I love SXSW. Unfortunately, I am unable to go this year but I enjoy reading all the news stories online, interviews, performances, etc. from Austin. If you are a music lover, I recommend listening to David Grohl's SXSW Keynote Speech and reading this article about Stevie Nicks talking about women's rights on the Rolling Stone website. I thought her comments about 'seeing women put back in their places' in today's music world was really interesting. For me, I think it could go both ways. I understand that there are a lot of cookie cutter main stream cutesy musicians that were obviously put together by male music execs. I don't want to name any names in this regard but I am sure you can think of a couple of women that fit this description. On the other side, however, the internet allow the listener/ viewer more access to bands than let's say the 70's. Plus there are far more women playing music since then. The net is cast wide regarding this. I thought I would make a short list of some of my favorite female musicians. I will readdress this topic later in blog posts but I thought this was a good list to start with.
1. Georgia Hubley - She is the founding member and drummer of the band Yo La Tengo. She is also married to the lead singer/ guitarist. Yo La Tengo is a staple in my music catalogue. I first had the opportunity to see them in 1995 on the 2nd stage at Lollapalooza. That seems so long ago. That year Lollapalooza had a descent amount of women on their line up - Hole, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Sinead O'Conner. Anyway, I immediately went out and bought their album May I Sing With Me, which floored me. It fit right with where I was going with my musical taste and I continued to buy their albums through the years and I've had the opportunity to see them over 15 times. I'm actually listening to their album They Shoot, We Score as I type. Georgia in my opinion is the glue of the band. She's great to watch live because she looks so small behind her drum kit but her sound is so in control of the song. In my opinion she is one of the most underrated women in rock.
2. Cindy Blackman - Cindy is one of those musicians that you've probably seen on tv but wouldn't be able to pick her out of a crowd. She is probably most famous in the public eye for being Lenny Kravitz's drummer. Remember the music video 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' and the awesome woman with the huge afro playing the drums? That's her. Her music catalogue goes far beyond that. She is actually a well-known jazz drummer and has released several jazz albums as well as instructional videos. I've also had the opportunity to see her perform a couple times. When you watch her, gender is not a factor in any part of her drumming skill. She's in command.
3. Grimes - Grimes (Claire Boucher) gets a lot of flack. If you haven't heard of her, she's one of the new indie electronic darlings that the media has both embraced and cut down. I first heard of Grimes through my go-to music website Pitchfork two years ago. Her ethereal vocal sounds make a lot of critics compare her to Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins. I can't really pinpoint what she sounds like. Although I am not a huge fan of all of her music, I like reading interviews about her. She's really young (in her early 20's) and is aware that the indie spotlight is on her. Grimes talks about having control over her image and not allowing either photographers or stylists to manipulate this. Her tumblr is a pretty interesting read. It is sometimes all over the place, like a 20-something tumblr should be, but she uses it as a way to speak to her fans directly either about guest lists, inspiration, etc. I also like the fact that she isn't trying to be 'cool' and she has no problems talking about how Mariah Carey had a huge influence on her, something hipsters might shake their heads at, and her insecurities.
4. Bjork - How do I even start to go into what an amazing musician Bjork is. I think her body of work and art just speak for itself. I just googled Bjork into images and all of the photos under this category look like works of art. I could write a 20 page thesis and go into detail why she is such a strong musical force but that will be saved for a different time. I guess I will speak to those who know the name Bjork but not a lot about her. I would say start with her 1993 album Debut and from there go back to her first band The Sugarcubes and then fast forward to her 2004 album Vespertine. If you are feeling like seeing a real tear jerker watch her film Dancer In The Dark. It's a great film but I think I can only see it once because of how depressed it made me. The number one thing I like about Bjork, besides her music, is how she has managed to be in completely control of her image throughout the years and she's been in the music biz for a LONG time. You never see her exploited sexually. She seems to always wow her listeners with every new album and comes from a place that is very 'Bjork.'
5. Aimee Mann - She is such a goddess to me. Even when I was a kid in the 80's and saw her on the Voices Carry music video I wanted to be her and have a rat tail. Her solo work, however, is where it's at. I think it took her a couple albums to really make her mark on the music world but now when you say Aimee Mann's name in music circles, even the most opinionated will nod their heads in approval. In my opinion, her work on the Magnolia soundtrack is flawless and her Oscar for her work on it is well deserve. I still listen to it when cleaning the house or getting work done. Although she is stunning, she doesn't allow herself to be objectified and wears suits! On a separate note, I was backstage at a music festival writing an article and I sat down to eat lunch and she sat diagonal from me and smiled. I don't get star struck easily but I got so nervous I couldn't even look at her. I just listened to her talk to the person next to me.
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