Modern Female Rock Singers

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Does anyone else think that the lead singers (especially female ones) of Generic Depressive Hard Rock (such as: Paramore, Evenecencse, Flyleaf, etc.) sound like fixed recordings of themselves singing. Now I know that they don't, my friend must have shown me twelve dozen live video recordings of each band, but they sound like they do. Like they train their voices to sound fake.

Personally I like a more sort of folky sound, real and personal. No one get mad at me, please, for thinking critically (or something) of whatever band of this genre is everyone's favorite this week and I know I'm making a pretty huge generalization. (Also I'm biased, can't stand high-pitch noises;) )

I can't get YouTube working at the moment but I was going to suggest searching Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Tarja Turunen (Nightwish), Gallhammer, Astarte as proper rock frontwomen.

Yeah, I don't like any of the bands that are popular today.

Reasons, complicated. Sometimes what you're hearing is technique. It always takes a few years to understand (and come to like) any style. There are conventions that some of them use that I don't like, but then you always have to remember that music, singing, and especially singers change from generation to generation. I have the same feelings about a lot of the male singers of some of the really well known groups. But I think a lot of what they were doing was crap, and that what a lot of the women singing today are doing is "pushing" a certain envelop.....though there are people on this board who are much better qualified to comment on that than I.

I think I must have skipped a generation. I'm willing to listen to most of the material that's coming out of some of the female singer/song writers. I didn't, for example, think much of Carol Kane. But I never really heard her until she was famous, and playing to the audience who bought her music. That's not experimentation (in my humble opinion).

Just my two cents

Neither do I.

A lot of modern day music is overated, and complete crap. I won't name names, although I feel very tempted, it might cause outrage.

Same here. I know people who judge a person by what they listen to. I learned that they need to be judged.

a lot of it is 'me too' syndrome; if star A has sold a gazillion copies, then you want your stable of artists to sound almost exactly like them, so you can clean up too... I remember for a while that every other band either sounded like Green Day or Radiohead... Business decisions influence the sound some (that's what some producers are hired for)

Meh, those bands you listed all sound the same.

Personally, my kickass female rock singer of choice is PJ Harvey.

i blame vocal processing

I think its probably the fact that they've learned so well to sing on key that they've forgotten a lot about dynamics and the specific ways and times to where deliberatly going off-key (but in a way that sounds methodical and planned) can really intensify the emotion of what a singer is putting out. I think that's what too much polish tends to wash out though - the emotion, the band can try to compensate it but in the end when the singer's style doesn't have enough swagger or enough layers to it you have an end result of a luke warm sound, couple that with bubble-gum lyrics and you've flat out got nothing suitable for ages 16 and up.

As for the kind of new female singer I'd like to see, our generation or even the next generation I think needs their own Judy Garland. I'm thinking of a girl who has the same kind of crowd magnetism and does with her music something a lot like Brad Nowell and Sublime did - with the dynamics, the subject matter, etc.; something that's real multilayer, conseptually pretty corrupted and hardened lyrically, but at the same time slingshots you so deep into the singer's headspace that its almost like listening to Eminem when his rhymes got so deep at times that its like his own reality was folding in on itself as the words came out. Seriously, the more immersive the better and immersiveness is exactly what the music today lacks for the most part.

I really enjoy Hole (Courtney Love), Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Bjork.

I go to a good place when i listen to these..

What about Ani Difranco? She's hardly Judy Garland, but really, can someone pull off a "Judy Garland" in these days and times? Ani seems to fit alot of the criteria you're looking for. Give her a shot if you haven't heard of her yet.


She does rock.

I was never one who was interested in female vocalists. All of my favorite singers are male.

I don't know a whole lot about her stuff but I'm pretty well familiar with her collab with Tricky. Going off the UK end though, in the context of it all I'm completely forgetting about singers like Sister Bliss (Faithless), Liz Frazier, geez.....whats wrong with me...

Most Top 40 music is crap. I hate it with a passion. But there are millions of amazing bands out there, you just have to look.

Maia from The Sounds is a brilliant frontwoman... her voice isn't anything that special, but she's SO SO SO rock n roll, I love her to bits.

The Sounds - Painted By Numbers

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN41MDONgOA[/youtube]


And the lovely Claire, from Captain... one of my favourite bands in the world. Her voice blends so well with his, and their music is just insanely good. So much talent, and she's gorgeous.

Captain - Glorious

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWP6g5Zi_wQ[/youtube]


Or Billie and Laura Marsden, from Mancunian band (We Are) Performance.... synth pop perfection, those women channel the 80s.

(We Are) Performance - Short Sharp Shock

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeMJlRkuo0w[/youtube]


As a Kiwi I have to give mention to the Runga sisters, Bic and Boh. They're amazing.

This is Boh Runga, and her band Stellar*

Stellar* - What You Do (Bastard)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkIFR6hdnt8[/youtube]


And this is her younger sister, Bic Runga

Bic Runga - Sway

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w28ZREQe3_Q[/youtube]


And how about the Danish band, Swan Lee? Frontwoman Pernille Rosendahl is gorgeous... this one was written for the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiTOV6Nu0iw[/youtube]


Or of course, we can't go without mentioning the absolutely beautiful Imogen Heap (and in turn, her band Frou Frou). She's got to be one of the most intelligent, brilliant women in music today.

Imogen Heap - Say Goodnight And Go

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9athUdhH40[/youtube]


And mention has to go to Lovefoxxx, of CSS. So rock n roll, she's hilarious.

Cansei De Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7agPOt1XZz8[/youtube]



I'm sure I can think of more later...