Sunday, July 26, 2009

Heartless Bastards- The Mountain

I haven't given any lady rockers props in a long time. I guess I'm just as hard on female vocalists as I am for the males. I look for vocalists who stand out...so many female chick rock vocalists sound the same (sorry, in my opinion I see no difference between Amy Mann,Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Meredith Brooks,Kristen Hersh,Juliana Hatfield and Ani Difranco. Even much hyped ladies Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) or St. Vincent have voices that are very strong, but just don't take me anywhere. I'm talking VOICES. One of a kind voices like Aretha, Stevie Nicks, Janis, Joni...even Bjork are very hard to find..but I found one in Erika Wennerstrom from the band Heartless Bastards. She has an amazing voice that teeters in and out of decipherability blossoming with wear and tear, shaky depth and sadness that just hooked me when I heard this album recently. Here is a video of a live session featuring the title track to their latest album "The Mountain" :



Let me know what you think and give me any suggestions you may have on where to look for more one of a kind female voices.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting voice. She seems to hang in the lower part of her range for much of this tune.

    If you're looking for a really solid voice (though not one of a kind) you would be advised to check out Sarah Harmer. She's a good song writer and plays well, too.

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  2. Nice. As Sean said a lower more sultry voice. I always enjoyed Leigh Nash's voice from Sixpence None the Richer. Very high and some in my house would say irritating. Not me though. Give her a listen if your not familiar,

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  3. Well, I hate to sound sexist against my own gender but I agree with you - so many female vocalists sound the SAME, or are at least non-interesting. I listened to this video and I like her because you can tell she's about the music, but I didn't really like her voice. My personal favorite female voice is Chrissie Hynde. What do you think of her? Of course Janis is the Queen and there will never be anyone like her again.

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  4. Love the pedal steel guitar player! Dude, check out Beth Orton. She has a pretty unique voice as well...

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