I've been enjoying this thread for a long time. Lots of intriguing selections, some great suggestions and some.. not so great, but I'll spare everyone a flame war by not mentioning those! :P
One not or hardly mentioned artist thus far, whom I want to "champion" is PJ Harvey. She's arguably the most versatile artist in rock music today, certainly the most versatile vocalist. There are singers who may have stronger voices, but very very few (if any) who can match her ability to alter vocal style to match the material.
To demonstrate my point, I suggest downloading the following songs:
To Bring You My Love (To Bring You My Love)
Meet Ze Monsta (To Bring You My Love)
The Wind (Is This Desire?)
Catherine (Is This Desire?)
Angelene (Is This Desire?)
Big Exit (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea)
It's You (Uh Huh Her)
Compare these to see her many varying colors: demonic, masculine, ethereal, soft-spoken/conversational and finally, straight ahead/mid-range vocals. There's a reason why virtually every fellow artist and critic kisses her butt.. she's the real deal. Consistently challenging and original, never resting in one place artistically. Plus, her musicianship is first rate; she's renowned as a rhythm guitarist by those who know about such things (not I).
Here's a primer on her albums if you want to explore, each quite different from one another:
Dry - brittle and imaginative, stripped down punk/blues rock.
Rid of Me - Steve Albini produced, take-no-prisoners hard rock fury.
4 Track Demos - PJ alone in a room w/ her guitar and a tape machine. Courtney Love called it the purest & rawest music ever made by a white person. Her most "difficult" album (next to Dance Hall).
To Bring You My Love - The blues reinterpreted, made fresh and original. Desperate, elegiac and mysterious. For the first time, keyboards prominent throughout.
Dance Hall At Louse Point - Stark, abrasive, languid and chilling.. great for winter afternoons spent in isolation.
Is This Desire? - most experimental, adding electronic beats and more 3rd person storytelling. Favorite among the Tori Amos/Bjork/Kate Bush crowd.
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea - multi-layered, glossy and shimmering record, but at the sacrifice of some substance. The record long-time fans dismiss, but still good enough to garner the prestigious Mercury Prize.
Uh Huh Her - a mixed bag of previous styles, sounding at times tired and sometimes utterly brilliant.
Also, definitely worth checking out are her B-sides, and her contributions to records by Marianne Faithful, Nick Cave, Sparklehorse, Desert Sessions (Josh Homme), and Mark Lanegan, among many others.
