Girl Power

I think it’s safe to say that at least 95% of my music library is dominated by dudes, so I made a list of a few great female vocalists that you should know about, and this isn’t the type of music that is sold because the chick is hot (mostly), but because the music is genuinly good.  I’ve posted a song for each artist that I really enjoy.  [Artists in alphabetical order]

Amy Winehouse

I’ll be honest, I didn’t give her 1 second of my life after her crappy “Rehab” song was everywhere for a couple months.  It wasn’t until we listened to a song of hers in an audio production class at my school that I actually took an interest.  After that class, I downloaded Back In Black and absolutely loved it.  Her style of music is awesome, it’s got some funk/soul/doo wop and it blends together to make a fusiony awesome album.  The B-Sides of that album are just as good too.  Here’s probably my favorite of her songs, also, MOD Sun did an awesome remix of it, so check it out if you’re a hippie and like rap.  EDIT: just checked that MOD SUN song, it’s called “Check My Bag” and it’s on the mixtape “How To Make A MOD Sun” which you can download for free on the internets.

April March

I made a post about this girl just a couple days ago (and posted a youtube video with another song), so check that out if you’re into it.  I’ve been liking this girl the more I listen to her.  This song is in french, but there is an american version called Chick Habit (also the album name) that was featured in the Tarentino film Death Proof, so you may have heard it.

Cocorosie

I’m not even sure where to start on how to describe Cocorosie.  Brazillian?  Weird?  I’m not really too sure, they just do their own thing with their tunes, but it’s great and I love it.  It’s a collection of experimental music, folk music, and trip-hop.  I like that description.  Here’s one of my favorite songs from Cocorosie, although this is an independantly done video.

Imogen Heap

I like this chick a lot, a lot of the reason why is because she makes all of her own music and records everything herself in a studio in her basement.  I remember reading she uses Pro Tools HD and I believe that’s it.  This also, is one of these artists that has been growing on me, the more I listen, the more I like.  I really love the way she uses her vocals and puts them together, she has a lot of creative ideas about arrangement and layering and it ends up sounding great.  Here’s “Swoon” from her newest:

Lights

Besides being the sexiest girl on the planet, Lights knows how to lay down a track.  There’s a lot of subtlety in her music that I really enjoy and like to listen for, but mainly she just looks good with a synthtar.  Here’s the song I wake up to every single morning of my life:

Moby – “Last Night”

I did a little bit of research and I have no idea who sings on this song, but I do know that it’s insanely beautiful:

Nicole Willis

Nicole Willis And The Soul Investigators made a fantastic album called Keep Reachin’ Up, and I highly reccamend that you check it out.  Nicole Willis was pumping out these Retro-Soul tunes before Amy Winehouse became famous.  Here’s one of my favorites:  Alright my favorite isn’t on youtube, but it’s called Keep Reachin’ Up.  So here’s a different one:

Portishead

I bet someone saw this coming.  I read a description of this album that I thought was perfect, that Portishead never leaned too far towards one genre, it’s a dancable record and yet experimental and very emotional.  This song is from Dummy

The Raveonettes

I’ve always loved The Raveonettes.  I don’t know any other band that is even close to where they are at.  This band is a duo from Denmark and takes 50′s or 60′s songwriting arrangements and chord patterns with heavy electronic instruments for the most part and it’s great.  Lust Lust Lust is still my favorite of their 3 albums, and that’s where this song comes from:

Zero 7

Again, the more I listen, the more I like.  Also very emotional, smooth, hypnotic music.  This song is one of my favorites, and it’s very possible you’ve heard it somewhere before.  It’s from the album Simple things (my favorite of theirs).  Simple Things is a great album all together, the production is amazing and I find the layering especially interesting.

Man I wish youtube had better sounding audio quality.  Well, what are you gunna do?  Also I just noticed that all of these songs have 5 stars on Youtube, and that’s how you know they’re pro!

I hope that these types of posts maybe help bring some fresh new music into your life, and I’m always open to suggestions or comments, so feel free to get at me.

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