groups whose musical direction I can totally get behind, but whose style of vocals really puts me off

the falsetto Whitney's lead vocalist does is for some reason v off putting to me

Neurosis
Bad Religion
Deerhoof

Hood

Gonjasufi

Nick Cave

Most good metal bands.

― Three Word Username, Tuesday, July 19, 2016 3:53 AM (nine months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My son keeps singing me songs which I like, then he tells me its by the Pumpkins and I recoil. Truth is I would like them if it weren't for that voice, which is odd, because I like quite a lot of singers my sons find unbearable: MES in particular.

Durutti Column

Yeah Billy Corgan is one of that strain of very talented rock musicians whoc should let go of a bit of ego and concentrate on writing and playing for better singers.

Like imagine if Siamese Dream had been sung by, I dunno, Layne Staley.

Joanna Newsom, hands down.

As much as I love Sun Kil Moon (before Mark went off the deep end around 2014), I can't ever seem to get over the fact that his voice makes him sound he's singing with a mouthful of food.

And Tobin Sprout's vocals don't put me off but I'm constantly amazed at how different he sounds when singing vs. talking. It's not that he just sounds like he's in a different register but instead like an entirely different person.

Durutti Column

― Wimmels, Tuesday, May 16, 2017 8:15 AM (one hour ago)

fp

television

Bent Knee.

They are probably awesome and of course she's a perfectly fine singer but I can never make it through a whole song for some reason.

From Autumn to Ashes

NOFX

Possibly Arcade Fire with their emo-ramanah crooning

better be honest. Nick Cave, Tom Waits

JUTE FUCKING GYTE

I listened to Pandora when it first started out, and the dealbreaker was Scout Niblett. Almost every "station" I created, they would feed me Scout Niblett.

I think just about everything else I can think of where I'm put off by the vocals, the music doesn't much do it for me either.

Oh, except for this televised concert recording of Chess: The Musical (not the original cast) where the woman singing the part of Florence was just really awful, probably some scientific similarities to Scout Niblett idk.

Bruno Mars

uh

Early Smashing Pumpkins. Could get into the psychy rock stuff but that voice, yuck.

better be honest. Nick Cave, Tom Waits

― PaulTMA,

+ 1

Like imagine if Siamese Dream had been sung by, I dunno, Layne Staley.

This would be awful!

Yeah, that would be awful. Corgan's voice is unorthodox but blends in well with the music on Gish and Siamese Dream... you can kinda tell on those early records that Corgan himself was dissatisfied with his voice, because the focus is pretty much on what the guitars and drums are doing rather than what the voice is doing. It was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness where Corgan started to have more confidence in his voice, some might say wrongly.

If vocals are important enough in the arrangement to be a potential dealbreaker, I usually don't make a distinction between "style of vocals" and "musical direction".

corgan is a hall of fame unlistenable singer for me. up there with jack white on top of kill myself mountain.

this happened to me when i tried to listen to belle and sebastian a week ago. i love twee and i love world-building aesthetics and i love the field mice and monochrome set and smiths and donovan and nick drake and i like their art design and i even like the music and i couldn't make it through an entire song. every blue moon i try to listen to them. his voice is SO in your ear. and i don't want that worm in my ear.

i think i just don't believe in him either. he doesn't sell his (sometimes really not great) lyrics to me. i have to believe in your bedsit legend. i tried listening to some albums by Hit Parade the other day and something similar happened. i can't follow every sad sack down the thorny primrose path of imaginary destruction. life is short.

i can't follow every sad sack down the thorny primrose path of imaginary destruction. life is short.

^ OTM.

I also loathe Jack White's voice.

Bent Knee is an interesting choice. I'm not sure what they would sound like without her.

I'd never heard of them before this thread but she has a very good voice.

a band that is some sort of test of your fortitude:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3KSpeiRPTc

speaking of which, i would totally own every Family album if they'd had another singer. but for fans he's the star of the show. i do love the music.

Skylar Spence

The Associates

Hood

― MaresNest, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:28 (six months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't agree with this at all, the sort of subdued and vulnerable nature of the guy's voice fits the music perfectly imo. Reminds me of the time a friend overheard me listening to Bark Psychosis and asked "why can't this guy really sing?" I don't think pelting it out would really benefit anything.

I don't mind either David Surkamp or Rob Chapman that much.
Don't like Jon Anderson much, he sounded a bit better on the early 00ies remasters, but still don't like him much.

Roger Chapman is awesome but I imagine he's fingernails down a blackboard for a lot of people.

i love gentle giant vocals. preferences are weird. i can imagine GG voice would drive some people buggy. just that stridency and straining at times.

Yes, I really don't like their main singer, ugly but not Roger Chapman-like compellingly ugly.

Also the other guy who sounds like Peter Hammill, aged 7 and a half.

Hood

― MaresNest, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:28 (six months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't agree with this at all, the sort of subdued and vulnerable nature of the guy's voice fits the music perfectly imo. Reminds me of the time a friend overheard me listening to Bark Psychosis and asked "why can't this guy really sing?" I don't think pelting it out would really benefit anything.

― WRONG TWELVE FUCK WITH (ultros ultros-ghali), Wednesday, June 21, 2017 2:42 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ultros Ultros ultra otm. Think it fits the music absolutely perfectly. I cannot envision any other voice to go with that specific whistful, mnelancholy, rural yet pastoral vibe, yet at times with real force lashing out, too.

(best band ever tbh)

i kinda dig that they would basically try and sound like EVERY prog band on one track. the original mashup artists.

x-post

although their first album came out in 1970 so they get some OG status.

there should really be a label devoted to putting out instrumental versions of classic prog albums. #milliondollaridea

are we talking about Gentle Giant? which singer sounds like PH? they all kind of sound alike to me.

Well there was three brothers in the band, that explains the similarity in the vocals. The keyboard player sang also in a sort of high, flutey, plummy voice.