The Pitchfork People's List - top albums 1996-2012

no I definitely hate what he does with his voice 99% of the time, it's just that one time he actually sang DEEP

If it's the song I'm thinking of, Yorke's vocal performance is kind of different to anything else he's attempted (and he should totally do it more). But that goes for most 00s male indie singers - you have a lower register, USE IT, stop trying to strain for notes you were never intended to reach.

Yorke is far from the worst offender in this regard.

He sings DEEP at least 33% of the time! Granted, not on most of the songs that people think of when they think of him.

(Now we should probably stop this or I will be forced to make you a "Thom Yorke's most sultry deep moments" mixtape which we both know would be a bad idea.)

Which song?

i was hoping people would guess

oh my actual favourite radiohead moment = the opening bar of "everything in its right place", those descending electric piano chords. but then the rest of it happens and it is just abysmal

I have to assume not "Creep".

more artists should sing DEEP so I could do their songs at karaoke

also I'm assuming the song Lex liked was "Myxomatosis"

It was The Amazing Sound of Orgy actually.

you have a lower register, USE IT, stop trying to strain for notes you were never intended to reach.

I always think that Thom sounds kind of unnatural and strained when he tries to sing too low, like when he was trying to imitate Bryan Ferry on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. It sounds painful. His falsetto still sounds fairly effortless, on the other hand.

(I actually really like a lot of that stuff. But then again, I've oft stated that I like when his voice warps or breaks because it makes him sound vulnerable and rowr.)

((Let us now stop letting discourse on actual Radiohead stop cluttering up the discourse on hating on Radiohead loving Pitchfork readers.))

Interesting that it's The Amazing Sounds of Orgy, because that's double-tracked with every line sung in his lower register and falsetto simultaneously.

lexyomatosis

That was a joke. It was not actually that song. It was just I was hoping that the idea of Lex listening to anything involving Thom and orgies would provoke outraged "ew, gross" from him. ;-)

I want the real reveal, then.

I was guessing 'Lucky'.

you have a lower register, USE IT, stop trying to strain for notes you were never intended to reach.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 23 August 2012 14:31 (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is actually crazy.

well no, it's not crazy if you can't actually reach them

i was guessing "Exit Music For A Film" - def the lowest register I can think of?

I'm referring to people like Wayne Coyne really, Yorke can hit high notes, it's the squealy mid-range he's not great at.

Ugh Wayne Coyne. Yeah, I'll agree on that.

Haha I'm not going to tell unless Lex reveals. It was on OK Computer though. Let's have a poll! What OKC track does Lex not hate?

Also, ugh Wayne Coyne cosign.

"No Surprises", duh

xxposts DJP - yeah, but everyone has a natural register, right? Mine is naturally quite high and I'm pretty crap at doing low registers unless it's first thing in the morning. Asking singers to use their lower register if they're more comfortable with tenor or falsetto makes no sense.

Wayne Coyne just sounds a bit like Neil Young to me.

Neil Young can actually sing though, he just has a weird voice. Coyne is a bad Neil Young imitator who can't hit notes at all, in a way that's actually painful.

perhaps it doesn't make sense because you are misreading Matt's post, which said that people with a lower register who don't have high notes should stop straining to hit high notes all the time and sing in the register where they sound good?

Oh man, I cannot stand Neil Young. Which means Thom and I can never ~be together~ because that's his voice idol, I know.

;_;

xpost okay if that's what he meant cool.

But I am basically so picky about male singers and what I can tolerate from them that I am the worst person to be having this conversation.

I've developed a taste for Neil Young rather recently after years of hating him. x-posts

I keep meaning to start a "which classic rock vocalist has produced the worst indie imitators" but Neil would win by a landslide.

I had my "omg I like a Neil Young song that isn't on Trans, halp!" moment a few months ago on ILM but I think it really was a one-song exception. So maybe that's how Lex feels about his special Thom song.

Oh man, I cannot stand Neil Young. Which means Thom and I can never ~be together~ because that's his voice idol, I know.

never say never; I recently heard some old Bob Dylan song where he was actually singing instead of doing that annoying moany sprechgesang thing he became famous for and I was shocked by how much I liked it

it was Lucky, MDC got it

<3 Neil Young, weird voice and all. But then I like weird voices often better than non-weird voices. Speaking of which, can someone recommend some good weird-voice female singers for me?

Which song, WCC?

specifically the bit where he sings "glo-o-orious day"

fucking hate neil young's voice, so weedy, reminds me of travis

<3 Neil Young, weird voice and all. But then I like weird voices often better than non-weird voices. Speaking of which, can someone recommend some good weird-voice female singers for me?

Joanna Newsom?

Joanna Newsom is great! I know a lot of people get put off her voice, but it's exactly what I like about her.

fucking hate neil young's voice, so weedy, reminds me of travis

― lex pretend, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:12 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, fuck Neil Young for ripping off Travis.

x-post

patty walters
yma sumac
judy henske
joan labarbara
catherine ribeiro

thanks, thread, for getting me to imagine Travis using vocoders.

Heheh, I'm never going to convince Lex to like Neil Young, but really his voice is very unlike Travis. I don't hear it as weedy (it can be very effective and powerful in places), but it is extremely "in the nose".

cheers Ward

<3 Yma Sumac & Joan La Barbara x-posts

@Mel W I have no idea. It was something about a girl who drove a motorcycle? I revived a thread about it but now of course with searching I cannot find it.