You know those artists that just seem to disappear all of the sudden? One minute they’re in your life (and in your head) and the next, you don’t really know where they are and you spend your days wondering if they took some office job somewhere.

This week’s new releases are all just like that. Once upon a time, I listened to these artists, but it’s been a while. And I was all “Oh my God, you’re still around?” when I heard they had new albums. I can’t even recall the last time I thought about Tori Amos, I happy pushed Eminem from my mind long ago, and it had been a couple years since I really enjoyed Kate Voegele. And this week, they’re all back!

Tori Amos- Abnormally Attracted to Sin

I had forgotten about Tori Amos for a bit. Never really a huge fan, I always thought she had a pretty voice, but I never paid much attention to her. And I’m actually really enjoying Abnormally Attracted to Sin. It’s typical Tori – not the kind of music that’s going to get you all revved up, but it’s great to have playing while you’re working or just need to unwind. “Curtain Call” is one of my favorites from the album and I’m really feeling the oh-so-true lyrics, “By the time you’re 25/They will say ‘you’ve gone and blown it’/By the time you’re 35 I must confide/You will have blown them all/Right on cue just act surprised/When they invite you to take/Your curtain call.”

I’m also loving “Strong Black Vine” and its strings accompaniment, along with Tori’s especially powerful voice here. “Fire to the Plain” is one of the most energetic tracks on the album (though that’s not really saying much) and another good one. The album as a whole sounds a bit like a theater production, but I think that’s what most have come to expect from Tori and we love the fact that she actually makes it sound enjoyable.

Eminem- Relapse

So, he’s back and drug-free (I guess), but I already want him to go away again. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an Eminem hater and I actual enjoy a lot of stuff from his past, like “Stan.” And I was excited for him to come back with Relapse, especially since I was enjoying “Crack a Bottle” with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. But this album is a mess. Maybe I’m just getting too old for him, but I found myself continuously thinking, “Oh my God, how are the children going to be influenced??” while listening. Drugs! Abusing women! Homophobia! What are we teaching our kids? And the thing is, I know Eminem is trying to be funny and I can even laugh at lots of it. But I do worry about those with less developed minds. Do people actually use Eminem as a role model?

I do think a lot of the songs are actually good; many of them are danceable and have amazing beats. I want oh so badly to like them, but I just really don’t. I almost feel sorry for him and the fact that he’s becoming one big self-parody. In “Medicine Ball” he continuously says, “I guess it’s time for you to hate me again.” Yup, I guess so. Looks like Eminem knows full well it’s better to be hated than not thought about at all.

Kate Voegele- A Fine Mess

A couple years ago I fell in love with Kate Voegele’s “Only Fooling Myself” and then pretty much forgot about her, except when that song would randomly come up in my iTunes.  So when I heard she was coming out with a new album, A Fine Mess, I was pretty thrilled. My conclusion? I’m really enjoying Kate’s new album, but it’s certainly not groundbreaking and I don’t really see it catapulting her into fame. It’s the kind of album it takes a few listens to to really get into, and even then you’re not all crazy excited about it. I think she has the voice, but that the songs she’s singing just aren’t showcasing it enough. And the song titles are all totally blah and predictable. I’m mostly a fan of “99 Times” and can see it becoming a pop single, but I’m not exactly sure this is who Kate wants to be. “Manhattan From the Sky” does the best job of letting Kate show off her voice and “Who You Are Without Me” almost reminds me of Martinia McBride. I think Kate is still working on finding herself and I really hope she does.

They were gorgeous and bright, well versed in their rights, talented, and respected. They had lyrics crafted especially for the freeing of the spirit. You know who I’m talking about. Ani Difranco. Tori Amos. Fiona Apple… the list goes on. These ladies helped mold me into who I am today with presence and personality that could give any girl hope and strength.

My questions is this: Where have all of these fantastic ladies gone? As a musician, I can only aspire to be like them, but when I look around, I feel as though I hardly see anyone else aiming for that goal. I see one hit wonders without longevity. I see women using curse words matched with a catchy chorus to be “cute”. Giant boobs and bare midriffs and lyrics written by some fifty year old guy.

Where are the heroes of this generation? Which female singer today would get up at the MTV Video Music Awards and tell little girls everywhere that “This world is bullsh*t“? What singers are telling every record label “F*ck you” and starting their own? Which singers will boldly, and in detail, write a song about being raped?

I know there are great women musicians out there, and I try myself to be the best I can. But when I look at teenage girls today, I feel bad for them because they don’t have the same women I had in their lives to look up to. It pains me every time a younger girl says “Ani WHO?”.

I hope I’m wrong about this, but I feel like my generation was the lucky one for having so many talented ladies holding the reigns in the 90′s. Today’s girls…who do they have?

5. Relationship of Command: At the Drive-In

I mostly listened to grrl rock like Tori and Fiona, but something about the rawness of lead singer Cedric Bixler’s (now of the far inferior Mars Volta) voice and the frantic intensity of the music really appealed to me. Maybe it was an outlet for my teenage anger and angst, or maybe it just made me feel cool. Either way, the album still kicks ass.

4. Rated R: Queens of the Stone Age

I listened to this album over and over after I broke up with my first boyfriend. It’s not an especially sad album, so I don’t know why it brought me so much comfort, but it really became a security blanket. I can’t listen to it now without feeling a little sad and really, really nostalgic. Which is a shame, because it also kicks ass.

3. The Blue Album: Weezer

The World Has Turned and Left Me Here was the theme song of my junior year, also known as the year of awful braces and being overlooked for a good part in the school play. I was a nerd, and Weezer understood that–they spoke for me in the most beautifully simple and poignant way a band could. Sadly, I’ve listened to this album so many times that I cannot listen to it ever again.

2. Doolittle: The Pixies

Immediately when I heard this album I knew without a doubt that the Pixies were going to be my favorite band. And seven or eight years later, they probably still are.

I wore out every Pixies album I could get my grubby little hands on and I never, ever grew tired of them. Doolittle was schizophrenic brilliance and I felt better, smarter, just listening to it. It made me want to leave my small town and strike out, it made me want to dance, and it gave me one of my most persistent role models in Kim Deal. Minus the whole alcoholism thing.

1. Boys for Pele: Tori Amos.

This album will always make me think of my best friend in high school, and driving around at all hours in her old car that hardly ran. We listened to this album and talked about our lives, our fears, our crushes, our futures, loving Tori’s impertinence, her boldness. She was the adult version of what we wanted to be, wiser for all of her youthful indiscretions.

The album, too, was all about frustration with men and relationships, and although our situations were greatly different, I felt like I understood everything she sang about.

What albums defined your teenage years? Can you still listen to them?

[Photos from Wikipedia]

With the release of her fifth album, Begin To Hope, things are finally starting to take off in the mainstream. Her song On the Radio was featured on Grey’s Anatomy this past season, and despite the decline in quality of the show itself, its soundtrack still manages to make stars out of relative unknowns. And the mainstream is right about where Regina deserves to be—except that we’ll miss her intimate shows at small venues.

Moving to the Bronx from Russia at the age of 9, Spektor had to improvise when she got to the States. The family left their piano behind in Moscow, and Regina was forced to practice on anything she could find upon her arrival here—window sills, and benches included. She ended up honing her craft, and developing her songwriting skills on a piano in the basement of her synagogue.

A few short years later, when trying to get her first gig at an open audition at a New York club, she decided that waiting around was not for her. She left the line, called the venue, and told them she was already booked there. Somehow she managed to convince them that the lack of her name on the roster was their error and managed to book her first gig.

She’s played tirelessly over the last few years—taking every gig that came her way—and slowly but surely developed a broad fan base.

Spektor has been compared to Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple by critics, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because she plays the piano as well. I love both Tori (her new album—the best she’s put out in awhile), and Fiona Apple, but it doesn’t sound anything like Spektor to me. It’s hard to classify her music—there are so many different sounds, and influences. You can hear her classical training, but you also hear hints of pop, hip-hop… just about everything in there.

Begin to Hope is a great mix—poppy, upbeat songs like Fidelity, Better, and On the Radio are great to wake up to, and impossible to not sing along with. Other tracks like Apres Moi are soaring, and dramatic. And Samson is one of my new favorite love songs—seriously, it makes my heart hurt. Her lyrics are poetic, and maybe slightly confusing, but beautiful all the same.

Spektor has played Coachella this year, and is also appearing at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. I think it’s only a matter of time before she’s a household name.

Discography:

2001 – 11:11 (Regina Spektor)

2002 – Songs (Regina Spektor)

2003/2004 - Soviet Kitsch (Regina Spektor/Shoplifter/Sire)

2005 – Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories (Transgressive)

2006 – Begin to Hope (Sire)