Daniel Villarreal wants Queerty to embrace the lesbian icon near its nameplate by including more lesbians in its coverage (starting with Morning Goods). He's also reading about genderfucking and taking dance, voice, and piano lessons so he can finally do that fabulous drag burlesque number he's always denied himself.
Mention lesbian rock, and whatever part of your cerebral cortex stores this sort of thing will immediately pull up two words: Lilith Fair. But Sarah McLachlanās traveling festival of female musicians took its last breath in 1999 ā and yet, miraculously, girls on guitars havenāt disappeared. Indeed, the spirit of the lesbian rocker lives on in all its Sapphic glory. Last month in San Francisco, a handful of up-and-coming lesbian musicians played at the queer arts and music festival Homo a Go Go, the perfect hunting ground for sibling guitar rockers, comic rappers, post-punk paranoiacs, and a handful of other bad-asses (like Girls In A Coma, pictured) willing to rock you a thing or two about heartbreak, wolf poop, and the ukele. Hooking up with āthe third sexā never sounded so good.
IDENTIFICATION: Tender Forever
ORIGINS: Portland, Oregon
RECORDS: 2
GET STARTED WITH: Her ukulele cover of Justin Timberlakeās āMy Loveā (video below)
KILLER LYRICS: āItās not you, itās no one, Itās just better, Iām your guest, Iām your lover, and like war it lasts foreverā (From āHeartbroken Foreverā)
Armed with only a keyboard, a laptop, and a mic, French-born electrosoul soloist Melanie Valera sings simple yet powerful love songs with a charming French lilt and occasional ukulele. She describes Tender Foreverās sound as āa kick drum in an empty warehouse while little kids play right outside,ā and the descriptionās accurate. Her lyrics have a child-like sensibility both fun and profound. Backed by simple beats, Valeraās near spoken word songs ponder the revelations and heartbreak of everyday love. In āTiny Heart and Clever Handā she says, āIf the wolves ever show upā¦ you should go out and walk barefoot / you should measure your longest doo.ā Then after howling wistfully into the mic, she continues, āYour heart is so tiny sometimesā¦ Your hand is too clever sometimes / I wish you were a wolf sometimes / and wish sometimes was now.ā
IDENTIFICATION: Girls In A Coma
ORIGINS: San Antonio, Texas
RECORDS: 2
GET STARTED WITH: āClumsy Skyā (video below)
KILLER LYRICS: āI do want to marry you. / I want to suck all of your toes and love you when youāre feeling low. / And fall down when you scream, Bang!ā¦ Scream it out, Youāre the first in the game. / Fail to mention now, youāve forgotten my name. / Stare down the barrel of your own gun ācause itās yoursā (From āEl Monteā)
This all-Mexican San Antonio trio has all the rocking sound of a great bar band, and thatās no backhanded compliment. Yes, some of their songs sound the same, but in any given tune they can shift from Jenn Alvaās easy-going guitar to Phannie Diazās head-banging drums. Add to that Nina Alvaās ass-kicking, heart-melting voice that sometimes turns Spanish, and youāll understand why guitar rock goddess, Joan Jett, signed them to her label after seeing them just once. Their lyrical content follows Jettās with songs about damaged love, gutless insincerity, and social traps, but they keep a distinctly hometown flavor in their videos. The video for āRoad to Homeā features transsexual fashion icon Amanda Lepore lip-synching in a darkened cantina while the girls stir whiskey shots and a disheveled man dons drag in the backroom. Whatās not to love?
IDENTIFICATION: Erase Errata
ORIGINS: San Francisco, California
RECORDS: 3
GET STARTED WITH: āTax Dollarā (video below)
KILLER LYRICS: āIāve got a way, yes. Iāve really got awayāwith murder, manslaughter, all funded by my tax dollarā (From āTax Dollarā)
A Monty Python politician in day-glo clothing directs his endless army of plastic men across a cartoon town. Meanwhile, grainy military footage places black boxes over soldiersā guns and physical contact. Yes, Erase Errataās āTax Dollarā video may sound like fun and games, but itās darkly serious stuff. The intense short songs of this post-punk trio come off like a lo-fi Gang of Four or Joy Division; their compositions are definitely more interested in decomposition, especially with topics like gender-motivated murder (āhe wants whatās mineā) and corrosive friends (āGross Graceā). Only the rollicking drums and punchy vocals lighten their discordant guitars and foreboding bass.
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IDENTIFICATION: Mirah
ORIGINS: Olympia, Washington
RECORDS: 5 (solo-full length, though sheās worked on 14 albums overall)
GET STARTED WITH: āJerusalemā (video below)
KILLER LYRICS: āLooking at that sorry face i can recognize the fear / But if you keep on looking up at night the stars will all appear / See thereās food for me, thereās food for you, thereās gold thatās in the air / Thereās oceans deep and wide and there is love beyond compare.ā (From āApples in the Treesā; listen to it here)
Thirty-five-year-old Jewish lesbian songstress Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn began recording alone with her guitar on a 4-track tape deck her father bought her as graduation gift. Since then, sheās become adept at ornamenting her acoustic songs to great effect with thundering timpani, dreamy xylophones, and haunting echoes. But at their heart sits a young woman still strumming out her most intimate confessions about absent lovers (āThe Struggleā), fellow musicians (āOh September!ā), and the friend who left her devastated (āMt. Saint Helenā). Her wistful, poetic stylings often get her compared to Liz Phair, but Mirahās more lo-fi, soft-spoken and folky. And while sheās not nearly as pointed or as upbeat as Liz Phair, her 2001 masterpiece, Advisory Committee, demonstrates that imagination, storytelling and honesty remain the most compelling of musical effects.
IDENTIFICATION: Team Gina
ORIGINS: Seattle, Washington
RECORDS: 2
GET STARTED WITH: āWife Swappingā (video below)
KILLER LYRICS: āNow this is why lesbians just should not date / why do I have drama thatās crossing like four states? / I broke up with Becky and she said, āIām not a ho.ā / I never said you were but thatās your rep in Coloradoā (From āWife Swappingā)
With matching 80s outfits, cheesy choreography, and comic pop-infused raps, itās no wonder that Gina Bling and Gina Genius of Team Gina got voted fifth āMost Bangable Bandā by the Seattle Stranger. They mock themselves as wannabe rappers but still deliver quick verbal dexterity whether theyāre waxing about the incestuous nature of community dating (Wife Swapping) or getting turned on by big butch dykes (āButch/Femmeā). But their comic rhymes also strike deep. Their breakout tune, āProducts of the 80ās,ā begins with a rapid-fire mash of 80s references from Back to the Future to The Oregon Trail and Garbage Pail Kids. Itās a poppy nostalgic kick the ends pondering, āEverything old is new again / weāre nostalgic for things we donāt even understand. / No day without AIDS in my lifetime / Donāt tell me everything will be all fine.ā
Bri
If you want to embrace the “lesbian icon near your nameplate”, like I’ve been suggesting forever, maybe you should let a lesbian write an article here. Just saying.
And please, for the love of god, if you’re going to do a morning goods… don’t bring back those “sexy cowgirls.”
SteamPunk
You should also mention the most famous lesbian indie rocker twin sisters:
Tegan and Sarah
holla
I would also like to see LOTS more lesbian and other queer lady content on queerty. That, or at least get rid of the two women image so that at least you accurately represent yourselves. I second the note above about possibly inviting a woman to be a regular contributor, and to make the lesbian content more than here are some dyke rockers.
AA
More lesbian content on Queerty please!
I agree that while boys who write about lesbians are great, I’d still also like to see a lesbian/bisexual woman write about lesbians once in a while too.
That said, great article, I love Tender Forever and Team Gina.
Sydney
@SteamPunk: It’s Sara, but I totally agree.
I love lesbian indie-rockers, so I’m really excited to start listening. And I think everyone else here is right, you should have more lesbian content. (:
DeAnimator
@AA: Damn straight. On the more lesbian writers. Bisexual women are a dime a dozen. Let’s get real lesbians to represent here.
jason
It’s great to see genuine lesbians instead of these boner dykes (Britney, Christina, Madonna) for a change. At least they genuinely know how to rock. The boner dykes, on the other hand, can hardly strum a ukelele.
Kropotkin
I agree with having more bisexual and lesbian women writing here. This place seems like a gay male sausage party most of the time.
AA
Ugh this comment thread…
@DeAnimator: WTF? “Bisexual women are a dime a dozen”? What is up with the bi hate? I’m bisexual myself. Why are you hating on your own community? And as for those bisexual dime-a-dozen writers, where exactly are they? I would love to know where all this huge, genuinely bisexual representation is, kthx.
@Jason: How are Britney, Christina or Madonna “boner dykes”? They’re gay male icons. Neither of them have done much in the way of a faux-bi stunt since whenever that wedding ceremony performance was. I’d agree with you if we were talking about Katy Perry.
I have a problem with the term “boner dyke” anyway. Too often femme lesbians, or femme bisexuals, get associated with this category. You can be conventionally feminine-appearing and interested in women, and not trying to get some Megan Fox-style attention.
Screw these stereotypes, so tired. I’m so over lesbos creaming their panties over Peaches/Lady GaGa/Angelina Jolie and then bitching about how their sexual orientation is a scam for male attention, or that there are too many girls who eat pussy in the world, wtf.
DeAnimator
@AA: 1. Bisexual women are all over the place, because it is more socially acceptable for women to express affection and ‘fall in love’. That’s why there are all those women out there who talk about how they’re attracted to girls but then will throw away a girlfriend as soon as something with a dick shows interest in them. If a woman is bisexual, regardless of whether she actually is or is just trying to get attention from her dad/be considered edgy, she’s not treated poorly because she still likes teh dick. Therefore, she still fits into that unfair and ridiculous idea of what a woman should be. It’s that thing called heteronormativity. Take a queer theory class if you can’t understand this.
2. There is no such thing as a queer community. There is, however, a queer hierarchy. There are gay males on top, who, like heterosexual men, get to be the most visible, have the most safe spaces to hang or drink in, etc. And then there are bisexual women, who are accepted more because they’re viewed by heterosexual men as lesbians who are accessible (another reason why they are all over the place). Then there are lesbians, who get ignored and written off because they’re women and any complaint they make causes them to be called humorless lesbians. Because, clearly, there shouldn’t be any spaces *just* for them when there are bath houses and tons of other crap solely for the use of gay men, right? And at the bottom are transpeople, who get treated like shit by everyone.
3. Most people are bisexual. So…yawn.
4. Bisexual people are all over the place, but they have the same rights as heterosexuals and don’t have to identify themselves by labels every friggin second. Hence, you don’t have column writers screaming I’M BISEXUAL unless they want to be considered trendy.
5. I’m not hating on bisexuals, but this is the way things stand. There need to be more lesbian writers because anything they have gets taken over by gay men and fag hags. So…sucks to be them.
Shrug.
Drake
Bi, Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Questioning, whatever “label” you go by or shun we all have a place here and I’m thrilled one of queerty’s writers is trying to give a voice to every color of our rainbowed community on this website.
All while writing fantastic reviews of music! Queerty really struck gold with Daniel and I hope they continue to let him write for all queer musicians!
espanto107
Awesome! Thanks for showcasing GIRL IN A COMA! They def do rock! Songs sound the same? Only if you’re deaf…and the lyrics to “el monte” are def not the best that Nina has to offer. Thanks for the mention though!
AA
@DeAnimator:
1. Step out of the classroom and into real life. Bisexuals are not “heteronormative” by definition, and can only pretend to be if they are actively denying their bisexuality/closeted, are not dating, or expressing interest in, women. And that’s not the way most bisexuals want to live. Unlike with a lesbian, bisexuality has shades of grey, and many people are actually more uncomfortable with someone whose sexuality is fluid or is not easily explained. Not only that, straight people and gay people alike assume bisexuals are promiscuous and trashy, which is not heteronormative either. Straight girls find bisexual girls more threatening than intriguing, usually: the bisexual could steal their boyfriend! (Unlike the lesbian.) So do straight guys – if they realize that bisexuality is more than a cocktease for their benefit, which is usually their first assumption. Does this sound heteronormative: I had a guy break up with me for being “too gay” after being constantly jealous of all my female friendships. And yet, some people call me “too straight” for even considering men attractive.
2. Biphobic reactions from the queer community, or -ties, like yours, are depressingly common. I disagree with your “queer hierarchy” entirely. There are so many services for lesbian women and almost none of these things specifically for bisexuals. Leadership roles almost never include bisexual women. And as for advocating for safe spaces/events for women, why on earth would you think that’s something bisexual women don’t do? I have always been an activist. Also, just to point something out, gay male bathhouses and the like are businesses. If queer women want businesses that cater mostly to queer women we have to start them instead of expecting them to be provided. I’m lucky that in my city there are many of these.
3. While bisexuals are COMMONLY portrayed in the media as straight male fantasy figures, bisexuals are almost never ACCURATELY portrayed in the media. The most high-profile bisexual woman in film, still, is a serial killer Catherine Trammell in Basic Instinct. Our heightened media attention leads to our being portrayed as sluts (for the male benefit only) and people who are sociopathic deviants to the core (serial killers. See: Jennifer’s Body, out this fall.) This is the “hetero” norm of bisexuality: male fantasies and female paranoias relating to the “deviant”. Or in your assumption, the “trend”; assuming a whole sexual orientation is a passing fad, as if tomorrow I will wake up and be “over it”; like buying the new season’s shoes. In the media, the only accurate-ish developed portrayal of bisexuality I’ve found to date is Tina on The L Word.
4. Most people aren’t bisexual. Really. Most people may have same-sex attractions occasionally, but don’t act on them, don’t identify as bisexuals, are not out, are not there to be counted. Not only that, most bisexual people don’t have the same rights as straight people, because they aren’t straight (except in Canada, where queer people have almost all the same rights as straight people.) They have rights only if they are in a heterosexual relationship and leaving a heterosexual relationship means losing these rights. In the US, bisexuals are being kicked out of the army thanks to DADT, can’t legally marry a same-sex partner, can’t sponsor a same-sex spouse to immigrate, can’t adopt with a same-sex partner in some places, can legally get fired for their sexual orientation in many places, etc. Or: we all have the same problems.
Hannah
Thanks for this Queerty. I didn’t know Mirah was a lesbian!
I would love to see more lesbian stuff on here.
DeAnimator
@AA: Definitely agree with your third point. All of your points were really well said. Touche.
Kropotkin
@DeAnimator
“There is, however, a queer hierarchy. There are gay males on top, who, like heterosexual men, get to be the most visible, have the most safe spaces to hang or drink in, etc. And then there are bisexual women, who are accepted more because they’re viewed by heterosexual men as lesbians who are accessible (another reason why they are all over the place).”
In some ways this is true. In others it is not, you’re doing yourself a disservice by making broad generalizations to the point where it seems like you’re invoking oppression olympics. Intersectionality: you might want to take a class along on that along with a queer theory class.
And all of these bisexual women you talk about; again where are they? Specific answers please, no generalizations and sweeping comments please.
And it’s not cool to site your own oppression to justify your shouting down and trashing others. That’s really f%^ked up in it’s own right and you clearly have something against bisexual women. That’s just how it is, if you don’t like it, then it sucks to be you.
jason
“Boner dyke” is a great way to describe these women who claim to be bisexual for the purpose of propping up the grubby straight guy fetish for girl-girl action. It’s a well deserved put-down. I’m personally sick and tired of these women, and even more disappointed by the failure of gay men to challenge them.
Actually, it’s quite shocking to see gay men supporting these boner dyke women.
M Shane
Seems to me that Simon deBouvoir claimed tha all women were bisexual in more3 than just a freudian sense; that , unlike males, they would all bend to the rhythm of whatever stroked their pussies. Ie Males being a creature of the eye, would respond less to rubbing and strokkin by whoever or what ever; i.e ridding hores bareback.
The problem withattempting to include any significant lesbian audience, is that the subject matter would be very differently dealt with and a degree of male objectivity would be lost to the feminine proclivity for e.g,.nesting. and the feminist abhorance for pornography. Even if you showed female models doing nasty things, they woiuld not find it appealing.
And you might have to eliminating the male models as being offensive.
DeAnimator
@Kropotkin: It doesn’t suck actually and I have nothing against bisexual women. I also don’t recall ‘shouting down’ anyone. But hey, you’re welcome to interpret things however you want. Even if what you say is completely off base.
Tucker Monticelli
WTF? Tegan and Sara??? The most Indie of all the indie rockers??? I am disappointed š