Listen to Soundcheck's Women On The Edge playlist stream for hours and hours of our favorite and most influential women in music:
We don't really need an excuse to showcase women in music, but if we did, here it is:
While we're usually loathe to declare any one moment in music as being the definitive culmination of a feeling, the past 18 months sure have felt like a lady takeover. Beyonce's self-titled record and Taylor Swift's 1989 were certainly the two biggest and most ubiquitous albums of the past year; and the success of FKA twigs, Natalie Prass, Courtney Barnett and women-centric bands like Perfect Pussy and Ex Hex makes it clear that the bench of current and emergent artists is really deep. By the time Katy Perry brought Missy Elliot back into our lives at the Superbowl, that was just a victory lap.
Soundcheck wanted to invite a select group of curators to give their takes on what we've been thinking about as notable music as seen through the lens of Women on the Edge: of a breakthrough, of a breakdown, of genres, of gender.
Some of these female artists -- like Buffy Sainte-Marie -- were on the bleeding edge of history 20 years ago; others like Sonic Youth pioneered a sound and a sensibility that would thunder down through the generations. Others are just doing it right now, and we wanted to hear what that sounds like. The curators were themselves carefully curated -- we got some of the best, brightest and most interesting music nerds we know to showcase what they're thinking about now. We trust them, so we hope you will too.
For the latest podcasts, in-studio sessions, conversations and more, follow us on Twitter @Soundcheck!
Meet Our Playlist Contributors
- Lindsay Zoladz is New York Magazine's pop music critic. (@lindsayzoladz)
- John Schaefer is the host of WNYC's music show Soundcheck.
- Imade Nibokun is Soundcheck's music intern. (@imadeintruth)
- Ellen Mayer is a producer for the music podcast Pitch. (@EllenRebeccaM / @hearpitch)
- Hrishikesh Hirway is the creator and host of the podcast Song Exploder. (@SongExploder)
- Jia Tolentino is the features editor at Jezebel, and creator of tinybitchtapes. (@jiatolentino)
- Sasha Frere-Jones is a musician and writer. (@sfj)
- Michael Katzif is Soundcheck's digital producer. (@mikekatzif)