Songs Are Like Tattoos: Female Singer-Songwriter Rolling Thread

i really like this song by claire cronin (LA-based musician/artist/poet), she has a kind of oldham-ish vocal warble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69Qw4h7Expw

New Dar Williams album IN THE TIME OF GODS, is my fave thing she's done in a decade. "I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything" is a highlight:

http://youtu.be/4NjB6gUbAMk

Gah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjB6gUbAMk

some other albums that fit (ok, some of this stuff stretches the definition substantially, but it's all great) that i've liked this year:

V/A - The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond
http://open.spotify.com/album/45nqVXRAW0xv0wpU9JljPN

Karen Dalton - 1966 (recorded in 1966, but maybe my album of the year)
http://open.spotify.com/album/1K7tpapZGd6Ax1YA2vXNEA

Nneka - Soul is Heavy
http://open.spotify.com/album/2y8fPjPCWanp8VbAIycIaT

Mirel Wagner - Mirel Wagner
http://open.spotify.com/album/33jmg7nlISoNdjKXhC0IpR

Lyriel - Leverage (gothic metal, actually, but close enough)
http://open.spotify.com/album/6eVtM5u0K3DXbOFUajNaIo

Colleen Green - Milo Goes to Compton
http://open.spotify.com/album/3maiMpeCNMkpxxwGngBmdo

Sarah Aroeste - Garcia (ladino)

Marissa Nadler - The Sister
http://open.spotify.com/album/3pmoAaokJOGLTaXViwejVc

loving new Cat Power which i think is still streaming over at NPR

little spotify playlist of this thread type music: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/74xrKvuYOArQjAWXYulk0G

um, i hope he doesn't mind me reposting him but curmudgeon on rolling favorite music thread recommends (and totally fits the vibe here):

I have never heard the Crutchfield sisters who are involved in 2 of Jon Caramanica of the NY Times fave indie-rock albums of the year (I have also not noticed anyone repping for them here, but maybe I mised the thread)

They’re 23 now, these twins, and even though the Ackleys are just a memory, the Crutchfields have continued, forming one band after the next, building a series of cult followings and arriving at the present moment with gale force. Separately they’ve made two of the year’s best and most affecting indie rock albums: “American Weekend” (Don Giovanni), by Waxahatchee, Katie’s solo project, which was released in January, and the self-titled debut album (on Salinas) by Allison’s band Swearin’, which was released in June.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/arts/music/allison-and-katie-crutchfield-twins-go-separate-ways.html?_r=1&ref=arts

also not on spotify but aimee wilson has a new album out that incorporates sacred harp influences which is def worth checking out, if only bc sacred harp is pretty awesome

Of related interest (though not strictly a singer-songwriter in the narrowest sense):

Company of Thieves

(though absolutely nobody I know virtually or in real life seems remotely as excited by Genevieve Schatz and this band as I am.)

Meanwhile there are a lot of names on this thread I can't remember if I've ever tried out, so I should get busy.

Dar Williams' "I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything" sound like a cover to me but I can't figure out from where and Google just points back to Williams. Any ideas? Maybe something it sounds a lot like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjB6gUbAMk

Nina Nastasia is apparently going to record another album w/Albini soon, according to an interview w/Albini

also she supposedly had a band with Kim Deal o_O

listening to this nina nielsen album, 'love and terror in the wilderness'. i have not so much tolerance for breathy scandinavian voices these days but the music is very sparse and moody and just interesting enough. people who liked the mirel wagner might enjoy this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLunRzzw5m0

that was maybe not the most ringing endorsement but i do really like this song^

Noa Babayof - From A Window To A Wall

sad chamber-folk album, released in 2007 and immediately ignored despite the Greg Weeks/Espers connection. listen if you like Marissa Nadler and Nick Drake or if "Give Me a Smile" is your favorite Sibylle Baier song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrQBGWsGIO4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2WG6raAJnM

the whole album is on on bandcamp actually. I didn't realize it was originally released in Israel (she moved from there to Philadelphia for the sake of her music). it doesn't seem like she's released anything else in the past 5 years.

http://www.stolenrecordings.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Moths-Are-Real.jpg

Serafina Steer - The Moths Are Real

Really pretty I thought! Anyway, the first fs-s of the new year I've heard and enjoyed. A little glittery, shimmering but her voice is very light and pleasant.

is the rolling female singer-songwriter thread sexist?

definitely

no mention of Mariee Sioux on this incredibly sexist thread? she's Alela Diane's soul sister, apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmF6DmQoqEE

not just sexist but incomplete!

Sera Cahoone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I1NfjXCcAc

Thumbs up on the Serafina Steer album, nice record!

http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2013/01/samantha-crain-kidface-cover.jpg

so this samantha crain album is pretty great

Only one listen in, but this new Waxahatchee sounds exactly like Kathleen Edwards recording an early Liz Phair record, to me, so I think I'm gonna like it.

Someone over on the Electric Mole Forums (a Shiina Ringo board) has good things to say about Torres, who sounds okay to me (the whole singer-writer deal isn't really my thing most of the time):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkSLJOZX62w

Cibelle put out a new song yesterday and... wow?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc-BL1fav5U

That Torres album is briliant.

the new kt tunstall record is incredible

just these gorgeous and spare arrangements; the way the elements build softly out of the track on stuff like "crescent moon" and "chimes" is breathtaking. the songs are simple, sharp, super pretty

Nadine Shaw doesn't seem to have been mentioned on ilx. Gloomy. Album on Spotify now. I like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkg-BZI-WRA

Sorry, Nadine Shah.

http://d3c1jucybpy4ua.cloudfront.net/data/18204/main_article/Laura-Veirs-album-cover-Warp-Weft.jpg?1375166305

Laura Veirs - Warp + Weft

the new kt tunstall record is incredible

huh. I don't like it nearly as well as the last two. not much to hold onto. also FUUUUUUCK that A. Bird whistling solo in the 2nd tune, what the hell guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JxwSMUd6E8

^ Laura Groves who previously went under the name Blue Roses. It's *very* Bat For Lashes/Kate Bush but I like it anyhow.

have i mentioned how much i love the new laura veirs?

Yeah, it's pretty great.

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/01/317090235/first-listen-first-aid-kit-stay-gold?ft=1&f=1039

http://www.npr.org/2014/09/07/345594161/first-listen-lia-ices-ices

thank god 4 npr first listen amirite?

http://s11.postimg.org/vrdvszy83/Beccy_Owen_Imago_album_cover.png

Beccy Owen – Imago

My favourite album in years, and maybe the most universal one she'll ever make. The story is fairly self-explanatory. Quite simple arrangements, mostly just voice and piano, and it's not a long album at all. Just right. Great songwriting, especially on the second half (the sad bit).

Listen at https://open.spotify.com/album/6fysZ4KUlXw6bWqOwYwea2
(Bandcamp is less listening, more buying)

Beccy Owen's other work has covered things like musical theatre, lullabies, an upcoming charity album mourning the British socio-political situation, and other such commercial shoo-ins.

so far this year:

Jesca Hoop - Memories Are Now
Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
Laura Marling - Semper Femina
Miranda Lee Richards - Existential Beast
Nicole Atkins - Goodnight Rhonda Lee

The Aimee and Laura records have multiple highlights, definitely.

the new waxahatchee album also tremendous but u already know that

Sunny Sweeney - Trophy

i was listening to that a lot last night. pretty uneven imo. some great tracks but stuff like "nothing wrong with texas," or "i feel like hank williams tonight" just feel terribly trite

https://johannawarren.bandcamp.com/album/chaotic-good