/agree

tied. Many of my favorite songs have Thurston and Kim both, and "I Dreamed I Dream" has Lee and Kim.

steve.

i think lee and thurston.

i like thurstons really deep voice and his kind of louder voice and i like lou's a lot, it has a ceirtain charm to it.

[grammar nazi] Questions are specifically made to "ask" or "be asked". So questions DO ask. [/grammar nazi]
Hello mil

Lee has great songs, but honestly its pretty obvious he is the most limited melody/vocal wise. Its like saying you like Harrison best in the Beatles.

i voted thurston, live he's the best. but in studio's songs Lee is the best (listen to saucerlike!).

i like Harrison best in the Beatles


when Kim is on form she's sublime, and easily my favourite vocalist around. But she can really annoy me at times too (as Sonic Youth as a whole do too)

I know that thats the point at times but man, she can grate me

I don't have a favourite.

your my favourite

None of SY are exactly 'natural' vocalists, with Lee definitely the least listenable in this department. My favourite is probably Kim, although I tend to agree with Sonicbebs' about her inconsistency. Her vocal on 'Flower', 'Ghost Bitch' and especially 'Shaking Hell' are among the best I've heard from any band. On the other hand her singing during the chorus on 'Ineffable Me' is just horrible beyond belief. She's a definite Jekyl and Hyde in front of the microphone.

jekyl and hide, indeed. but thurston gets sacked with the weight of the band too much. he loses it as a result. lately, i think he has lost it. as a group, they rock, but thurston doesn't seem to have anything to say anymore. his lyrics and vocal treatments are either too sincere or too artificial. kim is dong well in this period of the youth if you ask me. lee is great but suffers from under exposure. i am going with kim.

i think Kim's contrast works really well on Washing Machine (the track) (but then that song has 2 definate parts anyway) but normally her rasping angry spitting just sounds annoying as opposed to powerful.

she sounds best when she sing-whispers

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, especially with the over-sincerity of some of his lyrics. I always sensed an underlying irony with songs like 'Society is a Hole', or 'Confusion is Next' but more recently he's been delivering his angst straight and the results, as on 'Or', can be quite cringeworthy. The move from young turk to elder statesman seems to have sat far less comfortably with him than it has with either Lee or Kim. The image Thurston's presenting, as some kind of jaded, reflective, burnt out rocker, just doesn't really resonate with either his vocal style or general demeanour. I much preferred him shouting about wanting to "kill the California girls" with his tongue fixed firmly in his cheek than wittering on during 'Snare, Girl', about how he has 'palms from the ruins'!