[Phang]

with regards to major label music, deffeh is mostly right: for every ladytron/imogen heap/isobel campbell/whoever where there is a female singer and they are making interesting music and pounding choons, there are a trillion dido/charlotte church/norah jones types. as far as male acts goes, there's still a mountain of shit, but most interesting music uses a male vocalist simply because a female voice wouldn't fit over it.