was the sadness that makes Grandmother cry to me in the kitchen of feeling all her children grow and the speed of time in the in light of how heavy and how fast we grow. It's the same heaviness that this town reeks off - but in an estranged way that makes everyone nobody's child (and every-body, their neighbor's child). Since the fall of my last defense, clarity means listening to organs. Most of the time I feel like I have black crayon strewn on my face and a sort of odd dental fixture and so does everybody else here. And so we all treat each others' magic with the same kind of anonymous respect. A muted awe. Josephine's voice is not metaphoric. Nor is it a spell. Blood Rushing is as native as my flesh and yours." - Natasha Pradhan

Who is Natasha Pradhan? WTF is she talking about?

I was not previously familiar with the works of Josephine Foster but this new album is pretty amazing.

i am still waiting for mine to arrive!!
she is the greatest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJtgxFMhAMw

I gave up and listened on Spotify. Classic Josephine Foster! Spain has been an interesting influence on her. "Panorama Wide" my favorite song so far.

If you prefer her loopy psych guitar sound with The Supposed, may I recommend "Geyser"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXnycij1RsM

Wow, "Geyser" is awesome! Is the album with the Supposed this good? In particular I am partial to whomever is playing electric guitar on this song (her husband?). Almost has a U.S. Maple quality to it, but filtered through a classic psych-garage approach. Really cool. I like J. Foster a lot but had mostly stuck to the quieter end of the spectrum (and just haven't keep up with all of here releases). But yeah, this rules.

Not the same guitarist, but All The Leaves Are Gone definitely is THAT GOOD.

I like "Deathknell"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwTzyL2faTA

Aww that is really good. Will own this some day for sure.

Hey UK (and Nederlanders)-- you should see Jojo if she's coming through your town

20 Oct RASA - Rumor Festival of Adventurous Music, Utrecht
23 Oct South Street, Reading
25 Oct Saramago Café, Glasgow
27 Oct Lyric Theatre, Naughton Studio - Belfast Festival, Belfast
28 Oct Huntersmoon Festival, St George's Church, Carrick on Shannon
29 Oct Leaf, Liverpool
30 Oct Islington Mill, Manchester
31 Oct Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle
01 Nov Taylor John's House, Coventry
02 Nov The Bullingdon, Oxford
03 Nov Cube Cinema, Bristol
04 Nov Wharf Chambers, Leeds
05 Nov Café Oto (2 night residency), London
06 Nov Café Oto (2 night residency), London

I can't really handle Josephine Foster's singing, because you can clearly hear that she studied very long and hard with some quality operatic voice teachers, and you can hear why they told her to pack it in.

I don't know, I think she just likes doing her own thing. If opera is all about rigor and precision (I have no idea if it is or not, fyi), she wants to let her hair down a little. I think her voice is beautiful, but to each her own I guess.

I bumped this thread because I finally got the record from the store and it is great! Geyser is still my jam. I've listened to it ~1x a day at least, that kind of song. There's a real Morricone vibe and classic Josephine Foster singing on "Panorama Wide" too.

Yeah, I agree. Don't see her as anything other than a really interesting, great musician. Her voice is part of the equation, and certainly doesn't seem limited to me, but her music as a whole is just great. Glad the opera thing didn't work out for whatever reason.

Just listened to "Geyser" about 4 times in a row. So good, and a great Friday "let's get the hell out of work" song.

It's the third song on side B, and the two that precede it are just perfect. She goes from Disney heroine to crazy woman at just the right pace.

She is the feature article in the September issue of The Wire. Goes into depth about the making of this album, as well as her life in general. It's a good read (and about the only place you will see a feature article on Josephine).

Definitely going to add this record to my pile at some point.

Oh! I'll have to buy it then. I want to know more about her music teacher days.

Can't remember all the specifics, read it really late at night, but it does discuss her progression/history. Easy to get back issues online if it isn't still in stores, but my wife got it for me this month, seems to lag behind here in the U.S. (i.e., the September issue is on shelves in October etc.).

Glasgow tomorrow night, but I'm scheduled to photograph Amanda Palmer. Sad to be missing Josephine Foster for the second time this year. Might try to do both, if energy and timings allow.

Going to miss the London gigs due to being in stupid USA :(

Ooh krakow photos of Josephine Foster would be so great! You gotta make it!

Thank you for the encouragement! I've seen her a good few times, but not for a couple of years now. AFP is relatively early, so there is a chance... I should have at least one stage time scout at Josephine's show too, which will help.

great, great record, think it's my favorite thing she's done

yeah it's fantastic isn't it, my favourite since hazel eyes, by far

i've been futzing around the house singing "child of god" more than i should, way more than anyone should be forced to endure
i love everything about this album A LOT

livin in the city, gettin high on the hooooog
isn't it a pity
CHILD OF GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Yes! That was stuck in my head for the longest of times.

I mean, if I had to choose one song to save from the fire, it would be Geyser, but honestly I really love the entire album with everything I've got. And that's a lot.

i almost bought a josephine foster lp at the store yesterday but i had no idea where to start!

What were your choices?

blood rushing
graphic as a star
perlas

Help!

Hmmm, I'll admit that I don't have ( but want) Perlas, but Blood Rushing is classic and IMO way more interesting sonically than Graphic, even if the premise of Graphic is really cool. I think you should hear All the Leaves Are Gone because it tooooooootally rules, but Blood Rushing is top notch if given those three choices. That's the best I can do atm.

i'm sold thx!

blood rushing plays more like an indie-folk-americana record, proper band and everything, some velvetsy moments, songwriting that seems singer-songwritery or personally rooted.

graphic as a star plays more like folk, lone singer and guitar, and to me it's more mysterious, hard to understand even - because of the way she sings (and the fact that it's dickinson) i often find myself leaning in to follow it. the songs are often short and elliptical to suit the texts and the large number of them.

personally i go back to graphic more. blood rushing sounded like it was good but it wasn't really my thing that year it came out.

between those two, perlas is closer in sound to blood rushing, just because of the extra players, but everything else is what you would expect. of course, if you can't understand spanish, then…

of course you could always try to hunt down wolf in sheep's clothing.

josephine foster is certainly more listenable than joanna newsom, but joanna newsom is incredibly endearing/beautiful and seems to always stick to her guns artistically -- she is the rare artist whose sound is truly unique -- and i've always felt bad that i couldn't get into her music. she was one of narduwar's best interviews i think. this might be off topic as we seem to be talking about josephine foster here....hmmm... i would say don't get any of those albums and get Little Life instead

actually don't get that. the only one on that i really like is the title track, the rest are childrens' songs but melancholy ones so you can't always tell... idk i like sad ukulele music.

(i'm not an expert on josephine foster i don't know why i decided to offer an opinion... i know like a handful of songs. i came on this thread to talk about joanna newsom.)

There are like 5 zill threads to talk about Joanna N. try one of those imo.

going to see jojo f (& victor) on friday!! woohoo!

i saw JF live last night at a church in limerick. i like her song "waterfall" a lot but its not indicative of her work really. certainly not the music she was playing last night. i got wound up by the affectations (semi-operatic warbling, jf's whole demeanour, cellist making ridiculous faces like she was pleasuring herself) and the music wasnt particularly memorable. not my bag really i guess.

I missed this news the first time round - new JoFo album in November:

http://thequietus.com/articles/13386-josephine-foster-sugarpie-i-m-not-the-same

surprised no discussion of this - i'm still feeling my way around josephine foster but i've been getting into blood rushing - this seems really good too...

Didn't realise it was out already! Going to give it a listen now...

i am expecting my copy in the mails tomorrow. is it my imagination or do her records always come out in autumn ? there is a otherworldy fruitiness about her that is perfect listening for this time of year. Makes me think of mulled wine on a chilly night. I may have mentioned this earlier in the thread but "hazel eyes i will lead you" is another outstanding josephine foster record.

i'm a sucker for her earlier psych stuff but no complaints here with her getting her neil circa harvest on

this is really really nice

New, wonderful, slightly askew single by Josephine Foster:
https://soundcloud.com/firerecords/josephine-foster-shepherd-moon-of-starry-height

cool, she is great

would have to go with foster, despite milk eyed mender and Ys being pretty classic

Newsom I cannot stand at all. Neither the voice, nor the songs, nor the sound of the instrument. I think I'd almost prefer the voice of the singer of Sigur Ros - which is unbearable -to hers.

Pretty much agree these days

That freak folk movement resulted in a lot of shit that sounds tiresome imo today. Like banhart, etc
Vetiver was okay

just saw that there will be re-pressings of All the Leaves Are Gone and Hazel Eyes -- both really great albums but Leaves especially, the first half is truly unbeatable if you like howling lady psych rock. Deathknell is still my jam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwTzyL2faTA

No one remembers her name
HER NAME!

Josephine foster