Please Choose Your Favorite 4AD Female Vocalist (Whose Name Does Not Start w/ Elizabeth Fraser)

Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab)

Kim Deal. Without doubt.

really? even considering everything else stereolab has done, i'd still put her behind lisa gerrard, kim deal, maybe kristin hersh.

x-post

my faves are easy: heidi berry, kim deal (don't forget her awesome ultra vivid scene cameo!), lisa germano, kristin hersh, lorita grahame, and anja huwe. i would have to choose between either lisa or kristin for number one and i refuse to do that because that would just be mean. am i the only person who still listens to heidi berry records? 4AD was so ahead of its time as far as the whole freak folk thing goes. i should wiki heidi and see what she's been up to. i should actually just pick lorita for baby i love you so alone. (who sung the original version of breakdown by colourbox? and tarantula? maybe i should vote for them...)

i liked mary hansen better anyway, r.i.p.

oh i guess i love lisa gerrard too. i mean i love dead can dance.

i'm so straight for kim deal's lisp.

I voted Miki because I love her hair so much.

The reason I started this poll is, having been on a Throwing Muses kick lately, I realized how many of my all-time favorite female vocalists were on 4AD at some point. This would include: Liz F (obv), Kristin Hersh, Kim Deal, Laetitia Sadier, Paula Frazer, Kendra Smith, Meriel Barham, Lisa Gerrard & Rachel Goswell (with several other honorable mentions). So I'm going to take some time to roll this one around before committing.

am i the only person who still listens to heidi berry records? - nope

how long was stereolab on 4AD, i don't associate them with this label at all.

i always forget about the unrest/4AD thing cuz their records are all on teenbeat in the states.

that dude from cindytalk should get an honorary vote in this poll.

xpost: Unrest only put out a bit of material on 4AD, but it was some of their best work IMO: Perfect Teeth, Isobel Bishop EP, Cath Carroll EP

Jeez, one could make a convincing argument for B.Cross based on "Angel, I Will Walk You Home" alone.

ah right perfect teeth and that stuff WAS on 4AD. i'd forgotten. and, yeah, that's all some of my fave stuff by them.

No Caroline Crawley, no credibility.

Of Shellyan Orphan? I do like some SO (still bump "Burst" from time to time), but I'm pretty sure they were exclusively on Rough Trade. If CC did some solo work on 4AD, I am unaware of it & duly apologize, sir.

She sang on at least four This Mortal Coil tracks, I think.

Huh, yeah ur right: She was on several tracks on Blood. I never made the connection. I didn't go to the trouble to track down all the individual guest collaborators on the TMC albums. My bad, b/c yeah, she is a fantastic vocalist.

There's also Anke Wolbert from Clan of Xymox.

Kristin Hersh, Lisa Gerrard and Kendra Smith get enough love, so I'm going with Heidi Berry.

As much as I love Kristin and TM, Heidi Berry is easily the best vocalist from the list..

I just wish she would make another record... another Below The Waves plz k thx.

There's also Anke Wolbert from Clan of Xymox. - doh!

And Judith Boyle from Spirea X! hahahaha

OK, well, at least no one in their right mind would choose Spirea X as their favorite 4AD groop, vox or no.

okay, i'm being picky again but the other rutkowski, deirdre, should be up there with louise. cuz the vocals they did on filligree and shadow and blood are some of my favorite vocals ever. and they were kind of a team harmony-wise. their versions of tarantula and morning glory are so great. (and all the back-up harmonies and singing they did. like on the god-like strength of strings.)

also a shout-out to alison limerick on the this mortal coil records. her "my father" and "drugs" are awesome.

Clearly This Mortal Coil need their own poll.

^^ I could get behind that.

As much as I love Lush, it's not like Miki B could ever be considered the finest vocalist (tho' arguably the coolest name on this list). I'll go with Tanya D.

based solely on whose voice i like best, not quality of songs, i go for kendra

Kim Deal/Paula Frazer deathmatch!

Kristin Hersh. Sorry Kim, Miki, Emma and Tanya.

btw, if anyone out there has a decent MP3 etc. of Heidi Berry's "The Devil," plz webmail me thx (I have it on an old mixtape & have never been able to find it otherwise).

i checked but i don't - seems to have been exclusive to a promo sampler called 'shaving the pavement'..

yeah, that might be what I'm thinking of, actually.. I recall having a cassette of that I picked up in the late-90s as record store promo-junk. Why on earth she would dump a great tune like that exclusively on to a promo sampler is beyond me. Thanks for the effort, anyway.

psst: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170312324779

That's like the best Heidi Berry song ever, too. Produced by Brendan Perry.

Okay, you non-Lisa Gerrard voting people, we need to sit down and have a talk. Really. Step in my office.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't heard much Heidi Berry at all. Agree that TMC probably needs its own similar poll aside from this.

I'm delighted that a few folks thought of Anke from Xymox! :) :) :) You know I haven't heard the entirety of Twist of Shadows since it came out but I think I might like to.

Another vote for Heidi Berry -- ironically, her pre-4AD records were much more 4AD-esque than what came out on 4AD -- by the time Ivo signed her up, she was more Sandy Denny/Linda Thompson than anything else. The Kendra Smith record is good but it now unfortunately seems like a one-off.

Jeff Wright! You're still alive! So happy to hear from you here, man! I know every time you show up here I get sorta teary eyed about when you and I used to be such good penpals, but even so, it's been quite awhile since I've seen you here. I hope all is well with you. I'm delighted that you posted.

kim

Anyway I'm gonna look for some pre-4AD Berry stuff, now. Thanks.

"Love" is better than "Below the Waves" although I love 'em both. Also search the demo version of "The Mountain" which outshines the album version.

Yep, noted. Thanks.

Still, people who don't vote Lisa Gerrard in this poll need to step into my office.

Please select based on 4AD work only: For example, you'd have to think that her work on Chemical Chords trumps everything else on the list if you plan to vote for Laetitia Sadier.

Fuck you, I won't play by your rules and I voted for Laetitia anyway.

Honorable mention to Kazu Makino, poor girl isn't gonna get more than a vote or two and she's fucking classic.

Fuck you, I won't play by your rules and I voted for Laetitia anyway. - is that payback for my outburst on the MBV thread yesterday ;)

Okay I give up, you ilxors are making me play recent Stereolab "Chemical Chords" again, better be fucking good. Hope you're happy, etc.

Also, sorry I don't remember these other Jupiter releases that Chris mentions...although the sleeve he posted is familiar. Maybe I didn't like them after that EP, I don't know...

Autohaze (underrated)

hmm, i'm in two minds about this. i think their first handful of releases are great, but once they ditched the galaxie influence for a more byrds/neil young thing they totally lost me

Agreed. But those first singles and Mild Steel Flat are tremendous.

drop city's first album and the chiaroscuro are effectively aussie noise pop canon

I would vote for Magic Transistor Radio myself.

Also, sorry I don't remember these other Jupiter releases that Chris mentions...

Those were other releases on Summershine I was talking about.

That Orange album on Dewdrops? It's great! Their track on the Splashed with Many a Speck comp is also amazing, sounds plucked from some early 4AD comp.

That Orange album on Dewdrops? It's great! Their track on the Splashed with Many a Speck comp is also amazing, sounds plucked from some early 4AD comp.

Yeah, that's the one!

Looks like there's a couple more releases out there somewhere: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Orange+(13)

Pillbox...I got your email, but you know how the ILX email system works...you have to literally type out your email for the person you're writing to, because it won't let you have a return address, hence me having to interrupt this thread to post this. If you want to correspond with me on email, mine is new_dawn_fades_6_1_@yahoo_.com without the underlines. ILX gods, will you please fix this about the ILX email system someday so I don't have to keep interrupting threads with this shit? Thanks.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I can dig it. A good assortment of votes here. I'll comment more when I'm not "working." 4AD doods are polling next!

Woo!

yikes, who voted for meriel barham? maybe i am just bitter because i blame her for killing the pale saints.

maybe she voted for herself!

xpost: Flesh Balloon & In Ribbons? Kinky Love? Meriel is aces in my book, and I'm glad she got a vote. I mean, I'll give you Slow Buildings, but that had more to do with the departure of Masters than Meriel ruining it.

meriel has a nice voice, wouldn't have occurred to me to vote for her first though

kristin beats kim yet again :/

Yeah, sometimes I get all "harumph" about Meriel myself, until I remember that she did actually sing my fave song on In Ribbons...

Lorita Grahame (Colourbox) 2

Ouch, ilxors need their ears syringed if they think Miki Berenyi or Laetitia Sadler are better vocalists than her. Her vocals on 'Moon is Blue'or 'Baby I Love You So' alone pwn most other singers on 4AD's roster.

I dont think Miki is a good singer full stop, but hey I didnt vote for her.

Paula Frazer, underappreciated now and forever.

Holy shit, I just realized that Heidi B only got one vote! That is one less than Andy Ramsay, who is a dude (thanks jaymc). That just ain't cool.

Ouch, ilxors need their ears syringed if they think Miki Berenyi or Laetitia Sadler are better vocalists than her. - well, aside from the fact that a lot of people haven't heard Colourbox (which is, itself, unfortunate), I was careful to phrase the poll heading with "favorite," rather than "best," so that people didn't feel compelled to vote for who they "should" vote for. I mean, by any standard, Lorita is a more dynamic vocalist than Miki or Laetitia, but both of the latter have great tone and timbre which perfectly complements the music of their respective bands.

I am in the process of assembling the 4AD Guys Poll & it is proving to be quite an undertaking, but it will be posted tonight. Meanwhile, if any of you could help me out by letting me know who the male vocalists were on the This Mortal Coil albums, I would appreciate it. I don't have physical copies of them at present & am having trouble tracking down song-for-song personnel info.

Never mind - I found the info at Discogs.

checking out some Breeders youtubes from Coachella 2008 makes me wish that Kelley Deal had been an option here, since I think she has an even better voice than Kim's...

aw, I would have voted for Paula if I'd seen this poll

I too wish Lorita had got more votes. I think she should get some of Miki's, who often gets bonus points just for her looks.

BABY I LOVE YOU SO!!!! (complete with subterranean bass) Good god, this is one reggae mother fucker of a song. I don't know what to say.

Oh my god. Oh my god. What a track. WHAT A TRACK. Reggae lovers, sit down and breathe.

See, more people know Stereolab, which is why Laetitia got all those votes, see. Cause people don't know about other stuff. They need to be made aware. Laetitia is a mighty fine vocalist, don't get me wrong, but people need to be educated.

first year of high school. no one can take this shit away from me.

This thread caused me to fish out those early Heidi Berry records. They've aged remarkably well.

talk of this thread elsewhere got me back to Lisa Germano for the first time in forever.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH5-qCmpCJU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0gsbQKhD8

^ Lisa G @ 1:36 etc. - she played fiddle for JCM at the time, on that LP & tour

& also Karin Oliver-era HNIA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT54I1lYetE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6YXBS2hVr4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s2AlGacUM

^ some pretty damn essential Vaughan Oliver design work, I might add (three HNIA sleeves)

Where is the love for the man-stylings of, say, Gordon Sharp or Black Francis?

it is right here!: All the Young Broods: The 4AD Male Vocalist Poll

my two favorite karin oliver songs:) the other's pretty great too. could have included the other hnia singers on the poll, karen neal, denise james, chelle marie, erika hoffman, melissa elliott, etc... melissa elliott with a guitar, heck melissa elliott at car city records, sigh! dirt eaters, what could have been.

in the case of HNIA, there is this whole vast sub-tier of rotating vocalists and players.. I mean, you just rattled of six or seven off the cuff! So I thought it would be reasonable to zero in on the lead vocalists who have defined various incarnations of their sound: Karin for the dreamier early stuff, Lovetta Pippin for the trad blues etc. albums, & Andy FM for Detrola & surrounding collaborations.

Were any of the women you mentioned in his 90s band The Dirt Eaters?

Erika Hoffman sounds familiar. I think I might actually kinda *know* her - tho I didn't know she played w/ Warn. It doesn't surprise me, tho. There was a time, a few years ago, when there was this rotating circle of indie kids & UM music school ppl who, at any given time, comprised the lineups of Saturday Looks Good to Me, Nomo & HNIA + all associated offshoots etc.

erika hoffman was also the singer in godzuki and she appeared on a lot of saturday looks good to me songs. she was on 'stars on esp'. melissa elliott was in the dirt eaters. there are other things that never were released like his name is arrive, i don't know if they ever recorded anything actually, the japanoise version of his name is alive songs.

that's cool. I didn't know Erika sang on Stars on ESP. That is one of my favorites!

I think it is safe to say that Warn is sitting on piles and piles of unreleased tapes. I haven't really been so much into much that he's done post-Stars, tho I did like Detrola & his production for Nomo has been really great. I do know that Warn has tapes from sessions w/ Ian Masters in some Buddhist in Laos or something. Now, those I would be interested to hear.

buddhist temple even

do you mean the mountain ocean sun thing with ian masters? there was a cd. it was pretty good.

lol I did not know it was actually released. I am curious - does Ian sing on it? I know it is supposed to be pretty free-form. They should just get over themselves and make another ESP Summer record imo.

he does some harmony vocals, not a lot. it wasn't great.

you can hear mountan ocean sun here -- http://boomkat.com/cds/227289-mountain-ocean-sun-peace-conference

well, samples

actually that may not include ian masters, there may be more than one mountain ocean sun release

oh this has to be what I was thinking of, I mean, unless it is another side project in a different remote Buddhist enclave w/ glockenspiels & what not. See, I totally acknowledge both Warn & Ian's talents, but I think they are at their best when retaining some element of pop, however abstracted.

this song is nice imo

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