David's Baritone

From Brilliant Trees through Died In The Wool...

David's Baritone

Postby missouriman on Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:25 pm

A couple of posts today got me thinking about why I am so very reluctant to listen to any male but David sing. If I end up liking a new song it's because they sing in a similar register. Thomas Feiner for instance. Also Irish singer Declan O'Rourke. Anthing too thin is out. Anthing too harsh is out. Anything too loud is out. Only Bowie can get away with stuff like that and still receive my undivided attention. I tried to listen to Radiohead but that guy... I like Brendan Perry. I can take Scott Walker in small doses; "too expressonist" as Tilbury said. Not Rufus Wainright. Too nasally.

Any suggestions?
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby ScottR on Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:42 pm

I've been getting into the Brooklyn scene lately. Bands like the National, Grizzly Bear, the Walkmen and of course my current favorite Sufjan.

the national - sorrow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iYAoMqq0Y&ob=av2e

grizzly bear - foreground

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iJDVELxQeI
Last edited by ScottR on Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby untitled on Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:09 pm

I find male vocalists quite difficult too and like many people (it seems.....) find Scott Walker too melodramatic to listen to, except in short bursts.

My solution to both these problems is Dean Roberts. Currently a member of Autistic Daughters, along with Martin Brandlmayr and Werner Dafeldecker (both Polwechsel). He's not a “great” singer in the technical sense. He often whispers his vocal so low it's difficult to hear the words and isn't even a baritone! But that aside, he manages to get great emotion into the vocal without going over the top. For me has a little of what makes both Walker and Sylvian interesting vocalists, making him a very compelling listen. The fact that he is backed up by Brandlmayr and Dafeldecker....well that doesn't hurt either!

I'm sure he's not everyone's cup of tea.....but here's a link if you want to check him out:

http://www.myspace.com/autisticdaughters
I found the way, by the sound of your voice.
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby qdes on Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:17 pm

So, should we post more baritone singers or just our favorites? Well anyway, keep more suggestions coming. These were interesting.
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby qdes on Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:30 pm

Ach, I can't help myself.

This guy has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard, but the thing that impresses me the most is how he manages to mean every word coming out from his mouth. Fascinating how he stopped singing for twelve years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWdNRzNHDSo
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby missouriman on Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:25 pm

qdes wrote:So, should we post more baritone singers or just our favorites? Well anyway, keep more suggestions coming. These were interesting.


I stumbled across Ray LaMontagne yesterday while hunting David Torn on Youtube. I plead ignorance cos I live in Missouri and hear NOTHING of any use on the radio and tv and had no access to a computer until mid 2009. So I heard this song and wikipediaedededed him and he sounds an interesting guy with a nice voice and cool instrumentation. I downloaded this song immediately. And yes, qdes, Linder is a find too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUrl6vy9Vew
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby Bern on Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Antony Hegarty's voice, it's sublime
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby kitaj on Sun Oct 24, 2010 8:42 am

generally, I'm not so keen on David's voice in itself. I might be in the minority in thinking he's not so great a singer as he's generally taunted to be. his phrasing is stilted and constrained, his timbre, while gorgeous in itself, is absolutely one-dimensional, and as a vocal improvisor (live), he's often terrible. I've repeated this many times, even in some Q&A's directed to him: why on earth does he not enjoy experimenting/liberating his voice like (I think) he could, I don't know - that's such a pity.
Brendan Perry and, to name but the clear influences, David Bowie and Scott Walker are certainly better singers by a mile.

I've enjoyed his voice best when he keeps it relaxed and open - 'Rain Tree Crow' and 'Dead Bees' are his absolute singerly highlights for me. I also love 'Blemish' so much from that perspective, but on 'Manafon' he's sounding, I don't know - bored as hell I suppose, intellectual, shorn of any vitality whatsoever (except on 'Small Metal Gods' and 'Appalachia'). to complement the barren sonic landscape on that album, I think he should have used so much more warmth and guts - if only for a sharp contrast.

and finally, yes - the in-your-face dry recording style doesn't really do him any favours on that front. why do so many people think reverb is '80s' stylistic evil at all times? reverb is the natural state of sound! why record all the instruments so that the listener is getting the feel of being in a particular room, only to slap your voice in front like a post-it sheet on a recording booth's window pane?
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Re: David's Baritone

Postby missouriman on Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:28 am

I would really love to hear the early Rain Tree Crow sessions when David supposedly sang in a different way according to Mick. Diamonds are nice, but coal gets the job done.

"I think the aspects that dated a piece like Ghosts was the vocal styling, the mannered performance, and the production values of that time. There's lavish amounts of outboard effects, reverbs and plates, which distanced me from the material when I heard it again.

So I was trying to develop a vocal style that also was true to that philosophy. I was trying to find my true voice. I was trying to perform in a very unmannered way, I was trying to find means of just letting the song come out, and that meant just letting go, relaxing,

Just as giving up drinking and cigarettes had a lot to do with it. There are physical changes and there are the changes that I try and bring to bear on the performance, trying to hone in on what I feel is the emotional intensity of a piece, and how I can best put that across as a vocalist. For me it's a very unmelodramatic performance, I'm looking for something as understated as I can perform. "

David from an interview in 2001.
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