# Best experimental vocal (female) artists



## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I was in doubt a bit about where to start this thread because as far as I'm concerned the boundaries between classical - jazz - experimental music can be vague when it comes to this subject. 

Main goal of this thread is to share knowledge of modern vocal artists that use the voice as an instrument of it's own. I know some of them myself that have impressed me a lot, so they are probably among the best, but there might be more of them out there I don't know of. I'll name three myself:
1. Cathy Berberian
2. Iva Bittová
3. Barbara Hannigan (thanks Morimur)

Now you probably know what I'm aiming at. One thing that strikes is all of them are female. Coincidence? As far as I'm concerned this can go in many directions. Anybody want to share his or her thoughts?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

wrong thread , sorry


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Ursula Dudziak






Imogen Heap - One of the more interesting and talented women in pop music today.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Very nice. Now we have a new list:
1. Cathy Berberian
2. Iva Bittová
3. Barbara Hannigan
4. Urszula Dudziak
5. Imogen Heap

Female vs. male vocal artists: 5-0. 

I'll add Laurie Anderson for using the vocoder, so it's 6-0.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Joan La Barbara





Maja S. K. Ratkje




Voice - Sculpting Sound with Maja S. K. Ratkje (trailer)





Robert Ashley





David Hykes





Meredith Monk

Ken Ueno (thanks to mmsbls)


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Interesting names here.

And of course the immortal *Yma Sumac*, who was experimental before the others


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Diamanda Galás


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Virginia Astley, more of a classical songwriting bent.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Jan DeGaetani.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I found this video of Jan DeGaetani.

George Crumb - Lux Aeterna


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Unusual piece for 12 female voices and orchestra.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Time to make up a new list:
1. Cathy Berberian
2. Iva Bittová
3. Barbara Hannigan
4. Urszula Dudziak
5. Imogen Heap
6. Laurie Anderson
7. Joan La Barbara
8. Maja S. K. Ratkje
9. Robert Ashley
10. David Hykes
11. Meredith Monk
12. Ken Ueno
13. Yma Sumac
14. Diamanda Galás
15. Virgina Astley
16. Jan DeGaetani

We have three men!


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I completely forgot Nina Hagen. Shame on me. These woman have guts!


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I also forgot Simin Tander. A wonderful German/Dutch jazz vocalist from Afghanistan originally.


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2016)

Anticredos Here's a work that I rate highly: "Anticredos" by British composer *Trevor WISHART*.The work employs quite striking extended vocal techniques and is pitch-based only to a very limited degree. The music produced may at times seem to arise from electroacoustic sources but it is an entirely acoustic composition (albeit with the use of microphone for amplification purposes and sound diffusion). The score is also a wonder to behold, and demands quite virtuoso singers (one of the original performers being Paul Hillier).
Anyway, without further ado, here is the link to hear this highly original piece:

__
https://soundcloud.com/


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

TalkingHead said:


> Anticredos Here's a work that I rate highly: "Anticredos" by British composer *Trevor WISHART*.The work employs quite striking extended vocal techniques and is pitch-based only to a very limited degree. The music produced may at times seem to arise from electroacoustic sources but it is an entirely acoustic composition (albeit with the use of microphone for amplification purposes and sound diffusion). The score is also a wonder to behold, and demands quite virtuoso singers (one of the original performers being Paul Hillier).
> Anyway, without further ado, here is the link to hear this highly original piece:
> 
> __
> ...


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I have been listening to Maja Osojnik this evening and she deserves to be in this thread. Apart from being a singer and experimental vocalist she also composes her own stuff, mostly strongly electronic.

She has a new solo cd out recently:
An anthroposophical striptease of the soul, between dystopian chansons, primordial mantras, and musique concrète-both timeless and masterful.
„So COME OUT, you rotten cocksucker, here's your ******* POP SONG."
After fourteen band albums that range from old to new music, improvised to experimental, folklore to industrial, Maja Osojnik is releasing her first solo album LET THEM GROW, in which she searches for the simple song that combines all of these elements both in herself and in its sound.
LET THEM GROW is the product of a retreat, an introspection, a re-alignment. Osojnik asks about the self, asks whether it is possible-beyond the fundamental impossibility-to be understood. She asks about the things people do when they love others and about the things they suppress. What does it mean to live an emancipated life today? In this very personal album, Osojnik examines the strange phenomena of contemporary interpersonal relations, with songs that range from dirty to soft, sensual, dazed, complex, cold, spherical, poignant, and feminine.
Each sound on Osojnik's album is carefully generated and uniquely de-familiarized, for example by using so-called "rejects," which she compiles in a library of broken sound scraps. This collection 
consists of the results of digital gaffes and faulty processing, unintentionally distorted, overmodulated, or phase-delayed. "I am partial to what isn't approved by society-that which has been broken." In the ether of LET THEM GROW, these rejects are re-generated, they are given context, they expand to become the substance of Osojnik's songs. 
On her first solo album, Maja Osojnik locks horns in solitude, surrounded by electrical sliding roofs, seagulls, turbo jet engines, pelting rain, ping-pong balls, feedback loops, and forlorn, strangely out-of-tune pianos. Pulsating drones and cascading sound clusters oscillate until they are violently disrupted by angular, trashy beats or sound miniatures made of hyperactive, machinelike breathing. Situated somewhere between analog and digital art, between virtual and real spaces, Osojnik uses her voice, her Paetzold bass recorder, and numerous perplexing sound objects, radios, and field recordings to weave a dramatic work of art, at once dark and soft.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

^^^
That's some great stuff!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Listening to her new album on bandcamp. https://letthem.bandcamp.com/releases

This chick is definitely out there! Avant garde lady!


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

The videos on YouTube are out there also!


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Lesley Flanigan

Can Barely Feel My Feet





Shattering





Retrobuild





Lesley Flanigan creates otherworldly sounds from solo voice using loop. The contrast with the eerie electronic noise is mesmerizing.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Quite annoying those videos are not available over here. But these are:
















The last one is a lecture.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Tonight I discovered I forgot to mention Rachelle Ferrel in this thread (thanks to Pugg's post that reminded me of her):


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

*Lisa Gerrard*


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

^
Beautiful, Azol.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Jan DeGaetani.


Seconded!

.............................................


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

After listening to Nina Hagen again for a long time she has to be included in this thread. Especially in this very great performance of 'Herman (Herman Brood) is High'. It is also the most honest and direct song on living with a drug addict - however great he was as a performer - I know.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Darja Kazimira (Riga, Latvia)









Spirit and Sopor
https://darjakazimira.bandcamp.com/track/spirit-and-sopor

Dying of the Light

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https://soundcloud.com/darja-kazimira%2Fdying-of-the-light

Very dark, and otherworldly


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