BANDS

ABSTRACT RANDOM is a rap electro dub hop trio that brings back cool feminist political music. An all female Toronto based group composed of Jamilah Malika (vocals), LoverSun aka F.Nocera (producer, vocals, visuals) and Ayo Leilani (vocals).
Download their music here.
Website: www.abstractrandom3.com
PART OF 88 DAYS OF FORTUNE – QUEER/TRANS AND STRAIGHT HIP-HOP ART PARTIES WWW.88DAYS.CA

Ana Da Silva: With this project, The Lighthouse, I wanted to do something different, something I hadn’t done before. I decided to buy a small digital instrument which has lots of sounds with a mini keyboard and sequencer (you can programme all the notes and beats into its memory). All of the album, except Modinha, was recorded with this instrument and my voice onto an eight track digital recorder. Sometimes this was all very overwhelming, but at least it’s all as I want it to be, having written, played, recorded and mixed the whole album myself. For me, making The Lighthouse was a really challenging and stimulating experience. I want the songs to express feelings and to create worlds in which the listener can roam in their own particular way.

Anat Ben David in my performance i want to create and generate a total vision. Using my body voice and appearance. I write songs/texts and perform as a band, as a performance artist. I became involved in music as a performer/writer I direct my activities into a live event which could result in an art performance or a live gig that derives from punk performance and pop music. I produce images and video art that then come together as an installation. The essence of my performance is the live interaction with the viewers or with the camera.

Angie Reed teaches us pop with XYZ frequency! It’s timeless and true!

Anna Oxygen is the stage name of an American musician and actress from in and around Olympia, Washington, Anna Jordan Huff. Her albums have featured guest vocalists Beth Ditto, Mirah, and Kitty Jenson. Her feature film debut was the 2005 film Police Beat directed by Robinson Devor. Huff is also a member of Cloud-Eye Control, a performance art group which also consists of Miwa Matreyek, and Chi-wang Yang. The group has recently completed and performed a piece entitled “Under Polaris,” performed in Portland, OR and hosted by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). Huff currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Ben Adorable Trip hop basement dweller most known for his remixes for Mirah, Peaches, and the entire Crunks Not Dead Family.

Beticiclopp is a Belgian D.I.Y electro pop opera queer punk born in 2000 in Brussels in the queer community punk squat. with variable shapes its members explore identity out of different aspects of gender and through the set, costume, makeup and choreography. a first demo was released in 2001 and is almost impossible to find today! but there is also a vinyl – an album full of songs well barred, a true punk opera, a queer operetta, recorded and mixed by Bini in 2011
and was published on the label aredje.

Bikini Kill were Billy Karren, Kathi Wilcox, Kathleen Hanna (Le Tigre) and Tobi Vail. The band was one of the most influencial Riot Grrrl bands in the 90s.

Bitch Bitch’s musical journey has taken her from classical-violin training in the suburbs to experimental flicks in NYC.Bitch’s out-of-the-ordinary message resonated with a generation of gender non-conformists, attracting the likes of New York theater legend John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), who tapped her star power for his Cannes Festfavorite, Shortbus. In 2008, Bitch set out independently, launching her own record label, Short Story Records, along with a side project, Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion.Bitch’s latest record, Blasted! (release date spring 2010), is an outgrowth of that newfound creative spirit, a real labor of love and her strongest solo album to date.

The Blow was born in 2002 as the project of Khaela Maricich. The Blow released three records between 2001 and 2003. Everyday examples of Humans facing straight into the Blow, Bonus Album, and The Concussive Caress. These are on K Records. In 2004 Jona Bechtolt joined The Blow. Khaela and Jona made two records together. Poor Aim- Love Songs, and Paper Television. These two were also on K Records, (and on Tomlab in Europe, and Pop Frenzy in Austr.)

Bonde do Role is a Funk Carioca group from Curitiba, Brazil consisting of MCs Pedro D’Eyrot, Laura Taylor, Ana Bernardino, and DJ/MC Rodrigo Gorky. The group started in their hometown Curitiba in the south of Brazil, mixing sexual riffs (ranging from Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane” to Alice in Chains’ “Man in the Box”, but not restricted to these) with funk carioca (sometimes known as baile funk or Brazilian funk). The trio did their first major tour in 2006, with CSS Cansei de Ser Sexy.

Bonfire Madigan Starting on cello at the age of nine, Madigan Shive began her composing career at fifteen in the Pacific Northwest Riot Grrrl scene releasing music with seminal independent record labels K and Kill Rock Stars. Shive has gone on to establish herself as a singular and trailblazing performer, blending folk, art, punk, classical and avant-baroque styles. Her albums include Sew True, …from the Burnpile, Saddle the Bridge, Plays for Change, and the recently reissued I Bleed: a Decade of Song; she is currently finishing her sixth full-length album, to be released in collaboration with her label, MoonPuss Music. Madigan was one of the first queer youth to speak on American national television, guesting on one of the Donahue show’s last season episodes alongside her teenage love in addition to the first queer teen character on prime time My So Called Life’s Wilson Cruz, a Louisville high school student expelled for showing up to school in drag after months of being queer bashed and an adult queer youth advocate extolling the hard facts on queer youth having the highest suicide rate of any population. If anyone has or can get a copy of this early 1990′s Donahue episode please send an email & copy to moonpuss music.

Bratmobile is an American punk band. Growing from the rich NW and DC underground and influenced by indie pop in the US as well as Britpop, girl groups, grunge, and punk rock, Bratmobile was a first-generation Riot Grrrl band. Formed when University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman collaborated on a noted feminist fanzine, Girl Germs, Bratmobile played its first show as a two-woman act at Olympia’s North Shore Surf Club on Valentine’s Day, 1991 with Molly and Allison sharing duties on guitar, drums, and vocals. During spring break 1991, Allison and Molly went to DC to follow Beat Happening and Nation Of Ulysses on tour and try to work on a new form of Bratmobile.

Captain Kinky Pinky Started off in Berlin fall 2008 and is now also active in Malmö and Stockholm, Sweden. we try to have a CKP party once a month in each town. We are a queer D.I.T. club, D.I.T. = DO IT TOGHETER! so we split all the entrence fee after expences and we all help out with the promotion.. We aim to create a queer creative culture space with music and art.. Everyone who wants to join is welcome! We have no guestlists but we try to have low enterence fee.

Chicks on Speed are Sydney – born Alex Murray-Leslie, New Yorker Melissa Logan and Kiki Moorse from Munich met behind the munich Art Academy in 1997 and started as an art project that has gradually merged into the medium of music.

Both fierce and delicate, Clara Engel’s music is reminiscent of an era in history when theatre, art, and music were an integral part of a bigger and more vital whole, an era that the 21st century is craving more than ever. Her arresting, androgynous voice and presence, coupled with lyrics that stand alone as poetry, set Clara’s work apart from current music trends. Poet Janaka Stucky describes Engel’s work as “timeless songs that sound at home in the ribcage of rock n roll’s skeleton.” The underground, multi-faceted Canadian artist has independently released 6 albums, and collaborated with musicians from the UK, Germany, Brazil, and the USA. In the words of Jeremy Reed, Britain’s most dynamic, adventurous, and controversial poet: “Clara Engel’s voice comes to me from that deepest of all places, imaginative space, from which she visually retrieves an inner landscape converted by breath into the rock equivalent of poetry. Rarely has a voice sounded so authoritative, so unapologetic in its disclosures, so sure of its direction in going home into song. I’d say ‘Madagascar’ beats them all, and it’s only a beginning at harnessing poetic inspiration to the resonating dynamic of voice and the lyrical ache of a great individual singer.”

CSS is a brasilian band that formed in 2003 in Sao Paulo and combines rock and electro sounds. They were signed on Sub Pop in 2005.

Dani Umpi is a Queer Uruguayan pop musician who sees pop as a fetish. He is known as a “polyrhytmic maniac” and is famous for his arty eccentric shows. Besides being a singer, Dani is also an artist, photographer and poet.

Dat Politics‘ members came together as a production team in the late 90′s when they created their first band Tone Rec as well as their art platform Skipp (Label and Graphic Design Project). They released 4 Albums under the name of Tone Rec on the belgian label Sb Rosa and changed their name after this experience to become Dat Politics an outlet for their more electropop tracks.

Des Ark is a whole different animal. Aimee Argote’s work is backwoods hippy stuff that is profane and vulgar as any lady has ever been. Her compositions are organic songs that are driven by her soulful voice holding strongly to its southern accent and are driven by acoustic guitars and pianos. If it was not for the grotesquely vulgar and overtly bi-sexual nature of her songs, they would be among the most gorgeous ever composed.

Echokrank is a duo infernale from Berlin consisting of Brezel Göring and a man called „Hotleg“ who create a similarly crude and impulsive blend of Dub, Breaking Glass, Tempo, New Wave, action film soundtrack and 50ies Musique Conrete. The mixing ratio holds a dodgy glamour.

Electrelane OK, so it might not be ‘pop’ music in the traditional, see-you-on- the-cover-of-Smash-Hits kinda way but this is how Susman, Clarke, Murray and Gaze envision it and as we all know, seeing/hearing the world through someone else eyes/ears is often the best way to broaden the mind. In that respect as well as many others, ‘No Shouts, No Calls’ is an album of enticingly irregular brilliance.

Electrocute is a Los Angeles-based electro rock band. Nicole Morier, from Albuquerque New Mexico, USA, started the band with former member Mia Dime in Berlin, Germany in 2002. They formed a duo motivated by the explosive electro-pop/electroclash music scene happening in Berlin.

Erase Errata is a band from San Francisco, California. They often name experimentalists such as Captain Beefheart, The Fall, and the Minutemen as inspirations. The group favors improvisation as a compositional tool and each of their performances is a unique manifestation of established songs.

Former Ghosts is a new supergroup of sorts featuring Xiu Xiu leader Jamie Stewart, Freddy Ruppert (of the defunct This Song Is a Mess but So Am I), and Nika Roza of Zola Jesus. Inspired by the synthpop language of OMD and Soft Cell, the band borrow the blueprints but take the music into an altogether more unhinged and eerie dimension. Debut album Fleurs will be the first release from the group and is a consistent icy hand on the shoulder of the listener. Ruppert’s cold production and inventive songwriting make the perfect backdrop for his Ian Curtis-inspired vocalisations alongside Nika’s unique spooked-out vocal. Jamie Stewart, also heavily involved in the programming and synth parts on the album, contributes his own unmistakable voice to many of the tracks. Songs whistle, bleep and click with broken beats amongst the deep folds of synthesizer melody waiting for the secrets to be shared. Fleurs is an album as realistic as it is claustrophobic, the personal has never been so close at hand and melodrama just doesn’t measure to up to describing its shape.

Gossip The genre-bending DIY post-punk rock trio Gossip bring a new level of lyrical power and musical sophistication to their ever-evolving, always-electrifying sound and sensibility on Music For Men, the indie group’s first major label studio album. And while the Gossip incorporate a deft sense of cultural irony into Music For Men, there’s nothing confusing about the post-punk trio’s musical approach: direct and visceral, pulsing with a raw and unapologetic animal energy, drummer Hannah Blilie’s propulsive rhythms interlocking with Brace’s heart-pounding riffs and Beth’s aggressive and cathartic vocals. One of the year’s most highly-anticipated event releases, Music For Men, the Gossip’s new musical manifesto, marks the group’s first full-length studio collection since their signature anthem-of-empowerment, “Standing In The Way of Control,” broke-out big in 2006. Music For Men is the first new music from the group since the release of its major label debut, Live In Liverpool.

Gravy Train!!! a psychedelic pussy mouthin puns and quips, girl!

God is my co-Pilot We’re co-opting rock, the language of sexism, to address gender identity on its own terms of complexity. We’re here to instruct, not to distract. We won’t take your attention without giving some back.

Gumar And His Magical Midi Band Just when you though things couldnt get anymore out of hand… Its Gumar and His Magical Midi Band. Dancy, Electro, Fun Times Costume Oriented, Feel Good Band Of Olympia.

Gustav produces songs on the laptop, plays all kinds of instruments ans “sings with the sort of inimitable power you cannot muster up any resistance to”. With an origin in Vienna, Gustav’s tunes are in various languages, sometimes english, sometimes french, sometimes german – “but the appeal ist completely universelle”.

Hank Bobbit sounds like a Feminist Greaser Butch with some kind of humor and is the singer, guitarist and songwriter of the Berlin-based band “Lorena & The Bobbits”. This is her solo-programm.

Hawnay Troof‘s story is one of great complexity. Left-field prodigy Vice Cooler, a gifted small-town reject, has redefined underground music with a strong work ethic, charm, and a smooth grace. From making humble tunes in his bedroom to inciting thousands internationally into a craze, Cooler has quickly turned into a well-respected “outsider” artist amongst his peers. This story starts with one of music’s most unlikely debut moments. It was around November 2001 that Cooler began to develop a reputation as an essential party starter, due to an impromptu gig with a friend to raise some much needed cash. This lead to more shows and Cooler was invited to perform guerilla-styled opening sets for bands like Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Lightning Bolt and Gravy Train!!!!. He caught the attention of LA label Retard Disco after his relocation to Oakland, California in 2003. His first album, Get Up: Resolution Love, was released shortly after catching the attention of bands like Deerhoof, Sleater Kinney, The Gossip, Mates Of State, and Numbers, who all took him under their wings as an opener. The exposure of these high profile shows pushed him into a new bracket; getting the crowd pumped night after night. Whether you loved him or hated him, the internet was talking.

Heidi Mortenson grew up listening to the metallic sounds of her dad fixing cars in the garage and her mum playing the organ. Her first audio modulations began on a small cassette player, La Bamba was a favorite. As a teenager Heidi moved to Barcelona and grew up in the Spanish ghetto. Entitled as a OneWomanBand Heidi then moved to Berlin. Here she iniciated a series of events called Wired Nights which idealy were a playground for her and her music friends, a place to improvise and try new ideas. The performances were often described as fun, chaotic and unpredictable. The Wired Nights turned into the record label Wired Records founded by Heidi in 2005 when she was to release her debut album with money she had received from a fund. Heidi makes colorful and textured songs with a nerdy and dazed approach; her sound grows from playful experiments and inventive production. Add emotional drive, a mentalist flavor and soul of old cartoon. Heidi has toured Canada and the US east and west coast with two album releases. The danish music magazine Geiger selected her album Don’t Lonely Me as one of the 100 Best Albums of 2007.

Hey Willpower was conceived one night in july on 3rd street in san francisco when linton and i were at a tussle show and i was still smoking. we were talking about our love for r&b pop/hip hop and how linton had lived in the same building in harlem as Sean Paul the summer before and our favorite songs on kmel. i gave linton a ride home and the Busta/Mariah song “i know what you want” came on and we just listened in awe. as if linton was reading my mind, linton said we should get together and make a song using all the elements of pop that we’ve ever loved. a couple of days later we started working on a song in linton’s basement. i came up with some vocal melodies and keyboard/guitar parts and left linton overnight with them. the result was the backing track for “uh-uh-uh”. after exhaustively stalking linton and trying to convince em to drop everything and work on this project, linton told me they had to go on tour with their band the Aislers Set. i was left despondent in sf with a new computer and this music in my head. i met tomo through a friend and we hardly even asked each other on a music date before we were on a regular practice schedule furiously writing and recording music. tomo loves blippy bleepy yet melodic landscapey music the most. i had to coerce him a bit into some ass-shaking, but he eventually caved in. whether it’s a hot beat or bass part or a strangely beautiful keyboard melody, he always brings something unique and inspiring to the music. we’ll be hanging out and he’ll be tapping out a beat with the keys in his pocket and we’ll record that. i grew up listening to Michael and Janet and L’Trimm and pop that my sisters would turn me on to. as soon as I heard Sonic Youth and the Velvet Underground my world turned inside out and I started voraciously ingesting anything other than what was played on the radio. i became immersed in the indie music world with my band Imperial Teen, all the while reveling in the latest greatest pop/hip hop songs and records. Hey Willpower feels like something new and exciting and postmodern without being smug or ironic. although it’s different from Imperial Teen, it makes perfect sense to me to be making the music we’re making because it comes from what i love about music. when we’re performing live and people are doin’ their dances and making noise, we know it’s right. i’m good with the chin scratchers and musicologists and philosophers too, but sometimes you have to let the emotions take over. let’s dance now and we can talk about it later if you want. xoxoxo will

Hidden Cameras It’s no secret that The Hidden Cameras is Gibb’s baby, and, in some ways, we can regard the band as a solo project. He writes all the songs, sings them, plays guitar and a number of other instruments on record, and designs the CD covers and stage sets (he also exhibits his art in galleries around the world). Since his live debut in a Toronto West End art gallery in 2001, a rotating cast of regulars and special guests has contributed to recordings, videos, and live performances across North America and Europe. To speak of an artist’s “growth” is an unforgivable cliche, but it’s hard to describe Origin:Orphan, The Hidden Cameras’ latest release, as anything but an evolutionary leap beyond their previous efforts. With this album, their fourth studio record proper, Toronto’s self-proclaimed “mild-mannered army” have sunk their roots deeper, branched wider, and gained a new musical maturity–simultaneously finding inspiration from more unexpected sources and creating some of their catchiest songs to date.

Ice Cream Socialites are a duo of earnest crooners/rappers singing there way into the hearts of their fans. With songs about new love, neglected romance, tragic heartbreak and the after party they have a universal appeal and an infectiously poppy sound. These two always get the party started and are able to make you shed a tear while you while you shake your butt on the dance floor.

Montreal-born Jef Barbara likes to make statements. His debut LP Contamination stakes his claim as an heir of pop music’s golden age. With a wide array of influences, Contamination falls within the tradition of 80s landmarks such as George Michael’s Faith, and alternates nods to French New Wave, soft rock, Kosmische Musik, and synth disco.
Contamination also sees the glampop poet bridging Canada’s two solitudes by crooning in both official languages equally, something that has been done, although not as thoroughly, on his two previous EPs. Contamination is also an ode to pop music’s contagious powers – a force to reckon with, especially when armed with catchy hooks, which make up the Barbara’s core songwriting asset. Lurking somewhere between Scott Walker and Sébastien Tellier by way of Little Richard, Jef Barbara aims to annihilate his genre’s conventions, with guerilla-style music videos and live karaoke performances.

Jenna Riot‘s is a fierce force of nature who makes your electro-pop dreams happen. Her style is innovative & unique. Not only does she work hard fixin’ up beats & heartthrob bruises, she also raps and sings with KATASTROPHE in thier up and coming music project, Ice Cream Socialites.

Joey Casio is a one man synth revolution. Philosophy you can dance to. Knob twisting with style.

John Maus lives and works in Hawaii. Although first drawn to our attention as a core member of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and keyboard player with Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, Maus has proved himself to be an extraordinary musician with a distinctive sound in his own right. Perhaps co-conspirator and collaborator Ariel Pink perhaps has the definitive insight into the talents of the man…

Johnny Dangerous is the first and original X-Rated, Raunchy Hip-Pop Star. Whether he’s whispering an erotic story of hot man-on-man fucking or verbally abusing wack hoes in his way, this iconic gayngsta is NOT to be fucked with.

Katja Gustafsson Lives and breath music… Queer Disco, Dirty electro, 80s+90s and grime… its all about electronic beats mixed with a lot of love. When she’s not djing on her own (resident in berlin, malmö and fribourg-switzerland) she is traveling around Europe with the successful dj team Combustion, give dj workshops, runs a number of parties like the queerclub Combustion in Sweden, Captain Kinky Pinky in Berlin and Malmö. She’s also involved in many music projects to come and runs the Queer Feminist booking agency Virgo.

Kevin Blechdom is a female originally named Kristin Erickson when she was born in Florida in 1978. With a laptop, self-made computer music programs, piano chops, a 5-string banjo, Blechdom sings from from the heart.

Kids On TV is basically a three piece from Toronto, Canada with a bunch of frequent guest musicians. They explore the worlds of punk, no-rave, electro, booty house and experimental rock. They reference many elements of queer history and the artist who inspire them. Kids On TV transform environments with projections of their film and video work.

Kumbia Queers Seis locas punk and rollers aburridas del rock actual deciden autoexplotar su lado Kumbianchero y Queer haciendo canciones de chicas para chicas…

The Lesbians on Ecstasy are making electronic music of the lesbian variety.
It’s kd lang, but it’s different somehow…
Lesbo folk songs, rebel songs and beats for the modern lesbian. Straights and dudes love it too.

Le Tigre We wanted to make a new kind of feminist pop music, something for our community to dance to. In our scene, the notion of “community” had been so problematized by postmodern theory and identity politics gone haywire, that it was easier retreat to irony or purely oppositional self-definitions. Instead we wanted to be sincere and take risks. For example, it had been a long-standing dream of Kathleen’s to write a song like “Hot Topic,” a celebration of the people who give us strength as feminists and artists and with Le Tigre, that song finally happened.

Lisa Ganser is the creator of the Flaming Film Fest, Movie Dierctor, Punk Rock Singer, International heartbreaker and champion of Crunks Not Dead Midwest.

Lorena and the Bobbits started up in februar 2001 when a thunderbolt from the sky hit a former catholic virgin schoolgirl and turned her into to a full-on, ragin’, rawkin an’ a rollin’ hillbilly butchdyke from hell!!!! YEEHAW!!! thank you, LORD ALLMIGHTY!!! Up to no good and not much later, Hank, the greasy croonin’ crossdressin’ cowboy, hooked up with the greasy drummin’ an’ a drinkin’ menace-to-society and former inmate Miles, a step Hank to this day can not cease to regret. BUT… fate is evil and you can not escape your destiny, especially the destiny to WASTE YER LIFE ON A PUNKROCK CAREER…!!! Three’s a company, so when they met up one moonless night in the Louisiana swamp with former satan-whorshippin’ and “bikini-kill!!!”-screamin’ Lorena, there was no stopping to this fatal and deathly mixture of 60ties Trashbeat, Deltablues, Girlschool and Slayer. On a mission to give the world greasy hair and lonesome dykes at last a chance to catch up with some hot n’ rumblin’ music, three of their bassplayin’ Lorenas were sucked into Black Holes by incredible Alien Forces, who envied the Band for their roarin’, tube-screamin’, deafenin’ sound. After many shows in and out of space, they decided to vanish into the hellfires of Rock’n Roll in 2004, leaving nothing but a trace of burnt rubber and bloody hankerchiefs on the sidewalk. Their shows will forever be remembered legendary – turning straight girls into leather dykes, the floor into a dyke-moshpit, and men into estaticly cryin’ an’ a sobbin’ lumbs of selfpitty. AND NOW THEY’RE BACK… TO KICK YOUR ASS!!!

Self proclaimed abuser of substances M.C. Glammer is bitchy, foul mouthed, rapper from the 415. Here to rep the chubby brown effeminate queer boy!!

MEN is a Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective that focuses on the energy of live performance and radical potential of dance music. MEN speaks to issues such as wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties through lyrical content and an exciting stage show. The group began in 2007 as the DJ/production/remix team of LE TIGRE members JD Samson and Johanna Fateman. When the duo began to write new songs, it made sense to merge their efforts with JD’s other new project HIRSUTE. JD and Hirsute members Michael O’Neill (Princess, Ladybug Transistor) and Ginger Brooks Takahashi (LTTR, The Ballet) now comprise the core of MEN, with Johanna and artist Emily Roysdon contributing as writers, consultants, and producers.

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn has been at the heart of the vibrant Northwest independent music scene ever since her debut album ‘You Think It’s Like This But Really It’s Like This’. A collection of her own 4-track recordings alongside collaborations with Phil Elverum of The Microphones/Mt. Eerie, the album became an instant classic. A follow-up to her first release, the stunning ‘Advisory Committee’ (2001) cemented Mirah’s place in the alternative music canon. These albums were an exploration of the territories beyond lo-fi, aiming to transcend mere technical limitations and to push the boundaries of ‘indie-rock’ towards a more meaningful communicative goal. Phil Elverum’s sound experiments collided with Mirah’s striking lyrical poise and unabashed emotional honesty and the resulting mix proved quite evocative. 2003 saw the release of ‘Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project,’ the result of a self-imposed artists-in-seclusion collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist and musician Ginger Brooks Takahashi. Mirah began working with Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson of Seattle’s Black Cat Orchestra in 2003 and the release of a collection of cover songs followed. The album ‘To All We Stretch the Open Arm’ was conceived as an anti-war statement and included renditions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Story of Isaac’ and Kurt Weill’s ‘What Keeps Mankind Alive.’ Mirah’s third solo album ‘C’mon Miracle’ (2004) combined the ever-present youthful splendor of her earlier works with a more mature stylistic component which led many critics to hail it as her best work to date. A sonic expedition, Joyride: Remixes was released in 2006 and features dance remixes of tracks from Mirah’s three solo efforts by the likes of The Blow, Guy Sigsworth, Mt. Eerie and Anna Oxygen. Next, in 2007, came another turn with Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson who had since re-created themselves as Spectratone International. Share This Place: Stories and Observations was the culmination of this second collaboration. The insect-inspired extravaganza became a multi-media performance featuring stop motion animation by Britta Johnson and 12 songs based in part on the writings of the influential French scientist/poet Jean Henri Fabre. A dip into the past brought forth 2008’s release of The Old Days Feeling, a collection of singles and previously unreleased rarities. In March of 2009 Mirah will unveil her new full length solo album, (a)spera.

Miranda! define themselves as “an argentinian electro-pop-melodramatic group”. They exist since 2001 and play a mixture of love songs, agitated ballads, electric walz with something sexual, rythmic effects and sounds to dance to.

Miranda July is a filmmaker, artist, and writer. She grew up in Berkeley, California where she began her career as a teenager, writing and directing plays. July’s videos, performances, and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in the 2002 and 2004 Whitney Biennials. Eleven Heavy Things, her interactive sculpture garden, is currently on view in the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Mz Sunday Luv is an irresistable Electro Misfit Dandy whos got party people from Berlin to Montreal falling under her spell.

The Nickyclick was born five years ago in Petunia Pies bedroom. Together they have written two full length albums and are working on a third they have traveled, toured, and performed internationally she is a producer, video artist, song writer, diva, and oddball. Nicky Click helps run crunks not dead records. is she joking or serious? is she a fat feminist lezzie? does she live in reality? are her songs real? could there possibly be a hidden “metaphorical meaning”? is she just a sexy airhead ipod band? Could she also perhaps be performing and deconstructing every internalized concept we have of women and gender by throwing it in “their” face? Nicky Click and Petunia Pie share true life experiences of oppression as dirty queer dolls, trying to make sense of the boxes in this world. They are for some reason compelled to share that feeling and struggle with you through their art. So, perhaps there is much, much more going on in that little head than air. The Nicky Click says she is queer-femme-parody-artist-comic-funny-feminist -over the top-kitsch-persona. She reverses the male gaze and commands your attention. She provokes brain movement through costumes, faces, personas, dancing, body language, sexuality, and so on. Nicky click has been called “incomparable,” odd, yet interesting, and a bitch. nickyclick surely isn’t for everyone, but…….she makes you take a second look…………..

Noisy Pig is the electro-pop alter ego of Bernardo Santarelli, the Berlin based musical performer. Originally from Italy, his passion for music began when he bought his first record of Bikini Kill. The unbrideled energies of riot grrrls was a strong base for Noisy Pig and continues to provide constant inspiration. Four years after forming the no-wave band Dada Swing, Noisy Pig moved from Rome to Berlin in 2004, where he wanted to continue subverting indie pop. Noisy Pig developed his unique blend of bubblegum-glitch-pop-dance-punk while playing in many underground queer venues and collaborating with fringe artists (Stereo Total, Echokrank, Allison Wolfe).

Owen Pallett is the son of two entomologists. He has written music his entire life, including scoring a videogame at the age of twelve, three movies by the age of sixteen, and two operas by the age of twenty-one. Bored of sitting at a computer all day, he took up the guitar and made music with panic-folk group Les Mouches. Bored of playing guitar, he plugged is violin into a looping pedal and started playing shows around Toronto. Owen called it Final Fantasy, in tribute to the melodramatic videogame series. This project would prove to be popular in the indiscriminate Toronto music scene, despite Owen’s frail voice and tendencies toward self-sabotage.

Partyline Former Bratmobile front woman/varsity league feminist ass-kicker Allison Wolfe and her band of misfit troubadours (Angela Melkisethian and Crystal Bradley) are the three wisecracking southern women who got together to…ahem…jam one afternoon in 2004 in Washington, D.C., and became Partyline. No embarrassing want-ads or awkward auditions necessary! Through full-time jobs, school, break ups, break ins, summer barbecues, and winter dance parties, the ladies of Partyline continue their pursuit of honest and insightful tunes. The riot grrrl credo “the personal is political” is more relevant then ever in Party-N-Animal. (Random side note: the title of the song came from a particularly intense game of Balderdash). In the song Wolfe recounts the fire bombing of her late mother’s women’s health clinic in Olympia, WA. “You got the pigs, you got the Prez, you ain’t pro-life, you’re all about death, we’re gonna freak out, we’re gonna scream, you Christian fucks will see what I mean,” she sings with vengeance in her throat. The title track Zombie Terrorist continues with the political outrage but is culled from a news story rather than direct experience. An article tells the story of a teenage boy suspended and threatened with legal action for writing a fiction piece about terrorist zombies taking over his high school. In the song, the “zombie terrorists” embody all of the misdirected fear and paranoia fueled by our rogue-state government and the mainstream media. The song and the album as a whole begs the question “Who are the real terrorists?”

Patrick Wolf, grew up in South London and began refining his precocious talent at the age of eleven when he escaped from school troubles by late night experimentation in the corners of his bedroom with his violin, voice and car boot sale organs on a four-track tape recorder. Although beginning his musical education a few years before with rigorous violin lessons and church choirs, it wasn’t until Patrick’s obsession for early twentieth-century electronics – which lead to a study and construction of a Theremin – that Patrick really developed a strong ambition to create new and innovative music and that has power and emotion enough to communicate directly to the heart. Further fuelled by a turbulent teenage period that included changing schools due to bullying and performing with pop-art collective Minty at the age of fourteen, Patrick began writing and recording with an urgency that caught the attention of Fat Cat Records, who donated Patrick an Atari computer and a mixing desk – tools that helped further Patricks unique production and programming. Stumbling across his mother’s Joni Mitchell records led to a further epiphany to the art of songwriting and empty books were steadily filled up with poems, lyrics and short stories.

To accept the norms set by society is closing the eyes for an infinity of possibilities that diversity offers. Paulo Belzebitchy chose music as a medium to raise his voice against racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of discrimination. Born in Fortaleza, Northeast of Brasil, the singer, producer and percussionist currently lives in Berlin. November 2010 he released his first EP,
featuring the songs “Homophobia is so gay”, “Pink Money”, “Tourada é Tortura” and “Baile Funk Facist Funk”. Kaos GL Magazine, the first queer magazine in Turkey, printed an Interview with Paulo shortly after the release of the single “Homophobia is so gay” and its broadcasting by Dandelion Radio in London. To support other artists and independent events, and to create networks beyond his own musical autonomy. Paulo Belzebitchy founded his own music label, Dama de Pau Productions.

Penny Arcade Legend, icon, wild-hearted demoness bad-girl bitch. It is impossible to describe the juggernaut that is Penny Arcade without entering the world of hyperbole that she not only inhabits but also personifies. Since first climbing out of her bedroom window at age 13 to join the fabulously disenfranchised world of queers, junkies, whores, stars, stalkers and geniuses she has become one of the most influential performers in the world. By fearlessly displaying her singular brand of feminist sexuality and personal conflict she has garnered countless fans worldwide with an emotionally and intellectually charged performance style. Internationally revered as writer, director and actress, she has become the very bedrock that many of the biggest names in the entertainment industry have built their careers upon.

Pho Natic Experimental All girl Casio Comic Geniuses.

Planningtorock is the moniker of musician and video artist Janine Rostron. Planningtorock fuses all of Rostron’s talents into a dazzling audiovisual presentation that borrows from classical music, glam rock, stunning imagery, and hip hop. A classically trained violinist who began playing at age eight, Rostron moved from England to Berlin in the early 00′s. The Planningtorock character first appeared in 2004 in the german capital’s clubs. The Ptr live show blur the boundaries between a conventional music concert and performance art in which Rostron, aided by several props and an assortment of “character” helmets, interacts with her psychadelic, kaleidoscopic video personas.

Rae Spoon was born on the Canadian prairies of the 80’s. In his early twenties he hit the road as one of the world’s only transgender country singers and toured Canada, Europe, Australia and the USA. When the obvious dangers and contradictions of this role caught up to him he hid in a small town in Eastern Germany for a winter. There he was inspired to write an album about his darker experiences of Canada and it’s highways.

Rhythm King And Her Friends The female duo RHYTHM KING AND HER FRIENDS (Linda Wölfel and Pauline Boudry) live and work in Berlin. They are known for their very personal style,
mixing pop melodies with sampled rhythms, and singing in a variety of languages such as French, English and Bulgarian. Guitar, bass, synthesizers,
samplers, drum computers, laptop and recently drums are all used to give a musical voice to their urban commentary on subculture, life, love and work. With their latest album THE FRONT OF LUXURY, RKAHF go for a noticeably more rock and song-inspired direction that on their previous offering; I AM DISCO. Their music has evolved into a harmonious mixture of electronica and guitars; your attention will be drawn to the unique vocal style which on some songs is reminiscent of the cold style of female new-wave bands like KLEENEX and on others of the harmonious pop melodies of THE B-52’s. Protest lyrics and relaxing melodies sit comfortably next to one another and are showcased with the critical context of the songs; sex and gender, work and exploitation, sexism and capitalism. The line “he’ll win the war and then they call it rock’n’roll” in No Picture Of The Hero alludes to gender politics while the slogan “Desire’s Working Like A Facotry” sums up the arguments pertaining to capitalist consumerism with Queer Diskothek being a multi-lingual ode to the international lesbian sisterhood. Comparisons to bands they have toured with such as the SLITS, ROBOTS IN DISGUISE or LE TIGRE are easy to make but are in many ways inadequate as their discursive indie-pop-electroclash aesthetic marks RHYTHM KING AND
HER FRIENDS out from the crowd and proves they have made their own totally original and unique template.

Romanteek titles a new chapter in Olympia, Washington’s brilliant DIY musical history. The infectious hooks and driving beats sound somewhere between “Remain in Light” era Talking Heads and the funky stylings of Prince, and convey one solid message: all of life’s problems can be worked out on the dance floor.

“There Is An Ocean That Divides And With My Longing I Can Charge It With A Voltage Thats So Violent To Cross It Could Mean Death” – If you have ex-pat Australian Scott Matthew’s second album in your hands, then the first impression is the “Guinness Book of Records” like title. In contrast to his simply self-titled first album, the record’s title is characteristic of the new material. In the hope of not sounding pretentious, the title serves as a symbol of a more detailed approach, as well as conveying age-old themes of longing, love and loss.

Scream Club is Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable, and began in Olympia WA in 2002. The Scream Club sound combines elements of hip hop, pop, punk, dance, glam rock, electro, and rap. While embracing the glitz and glamour found in mainstream culture, SC has still remained true to their D.I.Y. roots and ethics. From the beginning, SC has been dedicated to touring most months out of the year, both in the US and Europe, inspiring countless others along the way. Now located in Berlin, Scream Club’s catchy songs, artsy music videos, and energetic stage shows have developed a cult-like following around the world.

Sia My name is Sia Furler. I am a unicorn fart. I was born out of the butthole of a unicorn called Steve. Someday i’ll die. Between now and then i’m going to keep my shit together and sing my fucking heart out. I love dogs. They’re my people. One day i’ll write a real biography.

SSion Referring to the old John Waters adage asserting entertainment is inseparable from bad taste, few bands exercise that sentiment to the degree of Ssion. Ssion (pronounced “shun”) is a ten-years-strong art-punk dance/design/film collective from Kansas City, Missouri, headed by cosmic man-sisters Cody Critcheloe (singer, director, visual artist) and J.A.M.(producer, co-writer, and boho space-cadet mystery man). Ssion has gained notoriety not only for their gay-disco-meets-punk-rock musical stylings, but for their outrageous stage shows and videos, which incorporate a harem of dancers and backup singers, comically cheap home-made props, supersized video projections, over-the-top costumes and make-up, and a visual sense of wonder recalling something between twisted humor of Pee Wee’s Playhouse and the decadence of the cult musical, The Apple. Called a “no-budget Fischerspooner by way of Hee Haw” by the Chicago Reader, Ssion have toured with the likes of Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Faint, and Black Dice. Some of Ssion’s high-profile proponents include, Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear, Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy), and the aforementioned Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who have tapped Critcheloe’s graphic design talents for their releases. Pitchfork called Cody “likely to pluck used tampons from Karen O’s trashcan and lip-sync into them.” And later refered to him as “the corpse of electroclash…wrapped in dirty baby diapers and stuffed in a Dairy Queen dumpster.” A departure from their previous ultra-distrorted B-52′s meets Pussy Galore sound, their latest release, “Fool’s Gold,” fuses new wave/synth-pop, glam, punk, classic hi-NRG rave, and Italo-disco to create a true sleaze-pop masterpiece: ten unstoppably catchy (and surprisingly witty) tracks alternating between raunchy dancefloor anthems and heartbreakingly sincere confessional pop.

Ste McCabe is an electro-pop-queer-punk one-man-band based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Ste has been described as everything from “the most important underground singer in the UK” to “bordering on insane” by the UK music press. He organises queer-feminist punk events in Scotland called Pussy Whipped and has three albums out on Cherryade Records.

Stereo Total In the winter 1992/93 Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring met while shopping in a bakery in Adalbertstraße, Berlin. Françoise played in the French girl- garage- punk- R’n'R-Band Lolitas (they released 5 albums in Germany and France and toured all over Europe and America) and Brezel had the experimental- noise- copyright- ignoring- tapeloop- soundeffects project called Sigmund Freud Experience (they did 3 vinyl-records, 100 copies each). In 1993 they started playing together. Their first recording was a 10 minute cooking-recipe, in which all ingredients had a sexual connotation. The recording is sadly lost. The former Stereo Total Label Bungalow released a Best Of-Compilation which was called “Party Anticonformiste. The Bungalow Years” on CD and Double-Vinyl, which features 24 tracks. In 2007 Stereo Total will release the album Paris<>Berlin. There will be an extended tour in Australia, the US, Canada and Europe.

Me + You = True Love Forever! Leah and Sumr are totally MFEO. We met on Scream Club’s “Life of a Heartbreaker” video set. We sew and craft. We are awkward. Real true nerds. We like fake blood and glitter. Costumes and theatrical live shows. Syncronized dance routines. We make beats that will blow yer mind and dirty lyrics that will make you shake your THUNDER THIGHS!

Vera November is the solo project of Verity Susman from Electrelane.

Vice Cooler Evading trends and falling into repetition might be career suicide for most, yet somehow Hawnay Troof, the solo outlet of Vice Cooler, has defied these odds and created a world of his own. Over the past four albums he has mixed drive, impulsiveness, and an ever-evolving vision to create some very dividing and interesting sounds. Avoiding all pigeonholes, Daggers At The Moon is the new album and continues the Hawnay Troof trajectory.

Violent Vickie is a two-piece multi-media electro-punk band from San Francisco, Calif. Inspired by riot grrrl, experimental electronic music and electroclash, Vickie started writing songs in 2003, recording drum machines, keyboards, samplers, guitars, vocals and other assorted instruments onto a four track in her parents’ suburban home in Southern California. Her lyrics question society and address female stereotypes, TV, addiction and religion. She has since played throughout Los Angeles and the Bay Area, toured the West Coast, and played Ladyfest and Scutterfest. She has shared the stage with many bands including Mika Miko, The Sharpease, Boyskout, Eagle and Talon, and Dame Darcy. Her shows incorporate energetic, psychedelic visuals that complement the content of the music. After releasing two CD EPs, “Shut Yr Snatch” and “Violent Vickie EP,” she is currently producing and recording a full-length album entitled “Monster Alley” with the new addition keyboardist and producer Cat.

Xiu Xiu is an experimental art rock band originally from San Jose, California. The band is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart, who has been its only constant member since its inception. His current bandmates are Angela Seo and percussionist Ches Smith. (Refer to sidebar for past band members and work) The band’s name is taken from the 1998 Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl. Xiu Xiu’s music draws heavily from several disparate genres including post-punk, 80′s synth pop, noise, ambient, techno, asian percussive music, modern classical, and folk. Musically, the band will often blend cacophonous percussion and experimental structures with lush hooks and diverging lyrical styles.

The Young Lovers this is a (temporary) site for the lo-fi punk band the younger lovers!

Your Heart Breaks is queercore & hot makeout parties. the place where unicorn and pegasus combine into one. corndogs [2 for 99 cents] pinata parties. dancing up front at all-ages shows. sharing the mic. monkeys, the squirrels of south america. & squirrels, the monkeys of north america. and a severe case of ocean waves.

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