This Fall, I got sushi with Michete and we talked about their music, Kanye West and our shared Spokane upbringings. At the time, they told me off the record that they were working on the lead single from their next album, Cool Tricks 3.
Music
Music
The Politically Apropos Future Politics of Austra
One of the most common (and most entirely dumb-ass) cultural refrains currently at large is the notion that great art emerges in times of social and political turmoil. “Yes, this administration will be awful,” the faceless hordes opine, “but the art will be great!”
Contradicting Coachella
In reports that shocked exactly three people, it was revealed by Teen Vogue and Afropunk that Philip Anschutz, the CEO of AEG, which owns and operates many of the major venues and music festivals in the U.S. donated more than $190,000 to anti-queer groups over the course of four years. They also revealed that Anschutz and his wife have, over their careers, donated vast sums to conservative Republican candidates and super PACs.
The Quiet Radicalism of Tracy Chapman
Though often denied that kind of critical worship lavished on other politically-minded singer-songwriters, Tracy Chapman the woman and Tracy Chapman the album are more revolutionary than they’ve ever been.
Top 20 Queer Music Artists of 2016
In the midst of so much heartbreak in the music industry, a creative zeitgeist also occurred. Here are the year’s top 20 queer artists and the brilliant new music they released to excite, titillate, grieve, groove, and awaken.
The Spiritual Prowess of Guayaba
“Most of my songs are about bugs, but this one is about a lizard,” announced local artist Guayaba (FKA Aeon Fux) earlier this year to an audience at the Crocodile. While she probably intended this comment to be jokingly self-deprecating, it was also a fair summary of her set.
Art is Salvation
I don’t know what to say. Last night I sat in a bar with a group of friends–bright, articulate, kind young people–and watched as our nation decided that fear, economic anxiety, and racism were more valuable than common decency. I sat, tingling in my own skin, and my...
Pansy Division Are Still So Gay
Certainly few other bands can claim the title of “pioneers” like Pansy Division. Often lumped in with the nebulous “queer-core” movement of the early nineties, Pansy Division were nevertheless one of the first openly queer bands ever formed.
Michete: Aggressive, Transgressive, and Uncompromising
Making yourself heard above the din of a writhing sonic underground isn’t an easy feat. But one artist, queer, pop-rap queen Michete, has done just that, all in a crop-top and a sleek fourteen inches of hair.
They’re Here, They’re Queer: Little Richard
It’s a phenomenal time to be a queer musician. But while all of the attention being paid to contemporary queer artists is wonderful and important and completely deserved, it’s important to remember the artists who fought tooth and acrylic nail to carve out spaces for themselves in a largely white, straight musical landscape.
Listen To This: Fall 2016 Music Preview
Autumn means a whole slew of new music, both releases and live performances, for all the queers to enjoy. Summer and its attendant festivals are behind us, and now we can swath ourselves in flannel and raincoats like the goddamn Seattleites we are and get on with it.
The Meditative Wonderland of Mykki
Maybe the best summary of Mykki Blanco’s raison d’être comes from Blanco herself. In an interview on Youtube, she responds to a question about acceptance by mainstream hip-hop by stating, “I didn’t come to be accepted, I came to be visible.”