Women's Music CHAT THREAD

Aw, SGM, that whole business utterly sucks.
Bless you for hanging on to the music lists...!

IC's Tune For Today:

If you like a nice slab of shoegaze to see you through an evening, then School Of Seven Bells are definitely worth checking out. They've just released a new album called Ghostory but this one is probably my fave from their 2009 offering, Alpinisms

Yep, like that one Stewie!

Interesting lamb. Generally speaking, female artists who get in the charts tend to be at the younger end of the scale. But you raise an interesting point.

How many female artists can break into the music biz if they already have children? There are quite a few examples of established female musicians having children and carrying on (Kate Bush, Madonna spring to mind) but not so many who managed to get a music career going as a newish mother (well, not many that I can think of, anyway! I'm ready and willing to be corrected).

Bjork is probably one of the few who managed it, having her son in 1986 while she was still in The Sugar Cubes. And Sinead O'Connor, whose oldest son was about three when she first found fame. Those who carried on once they had children had to be very established I suspect, I can think of a lot of female artists who had children then more or less disappeared from the music scene afterward.
Kate from This Is The Kit has a daughter who is now about four and she (Kate) has probably found her greatest success since her DD was born.

It clearly can be done!

IC's Tune For The Day

More whimsical, layered female vocals (but what the hell do the lyrics mean? Who cares!), this time with indie stylings. It's a group that consisted of two men and a woman, but the woman's incomparable voice is what defined their sound and made them unique. She's Elizabeth Fraser and this is from their gorgeous album, Treasure.

Ah yes, we talked about it further upthread - the title track especially is a humdinger.

Not yet!
Feel free to add your own tune recs, the more the merrier

IC's Tune For The Day:

For all insomniacs (plus breast-feeders, those with restless children, noisy neighbours etc. etc.)

A lovely song from the singer/songwriter Devon Sproule:

IC's Tune For The Day

Has anyone else picked up on Grimes, yet? She's a one-woman Canadian electronica powerhouse.
Whimsical, ethereal vocals over choppy beats and grooves. I love the current single, Genesis, which is being played a lot on 6Music at the moment. Her latest album Visions is just out (her fourth in only a couple of years, I think. She's certainly prolific!)

Anyway, here's because the video is quite fun.

Do you know what, I was actually considering putting a Jem tune up as a daily pick, Mo! Great minds, etc. I think Closer is a gem (ahem) of a pop album - she pretty much disappeared after that, didn't she? I don't remember ever hearing of a follow-up...

Sadly, I can't advise on podcasts because I tend to either listen to the radio or to music playing, so haven't got into the habits of checking out podcasts. I'd be interested if anyone has heard of any, though...

Suzanne Vega's continued to release good stuff - at least, her 2007 album Beauty & Crime has got some excellent songs on it.

Sinead O'Connor is being interviewed today on Radcliffe & Maconie on 6Music, in case anyone's interested. I had a listen to samples from her new album and was pretty impressed. Some excellent hooks there and she still chucks in a fair amount of attitude. And that extraordinary voice, of course. Not sure I liked it enough to purchase it, but a definite thumbs up.

Nice

IC's Tune For Today...

A Belgian/African group, now sadly defunkt, although the lead singer, Marie Daulne is still around as a solo artist.

They started out purely acapella, then added instruments later on.

You can hear the brilliant vocal arrangements shining through, though. Their album "7" is an absolute classic.

IC's Tune For Today:

Here's an artist I've admired and enjoyed for a long time. Introspective, interesting lyrics, off-beat angles on things, startling imagery, memorable melodies. She's also another of those artists who continues to make wonderful music in a career spanning 20 years....

IC's Tune For The Day:

Very sad to hear about Kate McGarrigle's too early death a couple of years ago. This is one of my favourites of hers (sang, as ever, with her sister, Anna on harmony vocals and mentioning her daughter Martha in the anecdotal vignette the song describes)

Talk about giving birth to a dynasty, with both children (by Loudon Wainwright III), Rufus and Martha, having tremendous musical success too. A very potent combination of nature and nurture there, I'd say!