Forget The Grammys, Here’s Seven Queer Musicians You Should Be Listening To

Patrick Wolf

Despite all my best efforts, Patrick Wolf is still criminally underappreciated in the U.S. It’s hard to imagine how Katy Perry has been nominated for seven Grammys when this innovative British artist goes unsung. Wolf’s latest double album, Sundark and Riverlight, finds the out singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist revisiting his back catalog in celebration of a decade recording music.(Not bad for a 29-year-old.)

The acoustic reinterpretations of songs like “Overture” do more than rehash the past, they reinvent it—allowing the songs to grow, like Wolf himself, into newer, more mature versions of themselves.

Gay rappers are certainly having their moment, and while it may be too early to throw trophies their way, these pioneering artists definitely deserve recognition for busting through hip hop’s glass closet. Zebra Katz  (above) leads the pack—in my book at least—with his simmering, insidiously infectious “Ima Read,” featuring Njena Redd Foxx. The track heralds a new brand of dark, lo-fi hip hop. Meanwhile, you couldn’t read a music blog this year without encountering Le1f or Mykki Blanco (below).

Le1f, “Wut”

Mykki Blanco, “Wavvy”

Trust

Another should-be Best Album contender, TRST, is the debut release from Toronto’s Trust. Vocalist Robert Alfons and dyke drummer Maya Postepski are giving dance music a dark twist with murky tracks like “Shoom” and “Bulbform,” and glossier productions like “Sulk” and the frenetic “Dressed for Space.” It’s an album of hypnotic soundscapes, with Alfons’ voice like a needle that just barely pierces the glitter and gloom.

Justin Vivian Bond

On Bond’s crowd-funded album, Silver Wells, the world-class cabaret singer sets aside the blistering wit for a more intimate and sincere set of songs. Bond tackles Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman—plus the original track “Stars”—on this inspired release.