1) Francoise Hardy, particularly Et Si Je M'en Vais Avant Toi (1972; Virgin France). Great record, but not her best. It was her French-stylized, Americana-inspired appropriation of 1960s/70s pastoral-rockabilly and folk-country. (Contextually, it kinda reminds me of a 'Cowboys & Indians'-themed restaurant I went to in France that was sooo not politically correct.) I do the dishes to this shit! (Plus it helps me practice my French.) Speaking of Frenchies, the Serge Gainsbourg bio-pic is supposedly being made now, as I read here on Tiny Mixtapes.
2) Aretha, damn. Even though Rolling Stone is for people who like Will Smith movies, they listed her as the #1 singer in their Greatest Singers Of All Time list; which is kinda arbitrary, but she still has a great set of pipes nonetheless. Pretty much exclusively playing "Baby I Love You," from Aretha Arrives (1967; Rhino) but also "Good To Me As I Am To You," from Lady Soul (1968; Atlantic). She looks like she does not fuck around at the buffet for one second.
3) The Breeders. Does this count? Overwhelming majority of women. Kim's voice is great. I was prompted to re-visit them (1990's Pod) recently after going through Kurt Cobain's top 50 records list that he documented in one of his 'tormented artist journals'. As much as I like Pod, I can never get tired of their 1993 follow-up, The Last Splash. Who would think that 15 years later, The Breeders would still be making new records? They were totally over-shadowed by the Pixies. Also, can anyone confirm if Dayton, Ohio (hometown of The Breeders) is in fact the anus of America? Or is it just the chode?
4) Alice. Consistently fucking blows me away. I know that Journey in Satchidananda (1970; Impulse! Records) isn't really that deep of a free-jazz record, but it's still quite incredible. It sort of expands and contracts, pushes and pulls, lulling you into a hypnosis. Hipsters beware: this record only got like a 3 or 4 on Pitchfork, so you know, it's not really that cool.
5) ESG. Even though this looks like a "surprise" moment, behind-the-scenes at a janitorial staff meeting for an all-girls prison, these girls (ESG: 1st woman on the left, and last 2 on the right) used to be cool. When I was younger I listened to them on really nerdy DJ mixtapes (actual cassette tapes!) from Minneapolis and New York, before I knew that they had been sampled in a ton of old hip-hop records. I really liked when Dilla flipped "UFO" on 2006's Donuts, even though that sample is undoubtedly played-out. ESG's energetic disco-punk is the epitome of why late 70s melting-pot NYC was such a perennial time for music/culture.
