Suggestions for good Female musicians

[dreamdead]

Since I'm using limewire more than normal, can people suggest some quality female musicians (with one or two song recs. per choice, so I can get an understanding)? Feel like so much of my song choices are male dominated, and I'd like to switch that up...

[Thirdy]

Off the top of my head, here are some female singer-songwriters well worth your time...

Joanna Newsom
Emmylou Harris
Joni Mitchell
Cat Power
Feist
Hanne Hukkelberg
Julie Doiron

etc.

[Acapelli]

Marnie Stern
-"Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!!!"
-"Absorb Those Numbers"

[Justin]

St. Vincent - The Apocalypse Song and Marry Me

[Kurosawa Fan]

Regina Spektor - anything she's done

[Justin]

Is this thread restricted to females that play their own music? Or does it also include females that do all the vocals and are obviously the centerpiece?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Sleater-Kinney - "Entertain" (that's a fair introduciton)

[Spinal]

Aimee Mann -- "Deathly", "How Am I Different"
Bjork -- "New World", "Bachelorette"
The Cardigans -- "My Favourite Game", "Happy Meal II"
Cat Power -- "American Flag", "Cross Bones Style"
Cyndi Lauper -- "I Drove All Night", "All Through the Night"
Deee-Lite -- "Groove is in the Heart", "E.S.P."
Eurythmics -- "Missionary Man", "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
Feist -- "Secret Heart", "My Moon My Man"
Fiona Apple -- "Fast as You Can", "Sleep to Dream"
Garbage -- "Vow", "Queer"
The Geraldine Fibbers -- "A Song About Walls", "House is Falling"
Jewel -- "Near You Always", "Intuition"
Kristin Hersh -- "Gut Pageant", "Me and My Charms"
Throwing Muses -- "Shimmer", "Mania"
Liz Phair -- "Supernova", "Help Me Mary"
Mary Timony -- "Blood Tree", "Poison Moon"
Helium -- "Superball", "Vibrations"
Natacha Atlas -- "I Put a Spell on You", "Mish Fadilak"
The New Pornographers -- "Mass Romantic", "The Laws Have Changed"
Nina Gordon -- "Now I Can Die", "Tonight and the Rest of My Life"
Veruca Salt -- "With David Bowie", "All Hail Me"
The Pretenders -- "I'll Stand By You", "2000 Miles"
PJ Harvey -- "You Said Something", "Meet Ze Monsta"
Salt -- "Witty", "Bluster"
Belly -- "Feed the Tree", "Slow Dog"
Sleater-Kinney -- "You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun", "Modern Girl"
Tracey Bonham -- "Navy Bean", "Bulldog"
Tegan and Sara -- "Monday Monday Monday", "Walking With a Ghost"
The Muffs -- "Agony", "Oh Nina"
Silverfish -- "Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal", "Rock On"
Ruby -- "Paraffin", "Hoops"
Echobelly -- "King of the Kerb", "I Can't Imagine a World Without Me"
Shonen Knife -- "Shonen Knife Planet", "Konnichiwa"
Sugarcubes -- "Birthday", "Vitamin"
The Breeders -- "Cannonball", "Fortunately Gone"
The Go-Gos -- "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Head Over Heels"
Tori Amos -- "Winter", "Professional Widow"
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- "Maps", "Black Tongue"
The Bangles -- "Manic Monday", "In Your Room"
Whale -- "Losing Ctrl", "Kickin"
Siouxsie and the Banshees -- "Dear Prudence", "Peekaboo"
Sneaker Pimps -- "6 Underground", "Tesko Suicide"
Pat Benetar -- "Shadows of the Night", "Heartbreaker"
Kate Bush -- "Wuthering Heights", "Wow"
Blondie -- "Heart of Glass", "The Tide is High"
Exene Cervenka -- "Leave Heaven Alone", "Here Come the Crucifiers"
Elastica -- "Connection", "Stutter"
Portishead -- "All Mine", "Only You"

[Justin]

Portishead -- "All Mine", "Only You"

I would add Sour Times to this.

[SpaceOddity]

Cocteau Twins

[DSNT]

For recent stuff, I'll say Bat for Lashes and Feist.

Agreed with KF and SO. I would recommend "Oh!" for Sleater-Kinney and with Sleater-Kinney and "Carolyn's Fingers" for Cocteau Twins as introductions.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Wow. Nice list Spinal. Can't believe I forgot to mention Portishead.

[Sycophant]

I like Suzanne Vega.

"Tom's Diner"
"Solitude Standing"

[Cult]

Adding to these:

Cat Power -- "American Flag", "Cross Bones Style"

"Nude as the News," "He War," "Ice Water," "Names," "Maybe Not."

PJ Harvey -- "You Said Something", "Meet Ze Monsta"

Anything she's ever done. But, "Send His Love to Me," "Down by the Water," "Big Exit."

Sleater-Kinney -- "You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun", "Modern Girl"

"One Beat."

Shonen Knife -- "Shonen Knife Planet", "Konnichiwa"

"Ah, Singapore."

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- "Maps", "Black Tongue"

I don't know if this should count, but I guess it's close enough. "Rich," "Man," "Y Control," "Rockers to Swallow," "Is Is," "Gold Lion," "Art Star."

Blondie -- "Heart of Glass", "The Tide is High"

"Good Boys," "Atomic."

Portishead -- "All Mine", "Only You"

"Sour Times."

Spinal, you have good taste. Remind me to rep you when I actually have rep power.

[Spinal]

Anything she's ever done.

So true. My favorite artist ever. Very hard to pick two songs.

"One Beat."

Very nearly went with this one. What a glorious song it is. Might just be their best. I don't know.

[Boner M]

If you want bands with female frontwomen, check out Dutch band Dog Faced Hermans. Those Deep Buds is one of the great overlooked rock albums of the 90's; I believe Raiders is a big fan too. Amazing blend of genres they've got going.

Myspace page

(listen to "Virginia Fur"... a song dedicated to Angela Carter)

[MadMan]

Awesome list Spinal. I'll have to use it to check out the artists I haven't heard stuff from.

As for Sleater-Kinney I've only heard The Woods from them. But my God is that album fantastic.

[jesse]

I'm more old school... I'll hold off on foreign and older jazz artists unless you want them...

In kinda descending order:

Nina Simone
"House of the Rising Sun"
"Ain't Got No; I Got Life"

Françoise Hardy
"Tous les garçons et les filles"
"Point"

Kate Bush
"Wuthering Heights"
"Under the Ivy"

PP Arnold
"The First Cut is the Deepest"
"Everything's Gonna Be Alright"

Regina Spektor (if you haven't already heard "Fidelity"...)
"Us"
"On the Radio"

Judy Collins
"Both Sides Now"
"Albatross" (as a Lit person you kind of have to give this a listen at least once)

Amy Winehouse
"Back to Black"
"You Know I'm No Good"

Aretha Franklin
"Don't Play That Song (You Lied)"
"Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)"

Vashti Bunyan
"Come Wind, Come Rain"
"Where I Like to Stand"

Joan Baez
"Diamonds and Rust"
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"

Mavis Staples
"Until I Met You"
"Son of a Preacher Man"

Mina
"Se telefonando"
"E poi"

Patsy Cline
"Crazy"
"Back in Baby's Arms"

Nouvelle Vague
"Dancing With Myself"
"Too Drunk to Fuck"

Petula Clark
"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love"
"I Know a Place"

Saint Etienne
"Nothing Can Stop Us"
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart"

Isobell Campbell
"Cachel Wood"
"Love for Tomorrow"

Soeur Sourire
"Dominique"!!!

[bac0n]

Neko Case, anyone?