Best current rock/indie rock singer

I've been well into the tragically hip this week - even their new stuff - and boy oh boy is gordon downie a belter - i can't think of a current rock/indie rock singer that gets me vocally (and lyrically but here i'm just talking vocals) like he does - who's better?

Joel Gibb from The Hidden Cameras is one of my favorites. He's no belter, but his voice is crystalline and heavenly (which is even better when he's singing about piss sex).

For starters...

http://theemighteekittens.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/mountain-goats_wombat.jpg

(The hunk, not the hog.)

i'm sure he would drive a lot of ppl crazy but i love the dude from Wilderness

RICHARD HAWLEY

Those chicks from Dirty Projectors

srsly now

I'd like to nominate Panda Bear on lex's behalf.

the girl from ponytail is the best singer in indie rock

i don't actually believe that, but she's awesome

the worst singers who make the best music:

craig finn, hold steady
gareth campesinos!, los campesinos!
the dude from titus andronicus, titus andronicus

neko case, surely

Is Neko really a "rock/indie rock" singer?

I get that she's enjoyed by indie rock fans, but surely...

Half of her discography consists of New Pornographers albums, so I'd say she's in on a technicality.

ariel pink

dude from shearwater tho i assume he's not for everybody

dude from final placement

uh now is neko case not rock/indie rock

how

At one time, she was a pretty legit alt-country singer (though that time is getting longer and longer ago).

alex maas of the black angels

I'll second Hawley

Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound it the guy who gets me most these days.

Corin Tucker isn't current, right?

M: Richard Hawley
F: Neko Case

figured neko case would get a lot of support. very pleased to see a few other people name hawley.

i don't know if you heard about her, but theres one called Joanna Newsom

Does Beth Ditto count? Saw her over the weekend. Her and Basement Jaxx did a killer weird shredtastic cover of I Can't Stand The Rain. Very Rock n Roll.

i don't know if you heard about her, but theres one called Joanna Newsom

joanna who, you say?

tell me more of this "joanna" "newsom."

greg cartwright is a great answer!
i was gonna say dave schuf0rd, but D Charles Speer ain't indie rock, and may in fact be filed under country so i dunno if that counts.

btw, after hawley, for me, the list includes mark kozelek (sun kil moon), alan sparhawk (low), that hippie guy from my morning jacket, and gruff rhys (super furry animals).

jason molina, britt daniel

For the gals, it's Nina Nastasia. Ditto and Case blow me away, but don't cut into me like Nastasia and Cartwright.

Seconding Britt Daniel from a longtime fan.

Would have to think more closely re: females to think of someone...

karen o tbh

was gonna say britt daniel, but after reading through this thread oh yeah beth ditto obv

on the swedish indie front, Karolina Komstedt of Club 8

Tunde Adebimpe is way up there too.

I think in a lot of indie bands the singer is really more the project leader who sings because he/she wrote the damn songs in the first place. I was thinking about this the other day as I was on a classic rock listening splurge and was picturing current bands in incongruous situations (The Decemberists following Santana on Saturday at Woodstock, and so on).

the girl from ponytail is the best singer in indie rock

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, February 23, 2010 7:14 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Either Kevin Barnes or Britt Daniel

are there any rock band that aren't indie rock bands that have singers or

Beach House yo

Britt Daniel, easily, for me.

Will Sheff, no contest.

beth ditto is a good call! i wish she had more songs as great as her voice.

Ok really thread. Lift your game. So many bad answers.

Like 'Will Sheff, no contest.'

Really?

Maybe we have different ideas of what is a 'best' singer.

m: eddie vedder

f: lisa kekaula

(both of em are at their best when not singing w/ their own groups)

or maybe swap rachel nagy for lisa k i dunno

Britt Daniel, easy.

some of these answers are just completely nutsy

This nails it for me:

that said, i think what might really make this is that all of britt's vocals are like ridiculously good. the changing melodies, slips into falsetto, knowing when to be harsh and when to be soft; just a great performance by a great singer.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, January 28, 2010 3:54 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

greg cartwright, ted leo, mick collins

Like 'Will Sheff, no contest.'

Really?

Maybe we have different ideas of what is a 'best' singer.

I guess we must do. All I can say is that I find Sheff's singing hugely powerful and affecting. He's also an incredible lyricist, which helps.

Mark Eitzel still wins

I would still have to say Guy Garvey.

>Mark Eitzel still wins

this = the most otm statement in the history of ilm.

also, Daniel, Esq otm re Alan Sparhawk. Every time I've seen Low live I'm reminded what incredible control and depth he has to his voice. Although they're nothing alike in style I think he's got something in common with Mark Eitzel in that recordings rarely do justice to just how good a singer he really is.

I fear that a decade of Muppet-voice Pitchfork indie singers and faux-Buckley falsetto has made me into some kind of unreconstructed "I WANT MEN TO BE MEN" Neanderthal as regards male singers. And as that seems to be kind of unfashionable at the moment I'm going to plump for someone like Mark Laneghan.

laneghan's good. who are the muppet-voiced singers? i assume you mean whispy singer-songerwriter types? there have always been plenty of those types around, from 60s hippie noodniks to 70s country-"rock" cheeseballs.

on a purely technical level, in terms of range, power, versatility, tone, control, etc., I know of no male singers in mike patton's league.

not that he's indie rock, but still...

mick collins

ditto beth

still got love for chris goss but i don't know if he counts as current (or indie)

laneghan's good. who are the muppet-voiced singers

Wayne Coyne, Jason Lyttle from Grandaddy, Panda Bear, that dude from Girls.

agree totally with the above muppet-spurning, except that I find wayne coyne's voice really affecting and effective.

(not that I'd ever argue that he was technically a good singer, and nor would he)

Matt Berninger of the National
Jason Molina
Ted Leo
Beth Ditto
Feist

agree totally with the above muppet-spurning, except that I find wayne coyne's voice really affecting and effective.

― m the g, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 11:16 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(not that I'd ever argue that he was technically a good singer, and nor would he)

think some people are def getting these two confused here, esp anyone repping for the okkervil river dude

Muppet-voiced singers = Yo La Tengo guy, Mercury Rev guy

xp but the subject is 'best singer', which may be interpreted technically or emotionally.

Johnny Cash

m the g has it - by best i meant who gets to you the most - and that can be an emotional or technical appeal --

Second on Ted Leo. And it looks like I'm the first to suggest Emily Haines? Something about her voice just really hits me.

DANZIG

i really like james murphy's voice, he does a lot with a little. his singing updates that whole school of ny art-punk cool -- lou reed, patti smith, richard hell, etc. -- that i'm a particular sucker for.

think some people are def getting these two confused here, esp anyone repping for the okkervil river dude

That would be me. And yes, I'm interpreting best singer in an emotional sense. No idea who is a good singer technically (Diamanda Galas?), but that's not what I think of when I think of good singers.

I'll throw in a nod for James Mercer of The Shins. I didn't even really listen to the last Shins album, but I recently heard the new Broken Bells song and it reminded me how much I dig the guy's singing. Great range, control, inflection, etc.

courtney love's voice affects me more emotionally than neko case's but i just would not be able to say that she's a better singer - it's sort of an insult to singing as a craft, as a skill, as something that trained singers spend their lives trying to get better at so that they can convey the emotion in the best possible way

and yes, diamanda galás is exactly what i mean by a great singer - she's a virtuoso

thinking of men, first one who sprang to mind was robin pecknold

courtney love's voice affects me more emotionally than neko case's but i just would not be able to say that she's a better singer - it's sort of an insult to singing as a craft, as a skill, as something that trained singers spend their lives trying to get better at so that they can convey the emotion in the best possible way

Dunno, I can't think of many crafted, trained singers who can convey sheer blind fury in the same way as Courtney Love in her prime. This is a ridiculously rigid way of looking at things.

"best" is not the same as "qualified"

i don't think its ridiclously rigid. surely no-one would argue that love is a 'better singer' than case on musical terms.

Oftentimes the more technically proficient you get, the less emotionally connected you are. I have no idea whether Sheff is a technically proficient singer you are, but his voice hits me like few others'. Leonard Cohen would be the epitome of this dichotomy. It's hard to think of anyone else singing "Tower of Song" and meaning it the way he does.

sorry, I have no idea how that stray "you are" got in there.

i don't think its ridiclously rigid. surely no-one would argue that love is a 'better singer' than case on musical terms.

Oh totally, the bit I'm disputing is that being a trained singer = "conveying emotion in the best possible way".

oh no it's the old chestnut of making technical proficiency vs emotional connection into a false binary - let us turn to diamanda for some truth on this:

"Some people hear it as technique, because they can't hear anything but technique, so they think, "Oh, it's about virtuoso singing." Are they mad? Why do they think a person would be a virtuoso? So she can tell the story properly! Why else?"

and obviously the fact that one voice affects you more than another isn't just to do with the voice - it's to do with the material that voice is singing, both in terms of songcraft and how connected the singer is to it. which, ability for conveying rage aside, is pretty much why i like courtney better than neko as an artist. being a "better singer" is only one component of the overall artistic package, albeit usually a pretty important one.

training your voice is kind of like practising your strokes in tennis, isn't it? you want to maximise your capability to deliver the best performance, but this doesn't necessarily mean you will

lex totally OTFM

which is why Hawley is at the top of my list

Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura

Oftentimes the more technically proficient you get, the less emotionally connected you are.

what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx4xrYx_KHY

i wouldn't really call greg cartwright "indie rock"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR-MTZVppkA

back in the day, I woulda said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZnYR8gc6bU&feature=fvw

akron/family in harmony

everyone should reread the thread title. rock/ indie rock.

chris cornell

Bob Dylan

super mario

I have to admit that I'm stymied by this question, but mainly because I'm not sure that I know any more what "indie rock" actually means.

http://www.polkout.com/picardfacepalm.jpg

Robert Plant

David Bowie

Elvis Presley

Calvin Johnson

Merzbow.

Diamanda Galas

Yoko Ono

John Lennon

Caruso

Alan Vega

Kathleen Hannah

Buddy Holly

Dion

Nick Cave and his Bad Swedes

Grace Slikc has kinda fallen off, tho eh?

http://www.freepresshouston.com/archive/uploaded_images/1181323013_5329-701092.jpg

YES TO JANDEK.

daniel johnston

john grant has a pretty amazing voice

Jim James of My Morning Jacket has a pretty good rock-singer voice.

Tom Waits

Jim James of My Morning Jacket has a pretty good rock-singer voice.

― o. nate, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hmm...very very strongly disagree

I like his "Going To Acapulco" on the I'm Not There soundtrack.

the real answer to this thread question is Matthew Smith from Outrageous Cherry btw.

two are friends, so grain of salt I guess, but Owen Pallett, Jonathan Meiburg, and Neko Case would be my nominees if we're sticking to the indie side of things

I'd second Owen. Especially live. His records can leave me cold, but his live shows are breathtaking.

I like the frontman of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

After seeing Neko Case live I'd have to say she's my vote. Always loved Mark Lanegan as well.

daniel johnston -> Has anyone seen him live lately? Noticed he's coming to Brussems so I'm a little tempted.

Kristin Hersch remains my all time "best rock singer" I think.

But the people I have seen most recently who have blown me away are Mariam Wallentin or Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Lola Olafisoye of Chrome Hoof. Especially the latter.

hersh

:-(

You know I googled to make sure I spelled Wallentin and Olafisoye correctly and then failed on Hersh. FML.

revive only because I just got Gordon Downie's 2010 The Grand Bounce - enjoying the hell out of it pretty much nonstop but no one else i know has even heard of it much less listened - please anyone? or am I all alone.