Women's History Month Listening Project

[baystateoftheart]

New week added to first post
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Puncture Repair]

Had a good week, guided myself mostly with the kind recs of baystateofheart.

Kate Tempest - Everybody Down - I saw Kate Tempest live back at a festival in 2014 and thought she was wicked. Really didn't enjoy this though. She's definitely a spoken word poet more than a rapper, and it felt like she was struggling to keep up with that ecosystem she was in. Very strange, unappealing beats that felt oddly dated. I feel like a much looser, sample based backing with more complicated rhythms would have guided Tempest much better. Too much of her poetry here seemed to be what her mates did at the pub though, which is great once maybe.

Syd - Fin - Stellar album from last year. Syd switches up from singing to rapping totally effortlessly. Strong beats throughout, and some really punchy moments in between the smoothness. For sure an all time favourite, everyone should hear it.

Lorde - Melodrama - thought I'd spin this since it got a lot of hype when it came out but I didn't feel it first listen. Still not super mad about it. Green Light slaps hard, the rest I can hardly remember. Lorde could very well be the great female pop artist we look back on in ten years, I'm excited to see where she goes next.

Solange - A Seat at the Table - Pitchfork's AotY. I wasn't really feeling it at the time and not really feeling it now. A very good message behind it, delivered confidently, but there's nothing to really hook you in. It's consistently just good. I'm not totally convinced I'll think otherwise on a closer listen.

Noname - Telephone - First listen, absolutely loved this. Listened to it twice and will probably give it another spin next week. It's way too short. Hope to hear more from her soon. It's totally backpacker rap but it's just too mellow for me to resist, and Noname comes across with a real effortless technicality in her delivery - haven't listened to closely about what she had to say, so that'll have to come later.

Missy Elliott - Miss E...So Addictive - I imagine this was a huge deal when it came out back in the day. Feels like absolute flagship early 2000s hip hop now, in maybe the worst way. Enjoyed it a lot, but it's very lost in it's time. I can hear so much of this now in cupcakKe's album from this year, which I think I might prefer.

Natalia Lafourcade - Musas Vol. 1 & 2 - Figured I might as well hear both albums since I missed the first. Her 2015 record is one of my all time favourites, and this was definitely a departure. Less poppy, sweeping moments and more traditional, cultural band stuff. Which is totally cool because that's what it's meant to be. Clearly very confidentially executed, and a hell of a lot of fun. I won't pretend this stuff is in my field, but I enjoyed it. Calling it background music is probably an insult, but that's what it became for me because I'm too ignorant to know otherwise.

Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle - I remember first hearing this in 2013 and thinking 'god I hope this isn't her best work'. I think it probably is, everything since hasn't felt nearly as sharp. Really pleasant stuff, just the right amount of folk and sass. Maybe she'll go on to be today's Joni Mitchell, but this is still the best evidence of it so far.

Rapsody - Laila's Wisdom - Solid effort, washed over me a little bit, but a few standout tracks. Will definitely need to hear again. Rapsody stands very confidently alongside the very impressive feature list on this one. Beats are nothing new but work well with how Rapsody comes across. Suffered from the classic Hip Hop LP lack of editting. Hope to hear something for focused from her in the coming years.

Gunna be going back in time next week and catch up on the female artists I've missed from the mid 20th century (which according to RYM is just Nico).

[RoundTheBend]

One thing often forgotten is how pivotal women are/were in bands and often get overlooked on these lists.

Here's a list of bands from my top 100 who have female artists:
Smashing Pumpkins
Arcade Fire
Bob Marley and The Wailers
The White Stripes
The Beautiful South
The Anniversary
LCD Soundsystem
John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band
Cowboy Junkies
The Velvet Underground (and not Nico)
The B-52's
Sly and The Family Stone
Portishead
Talking Heads
Pixies

And there's countless more...

But like many posting, only 4 solo female artists make my overall... Billie Holiday would if when I created my list I was rating music recorded before 1950 (hoping to be a thing soon) as her 50s output isn't her best imo:
Fiona Apple
Aretha Franklin
Björk
Lana Del Rey

I'd be interested to now look at my decade charts/other charts.

I suppose a sample of women who should be recognized from ancient/medieval music:
The work Suzanne Haik Vantoura did to possibly reveal the music of Hebrew oral tradition of the Bible.
Hildegard von Bingen
The Daughter of Ioannes Kladas
Kassiani

[RoundTheBend]

Just stumbled up this cool article too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_music

[baystateoftheart]

And that's a wrap. 70 albums listened, including 48 new discoveries (all in the first post). It's been a fun project. Thanks Puncture Repair for going on the journey with me.
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Puncture Repair]