As stated in the previous issue's column, September is traditionally the biggest music release month of the year as labels (or what's left of them) prepare their fourth-quarter holiday sales blitz. There are so many great new releases to alert you to, I just had to go full double column.
September 10: Though we covered the second week of the month last column, there were two big GAY additions to the list confirmed since then. Our patron saint of pop music, Madonna is releasing her MDNA World Tour DVD. You're either going to buy it or you're not. You either went to the tour or you paid rent that month. What can I say?
My money will be going to the Prince of this generation, Janelle Monae, whose sophomore release, The Electric Lady are the fourth and fifth suites of her Metropolis series and will feature Prince among other luminaries and fans. Metropolis is said to be a bit more pop, less high-concept than its award-winning predecessor, The ArchAndroid.
September 17 happily brings us the release of one of the few queer-friendly rock bands left on a major label, Placebo. Think MUSE but gayer with a touch of Adam Lambert and Rufus Wainwright.
Elvis Costello & The Roots. Yes, that Elvis Costello and THAT Roots are sure to be the most head-scratching collab since Metallica and Lou Reed on Lulu, and hopefully (and easily) much better. Early listens suggest sort of an Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson sound. This could be wrong, but Elvis has proven to do some great things with others, if you're as much of a fan of his album with Burt Bacharach as I am.
September 24 sees Elton John on the figurative Diving Board. Produced by T-Bone Burnett and co-written by his lifelong collaborator, Bernie Taupin, Diving Board promises to be in line with his past decade of work, a more stripped down, organic affair. More raw than the slickness of the previous forty years, and more in line with his early work.
And finally, we start with Madonna and close with our real queen. Cher's Closer To the Truth has had gay men salivating more than a Ryan Reynolds sex tape rumor. We're told that this new album is less dance-forward and more variety than her last two albums, but first single, the simpler "Woman's Work," and the leaked Lady Gaga outtake, don't bode well for variety or a step in a forward direction. But, as a true queen, she's giving her subjects what they want, and we'll all gladly eat her cake.