Women in New Music

I sometimes wonder if it is just me who notices.

There is a chasm. On one side, we have out tabloid queens, our Courtneys, Amys and to a lesser extent our Lilys and "Gagas". On this side of the chasm, we have scores of reporters, album sales in millions, or at the very least, hundred of thousands and an unshakable presence in pop culture. They exist, it would seem, to be news instead of the musicians they had once set out to be.

On the other side of this chasm there are the women that are truly remarkable. They do not go out on the town, vomit on something or someone and end up on page one, above the fold. They do not rely on PR for exposure. They do not wind up on TMZ. They are musicians who rely on word of mouth to get their music out there.

I’ve compiled a list of a few of my favourite women of new music. There are a few you may have heard of, a few you haven’t. My hope is that you go and give a listen to them. They are, after all, musicians, and they deserve our ears.

More deserving than the Britneys, at least.



Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine
One of the best debut album, if not best album period, to come out in 2009 was from a drop dead gorgeous ginger haired, art school dropout. “Lungs”, was both a critical and commercial smash. It managed number one in the U.K and continue to do exceedingly well in Europe and the States. Florence writes rich pop songs with lush instrumentation, with her vocals matching power with playfulness. While “Lung’s” subject matter is generally the standard dark, break up material, its presentation is what propels it above and beyond typical, boring pop garbage. She is currently recording a follow-up record, which is expected in 2011.



Joanna Newsom
Joanna is a classically trained musician with a several releases out already, most recently being “Have One On Me”, which was not surprisingly, a critical darling. She writes complex music consciously devoid of any particular genre. The complexity of her musical arrangements is constantly juxtaposed against her voice, which has been described as child-like and defies her training as a musician. She has appeared on several occasions on Jimmy Kimmel Live and appears to be gaining momentum to jump from indie darling to mainstream crossover success. While I wouldn’t suggest putting on one of her records on a long car trip, her voice compliments a lazy Sunday, heaps of coffee and a good read.



Lykke Li
Sweden, for some magical reason, has a knack for producing some of the greatest pop music out there. “Youth Novels” is Lykke’s first album and certainly sets the bar high for the eventual follow up. Her voice simmers through the album, letting the arrangements and sometimes thread bare, economical production carry her. She voice is constantly in the spotlight, never faltering, letting the clemency of her voice become her strength.



Kim Schifino of Matt & Kim
Drummers come in two shades, the wild frenetic time keeping of your Keith Moons or your restrained, Swiss timekeepers, like Charlie Watts. Kim prescribes to the former, and has helped the pair become one of the must see live acts. Kim embodies one of the greatest do it yourself mentalities out there. She, and Matt, produced their album “Grand” out of Matt’s bedroom. She also fearlessly appears in one of the greatest videos of last year, the viral “Lesson Learned”. Matt & Kim are currently recording their next album, so we’ll be seeing Kim Schifino real soon.



Melody Gardot
Melody is not only a wonderful new voice in Jazz music, she is also a remarkably strong woman. When she was 19 she was involved in a horrific car accident that left her confined to her bed recovering from head in spinal injuries. Years after the accident, she still needs the help of a cane and always wears sunglasses due to a sensitivity to light. It was this life-changing event that catapulted her into music as a means of therapy. Her paired down approach to music allows her to mix and mash a multitude of genres to create a unique sonic experience. She can be heard most recently only “My One And Only Thrill”.



Victoria LeGrand of the Beach House
Beach House is a dream pop duo straight out of the mean streets of Baltimore. France-born Victoria is their heir apparent of the throaty, laid back vocals of the divine Nico. Like Nico, Victoria’s voice is thick and lush and automatically adds depth to the production so it comes as no surprise that bands, such as Grizzly Bear, have approached her to sing background. Beach House has most recently released their third album, “Teen Dream” and it is an amazing leap forward stylistically. Like the Cocteau Twins before them, Victoria and Beach House seem poised to leap from the sub genre and into the main stream



Gabriela of Rodrigo y Gabriela
There are two things that might take some by surprise when reading about Mexico. One; is that they love Morrissey. Two; they also really, really love thrash metal. Rodrigo and Gabriela both started out in a thrash metal band in Mexico before moving to Ireland and finding a cult following that lead them to supporting several large acts on European tours. Gabriela and Rodrigo, play classical flamenco style guitar with flair and acres of personality. The excitement in each track is incredibly infectious. Gabriela plays one hell of a mean guitar. I can’t bring to mind a single female that can compete with her finger and fret work.



Laura Marling
There is a huge folk scene exploding out of London right now, and Laura Marling is one of the leading ladies of the scene. Prior to cutting it as a solo artist, Laura was a member of Noah and the Whale and sang background on tracks by The Rakes and Mystery Jets. Her voice is strong and feminine and at times is eerily similar to a young Joni Mitchell. Laura’s latest album, “I Speak Because I Can” is certified silver in the U.K and entered the charts at number four.



Regina Spektor
Regina is associated with the New York “anti-folk” scene, but she transcends that non-genre, especially in her later releases such as “Far”. Her songs are wonderfully constructed pieces; the music is undeniable pop but with a level of sophistication generally unheard of in what passes as pop today. Her voice has a versatile range, and she isn’t afraid of hitting the high notes. Her songs are wonderfully constructed and when combined with her lyrics are large scale, loose narratives a truly memorable experience is had.



Dee Dee, Jules, Sandy and Bambi of the Dum Dum Girls
Right off the mark these girls score huge points for Iggy Pop song reference in their name (“Dum Dum Boys” from Iggy’s brilliant “The Idiot”). These girls take The Ramones formula and apply it to lo-fi, indie and garage rock with surprising results. The Dum Dum Girls’ debut on SupPop sounds like a hipster Blondie album, or maybe a Siouxsie Sioux who grew up in the Portland in the 90’s. The band started out as a solo project from front woman Dee Dee and metamorphosed into a solid four piece just last year. And the best part about the group? On their debut, the last track is a cover of Sonny Bono’s “Baby Don’t Go”.

Review-a-palooza #8:

When The Wallflowers crashed the main stage with 1996’s “One Headlight”, I don’t think there was anyone out there that could've predicted that Bob Dylan’s kid, Jakob, would have been anything other than a one hit wonder.

Women + Country is a collection of alt. country, folk and dust bowl blues that attain for an instant timeless quality. The songs are home spun and warm and juxtapose nicely against the stark imagery of a hard life.

On his second outing as a solo artist, Jakob is produced by Grammy and Academy Award winner T-Bone Burnett. T-Bone does well recreating the magic from the last time they worked together when he produced the Wallflower’s breakout album “Bringing Down the Horse” and its giant single “One Headlight”. While this album doesn't have the million dollar single, it certainly is their most fulfilling pairing to date.

On several tracks Jakob marvelously employs Canadian New Pornographer and all around solid solo artist Neko Case. Neko adds her depth to the background vocals and comes close to out singing the airy vocals Jakob lays down. Also on the album is Neko's own background vocalist Kelly Hogan who shines just as bright. All three voices mesh wonderfully to add to the dreamlike, dust bowl tonality of the album.

Women + Country's best are found on "Everybody's Hurting" and the drifting horns of "Lend a Hand". The latter Jakob appears without his female driven backing vocals to wonderful effect.

Jakob’s persona cuts through each song as he comes into his own a solo artist. His songs are sepia toned and dreamy but confident. And even though it might not come to pass, he is one step closer to being referred to as Jakob Dylan, and not Bob’s kid.

Bands You Should Like #2:

Okkervil River

Austin is a city known the world over for its musical offspring. The red headed stranger calls it home, so did the guitar god Stevie Ray Vaughn and more recently Okkervil River. Okkervil River is a six piece alt band with five albums under their belt. Most recently, the band released the sublime “The Stand Ins” that picks up where the preceding album, “The Stage Names” left off.

The band is a critical darling and boasts some pretty impressive fans, including the curmudgeonly Lou Reed who I thought hated everything except himself. Okkervil River is a unique band. Chief songwriter and singer Will Sheff has a voice that most people will like at first listen. Then, after going over a song a few more times, an understanding sweeps over you. Will’s voice fits the scene perfectly, like how Rush couldn’t exist without the high-pitched alto of Geddy Lee.

Their music is big and sweeping and the lyrics are a treasure hunt of references that would appease the hungriest of trivia nerds and music apprecianados. Take for example their song “Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979” You don’t have to know who Bruce Wayne Campbell or his alter ego Jobriath are, or even the significance of the Chelsea Hotel to be swept away by the music.

Recently, the band has shifted gears and has acted as back-up band to Roky Erickson (formerly of psychedelic rock heavies 13^th Floor Elevators). Roky is releasing his first album of new material in over a decade and the band steps in to fill out the sound. Front man Will Sheff serves as producer and the album, called “True Love Casts Out All Evil”, is a truly solid effort from the former mental patient.

No word yet on new Okkervil disc, but here’s hoping.

Videos of the band:

Check out the bands performance on Austin City Limits Here

Review-a-palooza #7:

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

Sometimes in the digital age of music, it’s easy for the music to get lost in the production. Effects and editing can often smother a song to death. So when a simple album comes out, it's something of a breath of fresh air. “Midnight at the Movies” is just such a record. It’s a remarkable album that crosses genre after genre.

I’ve listened song for song about two dozen times and I haven’t worn out its welcome yet. Each song sounds like it would be perfectly at home on a Townes Van Zandt, Woodie Guthrie, Hank Williams or Ryan Adams record. The songs are warm and honest and draw images of a simpler era. From the opening seconds of the first song you are instantly transported to the Nashville of Justin Townes Earle, a town full of broken hearts, boozy encounters and Faulkner-esque backdrops.

Justin has song writing in his genes, being the son of the criminally under appreciated Steve Earle. Justin explores his roots in “Mama’s Eyes” a song that touches on the addiction that he and father both conquered. The song is self deprecating and uplifting in the same breathe and is the perfect example of the sincerity that Justin brings to his song writing.

The songs on this album are rich and textured and are reminiscent of “Heartbreaker” era Ryan Adams. Each song boasts a full cast of characters that you want to head about, and places that you can see in your mind’s eye. The title track “Midnight at the Movies” is an anthem written for the disenchanted, the night crawlers and lonely souls. Each person mentioned in passing with one or two lines has the potential for an albums worth of material.

Each song is refreshing in length, never over staying its welcome. They all have a great up beat and are hummable. I came late to this album, it was released early 2009, and it weren’t for Justin’s appearance on the AV Club’s Undercover feature singing Springsteen’s “Atlantic City”, I doubt I would have found this at all. I’m glad I did.

Review-a-palooza #6:

The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever

Ages ago, nostalgia used to be considered a disease. Sailors used to get so depressed about being away for so long, they manifested physical symptoms; nausea, pains, weakness and so on. Nostalgia plays heavy in the Hold Steady’s latest album, “Heaven Is Whenever” but it isn't considered a sickness. The album explores the idea of suffering having an important part in a life that is fulfilled. But this is hardly a depressing album.

The Hold Steady are something of an anomaly. They manage to age with each album. While its only been a year or two in between releases, the characters from each record have aged a lifetime: from the angst and anger of the teenage years in “Almost Killed Me” and “Separation Anxiety” to the onset of adulthood, complete with weight of the responsibilities that come with growing up, on “Stay Positive”. “Heaven is Whenever” sounds like a collection of conversations had during a high school reunion. The band remembers in vivid details the parties, girls and music that defined them all those years ago.

Earlier this year the band lost Franz Nicolay whose manic and expressive work on the piano and organ added to the depth of the bands impression. Franz left but his absence isn’t a particular heavy loss. Singer Craig Finn has left behind the “talk singing” that was all over previous albums and has become more comfortable with his vocals.

Some of the best songs on this album are slow burners. “The Sweet Part of the City” is languid and sounds like a hot summer day where all you want to do is sit outside with a cold drink and watch the world slip past. “We Can Get Together”, where the album pulls its title from is a trip back through the albums that help us to escape. And any song that name drops Hüsker Dü is all right by me.

This is my favourite type of album. It’s one that bears repeat listening. Like a good movie, or book, you can return to it and pick up something new.

Review-a-palooza #5:

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Damon Albarn has returned with co-creator Jaime Hewlett to fictional music super group Gorillaz for a spectacular third album that builds on the two previous outings. I feel slightly embarrassed writing about anything Albarn’s done. In my wild and misspent youth in the barren prairies of western Canada, I willfully wrote off Blur as ‘the group that wrote that woo-hoo song’ and never gave them a second glance until I was much older. Putting past indiscretions aside, this is one hell of a fine album.

Damon has grown in leaps and bounds as a composer and this album showcases his ability to create a cohesive sonic experience. A task made daunting with a mish mash of musical genres at play and a host of guest artists, each able to steal a song away. Some of the music giants that appear on the album are Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Stuff White People Like certified Mos Def, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones and a powerful and evocative Bobby Womack, who appears at the request of his daughter who assured the aging soul man that the Gorillaz are “cool”. As with previous Gorillaz albums this is a mix of Dub, Electro, Hip Hop and especially pop and Plastic Beach adds to this with Bollywood strings and some Chicago flavoured horns.

It’s hard to pick out tracks that stand out, as they are all pretty tight. Glitter Freeze featuring The Fall’s Mark E. Smith is great. Some Kind of Nature featuring Lou Reed is a great tonal piece, and it’s said that Lou Reed demanded no one be present during the recording. Being bashful maybe? Either way, the end result is phenomenal. The album really gets its legs on its third track; White Flag featuring London hip hop artists Kano, Bashy and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.

To me the only song that never really takes off is second off the top; Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach with the lethargic rhymes of Snoop Dogg. After the weight and scope hinted at during the Orchestral Intro, Snoop and company don’t really reign in the scope that Plastic Beach achieves in latter tracks.

This is a near perfect album. The production, composition, they are all top notch. This is a clear front runner for every "Best of 2010" list out there.

Bands you should like #1:

The Happy Mondays

The Happy Mondays are one of the coolest bands to come out of Manchester. Period. And I'm talking about a town that produced The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order, The Stone Roses and on a lesser scale of cool, Oasis.

With the Stone Roses and Inspiral Carpets, The Happy Mondays were the forefathers of the Madchester scene, a never before seen mixture of dance and guitar based rock. The band formed in the 80’s and in their original incarnation, released four proper albums. Well, three proper albums and one that sunk them and their label into financial ruin.

The Mondays had a pedigree to them that most bands never achieve. They were signed to the hugely influential Factory Records. Their albums were produced by the industry’s finest: Martin Hannett, John Cale and Paul Oakenfold. Their lyrics were catchy and at times quite profound, this being particularly interesting due to the mental state of the mind producing them. Above all else, they had a magnetism that attracted equal parts critical acclaim and fan following.

The band’s history is like a modern day Robert Johnson, so much of it is owed to legend it can be difficult to distinguish the band from the myth. So, here are some of the best stories I’ve heard about the Mondays:

1. As it goes, the Mondays were discovered at a battle of the bands at Tony Wilson’s Hacienda nightclub and were signed regardless of placing last.

2. There’s also the time that singer Shaun Ryder and Bez fed bread laced with rat poison to countless pigeons that took to the air only to rain dead to the ground.

3. There’s also the going rumour that it was Happy Monday’s resident “dancer/percussionist/dealer” Bez that was responsible for introducing Ecstasy to the UK.

4. Or that the Monday’s were so hooked on heroin that they had to be flown to the heroin free Barbados to record their fourth album, only to become addicted to crack. And in order to support that habit they sold their recording gear and clothing.

5. And the last, too good to be untrue rumour that the Monday’s walked out of a record deal with London Records under the pretense of getting some KFC, never to return. It would be safe to assume that KFC was code for heroin and lots of it.

The Mondays broke up (for the first time) in the 90’s due to a cocktail of addiction and publics lack of love towards Madchester on the dawn of American Grunge. They’ve recently given it yet another go, with three of the original players back in action but, it’s not the same. Whatever magic they captured during Madchester is gone, and it is a bit queer seeing these old buggers try to tear it up.

I would suggest you give a listen to the bands first three albums: Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), Bummed and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches for the best of the Mondays. These albums best exemplify what the bad was. For more Happy Monday action, check out the film 24 Hour Party People, the band plays a heavy, if not fictionalized role. Shaun Ryder even has a cameo as a drug dealer.

Here are some videos of the band: