Matt’s attempt at being more broad-minded

I’ve already written just a bit on the head-scratching musings and sheepish admissions that Sam and I have had over this particular problem. It certainly doesn’t reflect a general lack of either interest in, or ownership of, music by female artists. I think that when a monthly topic is vague or general, we simply search out songs by whoever. But when a topic is more specific in terms of the songs having some commonality, for some reason it stops being about the artist and becomes about the topic of the songs. For instance, I just looked again at my “Edible Arrangements” list - no women. This is of course not because I found a bunch of songs by women and tossed them out, it’s just that nothing came to mind that was by a female artist. Well, there was Laura Lee’s “Crumbs Off The Table”, but while that is a wonderfully written metaphor about settling for the leftovers of a relationship rather than getting the main course, it really isn’t about food. So I seem to be in this boat: I think of artist, I consider women and why not. I think of song subject, for some reason words written and sung by men come to mind. Maybe it’s just that I’m a man so I “identify” more with the stated words of a man. I have no idea. But I’m here to rectify this as best I can right now.

Two of the many genres of music that I own too much of are the following: techno / trance / club (whatever the kids are calling it these days), and trip-hop / electro-soul / “this person sang on a Zero 7 album” kind of music. One thing these both have in common is that they feature almost exclusively female vocals. Sure there’s the odd Haddaway or Tricky, but that’s not the cream of the crop when it comes to those genres. For some reason, having a Martha Wash or Kirsty Hawkshaw wailing away on your techno track, or having Beth Hirsch or Lisa Gerrard crooning over your smoke-filled beats gives them a legitimacy and emotion than just having some guy trying his best to sound like one of these women. I love techno and trance and club music, I have a huge collection and have DJed plenty, so I know this to be true - a woman sings over a thumping beat and uplilfting keyboards, it can be stunning and rousing and beautiful. A guy singing and the best you can hope for is some gay anthem. And gay anthems are great, they occupy a wonderful place in our musical mundo, but here’s the problem - if a guy wants to just sing a real heartfelt emotional song over a club beat, there’s almost nothing he can do to avoid sounding like he’s going for a gay anthem. Really, there’s only a few songs I can think of that feature a man singing a dance song and it just seeming like a really cool song, not seeming like a really cool song by (and for) gay men. Underworld has pulled it off, as have BT and Paul van Dyk and Tiesto. But one of my favorite bands is Depeche Mode (the electro years, not the “hey look what I found, a guitar and heroin!” years), and after Vince Clarke left for Yazoo / Erasure very very early on, there’s no one gay making these songs. But I can understand my friends assuming that mssrs. Gahan and Gore must be gay. I don’t know what the definition is, you just know it when you hear it - even if it’s not true. Oh and all those Real McCoy and Snap! things with the guy talking / rapping and the hired Weather Girl singing really don’t count. So everyone else might as well be singing “What Is Love?” This is all just my opinion of course. I’d like to think it’s an informed opinion, but that’s me talking. For another informed opinion, I refer you to DJ Alex Paterson of the Orb, who once described the house music experience thusly (and I’m paraphrasing here), “It’s the first things you experience in this life - a bright light in a dark place, a woozy disorientation, the ecstacy of life and the positivity of everything ahead of you, against the sound of your thumping heartbeat and the cries of your mother. A woman screaming in passion over a thudding beat is where we all come from, and it’s what moves us all at a subliminal level on the dance floor”. Yeah I paraphrased a lot.

On to trip-hop, or whatever people are calling what Zero 7 continues to do so well. This genre was created around an ethereal female voice layered over spooky strings and hip-hop beats - people took what Soul II Soul wanted you to dance to, and evolved it into something for you to listen to. Portishead, Massive Attack, they wrote the new rulebook. And while the rules allow for some scratchy-voiced talk-rapping from Tricky here and there, men just shouldn’t sing over this stuff. Recent Zero 7 albums have been featuring more male vocals, but those are the tracks you skip over to get to the songs that sound like, well, Zero 7! Portishead did a remix of Paul Weller’s “Wildwood” which is great, but he’s the weakest link of the song. If it were a woman singing, the song would kick ass. So here on this playlist I’ve popped together some of my favorite trip-hop / electro-soul songs, none of which are older than the conception of the genre back fourteen years or so. I’ve included some rarities and remixes, just to keep things interesting. If you like this stuff, just look up Zero 7 on Amazon or wherever, click on all the links you can find, and it’ll take you to Tina Dico and Sia and all sorts of other beautiful places. I did it, and my life is richer because of it. Enjoy!

1. Portishead, “Numb (Remix)”

2. Sneaker Pimps, “Walk The Rain”

3. Massive Attack, “Sly (Remix)”

4. Lamb, “Gabriel”

5. Morcheeba, “Shoulder Holster”

6. Zero 7, “Speed Dial No. 2″

One last point: I find it odd to expect people to like music by different artists in different genres utilizing different types of lyrics and emotions, just because they all happen to be of the same gender. I don’t even like every song by my favorite band, let alone feel as if I should also like everything recorded by every other band that features male genitals, either on display or “hidden” behind a thin veil of leopard-skin spandex. I find it ludicrous to consider that I might enjoy or support or even care about everyone playing on the Warp Tour or on the Family Values Tour, just because they are of the same gender as myself. I do recognize that the Lilith Fairies raised awareness about “hey, here we are too, we are women musicians, hear us roar into these microphones”, but did they also expect everyone everywhere to put the message before the enjoyment, drop all taste and opinion, and just love everything that every artist on the tour ever did? I appreciated and supported the idea, but the idea, not necessarily the music. If I liked the artist and / or the song (Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” is one of my favorite songs, and I’ve enjoyed Paula Cole ever since her live stuff with Peter Gabriel), I still liked the artist and / or the song after all the streamers were re-wrapped around the Lily pole. If I didn’t like an artist and / or song beforehand, my taste didn’t change just because I appreciated and applauded the message of the tour.

And by the way, I also appreciate and applaud people like MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, Dimples Dee, The Cookie Crew, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce, Antoinette, Traedonya, etc - for choosing to enter into what has become the epitome of a male-dominated, female-bashing musical genre. And they all did it back before there was any possibility of becoming stars, or even really successful. But they loved what they did, and fought for every inch of vinyl real estate they could grab - even to the point of battling and dissing each other mercilessly (just ask The Real Roxanne). Oh and I also appreciate and applaud everyone on the Kim Deal family tree. And everything Annie Lennox has ever graced with her presence. And all of Tegan and Sara and some of X and The Mekons. And ABBA and Boney M. And Imani Coppola and Princess Superstar. And Kate Havnevik and Anna Nalick, even if I get them mixed up all the time. And Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, even if I bemoan the fact that people seem to be responding more to their “oh my gosh, did you hear what she said?” first singles, and not the obvious talent on display. Hell, I even like the new stuff by Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani, two artists I gladly left behind after they saw some dollars and gladly left behind what I liked about them. Oh and Regina Spektor had by far my favorite album of last year. It added to my life, helped me get through some stuff (you know, female-related stuff…), and I’ll listen to it for the rest of my life. I like none of the above music because it’s recorded by a woman, just as I don’t like The Arctic friggin’ Monkeys just because they are men. Well, boys. I like and dislike music because it’s music that I like or dislike. It wouldn’t matter how hot Beyonce’ or Christina were if they didn’t possess between them the voices that will carry pop soul music well into the next decade. Eh to Joss Stone, she had her chance. And it doesn’t matter how hot or how gay Jared Leto is, or how much I truly appreciate his coming out so publicly through his music, screaming to the world that “this is who I truly am” - I can applaud all that and still not like his music. And he’s got the same genitalia as me, AND I might just be his type. Doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter that Dave Matthews… wait, does someone count as a man if his music has no balls? Let’s set him aside in the “other” category. As in the “I’d rather listen to anything OTHER than this” category. Anyway, the point is it’s about the music. In order for an artist to occupy a space on one of my meticulously, painfully, sacrificially scraped-down-to-26-minutes playlists, I’ve got to love what’s in the song and I don’t really care about what’s in the pants. End of rant. For now.

Download: Portishead, “Numb (Remix)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Sneaker Pimps, “Walk The Rain” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Massive Attack, “Sly (Remix)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Lamb, “Gabriel” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Morcheeba, “Shoulder Holster” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Zero 7, “Speed Dial No. 2″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: UNKLE Matt’s “Broad-Based Appeal” (XML playlist)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

You can also get the whole shebang in one handy-dandy ZIP file:

Download: “Broad-Based Appeal” (ZIP — SaveFile)
(Click here for download instructions)