Diamanda Galas
 

My as well christen this forum with someone i'm listening to at the moment.

Her voice ranges from soulful to operatic to just plain odd noises.

There are plenty of songs & videos on her myspace you can check out here..
MySpace.com - Diamanda Galas - Jazz / Blues / Classical - www.myspace.com/songsofexile

For further listening check out 'This Sporting Life' the album she did with Led Zep's John Paul Jones.

Reminded me of the music they play at Circ du sula (major spelling errors)

This thread needs a bump :p:
This is some of the freakiest music you'll ever hear!
(un)fortunately I had the pleasure of listening to her 80s/90s stuff. I still don't even like it that much, but the experience was another thing :eek:. Shes a freaking witch!
Is that album with John Paul Jones any different from her uh, crazy stuff such as You Must Be Certain of the Devil or Plague Mass? I'm really interested in getting more of her stuff, but I don't want another Plague Mass. One is definitely enough. Can't sit through another one :p:

This Sporting Life is practically easy listening compared to some of her stuff.

This lady freaks me out, in a good way. :thumb:
This is like stumbling on Fela Kuti for the first time...sort of.
Thanks Urban, beautiful yet terrifying.

God, I just relistened to her. I really like this ****, a lot more than I remember. I need to hunt down more.

I first heard one Galas song (I think it was "Double-Barrel Prayer" from You Must Be Certain of The Devil) years ago on some radio show that aired gothic music (ha ha). Needless to say it was totally unexpected and I was so unprepared. Eventually I got that album, but never listened to her other stuff. Just recently I got myself The Litanies of Satan, The Saint of The Pit and The Sporting Life.

The Litanies of Satan is her first album from '82. On allmusic.com it is said that it's her strongest and the most passionate work, but also the hardest to listen to. It's certainly some of the craziest stuff I've ever listened to. It feels like literally the music from hell, very assaulting and intense, but it also has such magnetic power that you just can't turn it off. Powerful stuff.

I've seen one of her interviews. She's a very intelligent and passionate lady. She talked about her inspirations and mentioned Baudelaire (well his poem is the basis for her first album) and Pasolini and that sincere, raw and unpolished emotion in their work, which is also present in hers.

I like this quote from her: "My voice was given to me as an instrument of inspiration for my friends, and a tool of torture and destruction to my enemies. An instrument of truth."- Diamanda Galas

Enjoy or run

I was just reminded of her since dankrsta mentioned her in another thread. I hadn't listened to her in a long time. Everyone should listen to her once...she has probably one of the single most intense and versatile voices I've ever heard. With a lot of avant garde stuff, I personally end up saying to myself, "Ok, cool...I respect that you tried this, but I don't necessarily want to listen to it..." With Diamanda's work, even at her weirdest her voice is so intense I promise you will not be able to stop listening to it. You may not want to listen to it again (depending on your tastes), but I promise you will listen to the full song.

A song of hers that blends some operatic moments with some of her experimental vocal styles (yet still tame compared to some of her other stuff):

I'm completely fascinated by how drastic her music can change by song. I've heard some soulful songs then some rather demonic howls and grunts and moans and unnerving screeches that would give an illusion of utter pain. She is extremely talented.

Fantastic stuff.

Never heard of her until these boards mentioned. ****ing incredible stuff.