Mix Tape

Bubblegum to Apocalypse -- April 2008

It's easy to dismiss high pitched girl voices. Deep, womanly voices, from jazz and R&B virtuosos Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin to 80's sirens Siouxsie Sioux, Annie Lennox, and Alison Moyet, always get all the glory for the fire that seeps through every soulful note. I've certainly been guilty of ignoring the piping soprano in favor of the tragic contralto, at least in the world of modern pop. But artists like Kate Bush, the Cocteau Twins, and Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell have proven that to ignore the ethereal voice is a great loss, that high doesn't mean weak or less textured. April's compilation features soaring vocalists at their best in a wide-ranging mix that runs the gamut from bubble gum to apocalypse.
Mix Tape compiled and written by Deepthi Welaratna.

It's true, Tracey Ullman once released an album, an uncanny imitation of girl group goodness that was ironically retro long before ironically retro songmaking had reached the fever pitch of today. "Breakaway" is an exuberant cover of a fairly obscure composition from 1964, sped up to a comically breakneck pace and featuring backing vocals that conjure up images of singing chipmunks. Ullman charted in both the UK and the US with the irresistible confection and made an accompanying video still remembered for its hairbrushes-as-microphones conceit and for being of infinitely higher quality than most. Ullman can currently be seen in her latest sketch-comedy show, State of the Union, on Showtime.

Indypop outfit Camera Obscura echoes Tracey Ullman with another adorable update on the girl group sound. On "Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken," written as a response to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' 1984 hit "(Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken," singer Tracyanne Campbell evokes every preteen girl's nervous first crush with her plaintive vocals. The instrumentation, juxtaposing joyful guitar and melancholy organ, provides a perfect backdrop for the adventurous pangs of heartbreak. Look for Camera Obscura's next album to be released some time this fall.

Icelandic artists have generally proven fairly eccentric and extremely imaginative (Björk, Sigur Rós, GusGus) and múm is no exception. Their experimental pop is characterized by a fascination with the childlike, and the piping vocals that open "They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded" could easily be actual children chanting. On Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, the glitch is kept to a minimum in favor of live instruments, a refreshing sound when it's as joyful and made-new as it is here. Currently on tour in the US,múm will be swinging through SF at The Independent on Saturday April 26, 2008.

Martina Topley Bird is best known in the US for her longtime partnership with trip hop legend, Tricky. From Maxinquaye to Angels with Dirty Faces, you could hear her voice floating lazily on top of his hoarse, often menacing whispers, creating an unsettling but hypnotically beautiful combination. When this collaboration ended, Topley Bird found her footing as a solo artist with the expansive Quixotic, which features "Sandpaper Kisses," a sorrowful buildup of a song that quietly devastates your core even as it enthralls your ears. Quixotic was nominated for the prestigious Mercury prize in Britain, and eventually found release stateside as Anything in 2004. Topley Bird's next release, The Blue God comes out on May 11, 2008 and is produced by innovator/producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse. Visit Topley Bird's official site for details on how to order.

A year ago, I would never have expected to include Swedish pop singer-songwriter Robyn on a list of ... pretty much anything. Her late '90s hits were abominably bad, and I thought her voice was unpleasantly nasal. There was no way to predict the path she eventually forged, breaking with her label to self-release the eponymous Robyn in 2005. The single, "With Every Heartbeat," broke through last year in the states, and Robyn will finally get its US release on April 28, 2008. I can't say that the rest of the album measures up to the infectious heartache of "With Every Heartbeat," but it shows that Robyn has finally found her true voice. Check out the video for "With Every Heartbeat" on Youtube.

French musician M83 often gets lumped in with fellow countrymen Air, but M83's sentimentality veers off stylistically into a more epic dimension. Anthony Gonzalez, the remaining core member of M83, has built up quite a portfolio of '80s and shoegaze influenced electronic music, and Saturdays = Youth continues the tradition wholeheartedly. "You Appearing" features the only male (falsetto, natch) vocals to make it onto the list, as Gonzalez delivers a haunting quaver over a piano and synth buildup that spirals open to embrace the listener with an unabashedly open heart.

It completely stumps me that Nneka did not find worldwide acclaim with her 2005 debut release Victim of Truth, but if first single "Heartbeat" is any indication, it sounds like her forthcoming release No Longer At Ease may just do the trick. The stuttering chorus, trip hop-influenced beats and driving bassline all serve Nneka's insistent vocals, delivering a passionate plea for global compassion. Perhaps Nneka's unique brand of globalized neo soul is fed by her Nigerian roots and subsequent transplatation to Germany. If you stop by her MySpace page, don't leave without listening to "Suffri," another standout from the new album which was released on April 25, 2008.

No list of influential modern female vocalists would be complete without Beth Gibbons, the mournful, twitchy frontwoman of Portishead. After an excessively prolonged break (ten YEARS) between albums, Portishead's third studio album -- aptly titled Third -- is finally out on April 28, 2008. This doesn't mean you can't hear the whole thing already, courtesy of some nameless soul who leaked the full album early, but either way, it is entirely worth the wait. First single "Machine Gun" exhibits the fractured worldview that ties the stylistically disparate songs of Third together.

Erykah Badu's debut album, 1997's Baduizm, brought a cool new voice onto the scene, one which wavered between controlled jazzy neo soul and raw R&B. Badu's releases since then have strayed into an almost grotesque imitation of these styles, not in the horrific sense of the word but in the exaggeratedly distorted sense of the word, as she's brought more extreme influences and social critiques into the mix. New Amerykah Part One is part of a new burst of productivity from Badu, comprising last year's Honey and this year's New Amerykah parts one and two, each of which features a full-length album's worth of material. "Twinkle" is one of the more intriguing tracks from Part One and features a reworking of Peter Finch's classic monologue from Network, Paddy Chayefsky's scathing 1977 media satire, which seems all too relevant today.

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Please Note: Some songs may contain explicit lyrics.