"So many people of a strange kind / Telling you just what to do . . . with your mind."

kokorodoko wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 5:13 am

seby wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 4:58 am Christina Aguilera

Most prominent and I think thankfully last example of that Yngwie Malmsteen of female vocalists thing that was going on in late 90s / early 00s rnb. In a different musical context, and without all that extra stuff, I would have liked her voice. But as it is - intolerable.

Thus is spot on I think. Lex and I were talking about it last night, and we called it the female vocalist version of wanky guitar shred.

It's melisma. Been around for millennia, cool when Oum Kalthoum does it, Xtina less so.

jimmy spako wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 5:46 pm It's melisma. Been around for millennia, cool when Oum Kalthoum does it, Xtina less so.

I only just learned this concept in the last year. Everyone has heard it but the conscious choice to slide a syllable around several notes or dole out one note per syllable was something I'd never thought about. I came to recognize that I don't like when I sing melismatically and that's just a couple notes not a diva workout. Eddie Veddar and Thom Yorke misguided me as a teen and now I'm rewiring my brain.

I just remembered Jace Clayton aka dj/rupture has a good chapter on it in his book Uproot:

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1284-the ... th-africa/

Fat White Family - Forgiveness Is Yours

Really enjoyed this. It's the album I thought that band should have been to begin with.

Big Black - Songs About Fucking