Mind Your Music
A critical interlude
Two weeks ago, a very famous musician released a new album. Criticism of her work tends to engender heated reaction on the internet, so let’s just say her first name begins with a “T” and she shares a last name with the author of A Modest Proposal. Although this artist is obviously a gifted vocalist and a competent songwriter, I’ve never been a big fan of her work. For a long time, I’ve been in the minority with this view; she not only has a huge fanbase but a long history of receiving glowing critical appreciation. This newest album, however, has seen a more…mixed reaction.
Now, this isn’t a music review substack (obviously), yet this moment when a great titan of music stumbles seems like a prime opportunity to suggest some other artists you might want to check out. I don’t write about music here, but I do love music, and I’d like to share a few artists I like that I hope you will like, too.
And since I know that many people are particularly appreciative of the above-mentioned artist’s work because she is a woman, and are (understandably) suspicious that some of the criticism of her may just be thinly-veiled misogyny, the alternatives I recommend below will either be solo female artists, bands composed entirely of women, or bands led by women. I’ll include at least one youtube video of a song I particularly like from each artist, and will also provide a link to their bandcamp page or other place you can listen more (and buy, if you so desire).1 I’ve included four artists below, sampling from a relatively diverse set of styles and genres.
So, without further ado:
Diane Cluck
If you are suddenly in the market for a new favorite female singer/songwriter, look no further than Diane Cluck. Cluck has been recording music for well over 20 years and is well-known and respected in the “anti-folk” scene, though she has not seen major commercial success. Her singing is soulful, often somber and mournful, and her songwriter combines a knack for catchy hooks combined with heartbreaking melodies. She genuinely has a unique sound that is hard to describe. Probably my single favorite song of hers is Easy to Be Around from her album Oh Vanille / ova nil:
Oh—I was in the coal mine
Picking up diamonds so heavy
I had to leave them all behind
Coming up from the mineshaft sparkling bright
See me laughing, having nothing in an infinite night
Clear and dangling in the light
Cluck rarely writes explicitly about spirituality, and yet a concern for the spiritual suffuses her work, as I think the lyrics above suggest. At this point, she has a vast discography, which you can find on her site here. Oh Vanille / ova nil is definitely a favorite, though I really haven’t come across an album of hers that I don’t like. And she has a number I haven’t even listened to yet! If you’re only going to check out one musician from this list, it should be Diane Cluck.
Beach House
The duo Beach House is definitely better-known than Diane Cluck; they even performed on Conan back in 2010 and are featured in a Pitchfork concert of some kind in the video below. Still, they’ve never been on the radio and remain something more of an indie darling than a pop powerhouse. In some ways, that’s odd, because I actually think their sound could work well for a mass-market context: Victoria Legrand’s voice is dense and beautiful, and their music is somber yet also simple and at times even pop-esque. I’ll let you decide; here’s a video for one of my favorite songs of theirs, 10 Mile Stereo from their album Teen Dream:
Like Cluck, Beach House have been around a while and have an extensive discography. I’m most familiar with their older work (especially Teen Dream and Bloom) but their sound has evolved over the years while retaining their basic artistic focus on a kind of quiet, haunting pop. You can find all their albums on their bandcamp here.
Team Dresch
Team Dresch really only existed as a recording band for a few years, from 1994-2000. I would describe them as “melodic post-punk”, but those terms may or may not mean anything to you. They are undoubtedly best known for being a seminal group in the “queercore” movement—as far as I know, ever member of the band has been a lesbian woman and their music often explores queer sexuality—but they deserve attention from anyone interested in punk, or even music adjacent to punk.
Team Dresch manage to do three things that most punk/hardcore/post-hardcore/post-punk/etc. bands can’t quite manage:
they keep the speed and energy of 80’s punk
the rhythm section is tight and focused, even across tempo and rhythm changes
their singers have great voices and they integrate melody into their otherwise relatively straightforward punk music very well
If you do know anything about punk, I hope you’ll agree this combination makes them special. I think #1 Chance Pirate TV from their debut album, Personal Best, showcases their vibe quite well:
I thoroughly recommend checking them out, even if I don’t agree with all their views, e.g. on religion (though it does not take a historian to understand why a group of queer women might have plenty of anger towards religion in America). They have a bandcamp page with their full discography, including re-releases.
Gang Gang Dance
I’ve saved the oddest for last. Gang Gang Dance is probably best described as within the “electronica” genre, but this means little at this point, since almost every recording artist is influenced by electronic instrumentation at this point and “EDM” (electronic dance music) is essentially the background for most pop these days. And in any event, GGD also draw on rock and a variety of folk/traditional musical genres as well. Indeed, Gang Gang Dance is highly experimental; on their earliest albums, lead vocalist Lizzi Bougatsos didn’t even sing in any particular language, instead focusing on simply creating music with whatever syllables seemed to evoke the right mood.
This live set including mostly songs from their 2011 album Eye Contact, showcases their style pretty well:
Some of their songs are quite danceable; others are a bit more cerebral and probably work better either as background music to a conversation or as something to listen to when you want to be calm and still. Like Diane Cluck and Beach House, they have an extensive discography, and considering the diverse influences they pull from, you will probably find something you like. They don’t seem to have a bandcamp page, and it looks like 4AD is currently representing them, but only hosting a few of their albums here. You can find a fuller catalog of their older albums on youtube, though.
So: those are my suggestions for women to listen to instead of that one who just released an album with “showgirl” in the title. Obviously, discussing music is a change of pace for this substack. For those who come here exclusively for metaphysics, don’t worry: nothing is changing; we’ll be back to the dense philosophy soon enough! But I might return to discuss music on occasion—so if you have strong feelings on the matter one way or another, make sure to let me know in the comments.
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