Fuck Yeah! Queer Music

This is Silence Kid, a two-piece garage-y type indie band out of Baltimore Maryland.

This is bare bones rock stripped down to guitar and drums. It’s everything you could want out of such a band: fuzzy riffs, snare heavy drum work, and a singer with a great, low, soothing vocal style that at times can get that kind of Marissa Paternoster (of Screaming Females) warble. Their first demo is a low budget affair, like it was recorded from 50 feet away, adding to the atmosphere. This is garage rock through and through, and is definitely for fans of genre who want the music, and not the pretension that often comes with it.

Check ‘em out:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silence-Kid/158320260858082?sk=wall
http://silencekidbaltimore.bandcamp.com
http://silencekidbaltimore.tumblr.com/

If this is what the inevitable alien takeover is going to sound like, sign me up.

According to his bio, TCHNCLR is “an advanced robot…found floating lifelessly though space. Members of a Martian space colony brought the broken machinery to their home planet and fixed it up, programming it to be the perfect Earth probe.  It’s mission is simple: discover the true meaning of human existence through music & fashion.” How awesome is that?

Actually based out of Atlanta, TCHNCLR combines electronica and elements of hip-hop to form an infectious, pop-culture heavy sound. He samples heavily, and it works incredibly well, especially when framed in the context of his bio. It does sound like an extraterrestrial trying to find out about Earth culture. My personal favorite track is “She-Wrah!” a remix of She-Ra’s classic transformation line “For the honor of Greyskull, I am She-Ra!” set over an inventive beat.

TCHNCLR is just that. He sounds like neon, taking cues from all sorts of dance music, and making something that would be perfect for a club. If you’re at all into electronic, I highly recommend it. He is currently working on a new EP, but demos, along with his previous release, are available for streaming on Soundcloud.

Check ‘em out:
http://soundcloud.com/tchnclr
http://www.myspace.com/TCHNCLR
http://www.youtube.com/user/TCHNCLR/

I’ve been meaning to do this post for a week, but queerphonics beat me to it. Well, I hope you guys don’t mind a little repetition.

Ma Rainey. Mother of the blues. An incredibly important, but still vastly overlooked singer, especially in the modern day. So many artists have taken inspiration and influence from her, from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin, even popular favorites like Beyonce owe Rainey a great deal of gratitude.

Ma Rainey began performing in the early 1900’s, and was one of the first black women to put out a record. She put out well over a hundred records over the course of her career, and even recorded with Louis Armstrong in the 1920’s. Rainey was one of the first professional blues singers, and greatly helped spread the popularity of the genre, primarily across the South. Her distinctive voice was incredibly strong, but still sounded like the blues. It could be low and mournful, it could wail. She made you feel something, and it’s easy yo see why she’s called the mother of the blues. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect voice for the genre.

She passed away in 1939 at the age of 53.

Wishbeard (formerly known as The Gaze) is a relatively new three piece out of Seattle that plays that dreamy indie rock all the kids are into these days. They are working on their first EP, so there are only a few rough demos available on bandcamp to listen to, but from those short samples, you can tell these guys are going to gain quite the following. They play indie in the way that was pioneered by acts like The Cure, and now is played by bands like Warpaint, newer Uh Huh Her, Bel Auburn, and many, many others. It’s based around simple, effects laden guitar lines and basic, driving beats. At its core, it’s relatively stripped down, but through pedals and some killer bass work, it becomes layered, danceable, and incredibly enjoyable. If you’re in the Seattle area, keep an eye out for this band, they’re looking to start playing more shows, and I can’t imagine going to see them would be a bad decision.

Also, as explained to me by their bassist, they are called Wishbeard because sometimes you just wish you had a beard, a sentiment I fully support.

Check ‘em out:
http://www.facebook.com/Wishbeard
http://wishbeard.bandcamp.com/

B.Steady is part of hip-hop/pop act The Lost Bois, but she has also released a plethora of solo material, which is more than worthy of your attention.

Her solo stuff tends toward a hip-hop/pop/R&B hybrid style reminiscent of Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, India.Arie, with some Bjork and Imogen Heap thrown in for good measure. Her style is haunting and deeply personal, dark in the way that turns a bit hopeful. She can transition easily from sparse arrangements, like the backing instrumentation to “Tell Me Ima Make It” and “Homesweet,” done with only one or two instruments (in the case of “Homesweet,” it’s just a lonely banjo picking out single notes and some beatboxing. The mood she sets is incredible), to more lush, enveloping soundscapes, as with her “Hyperballad” cover or “Make Up Fuck” with Yung Ray. She doesn’t need to hide behind elaborate tracks, and she can easily rise above them. Her voice is captivating and soothing, with incredible depth. It shines perhaps best on “The Promise,” a love song where she is accompanied only by her own voice singing out acapella rhythms (but then again, I am a total acapella dork, so your mileage may vary, but if you’re into that sort of thing, check out “Cerebus” too).

She has two albums available on iTunes for $9.99, and is very active on Youtube, with tons of live tracks to listen to.

So, what are you waiting for? Check ‘em out:
http://soundcloud.com/b-steady
http://bsteady.tumblr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BSteady/123033894445869
http://www.youtube.com/user/QueerBGirl

Billy Tipton. He’s a well known figure in LGBTQ history, but oftentimes his profession comes second to his identity and personal life. Tipton was a jazz musician who, with his trio (the Billy Tipton Trio) garnered moderate success in the 40s and 50s, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

The Billy Tipton Trio was an instrumental jazz trio that released two albums, both in 1957. For those, like me, who aren’t jazz aficionados at all, the Tipton Trio has some swing to it, and was obviously influenced by swing and the big band sounds made popular during the period. It sounds a lot like the Vince Guaraldi Trio, which recorded the soundtrack for the Charlie Brown Christmas special (side note: greatest christmas special of all time). The piano is bright and peppy, and the centerpiece of the band. The bass has a bit of grove to it, and the drums are basic beats done with brushes. Based on the records, Tipton was a talented musician, who knew how to play a standard, and well. He also played the saxophone, but I could not find any recordings of that.

Tipton was a fine musician, and should definitely be getting more acknowledgment from the LGBTQ community for his talent rather than just his personal life.

Check out the records here (ignore, the problematic introduction): http://www.queermusicheritage.us/feb2003bt.html

So, last week, I posted a link to an Indie GoGo set up by Sourpatch to get a new van for touring, that’s still going on, and if you have the means to contribute, it would definitely be a good holiday present for an awesome band that you should totally love.

Sourpatch is a four-piece indie-rock/pop-punk band hailing from San Jose, California, and they love the 90s. Like, love the 90s. Aside from blatantly saying it in the bio on their website, their music sounds like it time traveled to 2011 from 1994. They dig heavily on the whole mid-90s Northwest sound, which is equal parts punk energy, indie guitar twang, and twee pop sensibilities, especially in terms of lyrics.

For those unfamiliar with 90s Pac Northwest indie-rock, imagine the dreamy, reverb soaked vocals of The Cranberries, mixed with the fast paced, noodly, lightly distorted guitar of a lot of Screaming Females material. The bass is bouncy with a lot of treble; in fact, the whole sound is very treble driven and the instruments are a little on the harsh side, but that helps cut the reverb of the vocals and the overwhelming sugary feeling they give you. This is fun, upbeat music that makes you want to dance with your friends while staring longingly across the room at your crush.

Their new album, Stagger and Fade, is set to be released early next year, and three preview tracks are currently available on their bandcamp, along with their first album, Crushin’ and their 2010 EP, Mira Mija.

Check ‘em out:
http://sourpatchpop.com
http://sourpatch.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/Sourpatchpop

In light of recent Rick Perry advertisements featuring music from a gay Jew with communist affiliations, I think its time we celebrate the brilliant Aaron Copland.

He is one of the most important American composers, and many of his most well-known works are widely considered to be the sound of American romanticism, especially regarding the west. There’s the famous “Hoedown” from his ballet Rodeo, probably known to most of us now through ads for the Beef Association. “Fanfare for the Common Man” is a slow moving, epic brass piece written during World War II to celebrate everyday people. It is a composition that sounds like honor for the every day American. Appalachian Spring, a ballet commissioned by Martha Graham, celebrated the pioneer spirit of the 1800s.

The work Copland is most famous for is rollicking and adventurous, upbeat and bright. It conjures images of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. It celebrates the great American landscape and the people that live there, in what many of us on the coasts would now describe as “flyover” states. There has always been a great romantic ideal of the American West, both for how it was founded and how it is now (both of which are massively misguided or false 98% of the time), and Copland played with all of those notions. He put folk tunes into classical music (“How-Down” is built around an interpretation of “Bonaparte’s Retreat”), taking “high” art and making it of the ordinary person, from their experience and taking from the great American folk canon.

Aside from his most well-known works, his earlier compositions also built on American genres and themes, such as jazz. Pieces such as “Four Piano Blues” obviously took heavily from the distinctly American jazz and blues tradition, particularly the latter, making it a lonely and relatively sparse work.

Aaron Copland is undoubtedly an integral part of American musical identity. His compositions have, for better or worse, help set the tone for how Americans see themselves and their country by writing beautiful songs that celebrate it and its people.

So. Grizzly Bear. Lo-fi, indie, hints of folk influence, some 60s psychedelia. Hipster indie darlings for the past couple of years.

Yeah, Grizzly Bear.

When their third album, Veckatimest, came out in 2009, they were everywhere. Everywhere. You couldn’t go on a music blog without seeing a post on them or a review of the album. They did all the talk shows, toured everywhere, and then by 2010 had dropped off the face of the earth to work on new stuff.

Grizzly Bear is a trip. They take a lot of influence from late 60s psychedelic pop and rock like The Mamas and The Papas, The Turtles, The Doors, and Beatles material from that era. There is also a good dose of modern sensibilities as well, especially from groups on the Arts and Crafts label. The vocals are big and chorus laden. The guitars generally have a huge contrast between crisp, clean chords and huge, effects ridden atmospheric parts. There’s a lot of synth and key parts, and drums are often fairly minimal. The sound swirls as more of a mood than distinct parts making up a song. If you listen to a lot of newer indie, this is not an unfamiliar sound. Unfortunately, in the sea of mid-late 2000s indie, they kind of meld into a lot of other acts, making them hard to distinguish from other bands. Although, they do appear to have some staying power and a new album in the works as of this past summer.

Check ‘em out:
http://grizzly-bear.net/ 
www.myspace.com/grizzlybear 

Before I get into who the lovely band above is, let me apologize for being kind of M.I.A. the past couple of weeks. Life has been hectic, but hopefully things will calm down for a bit.

Anyways, I don’t know if this revealing too much about myself, but one of the number one ways to win the love of my heart is to play folk covers of Mariah Carey songs, and the wonderful individuals in Dr. Dolphin have definitely won me over. Hailing from Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Dolphin play self-described “sex-folk.” I’d say that’s pretty accurate. They are an acoustic group that sounds equal parts folk and modern bluegrass (think Nickel Creek on their last two albums), with a quirky ukelele thrown in for good measure. The two lead singers harmonize beautifully, and the songs sound like love, but that’s because the genre lends itself to such sentiments; a lot of them aren’t specifically about it. The tunes aren’t overly complex, although the mandolin player is pretty beastly in their melodies. This is easy, sweet music to listen to at its best.

There’s also the Mariah Carey cover. Be still my beating heart. 

(Photo by: Emily Pond and R.M. Young Photography)

Check ‘em out:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Dolphin/213766795323883
http://dolphinkids.tumblr.com/ (Includes a link to a .zip file of a live set!)