#Khalid - "Young Dumb & Broke" (2017)
The crowning jewel of a still-great late teens r&b/pop album
#falsettofriday — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #falsettofriday, aggregated by home.social.
-
#BeygairatBrigade - "Dhinak Dhinak" (2013)
Laugh til it hurts: #AliAftabSaeed's still-timely #Punjabi satire of #Pakistani politics
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Pop #SouthAfricanMusic
#PaulSimon - "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Alternate Unreleased Version)" [1986]
Graceland was one of many, many big pop albums I deeply resented growing up in the 80s. And why not? It was played within an inch of it's life on radio/MTV. You were invariably greeted by that too-bright synth fanfare from "You Can Call Me Al" when you stepped into a shopping mall or civic event space. And I believe claims by both #LosLobos and Zydeco-artist #AltonJayRubin that Paul appropriated their tunes without ever conceeding songwriting credits.
But the recording itself! It remains beautiful, ebullient, propulsive, and so full of hope and surprises it still gets me shaking my head with wonder every spin. While South African bassist #BakithiKumalo drives this cut, the #falsetto vocals of Paul and #LadysmithBlackMambazo are always floating somewhere nearby.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #BlueEyedSoul
#TheMaydays - "You Don't Have To Wait" (2002)
Why is it that folks today don’t revive mid 60’s true blue-eyed soul as often as our forefathers wallowed in it? The Maydays were a short lived Bay-area group featuring fellas who’d done time with everyone from #TheCrawdaddys to #PenelopeHouston's backing band, and this 7" was their lone recorded moment. But the flipside is killer too – I mourn the full-length that never got recorded. They understood the subtler aspects of neo-Edwardian clad, gloriously soulful pop.
-
#NowPlaying #Rap #HipHop #FalsettoFriday
#Heems - "Accent" (2024)
"How does my accent sound when I'm crying? / How does my accent sound when I'm dying?"
(Can't pretend to be able to identify those south Asian samples, but glad they include such a pure #falsetto)
-
#StandingOnTheCorner - "Mr. Postman, wait!" (2026)
New SOTC album due out 11 September
https://standingonthecorner.bandcamp.com/album/mr-postman-wait
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #SouthAfricanMusic #AfricanMusic #Xitsonga
#DJDadaman & #MoscowDollar - "Matlatsi" (early 2000s?, released 2025)
"Before #amapiano and #gqom came to dominate the South African scene, #bacardi music, a potent cocktail of kwaito, house and synth pop, was bubbling through the townships"
-
#FalsettoFriday #Reggae #RootsReggae
#BobMarleyAndTheWailers - "Mr. Brown" (1970)
One of those early, pre-Island Records sides that landed on dozens of dubious #BobMarley comps in the 80s/90s, meaning lots of us got to hear it cheap and easy back then. #BunnyWailer's ghostly high notes are really special, but so was #LeePerry's decision to shove that electric keyboard right up front in the mix.
-
#FalsettoFriday #RNB #musicapopularbrasileira
#MarlaKether feat. #SofiaGrant - "Reverse" (2026)
London-based bassist Marla Kether's new EP "Luso" is due out 16th October
https://marlakether.bandcamp.com/track/reverse-feat-sofia-grant
-
#UncleWaltsBand - "You Keep Me Holding On" (1980)
All three vocalists in South Carolina's much-beloved Uncle Walt's Band could sing their asses off, but here it's #DavidBall who's leading with that high lonesome #falsetto of his
-
#FalsettoFriday #TheRollingStones
Lord knows this ain't the first time #MickJagger has leaned on his #falsetto for love's sake. But tell me: has this man ever sounded so expressively, eccentrically desperate? How an 83 year old can keep this up aside, it's mildly reassuring to hear someone still wrangling with matters of the heart deep into their wizened-husk years.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Reggae #RootsReggae
One of the very first and best American #reggae bands ever, the #BlueRiddimBand were a bunch of white dudes from Kansas City whose beautiful vocals, lilting horn lines, and deep, deep rhythms landed them a coveted place at Jamaica's #ReggaeSunsplash festival in back to back years '82-'83. Sadly the original tapes to their lone 1981 studio LP ("Restless Spirit" on #FlyingFishRecords) were lost decades ago, so a reissue ain't likely to materialise. Still, their love of the music shines through on vinyl rips forever more.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Pop
My interest in #Haim wanes in inverse proportion to that group's fascination with classic rock tropes. Meaning: the non-rocking but stylish disco/R&B of "Relationships" - with its mid-tempo dancefloor groove, cutting lyrics ("I think I'm in love, but I can't stand fuckin' relationships"), and those beautiful #Falsetto high notes - is exactly where I prefer Haim would hover.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #FolkSongs #FolkRock
#LenNovy - "Rain & Snow" (1969)
Who exactly was Len Novy? I know of that raw fiddle player #ByardRay leading this - he's the cousin to old-timey banjoist #ObrayRamsey (who is often credited as this song's writer). The in-demand backing session guys I've heard of too: Chuck Rainey, Herb Lovelle, Sam Brown. But all I really know is Len's high lonesome #falsetto sends chills down my spine every spin. Eat your heart out, #JerryGarcia.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #AfroBeats #NigerianMusic #AfricanMusic
#BNXN & #Sarz - "Emotional High" (2026)
Ṣa ma jo, a ma yo [let's dance, let's dance]
-
#FalsettoFriday #Falsetto #NowPlaying #TundeAdebimpe
#TVOnTheRadio - "I Was a Lover" (2006)
I was a lover before the war
-
#JeanGrae - "Intro" (2008)
For a brief moment there, Jean seemed poised to be crowned queen of the world - or, at least queen of NY's underground #hiphop community. It never really happened, though not for lack of quality: I reckon her Jeanius album recorded w/ producer #9thWonder to be one of best #rap albums of the noughties. The #falsetto disco coo in that magical #Syreeta sample is dreamy, but it's Jean herself who lights this one ON FIRE
"Roll your windows down / And turn the woofers up / New giddy city get that liquor in your tinted cups / Picture me kicking this pretty then remember the words"
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Soul #Gospel
#Syreeta feat. #GCCameron - "I Wanna Be By Your Side" (1974)
This song has an ecstatic, pearly-gates quality to it, like Syreeta and G.C. are indeed right there by your side, clad in white, ushering you across a warmfuzzy threshold into heaven. But what to make of producer #StevieWonder's totally wild - some might say ecstatic - drumming during the crescendo? Or for that matter, the way the song doesn't end, but just cuts off cold . . .
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Rap #EmoRap
You might not, but me I still mourn the loss of #JuiceWRLD - in all his drug addicted, anxiety ridden, auto-tuned glory. He had lots to say! Sometimes, even in #falsetto. No doubt he would've said a lot more had he lived. RIP.
-
Is it odd that when someone mentions New York rock 'n' roll, I don't first think #VelvetUnderground, or #Ramones, or even #SonicYouth - I think New Jersey's #TheRascals? Led by #falsetto-king #FelixCavaliere, their street corner #BlueEyedSoul is so evocative, I'm immediately transported down some hot, crowded avenue in the NYC-of-my-imagination.
-
The Beautiful South - "From Under The Covers" (1989, Go! Discs)
#TheBeautifulSouth were one of the odder success stories in the history of #Britishpop. Literate, heavy-drinking northerners with roots in Hull's #TheHousemartins, they paired lightly soulful, near-MOR pop with some of the most bitterly vicious lyrics ever to burn up the charts. And burn 'em up they did: their best-of collection, Carry On Up The Charts, went #1 in 1994 and eventually 6x platinum. Sing along everyone:
"It's 7am, and we're coughing up the phlegm / Spitting out the taste of night before / And we'll vomit and we'll choke just to climb their tatty rope / Well, this city has its charm and its claw"
-
#FalsettoFriday #NowPlaying #soul
#Prince and the Revolution - “Sometimes It Snows in April” (1986)
And here in Orkney, sometimes it hails
-
#NowPlaying #Congo #Uganda #AfricanMusic #FalsettoFriday
#KingdomMolongi - "Emanuel" (#NyegeNyegeTapes, 2025)
"singing together in an imagined language concocted from elements of Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo and French . . . Considering pre-linguistic communication, liturgical music and glossolalia (better known as speaking in tongues), their improvisations evolved into trances"
-
NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday
#BryanFerry - "I Thought" (2002)
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #soul
#LutherVandross - "Take You Out" (2001)
I don't always love this man's material, but I'll never fail to give props to his velvet tenor - especially when it's this song. Plus he's improvising with a little #falsetto at the end. For once, #JayZ and I agree: this is late-life Luther greatness.
-
#FalsettoFriday #HipHop #Kenya #Nairobi #JeanMichelBasquiat
#KABEAUSHÉ - "Untitled 1981" (2026)
Keep quiet, let him say it….
-
That new #BrunoMars retro #disco banger has been dogging me like a piece of wet toilet paper trailing from the shoe sole of my inner #dancingqueen
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Dancehall #Ragga #Falsetto
#TenorSaw - "Pumpkin Belly" (1985)
How water walk, go a pumpkin
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Falsetto #AfricanMusic
The keen ears at @blogamf hipped me to #CrammedDiscs’ 2022 release of this lost 1987 album by Congolese-born/Belgian-raised #MauricePotoDoudongo. It's future forward electro-funk, ala #ZazouBiyake - or #Prince, fr christs sake! - but steeped in the rhythms and textures of #CongoleseRumba and #Soukous. Rich, joyful, and really quite beautiful, this one gets me moving and still sounds relevant today.
-
#FalsettoFriday #Rap #Grime #NowPlaying
Bloody matador #LittleSimz has #MoonchildSanelly's Xhosa psalms and #Obongjayar's #falsetto to help keep the bulls at bay
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Hippie #GratefulDead
#JerryGarcia didn't rely on it, never over-used it, and pretty much lost it entirely by the end of the 70s, but his #falsetto always rang true
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #HipHop
#JDilla's entire Donuts LP is a master-class in sampling high vocal notes, head voices, #falsettos - a beautiful record from start to finish
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Soul
#JDilla sampling #BillyPaul behind the #falsetto of #SteveSpacek - this one's heaven bound
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #TheEnglishBeat #TheBeat #IConfess
Always slays me how #DaveWakeling climbs up to his #falsetto in the pre-chorus
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #NewRomantic
There are many difficult days in my life when I've been so desperate as to ask: What Would #MartinFry Say? And like a musical magic 8-Ball, #ABC always delivers them with aplomb & #falsetto:
"With all the power that I possess/ Let's match their money with our own finesse/ Why should we ever have to settle for less?/ Why does this message always have to be... S.O.S."
-
With the 2025 #NBA season now officially over and done with, how's a desperate, basketball-addicted fanboy supposed to get by? Me, I always ask in my best #falsetto: What Would #CheechAndChong Say?
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #RootsReggae
How I love those old 3-part #reggae vocal groups: the Wailers, the Maytals, the Meditations . . . but especially the #Heptones. And their Danny Holloway-produced Night Food LP has always been my go-to album. Is that #BarryLlewellyn or #EarlMorgan singing those high #falsetto harmonies here? Man they hit me deep.
-
"Which Way To Turn" (1994): That desperate #falsetto just oozes chilly alienation - something underscoring so many later #BryanFerry recordings. Reminds me a bit of #DavidSylvain’s late 80’s solo work, a good thing in my #NewRomantic book. And the £5000 suit I'm imagining Bryan's wearing? It looks impeccable as always.
-
It's #FalsettoFriday, #Obongjayar dropped a great new album last week, and #LittleSimz knows his #falsetto nudges her new song "Lion" way up into the stratosphere
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #Rihanna #Soul #DooWop
Can women sing in #falsetto? If it's understood to be that breathy/reedy span of pitches somewhere above one's normal singing range, then damn right women can. "Love On The Brain" demonstrates it beautifully - #Riri was born to sing falsetto.
-
Can't wait for the new album by Nigerian-by-way-of-London singer #Obongjayar due out in a week's time. Everything I've heard from it so far sounds amazing - man does his #Afrobeat influenced #falsetto dig its talons in deep.
-
You might not, by I've a soft spot for #AfghanWhigs, esp. back when #GregDulli & co. gave us a bleeding-heart, gossamer #falsetto version of "Lost In The Supermarket" by The Only Band That Matters, #TheClash. I'm sure #JoeStrummer would've approved.
-
#nowplaying #Soul #FalsettoFriday
If you're more or less my age, you'll be familiar with #PaulWilliams as either the ubiquitous 70s tunesmith behind hits by #TheCarpenters & the delightful #MuppetMovie soundtrack, or that odd little stringy-haired fella who'd inexplicably pop up in random #HardyBoys and #LoveBoat episodes. Today I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Paul was a better songwriter than actor. As proof, I'll offer up this overlooked #JamesBrown-produced #falsetto gem from 1975: "I Won't Last A Day Without You" by #SweetCharles. If only everyone sang Paul with such soul.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #ILoveYouBigDummy #ExperimentalRock
And speaking of #CaptainBeefheart, here #DonVanVliet uses an unhinged #falsetto to impersonate a screaming mouth harp. "Breathe deep, breathe high" indeed.
-
Flashing back to the 80s this #FalsettoFriday for the striking Congolese/French symbiosis that was #ZazouBikaye. #BonyBiyake's multi-tracked vocals were headspinning, his performances spellbinding, his #falsetto heartbreaking - while #HectorZazou's avant pop electronics were simultaneously dissociative and deeply rooted rhythmically. The music they made together was truly Ancient Into The Future.
-
#SouthAfricanJazz musician #PhilipTabane has stayed close to my stereo in recent weeks. I never tire of his understated guitar playing, his deep interactions with master hand percussionist #OupaMahapiMonareng in #Malombo, and his transcendent voice - here, almost entirely in a mystical #falsetto range. RIP.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #SouthAfricanMusic
"Mbube" by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (Gallotone, 1939)
The South African original that begat both #TheWeavers' "Wimoweh" in the 50s and #TheTokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the 60s - here in all it's pre-WWII 78rpm #falsetto glory.
-
Time was, I owned upwards of, like, 2 dozen different #ToddRundgren records. While I wouldn't swear by all those today, I still hold his idiosyncratic vocals and early 70s albums - Runt, The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, and Something/Anything - dear to my heart. Those records are absolutely lousy with good songs ratcheted up a big notch through a keen use of #falsetto.
-
Even later albums by #CurtisMayfield had their share of deep cuts, like "Tripping Out" from 1980's Something To Believe In LP. That easy, strolling rhythm, those tasty horn & keyboard accents, and Curtis' incomparable #Falsetto. Happy #FalsettoFriday everybody.
-
#NowPlaying #FalsettoFriday #RootsReggae
#TheCongos' Heart Of The Congos LP is often considered the crown jewel of #LeePerry's Black Ark productions, and for me it was #CedricMyton's #falsetto vocals that put these guys on a spiritual plane all their own. This cut has those ancient Nyabinghi winds blowing through it - long may they reverberate.
(Music writer #BobMack first turned me on to the Congos with his brilliant Lee Perry overview in #GrandRoyal magazine in the early 90s - still worth re-reading today. RIP Bob.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1yhijkS4X8&list=PLF35600334B4C072F&index=2
-
#FalsettoFriday has come around yet again, and I just can't stop French WTF pop legend #MichelPolnareff's 1966 number 1 hit "Love Me Please Love Me" from ricocheting around in my skull. May his high notes light up yours forever too.
-
#FalsettoFriday #NowPlaying #BlueEyedSoul
I've a real soft spot for #AlexChilton's 1990s recs. By that point, he'd mostly given up trying to write great songs, settling instead for being a singular interpreter of the great jazz/soul/r&b songs of others. Like #DannyPearson's "What's Your Sign, Girl?" - a song tailor-made for Alex, his Gibson, and his soulful #falsetto.
-
#NowPlaying #Falsetto #PostPunk
#FalsettoFriday's shoving a mic in our face yet again, goading us on, trying to get us to say something outrageous. What a fucking rotter.
Only #TelevisionPersonalities ask the questions that really matter.
-
#FalsettoFriday #Falsetto #RootsReggae #Reggae
A stone classic is what it is: #JuniorMurvin's "Police & Thieves" from 1976. The beautiful #CurtisMayfield vocal influence, that delicate #LeePerry production, and those searing lyrics that still ring true today