Archive for the ‘queer music’ Category

Older Entries »
h1

Alt Q’s 10th Anniversary – Best of Edition

May 7, 2010

Photobucket

NEVER forget. In 2003, when Think Pink was a fresh-faced radio show with two lil DJ’s that could, the first person to give us any official nod or kudo was Scott Free. Not only did it feel nice, but since I already knew the work that he did with (what was then) Queer is Folk and the weekly queer showcase Homolatte, it was like validation. To this day, running into Scott always brings a reassurance that Chicago is a hot-bed of activism and artistic support, and his giantess frame is balanced by his snuggle-bear demeanor. Alt Q has jump started so many queer musicians including Actor Slash Model, Chris Garneau, and Coyote Grace; it’s also featured established out-performers such as Phranc and Grant Hart. This 10th anniversary show is a testament to Chicago’s desire for its own queer Lollapalooza and one of the many examples of Scott Free’s love of the Windy City. Hats off, Scott!!

From the press release:

ALT Q (formerly Queer Is Folk Festival) is celebrating it’s 10th year as a showcase for GLBT musicians and performers at the Old Town School of Folk Music. This year’s festival features some of our favorite performers from over the past 10 years. ALT Q is a celebration of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered experience through music and performance. Featuring an evening of five performing acts, the event’s mission is to raise awareness of out performers among the general public and the LGBT community. A meet-the-artists reception will follow the event. This year, proceeds from the event will be donated to given to the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission for relief efforts in Haiti. Funds go directly to two organizations –SEROvie, which provides HIV services and counseling, and Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a lesbian Dominican group that has crossed the border to Haiti to assist in the relief efforts. http://www.iglhrc.org

Scott Free presents:
ALT Q’s 10TH ANNIVERSARY ‘BEST IN SHOW’
Saturday, May 15th,  2010 7pm
The Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL 60625
 
featuring Coyote Grace, Wishing Chair, The Heat Birds, Namoli Brennet, and Actor Slash Model. Tickets are available at the Old Town School of Folk Music website.

Posted in queer music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Magnetic Fields Doc: Strange Powers

May 7, 2010

Posted in queer film, queer music | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

New Scissor Sisters Sounds Like Pet Shop Boys

April 14, 2010

…and I’m thinking I prefer their Elton-inspired songs. From Pitchfork:  Night Work (Out June 28th)was co-produced by modern dance maven Stuart Price (the Killers, Madonna) and will be preceded by first single “Fire With Fire”, out June 20. Album cut “Invisible Light” is streaming on the band’s website right now and embedded below. And according to Entertainment Weekly, yes, that is Sir Ian McKellen doing the spoken word part.

Photobucket

Posted in queer music | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Grey Oceans

April 12, 2010

Photobucket

* This is the cover for the vinyl version

Opening track “Trinity’s Crying,” didn’t really have me dripping with excitement for the new album by CocoRosie. Sparse in arrangement with no chorus to speak of, the only thing you are left with is Sierra Cassidy’s opera voice singing the title over and over–who or what is Trinity and why do I care if she’s crying? As it turns out, Grey Oceans, the sisters’s fourth full-length, is just that: an opaque collection of somber, protracted waves. Mostly an album of ballads, even when the songs pick up a stray rhythm (think freaked out, opium-infused hip hop), they are quickly stuttered apart by that Cassidy sense of timing. First single ”Lemonade” is the closest Grey Oceans comes to traditional pop structure, however as an album teaser, it’s a gentle, valium-dosed sea creature not preoccupied with making splash. That’s where you get hooked, though. On each record, these women strip away any and all commercial aspirations to make their own space; it’s a feminine cocoon impenetrable by inattentive ears so when you dive into a Cocorosie record, you are like a lucky visitor who happened upon the Cassidys’s private skinny-dip. Undeniable is the singularity of Sierra’s soprano and Bianca’s Betty Boop–together these naturally alien voices are the most unique on the indie plank, and Grey Oceans is another record where a close look gets you lasting impressions of their world. Recorded in four different countries, the children’s toys and plucked harp (perhaps the touchstones of CocoRosie’s sound) are accentuated by boozy synths and acoustic piano, but what sets this record apart from the rest of their catalogue is the clearest peek into CocoRosie’s influences. Laurie Anderson, Bjork, Nina Simone, Aaliyah, and the Slits are all referenced here, submerged in a delicate poach and spit out into a body-temperature pool. If Trinity’s crying, her tears don’t beg for help, they beg attention. Grey Oceans is out in early May.

CocoRosie – Here I Come

Posted in female fronted, mp3, queer music | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Stereogamous

April 6, 2010

Photobucket

While some of his early originals struck me as too blown-out-Ibiza-white-party-mega-mix, Australia’s Stereogamous‘s latest tracks have been hitting my sweet spot. The right vocal edits, hard bass-lines and running synths have dropped trow with his self-penned “sauna beat,” and some brash outness only thickens the steam. Follow him on twitter @stereogamous to get his latest, grab two below.

Men – Credit Card Babie$ (Stereogamous Bath House Version)

We Have Band – You Came Out (Stereogamous Bath House Version)

Posted in queer dj, queer music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Salem Invented a New Genre

March 11, 2010

Photobucket

Apparently, people are catching on now. The genre is called “drag” and I’m trying to not get irritated. Why? BECAUSE. This is a typical first step towards a mainstreamification of genuine artistic innovation, ALWAYS a dubious prospect in my mind.  Pitchfork reported today that a new record label, called Tri Angle (distributed by Kompakt–is this an indie version of major label/small label–my mind is BLOWING UP here) will have a roster that includes the bands Creep (feat. Lauren Flax), Slava and oOoOO, all “drag” artists. Haven’t heard of them? Don’t worry, this is straight up niche-nerd stuff, we’re still in the first wave. It’ll be a couple of years before we hear a “drag” artist break out with some pop-friendly version and then we’ll all remember when and cry “LATE!” In any case, the genre is described by Tri Angle owner Robin Carolan as “”witching-hour vision of Cocteau Twins dream pop, meshed with the soundtrack to a particularly angsty Gregg Araki film full of Gen X shoegazer atmospherics and industrial beats, brought bang up to the date by the influence of raw hip-hop mutations like chopped and screwed and juke.” Pretty much EXACTLY what Salem is–I’m actually sitting here, slapping my forehead thinking about this druggy psychosis as a movement. The small amount of information we actually have about Salem clues us to their addiction/prostitution roots, it’d be shame if there were other bands with the same back story. Conversely, it’d be a shame if there were other bands that just pretended to be like that in order to make some fucked up sounding goth-juke. For now, my eyes and ears are wide open, the label name and it’s first releases have that familiar whiffa GAY.

Posted in queer music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

Fred Schneider’s New Band

March 3, 2010

History has correctly claimed the B-52′s as one of rock’s greats. Before 2008, they had about 3 bad songs in their entire catalogue and it wasn’t until the woefully uninspired Funplex that I realized it was time for side projects and guest spots. I mean, those kinds of one-off collaborations can, and usually do, beget flashes of fun, reminders of why you love an artist to begin with. Sometimes, when said artist goes back and revisits their main act, they can come out better for it. So, just having read an excellent, confident and self-aware interview with Fred Schneider over at AV Club, I was overjoyed to know of his new el-weirdo project, The Superions. A quirky electronic side band with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall, their first single “Who Threw That Ham At Me” already has an official video, limited 12″ single on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records and a digital EP on iTunes. According to the AV interview, the plan is to make a “regular record,” plus themed albums for Halloween and Christmas. Song titles like “Those Sexy Saucer Girls” and “Totally Nude Island” pretty much sum it up, or as Schneider put it, “going to go where no one else bothers to go, or where no one in their right mind would go.” Stream at ye olde Myspace and get your spoken word on. Hopefully, the other B’s are dabbling in other interests to make that comeback record we so badly need.

Posted in queer music | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Kingdom’s Mindreader EP

February 20, 2010

Photobucket

Photobucket

I’ve been on the record about dubstep, and in general I don’t think it’s a genre that will last. When it hits, it’s because it’s being taken in with other styles – however my impression of unruffled dubstep is that it will go the way of jungle. A few nostalgic nerds here and there will remember the days when but ultimately it’ll go away. Kingdom has always played around with dubstep, but it comes out as a way to experiment with his true loves–he invariably gravitates towards fierce female raps and divas, the gay dance floor and HI-NRG sap. That type of genre competence is the kitten heel to stiletto step, the difference between a trendy hack and a trailblazer. A few mixtapes and digital singles under his belt, Ezra Rubin has hooked up with the infallible Acephale Records for his first vinyl release: a 10″ hot-plate with “Mindreader” on the A side and “You” on the flip. The digital EP version has remixes by Todd Edwards, L-Vis, and Bok Bok, so broke DJ’s will get big bang for their little buck, but the two track vinyl is where the real story is. Acephale’s small but braggable catalogue has the first Salem EP, CFCF, Midnight Juggernauts, Air France and Memory Tapes, all limited, most of them already sold out. Get on it, this is limited to 500 copies with no repress, matte finish sleeve with silver foil embossing. YUSSS.

Kingdom – Mindreader (L-Vis Remix 1990)

Kingdom – Mindreader (CFCF Remix)

Posted in queer music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Diamond Rings Likes Tights, Make Up, Cute Songs

February 17, 2010

 Photobucket

*Photograph by David Waldman

Is it just me or is there a role-softening taking shape in the larger indie scene? A relaxation of gender in lead singers has a small contingent but the people doing it are getting some success. Sorry, Stephin Merritt, I know you think queers should hide in order to get noticed, but methinks you are just from a different time. Of Montreal’s last record Skeletal Lamping was an entire conceptualized with gender-ambiguous sex on the forefront. Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox is taking part too–he is afterall, a gay indie-rock darling and has never shied away from wearing dresses and broadway-ing around a stage or two. Jona from Yacht had a recent EP cover where it looked like he was trying, and succeeding, to see how well he could pass as female. Lissy Trullie’s a HOT HOT lady in super high heels, but her femme is more drag than anything. Now we have Diamond Rings, a band from Toronto whose singer John O has dropped two videos where he’s wearing make up, tights and upping the camp choreography to Leslie Hall heights. The best part (of all of these bands) is that their songs are interesting, and make the case for just being out about whatever the hell you are. Diamond Rings have a laid back, whiny sound but they got the hooks styled just right, and the vids of the live shows show a stripped-down approach, telling me there’s a good balance with glam and work. The top video is for “All Yr Songs” which has the tweeny heartache I can’t get enough of. The 2nd is for “Wait & See”: and while it isn’t as good, it has better (campier) choreography.

Posted in queer music | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

How Fucking Romantic

January 26, 2010

Photobucket
*1st Panel of “I Don’t Believe In The Sun” by Huw “Lem” Davies

Photobucket
*”I Think I Need A New Heart” by Mark Gamble

I’m literally jumping out of my space-heater safety zone with this link. How Fucking Romantic is a blog that collects writers and comic artists to illustrate each of the songs on The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs. Must be Magnetic Fields day! It’s looking like the project has only been going on since April 2009, but 2/3rds of Stephin Merritt’s magnum opus has already been claimed. If you are a visual artist and want to contribute, go and leave a comment (there is a degree of squirelliness about their contact information). This blog gets the TOO FUCKING CUTE stamp from TPR.

Posted in queer art, queer music | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Older Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.