Cia Soro (Whale)

Two posts in one day. What can I say? I felt like it. Plus, I stumbled upon a video with Swedish ‘90s band Whale. I had completely forgotten about Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe. If this is a blog with some kind of focus on cool female artists I can’t leave out Cia Soro (then Cia Berg). Also, note Swedish comedian Henrik Schyffert on the left, in the yellow t-shirt.

Yelle

Yelle is a French band co-founded and also named after singer Julie Budet. In 2005 Yelle posted and early version of the song Je Veux Te Voir (at that time the song was called Short Dick Cuizi) on MySpace. The song caught attention partly because of its controversial lyrics dissing French rap star Cuizinier of the band TTC. According to Yelle, though, it’s “not a diss track, but a funny track with lots of references”.

In March this year Yelle released their second album Safari Disco Club, and I still can’t get enough of the title track. On Spotify you can find the entire album, including a remix on Mon Pays by Swedish electro band Lo-Fi-Fnk. (For those who do not understand French, there are no subtitles and the song starts at 1:55.)

Laura Marling

When I first heard Laura Marling I made an image in my head of a woman in her thirties, a woman with years of experience in the music business. Her lyrics have a depth that matches the tone of her voice and together they seem to tell a story of a woman who has been through a lot in life.

It turned out that Laura Marling was born in 1990, which means that she was only 18 years old when she released her first album Alas I Cannot Swim. This year, at the age of 21 she released her third album A Creature I Don’t Know and with songs like Sophia and All My Rage (in which, the melodies and her voice reminds me of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez) she could still fool me had I not seen what she looks like.

 
I have mentioned her first and third album but my personal favourite is her second album I Speak Because I Can. It tells stories with a dark and sullen, but at the same time, sweet, soft and soothing tone.

The Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra covers Prince

Prince Tribute - The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra

Eels covering Prince's I Could Never Take...

Today: Eels performing a cover of I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

Sheila E!!!

I really really REALLY hope Prince will bring Sheila E with him to Way Out West. Unfortunately it does not look like he’ll be doing that at the moment. But I’m still hoping he’ll change his mind and take her with him to Gothenburg. She has played with Prince for many years and if you want to know more about her or see more clips you can find her on this blog on a list over the coolest women in music.

Today: Sheila E plays a song written by Prince for her – Leader of the Band

Prince count down......

I know the theme of this blog is "coolest women in music", but the thing is... I'm going to see Prince in about 70 days. So, therefore I’m turning this blog into a Prince count down blog, temporarily. I’ll post live-clips of Prince performing, other artists doing covers of Prince’s songs or songs written by Prince, one clip each day until 11^th of August.

Clip of the day: Prince doing a cover of a song he has written.

The song Cool was originally released by The Time with lead singer Morris Day.
The albums were recorded by Prince and Morris Day and even though Morris Day is lead singer of the Time, many Prince-fans claim it is Prince’s voice you hear in some parts of the songs. Check out the original and judge for yourself.

Linnea Henriksson

Linnea has been kind enough to link to my blog on her blog (and now I’ll return the favour, check out her blog here). But that is not why she’s finally featured on my blog. This blog is all about cool female musicians, and Linnea is cool. Very cool. For those of you who has managed to avoid all Swedish media the last few months I’ll give you a short background: Linnea Henriksson is a sparkling young singer from Halland who found her way in to jazz music, formed the band Prylf with four friends, released the album Kind of Green and in the fall of 2010 she charmed the Swedish people when she added extra colour to Swedish Idol.


If you haven’t seen her live, take the first chance you get to go see her. I especially want to recommend everyone to go see her band – Prylf. All five members add energy to the performance and their playful appearance on stage is almost contagious for those standing in the audience. I challenge you to stand still on a Prylf-concert.

Hindi Zahra

Zahra Hindi was born in Morocco where she also spent her childhood living with her mother. When she was 15 years old she moved to her father in Paris. Though she is of French Moroccan descent most of her songs are in English. She is a self-taught instrumentalist and has written songs since she was 18, though it was first in 2005 she released her first EP. In 2009 she released her self titled album – Hindi Zahra.

Tegan and Sara

To continue on the theme: Identical Twins….  Tegan and Sara are identical twin sisters from Canada who formed the indie band Tegan and Sara in 1997. Through the years the band has released six studio albums. Walking With a Ghost appears on their fourth album So Jealous.

The Watson Twins

The Watson Twins, Chandra and Leigh Watson, released their debut EP, Southern Manners, in 2006 the same year as they released Rabbit Fur Coat, their collaboration with singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis. Their cover of Just Like Heaven by The Cure was featured on the soundtrack for TV series True Blood. The song appears on their album Fire Songs, which is also the only album by The Watson Twins that you can find on Spotify. It’s an easy listened and a bit melancholic album with a soft country feeling. Check it out.

The Slits

British punk rock band The Slits was formed in 1976 by four young women who called themselves Ari Up, Palmolive, Kate Korus and Suzy Gutsy. I’m not going to write much more about this band. I will say this though – Arianna Forster’s (Ari Up) dance moves alone is a good reason to have The Slits on this blog among all the other cool ladies. I also must say I like the Batman-like intro.

Juliette Lewis

Before I even knew her name she was one of my favourite actresses. Since I was 9 or 10 years old at the time I don’t think that was credit to her acting skills rather than the movies she was in, for example What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Although Lewis has had a strong interest in music for a long time it was first in 2003 she formed the band Juliette & the Licks and officially became a rock musician. Lewis has since then maintained an acting career and a music career at the same time. With her band she has released three albums and in 2009 she released her first solo album called Terra Incognita. Juliette Lewis is worth checking out both as a musician and an actress. Definitely!


Usually I’m not a big fan of Swedish band Mando Diao but the combination with Juliette Lewis was a hit, in my opinion. The other clip is of a song from her solo album (this live-clip doesn’t really do the song justice so check it out on Spotify as well).


 

Diane Birch

Diane Birch was born 1983 in Michigan but has lived with her family in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Australia before moving back again to the states, settling in Portland Oregon. She released her first album called Bible Belt in 2009. The list of guest musicians for her first album is pretty impressive, including drummer Cindy Blackman (nr 16 on my Coolest Women In Music list).

Shirley Brown

Shirley Brown had her biggest hit in 1975 with the song Woman to Woman. The song spent two weeks at #1 in the Billboard R&B chart, and it was a million-selling single which also was nominated for a Grammy Award. Apart from this single Brown didn’t have much success with her with her recordings. Through the years she continued recording and has signed with many different labels. Since 1989 she I based in the southern states of the US where she is a popular performer and signed to a Mississippi label called Malaco Records.

Little Dragon

The name Little Dragon is the name of an electronic band with Yukimi Nagano as lead singer. It started out as a nickname Nagano eared for her temper in the studio. The name stuck and became the name of the band. Therefore, Little Dragon is the name of the band AND a nickname for Nagano. Yukimi Nagano is born in Sweden raised by her Swedish-American mother and her Japanese father. Aside from performing with her own band she has sung with Swedish jazz group Koop and has made guest appearances for Gorillaz (some claim that she provides the voice for the character Noodle in the band on their latest album Plastic Beach).

Laura Nyro - who is she?

Laura Nyro, born in New York 1947, is relatively unknown as a singer and her songs have had more success covered by other artists. Blood, Sweat and Tears, Peter, Paul and Mary, Barbara Streisand and The 5^th Dimension are a few examples of artist that have had hits with her songs. Ironically, Nyro herself had her biggest success with a song written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin called Up on the Roof. She never enjoyed her status as a celebrity. At the age of 24 she announced her retirement from the music business. A few years later she came back and released four more studio albums before she past away in 1997. During those years she turned down both The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman because of her discomfort with appearing on television. She only did a handful of TV appearances which might explain why she has remained relatively unknown.

Zoë Kravitz

With those parents who could expect anything else from this girl than that she would become a singer in a rock band? I can’t remember how I discovered her music, or rather the band’s music (she is the front singer of the band Elevator Fight). But I do know I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be yet another mainstream band. I also thought that their only reason for being famous was that they had Lenny Kravitz’ daughter as lead singer. Now I’m more surprised that I can’t find their music anywhere except for some live recordings on YouTube. I really like what I’ve heard so far. One of my favourites I don’t even know if it’s a song by the band or a solo song by Zoë. All I have found is a typical YouTube clip showing photos that have absolutely nothing to do with the music. If the information on the video is correct the song is called It’s OK.

Sia Furler - fun vs. sad?

She is quirky, fun and surprisingly at the same time almost melancholic in her songs. I heard her for the first time in a record store in Liverpool. I knew from the moment I sat foot in that store I would walk out of there with the CD in my bag, and I did. After having heard three songs I bought the CD and the following two weeks I longed for my CD player at home so I could hear the rest of it. This singer is born in Australia but moved to England where her music career started to take of. As well as Alice Russell she is featured on the album Here Lies Love (note that I’m trying to make you check out that album). Come to think of it… It might have been a bad idea to present these two the same day. They might look alike with the short blonde hair. But try not to mix them up.  

Alice Russell – so called blue eyed soul?

This year Fatboy Slim and David Byrne’s collaboration album Here Lies Love was released. Several musicians have lent their voices and skills to help form this interesting album. One of the voices you can hear is the voice of British singer Alice Russell. When I heard this song, Men Will Do Anything, for the first time I had to find out who it was singing with that beautiful soul voice, which to me resembled the voice of Chaka Khan. It turned out to be a singer I had never heard of and I started looking up clips. On one of the clips somebody had expressed a disappointment that “mindblowing talents like Alice Russell and Sia Furler remain largely unknown” in the shadow of Amy Winehouse. Anyway, I’m doing what I can to help spread the word around. Check her out!

What now? The theme continues - cool women in music

I enjoyed writing about what I love – music. So I’ll continue writing, whether people read it or not. To me it was like a treasure hunt, trying to find the brightest, most sparkling diamond among female musicians. I discovered some really good clips I hadn’t seen before, heard songs I wouldn’t have heard if it wasn’t for this list and learned new facts about different artists. It became a reason for discovering new music. Therefore I decided to continue my search for good music and cool musicians, sticking to my theme: cool female musicians.


But this time I won’t make a list. There will be no count down. I will just present cool ladies who deserve some spotlight (So if you have any tips: they’re most welcome!) Some may be more known to the big crowds than others.

And who knows, if I come up with a new, really good theme I might do a list again. Count down to Easter perhaps?