It's early May and I am sitting in front of my computer preparing to write about music by queer artists. After all, Gay Pride month is just
around the corner. The 2003 OutMusic Awards ceremony, scheduled for June 1 at the Knitting Factory in New York to celebrate and
acknowledge the work of LGBT artists, is also just few weeks away. There is a stack of two dozen CDs by LGBT artists sitting on my
desk. It's good to be gay!
Perhaps the most talked about disc of the 2003 Pride season is The Smell of Our Own (Rough Trade) by The Hidden Cameras. A
multi-member Canadian unit, The Hidden Cameras are led by Joel Gibb, who creates a large and lush sound reminiscent of The
Polyphonic Spree, but without the tragic Texas connection. Plus, the openly gay Gibb doesn't shy away from graphic subject matter.
In fact, the disc opens with the retro romp of 'Golden Streams' ('Golden stream/ turns from warm to cold/in frightful time/in the frozen
dead of night') and closes with the exquisite plucked and stroked strings of 'The Man That I Am With My Man,' a couple of songs that
make reference to golden showers in ways that I'm sure no one has ever heard before. The 'down with love' sentiment of 'Ban
Marriage' is perfect for dancing The Pony, while the gorgeous 'A Miracle' lives up to its name. The hand-clapping foot-stomping roof-
raising gay gospel of 'Breathe On It' was exhilarating and 'Smells Like Happiness' sure sounds like it. All in all, the 10 glorious
tracks, clocking in at less than 45 minutes, left me feeling as if I might have had an actual religious experience.
I witnessed quite a few people having a religious experience when Andy Bell and Vince Clarke of Erasure were doing a CD
signing at a book and music store prior to their concert at the Chicago Theater in March, as well as during the show itself. Many of
those same devotees, some of whom probably own the import edition, will be happy to know that Erasure's 2000 disc Loveboat
(Mute) is finally available domestically. Considered by some to be a return to form following the detour of Cowboy, the album was co-
produced by Erasure and Flood and has a dark and filtered quality, giving it a more experimental bent (listen to 'Perchance To
Dream' to hear what I mean). While there are none of the jump-out-at-you dance tracks that Erasure lovers have come to expect,
'Here In My Heart,' 'Catch 22,' and 'Moon & The Sky,' do offer plenty of opportunities to move.
Mission Impossible (Delicious) by Agency-X sounds like the early '80s version of Vince Clarke's first two commercially successful
bands, Depeche Mode and Yaz. More synth-pop than electroclash, the songs on Mission Impossible do, nevertheless, have a beat
and a style this is, well, impossible to resist. A collaboration between openly gay electronic music artist David Mahr and Swedish
musician Lars Wallden (of AvantGarde), Agency-X probably won't remain a secret for long due to original songs such as 'S.O.S. (On
The Radio),' 'Happy Together,' 'Don't Hold Your Breath,' and 'At The End Of The Day,' all of which sound as if they'd fill the dance-
floor at any party or night club.
Electro-folk duo Testosterone Kills have released an exceptional disc of tunes called War All The Time (Fortified) on which the
self-proclaimed 'Queer Sons of New York City's infamous Antifolk scene' sing about how N*Sync makes them horny, among other
things. David Gray proved that synthetic beats and acoustic guitars could exist in harmony and Tim Daly and Pablo Ratliff of
Testosterone Kills keep that trend alive. Beginning with the punchy opening track 'Where I Stand' and continuing on the powerful
anti-bashing number 'I'm Gonna Tell Ya,' Testosterone Kills keeps us alive and listening with their songwriting skills. Other songs
worth mentioning include 'Crazy,' 'Arizona,' and 'Autopilot.'
If you are craving crazy beats, I recommend Hello Doctor (Kill Rock Stars) by Gravy Train!!!! Yes, all four exclamation marks are
necessary; one for each band member, including Funx, Drunx, Chunx and Hunx. Imagine the queer electronic wizardry of Le Tigre
crossed with the sexual essence of Peaches, and you're on the right track. Electroclash vixens, Gravy Train!!!! tells it like it t-i is. 'We
wore the little pleated skirts and hiked them up to show our goods,' Chunx rails on 'Titties Bounce,' as she has her way with the
church, declaring 'Gravy Train's the living testament.' 'Hella Nervous' inspired dance fever with the lines 'you are long in the pants/
short in the weiner/ suckin'my muff like a vacuum cleaner.' Gay boy Hunx pipes in on the explicit 'Double Decker Supreme' and
steals the show on 'You Made Me Gay.' 'Burger Baby' is a new wave food orgy and 'Gutter Butter' is a full-fledged musical
geography lesson crossed with a tour itinerary.
If you're hell-bent on dancing Charles Stephen Hughes provides the beats and blips to keep you going from the discotheque on
Saturday night to the church on Sunday morning on his CD Love Notes (Independent Records). Hughes combines songs of man's
inhumanity to man ('This Day Shall Be') and the complexities of man-to-man love ('Love Hurts,' 'Running For Your Love,' 'What Is
Love,' 'Destiny') with songs of devotion. Hughes sings the praises of his heavenly father on a few tracks, including 'Love Letter (Dear
Lord)' and 'Praise Him,' making even an atheist such as myself marvel at the depths of this man's commitment.
'Beats' of a different kind pulsate throughout Visions (Thrust Recordings) by Butt Boy. The seven songs on the disc are 'designed to
set the tone for dungeon scenes.' A soundtrack for S&M, if you will. The seven electronic tunes, ranging in length from six and a half
inches, I mean minutes, to 11 and a half minutes, vary in intensity and rhythm, and have titles such as 'Riding Centaurs,' 'The Ritual
Of The Whip' (complete with smacking sound), 'The Beating of The Minotaur,' and 'The Hooded Ungulate Flogger,' to name a few.
Odd Man-Out (Reperkussionz of Sovereign Art) by Nebulai is a blue-eyed soulful journey into the real of folk funk, melding acoustic
guitars and exotic instrumentation with vocals that testify to the power of love and coming out of the closet. The amazing 'The Whole
World's Watching' has anthem potential and Nebulai sounds like Ani DiFranco's kid brother on 'Coulda Woulda Shoulda,' 'Don't Bite
The Hand,' and 'Your Silence Won't Protect You.' Like The Hidden Cameras, Gravity Train, and Testosterone Kills, Nebulai is
actively working to expand and redefine what we expect to hear when we think of LGBT music.
Bisexual lead singer Brian Molko and gay bass player Stefan Olsdal make up two thirds of the British band Placebo. Over the
course of four albums, including the latest, Sleeping With Ghosts (Hut/Virgin), Placebo rocks out with punk rock fury ('Second Sight,'
for example) and knocks out a dance beat like old pros. 'English Summer Rain,' the second track on the disc, for instance, is ripe for
remixing and dance-floor picking. However, unlike the last few Placebo albums, Sleeping With Ghosts sounds like a band haunted by
others, including Coldplay, who you can hear traces of on 'Special Needs.' Needless to say, no one but Placebo could come up with
'Bulletproof Cupid,' so maybe it's too soon to call in a priest.
