It's not like Pippi

Queer, cheerful, riot girl (ish). Do this: sing the chorus to "Goddess Part 2" right now. Or the first two lines. Or the whole song. It's all Liz Phair pop punky fun that's queer with a little less gosh-I'm-so-hip-and-self-aware attitude.

Oooh-uh-oooh-oh-oooh!

Bye bye love

The Ditty Bops play silly, fun, folky music while simultaneously being a smoking hot couple. Did I just objectify them? I'm sorry.

And, um, this marks the last time for a while that I will throw something folky into these semi-weekly queer music mixes. I'm trying to take a break before I start busting out the Ani albums and the natural deodorant.

Props to the ladies of The Ditty Bops for maintaining a pretty long lesbo relationship while touring and being attractive lust objects for homos everywhere! Maybe they've been taking lessons from Mates of State?

She wants to be a deity

For the purposes of this entry, I'm gonna go ahead and treat OTEP as if its only member is Otep Shamaya. I realize that it's Otep Shamaya and a bunch of other folks functioning as a band and all, but are those other members big dykes? No, they are not.

So, a little personal information on how I happened across OTEP. I work an odd shift as a web nerd and most of my night is just me hanging out by myself in a large office doing web geekery. However, part of my night is me hanging out in a bullpen-style office with some really loud co-workers. I'm not especially social when I'm trying to do my nerd stuff, so the solution is to combine headphones with some insanely loud music.

One day, OTEP came up on Pandora, and I really liked it for its co-worker-drowning-out properties. I made myself a long, tasty SeeqPod playlist of OTEP and thus, a musical crush was born.

I passed along my interest in OTEP to The Housemate's Boyfriend, who is a big fan of metal and hardcore and anything screamy/loud. In fact, he's the dude who turned me on to Walls of Jericho, who were the seed band in the Pandora playlist that gave me OTEP.

We had a conversation:

Me: ... and they have a chick singer. She totally sounds like a dude!
HB [who is, in fact, Egyptian] : Otep? Is she Egyptian?
Me: Nope, I think she's just a boring white girl who has a cool name.

From reading Otep Shamaya's Wikipedia entry, I'd say that's probably true.

Aside from being notorious for her style of confessional writing, little else is known about Otep Shamaya's personal life and background. She grew up in a near ghetto area of L.A. Personal details such as her age are unknown to the general public. To interviewers, she has given her age as "five lifetimes old." It has been said her birthdate is Nov. 7, 1979. Though some have speculated otherwise, she insists that the name on her birth certificate is Otep. Though she has never directly confirmed such, in many of her songs and poems she has alluded to having had a tumultuous and traumatic childhood riddled with abuse, (both physical and emotional). However in an interview on AfterEllen.com she has confirmed that she is, in fact, an out lesbian.

"Five lifetimes old." Pardon me while I snicker, okay? My fun guess is that she's really the wayward daughter of some Mt. Holyoke English professors and that her real name is, like, Melissa Higgenbottom. Still, it's fun, angry, loud music.

Go love it. Or hate it. But wear the noise-canceling headphones while you do it, a'ight?

Like the Shangri-Las, only not at all

Quick, name your favorite band that's named after a Smiths song. Wait: not Pretty Girls Make Graves. Pick another one. Okay, you're supposed to say Girl in a Coma (like "Girlfriend in a Coma," get it? Get it?), but I'll forgive you for not knowing.

GIAC sport an out bass player in Jenn Alva and have this huge, summery sound that's a tiny bit priceless. Blast it with the windows down when you're having unseasonable, oh-hi-what-is-up-global-warming weather.

Bonus Round: I think I may love GIAC just a tiny bit more because they actually get compared to bands that have members of the dude variety. I don't ask for much, but I do ask that people who write about music for a living are able to get over the initial ZOMG A BAND THAT HAS ONLY THE WIMMENS shock enough to make an aural comparison that's based on something other than, you know, chromosomes.

Listen and love, just don't compare them to The Supremes:

Watch 'em in the video for "Say":

I might be strong but don't call me mister

Well, the lyrical content isn't queer, but one of the band members is out: does it count as a queer music mix? I made it, so I say abso-fucking-lutely.

Luscious Jackson threw it down in old-school hip-hop style back in the day. Kate Schellenbach, the Out Musician in question, drummed for LJ and was once the bad boy arm candy for The Breeders' Josephine Wiggs.

Check out a few tracks from In Search Of Manny from '93 and a few more from 1996's Fever In Fever Out and see if you can spot the massive amount of influence that LJ had on groups like Northern State.

Holla!

Circle like a dog

The Need were something else. They were two queer kids (Radio Sloan and Rachel Carns) who made rad, sort of creepy queercore music with organ and some serious West Coast aesthetics. And now they're gone!

You can still listen though, if you'd like. How's about three tracks from their eponymous 1997 album? I know you wanna listen, if only to add another amazing two-person band to your growing list of amazing two-person bands. If you have such a list. And uh, if you're me, you have a really, really long list of two-person bands that you adore. Just sayin'.

You make my Cadillac-lac bling in the back

Whether you like it or not, Yo Majesty will make you dance. There are snarky queer lyrics dropped in over old-school hip-hip/electro beats that haven't sounded this good since 1985 and that makes me say this: Mmm, homohop. If, by the second half of "Club Action", you're not dying to see YM live to the tune of 3 shots of Patron ... well, then I'm pretty sure you don't like hip-hop at all.

All I ask is that you shake yo' asses responsibly. And go to YM's MySpace to listen to "Lo Riders N Hydraulics" because I couldn't include it on the player.

Bonus videos!:

Queer-ish music time with The Third Sex

The Third Sex made a couple of albums' worth of hot, hot queer punk rock and then, I'm guessing, dropped off the face of the earth. Who can say? There's not exactly a wealth of information on random mid-to-late '90s queer punk ladies around the internets, so I'm just doing my part here.

All I know is that I saw them at Hampshire College once back in the day and most of my friends went into panty-dropping mode over Peyton, who was the bassist/guitarist/vocalist for TTS.

So, courtesy of me and my show nostalgia, have some TTS. It's dirty, squeal-y, messy and wonderful. "Roy" is just a little bit priceless!

Hi: A little warning in that SpotDJ doesn't seem to want to connect tonight. If this persists, I'll just upload the tracks elsewhere.

Weekly dose o' queer music: now featuring 50 percent more anger!

Must ... counteract ... Kaki King ... chillfest!

This week: Limp Wrist. They're a hardcore band, their songs are crazy short, and their lyrics are pretty much indecipherable. I'll start you off with "Does Your Daddy Know?", because the intro and outro are hilarious (and totally coherent). The rest of the songs: good luck!

Mmm: surly queer boys ... oops, almost forgot I like girls there for a second. Mmm: surly queers. That's better.

Kaki King makes me want to throw my guitar out the window

Kaki King makes some tasty, lush post-rock (ish!) music with her hands and her vocal cords. Plus, she's a huge lesbot, so there's no reason why you -- lover of queer music that you are -- shouldn't have at least 2006's Until We Felt Red in your collection.

King also puts on an incredible live show. See her if she comes within a hundred miles of your current location. I mean it. Here she is performing "Playing With Pink Noise" from Legs to Make Us Longer:



Mmm: virtuoso-tastic!

And now, the mix:

This is uncharacteristically chill for me. Next week: angry music! Or electronica! Or hip-hop!

Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

Team Gina are 1.) hot, 2.) queer, 3.) hip-hop motherfucking superstars. I'm still moping around about missing their performance at PhaseFest, if only because I think it's gonna be another thousand years before they hit the Dee dot Cee again.

So, for nostalgia's sake, Team Gina are this week's 'mo music mix (should I trademark that, ya think?). I'm hitting you with two tracks from "Gina Gina Revolution," which should be just enough for you to head over to TG's MySpace and buy their album. It'll be best ten bucks you'll spend this month, son.

The tracks:

- "Straight Boys": A name check for foxy dykon Clea DuVall and lots of hilarity about the interaction between straight dudes and femme ladies.

- "A Tribe Called Rocco": Silly self-mockery and a sweet verse about Washington, D.C.

The "I'm so happy that I have a SpotDJ alternative" bonus track

It's Gaze's "Peeking Shows His Ignorance", which is the first song I ever remember hearing where I could clearly make out the word "butch".

I wish I could find the full lyrics to "Peeking ..." somewhere, 'cause it's got some of the most devastating smart girl insults in it. "You've got a whole lot of nerve/but what good does it do?" -- ohhh, brash indie girls, you have my heart!

Scaring Seven Sisters girls for the win

I told Tres Bien I was planning on posting something angry for this week's queer music mix (and I guess they're not really mixes -- I hadn't thought about that until now. But whatever, right?), and I kind of debated for a while about that. I have some really sweet, gentle music that I'm eager to post, but a promise is a promise, yeah?

This week: The Haggard! An I'm-so-old story: I saw The Haggard play at a really fancy Northeastern Women's College when I was still in school (not at the fancy Northeastern Women's College). The building where they were playing was a shortcut for students who were walking through campus and, at one point, some very delicate looking girls paused near the crowd during a song. They were kind of looking at the stage at these two insane, screaming queer kids and also glancing fearfully at the crowd of (probably really fucked up) crusty punk queers. When the song ended, they effing bolted along the edge of the room to the door that led to the other side of campus. And they never even so much as glanced back.

I'd write more about them, or do my usual why-I-picked-this-song thing for The Haggard, but I don't really know much about them other than that they are a 2-person hardcore/queercore/homocore band. Emily and STS (of The Lookers, Cadallaca, and probably a thousand other bands) have recorded on the now defunct Mr. Lady and with Heartcore Records. All of the googling and attempts to find more links/info has turned up a whole lot of dead links and not too much more.

It's a little sad and humbling to me, I think. There were a couple more angry homocore bands that I had been thinking about posting for this week's mix, but I seriously couldn't find anything online about them. It's shocking to me that bands that made a huge impression on me and my friends have sort of melted into history.

Enough of that!

The tracks:

- "P.E. Teacher" - from "A Bike City Called Greasy"

and three tracks from "No Future":

- "Wouldn't Wanna Be Your Girl"
- "Sundays In Oregon"
- "The Haggard For President"

Enjoy!

Not so fast? Apparently, SpotDJ is flaking out on me. I spent a bit of time making the mix, and then it wouldn't play in browser. I'm trying to fix it now, but uploads are taking FOREVER. The end of the best app ever?

Suck it, SpotDJ, I thwarted your evil plan! Enjoy, this time for reals!

You've got me tied up and held as a hostage

You know, this Monday's mix is from a band that doesn't really reflect my surliness at the moment, but hey: what can you do?

So, today we have Pansy Division because we need some boys up in this joint, right? It's queercore, it's fun poppy punk about ... hmm. Well, here's the thing, when I first heard Pansy Division, I was a very young, know-nothing 'mo, and their songs used to make me blush. For reals. Hey, I'm from a small town, what can I say?

The tracks:

- "Horny in the Morning" - It's a punk song. About morning wood. God, I love gay punk rock.

- "Versatile" - Heteroflexible dudes for the win? "There's a few straight guys I know/ There's a few straight guys I've blown". Yep.

- "Luv Luv Luv" - Love is bad, sex is good, m'kay?

- "You Make Me Hot" - It's a Donnas cover ... I think. Here's the thing: I'm not sure if The Donnas' version is actually the original, so forgive me if it isn't.

- "Bad Boyfriend" - Hi, my name is [insert name here], and I'm shitty at relationships!

To do: invent electro nickname generator

Scream Club: subject of this week's probably illegal sampler.

Dirty lyrics, bleep-y noises, spacey vocals, and frequent indie superstar guest stars = one happy music nerd. Since their first album is way tighter than their second, I'm bringing you three tracks from Don't Bite Your Sister.

Also, I'm not sure if SC's Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable started the "Your First Name + Adjective/Noun/Verb" naming trend that everyone and their mama follows now, but I LOVES IT. Should I ever become an indie electro artist, my name is so going to be (ready?) Chris Calculator. Yep.

Tracks:

- "Dead Wrong", featuring rad indie goddess Mirah and king o' indie hip-hop Katastrophe.

- "And You Belong" with another product of the electro nickname generator: Amy Fantastic. Sexxxy lyrics? Yessir! "I wake in the morning/Take off your britches/Dress you like a French maid/And watch you do the dishes."

- "Lonely" has Tara Jane O'Neil on some vocals which makes it the weirdest song EVER. TJO adds a little creepiness to everything she touches.

With no hands

Sarah Dougher (ex-Lookers, Crabs, Cadallaca) just might be the smartest woman in indie rock. She's got a Ph.D. in Comp Lit and lectures in the Women's Studies program at Portland State when she's not creating lovely, lyrically intense queer neo-folk. Plus: breast cancer survivor. How can you not fucking love her?

The Sample

- "No-Handed" with the prettiest little guitar riff running through all of it

- "What She'd Trade" with, well, this : "You will be glad of what you get/ You don't know me yet/ You don't know how I extract/ You can feel my full impact and/ You don't know how I stripped it clean/ You only know you're what I need"

- "She Stood Up" to kill everything in existence via the most articulate, sensitive lyrics about gender ever, ever, ever: "Your physical geography/ It binds and it divides" and "She'll love you as girlish boy/ Or as a mannish girl/ She'll make you remember who you are"

- "O Chenilla" (Cadallaca): Doogs has lead vocals here. Also, organ! Also, lyrics like, "I've seen you around the mall/ I know you out-slut them all."

The Doogs makes music now as part of Sarah D and the SGs. She's still the same, all folksy and wonderful and intriguing. The Doogs refuses to give in to the queer electro phase. Props!

SpotDJ is my crack

Today: Mirah and Tara Jane O'Neil (plus some TJO from the Rodan days). What's life without little crazy, queer, musical genius in it?

A better version of me

Ok, in an effort to pimp music more effectively, I am breaking down and using SpotDJ. Thanks for the tipoff on that one, Girl I Used To Date and also AfterEllen!

Today: Rainer Maria sampler. Why? RM has been the soundtrack to several significant romantic successes (also: failures. Fate is cruel like that.) in my life. I'll bet RM is the soundtrack to some indie kid's first awkward same gender makeout session right this very second. On the flipside, it's equally likely that a Northeastern Women's College First Year is sobbing her face off to the lyrics to "Broken Radio" because her girlfriend totally likes dudes now, and it's only fucking October, for fuck's sake.

Shameful side note: "Planetary" literally has a 25 percent chance of making me tear up.