GrooveOut

by Gregg Shapiro

SING A SONG

More Releases from Queer Artists Make This Listener Proud

Maybe I’m still high on the fumes from the June 1 OutMusic Awards ceremony in New York, but I’d swear that the quality of music made and recorded by queer artists is simply sensational, often surpassing the work of their straight contemporaries. I’m so proud to be queer, I could just scream.

What would LGBT life be without dance music? Party Groove-Pride 03 (Centaur) is the latest in the dance label’s longstanding series of pride-themed dance compilations mixed by legendary club DJ Julian Marsh. With a selection as colorful as the cover art, Marsh has programmed a continuous mix of songs of pride and joy, many of which are dance remakes of classic pop tunes. Opening with a cover of Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “You’re the Best Thing” by Sleazesisters featuring Cie doing their best, Marsh continues this new retro collection with The Bee Gees’ “Tragedy” stepped up by Steps, T-Zone’s spin on The Four Tops’ “Reach Out,” openly gay Happy Charles’ rendition of Jackie DeShannon’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” Flip & Fill featuring Jo James doing what they can to fill Whitney Houston’s shoes on “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” Kelly Wilde’s embrace of the popular “Loving Arms,” a new ring on the oft-covered “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Belle Lawrence, and Kate Project’s interpretation of Cyndi Lauper’s timeless “Time After Time.”

Omnisexual, plus-sized, blues-belting diva Candye Kane’s (pictured above) cover of Willie Dixon’s “Whole Lotta Love,” from her new album Whole Lotta Love (Ruf) is a perfect example of the magic that occurs when a performer leaves the original genders of the song intact. Kane bends the cock-rock of Robert Plant’s Led Zepplin version into a multi-orgasmic treat. The fact that she follows that with a cover of Squeeze’s “When the Hangover Strikes” says something about her ample sense of humor. Other kick-ass covers include Kane’s distinctive readings of the Etta James number “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” and Carole King’s “Wrap Around Joy.” Kane originals such as “I’ve Got a Secret,” “I’m Just a Sucker Who Believes in Love,” and “I’m Not Getting Older” are crowd-pleasers one and all.

Music journalist and composer Will Grega won a 2003 OutMusic Award in the Outstanding New Recording-Instrumental category for his album Stereotonic (Pop Front Music). Subtitled A New Lounge Mix of Urban Exotica, the album was co-produced by Grega and his life-partner, ex-Village People cowboy Randy Jones. “Showdown” sounds like Ennio Morricone gone gay, while the drum ’n’ bass tune “Dr. Galaxy from 3000 A.D.” is rave-ready. “Time for Passion” is a passionate dance track, and Grega exhibits his flair for the exotic on tracks such as “Shambhala,” “Nights in Instanbul,” “Sorceress,” and “Awakening Buddha.”

On their second full-length disc, Movement (Kill Rock Stars), The Gossip fulfills the extraordinary promise of their debut album and follow-up EP. The appropriately titled disc is all about moving and sounds like a dare to sit still. Starting slowly, with the sticky bump and grind of the musical ghost story “Nite,” lead vocalist Beth Ditto belts the line “It seems like lonely is a friend of mine” with such conviction that you’ll simply want to comfort her. But fear not, she’s up and running by the next track, the thick punk garage beat of “Jasons Basement.” Ditto and bandmates Kathy and Nathan keep the coals under our feet hot on “No, No, No,” “Don’t (Make Waves),” “Fire/Sign,” “Confess,” and “Lesson Learned,” all with a sexy same-sex style.

Chris Freeman of Pansy Division produced Never Forget (Agitprop/Spitshine), the debut disc by Southern California-based queer quartet IAMLOVED. Lead vocalist Jimmy Jasmine has a Bob Mould quality to his voice, and the songs rock like vintage Husker Dü. “He Has a Hole” is a melodic metaphor for being out, with the lines “He has a hole in his pocket, tonight/everything he puts in/falls out falls out out out/but this is OK/and all his friends and family knows that he’s gay.” “Breaking Up (Is Easy to Do)” is one of the most honest gay breakup songs I’ve ever heard, the improvised spoken word “Foot Transportation” is about escape from unpleasant scenes, and the title track addresses the shame, pain, and innocence of a closeted childhood.

Gay male performer Deian McBryde’s alter ego Mabel Dawn Davis makes her recording debut on Peel Me a Grape (EvAn Media), a torchy collection of standards, including “My Funny Valentine,” “Lush Life,” and “Strange Fruit,” to name a few. “Girls & Ladies” is a medley that includes the first down-tempo version of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” that I have ever heard, and Mabel Dawn Davis’s interpretation is surprisingly effective. Davis also inhabits Vonda Shepard’s “Every Now and Then” and puts a little swing and sway into McBryde’s jazzy “246.”

Openly gay Tony Award-winning (Hairspray) composer Marc Shaiman composed the retro score for the Doris Day/Rock Hudson homage Down with Love, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Down with Love (Reprise/WMG Soundtracks) includes Shaiman’s recreations of the vintage movie music of the period, as you can hear on “Barbara Arrives,” “Girls Night Out,” and “Barbara Meets Zip.” Shaiman’s skills come to the fore on the duet “Here’s to Love,” performed by Zellweger and McGregor, which sounds as much of the time (the early ’60s) as the period material (performed by Sinatra and Basie, Astrud Gilberto, and Xavier Cugat).

Sometimes anger can be a useful tool. A pissed-off Laura Love channels that furious energy into her powerful new album, Welcome to Pagan Place (Koch). Justifiably dissatisfied with the current state of the world, the musician and new foster mother tackles corporate greed and poorly performing public schools in “Trickle Down” and bad presidents and war machinery in “I Want You Gone.” The Steve Miller/Beatles medley “Fly Like an Eagle/Come Together” takes on a whole new meaning in Love’s version. Love demonstrates that she hasn’t completely lost her sense of humor, as we can hear in the play on words in “Can I Get a Wet Nurse?”

Prospect Park (Badman) by queer "British folk balladeer” James William Hindle is a stunning acoustic effort, reminiscent of Badly Drawn Boy, which renews one’s belief in the power of pleasant pop. “Come Down Slowly,” with the lines “See how you can come down slowly/See how you can come back round/See how you can come down slowly/That’s if you get to come at all,” sounds like a folksy take on circuit party boys. Equally dazzling are the songs “Leaving Trains” (which features a xylophone), the gentle bounce of “Hoboken,” the warm and sunny “The Great Woodland Summer,” the slight twang of “Celebration,” and the city folk of “Park Slope Song.”

Stompin’ Ground (Daemon/SBS) is a Cajun-spiced set of original numbers, “a deep southern pocket with a 50-watt socket,” by Moanin’ Michelle Malone and the Low-Down Georgia Revue. Malone moves away from the more pop-oriented tunes of her last few studio discs and sings like she’s been biting the heads off of crawfish for fun on “Lafayette,” which sounds like a lost Little Feat tune. On the fast-shuffling same-sex girl-reunion tune “2 Horn and 2 Wings,” Malone sings about a “pretty little blue-eyed angel.” The powerful “Flagpole” is one of the most political tunes Malone has ever written, and the B3 organ on “Cypress Inn,” played by Carol Isaacs, nicely complements Malone’s vocals.

In terms of spice, The Nancys know it is the variety of life, and their debut disc Drag Machine (Starbelly Studios/Red Room) reflects that notion. The Nancys rock out on “Lament” and then bring in synthetic beats that recall recent Bob Mould on “Within.” They plug it in for the Gary Numan-meets-electroclash of “Instant Burning,” and they do something completely different on the complex and fascinating “This Exit.” “Mad” and “Away from Me” are like before-and-after photographs of love. As an added bonus, see if you can find all of the “drag machines” in the CD booklet. (The release is only available online at www.thenancys.com.)

On “Pretty Face,” the opening track to his second full-length album Gasping for Breath (Gutter Folk), the guitar playing of Utah-based openly queer singer/songwriter Kevin Allred reminds me of Melissa Ferrick. Allred doesn’t mince words, as you can hear on the very out songs such as “Eyes of Zapata” (in which he declares “my body is a revolution”), the synthetic beats of “This Is Not My Home” (which sounds like an open letter to Utah), the gorgeous breakup song “500 Times,” the Matthew Shepard tribute “Maybe an Angel,” the gay love song “I’m Your Man,” and the disc’s centerpiece, the poem “Any but Our Own Eyes.”

I’m always frustrated by EPs. I can understand an artist’s desire to record something and get it into the hands of reviewers and fans, but I always feel cheated. Four songs, especially the four on Black Box EP (3 Frames Music) by Jann Klose, feels more like a tease than a treat. I only hope that when Klose releases a full-length disc, that the other songs are as good as “Walk Through the River.”

Released in the U.K. in 2002, Mugic (Spoilt/Pussy Foot) by Certainly, Sir, a duo consisting of Michael Andor Brodeur and Klaus Hubben, is one of the coolest queer discs I’ve heard in 2003. Described as “a cross between bitstream and bloodstream,” Certainly, Sir sounds like The Aluminum Group having tea with Aphex Twin. I instantly fell in love with “Sweet Time,” with its “Eminence Front” echo, and female guest vocal by Vanessa Downing. The love affair continued on “Hello,” a song about saying goodbye. While not my favorite phrase, “My Bad” makes a terrific song title and an equally good song about admitting when your heart isn’t in it. Heartache, a predominant theme on Mugic, surfaces again on the lightly funky “How You Been,” “The Script” (with the terrific line “our love shouldn’t come from someone else’s writer's block”), the beat upbeats of “Wrong Song” (with its nod to Elton John), and the exquisite album closer “The Vacant Lot of My Heart.”

Queers and klezmer (Yiddish jazz) music are an unlikely combination, but both the Klezmatics and Isle of Klezbos are proof that such a formula works. Greetings from … the Isle of Klezbos (Rhythm Media Records) by the six-member all-female klezmer group Isle of Klezbos is a mix of live (“Szol a Kakas Mar,” “Abi Gezunt Medley”) and studio tracks (“Houdini Hora,” “Goldene Khasene,” “Unter Beymer”) that blends traditional selections with originals such as “Abrah” and “East Hapsburg Waltz,” written by IOK members Debra Kreisberg and Eve Sicular, respectively.

Also be on the lookout for August releases by queer artists Rachael Sage and Junior Senior, among others.

Pop culture journalist Gregg Shapiro is also a published fiction writer and poet. He has a poem in the new collection, Sweet Jesus (Anthology Press).MUSIC MEN. Gregg Shapiro (right) paused with JD Doyle at the OutMusic Awards in New York on June 1. Shapiro received the OutMusic Award for Outstanding Support, which honors involvement by non-musicians in furthering the work of GLBT performers. Doyle, who received the award in 2002, produces and hosts “Queer Music Heritage,” which airs monthly during “Queer Voices” on KPFT-FM. He also co-produces “Audiofile,” the radio review on “This Way Out,” the internationally broadcast magazine show. His article “Queer Rock!” appeared in our October 2002 issue.

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