Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Radio & Music >

Queercore Recomendations

10:46 / 29.01.07

Well, I'm sorry I won't be providing a post of much substance, but the title and topic summary are pretty self-explanatory. What quality Queercore acts are there out there? Or were, of course. I've listened to some Pansy Division, and they have their moments of singalong madness, but they're a bit underwhelming. Tribe 8 are not my thing, though Wrong Bathroom gets to its point in a really fun way.

If I need to clarify, I'm not looking for artists who get the title but don't actually approach related issues much; I want stuff that is explicitly, well, queer. And I don't know where to start. Other indications... well, I'm not crazy about punk, though there are exceptions. Rock, easier to swallow (am obsessed with Sleater-Kinney <3). No clue what else to provide as "guideline" as... I don't even know what there is out there. Gah.

Some suggestions?

11:41 / 29.01.07

Oooh! I want some too!

Phex: Dorset Doom

15:49 / 29.01.07

There is only one name in Queercore: Gayrilla Biscuits.
Pornographic lyrics. Even more pornographic album covers. Production that sounds like an angry bumblebee in a tin can being thrown down a flight of stairs. A cover of Minor Threat's Straight Edge with lyrics rewritten thusly:

I'm a person just like you
But I have better things to do
Than sit around and not get head
From hot gay studs in my bed
Suck on their yummy toes,
Playing with their garden hose
In their butt, spread my seed
Young gay boys are all I need
I've got gay edge!

I'm a person just like you
But I have better things to do
Then sit around and never grope
A boy who's cock I'd like to smoke
I wanna slam so many dudes
For men I am always in the mood
Boys are who I like to touch
I think I like dick too much

Closed for Business Time

09:09 / 30.01.07

Is that the gay spoof of Gorilla Biscuits, or what? Cool name tho.

09:23 / 30.01.07

I looked at Gayrilla Biscuits MySpace page, you can hear some of their stuff there, including "Gay Edge". I noticed that their friends include Black Fag, Youth of Togay, Cockbirds, and the Pink MCs,"THE FIRST GAY GANGSTER RAPPERS IN THE WORLD". People are so weird, it's great.

21:54 / 30.01.07

They are... interesting.

13:02 / 01.02.07

But but but...

Oh, I don't know. I guess my problem is that what I'm looking for doesn't quite fit. It's just that I've gotten the impression that Queercore went a bit beyond the punk stuff. At the same time, Wikipedia lists Mirah, who I didn't hear a queer word of, as Queercore. And I guess I'd like the middle point: beyond Homopunk but not quite to the point where it ends up just meaning MusicByQueers. Lyrically, even: beyond bold punk simplicity (and, hum, cock celebration).

Are there things that fit with what I'm saying or am I being too hopeful/too specific, or even talking about what doesn't even quite qualify?

20:45 / 04.02.07

Oh, alright then!, ignore the nitpickery and come dump all you know, people! Geez.

Disco is My Class War

13:40 / 05.02.07

I know you said you weren't interested in homopunk but Limp Wrist are pretty queercore.

First you've got your Riot Grrl crossover bands. Team Dresch? Particularly their album "Captain My Captain". Old school now, but really very lovely and angsty and ROCK. Le Tigre would nearly count as queercore, in my book, as would Kathleen Hanna's other projects, Julie Ruin and Bikini Kill. Bratmobile, The Quails, Huggybear, The Gossip, The Butchies, Fifth Column (GB Jones from Fifth Column is also an awesome cartoonist and used to do JD's zine with Bruce La Bruce, arguably the first queercore zine.) The Need is awesome, especially "The Need Is Dead."

I'm a big fan of Seymour Butts, this DJ from Sydney who plays in a gay sauna and has released a bunch of albums called "The Sauna Sessions: Gay Make Out Albums." Lovely music.

20:46 / 05.02.07

I was just coming to recommend the same Team Dresch album. It's less shouty-bang-bang than a lot of punk but still has off-the-rails screamy moments and it ranges over a lot of different subjects - some explicitly queer-thematic, some more generalised angst, some party music.

22:55 / 05.02.07

Thanks for the refs! Will check out.

D Terminator XXXIII

23:01 / 05.02.07

Have you checked the wikipedia entry for queercore?

I don't know anything about this, ah, movement, so what would the recommendations be at, shall we say, entry level?

23:20 / 05.02.07

I did. And I looked around a bit, particularly at the list they provide, and heard some stuff: Pansy Division, Tribe 8, Lesbians On Ecstasy and a couple of others. And then figured that rather than keep randomly checking out stuff, I should get some solid indications. Since I don't know where to find a discerning perspective of the movement, I thought trying the B. might be a good idea.

--

15:26 / 08.02.07

Pansy Division are very good, though I haven't listened to them much since I got out of college... their sound is kind of pop-punk, and they have some very catchy songs. I haven't heard much of Limp Wrist, but I gather they're more of a hardcore type punk band. That's about the extent of my queercore knowledge, at least in terms of the male groups.

21:05 / 01.03.07

May I recommend Jonny McGovern (aka The Gay Pimp)?
He is really very good.

wiki
gaypimp.com
myspace

23:16 / 04.03.07

Geez, I keep thinking of coming back to say this and then forgetting. So:

Disco. Jackie. Team Dresch? OH MY OH YES.

I mean, really, with Captain My Captain, the search pretty much died. I dig that weird, kinda nasal, kinda limited voice. I dig the riffage. I dig how upfront and simple the lyrics are. Those first four tracks would make a pretty much perfect EP. Kinda loses that rush of immediate quality, but even the later tracks, when I stop and listen, are damn good too. Musically, it's the kind of thing that described to me I would think of as unexciting, but either my preconception was entirely wrong or this is a bizarre exception to the rule. They work their formula well, and they know how to keep it spicy. And retaining punky attitude without being as, well, boring to me as punk is.

All of this devotion probably comes from some bizarrely late Angry/Angsty Adolescent ("FUCK THE HETERONORMATIVE PATRIARCHY TO WHICH I REFUSE TO BE AN ACCOMPLICE!... but how?") phase at 18, I guess, which makes all the angsty drive real and joy-inducing rather than eye-roll-inducing as it might otherwise be. It doesn't matter. It feels right.

So thank you! Thank you very much!

at the scarwash

18:48 / 07.03.07

maybe i'm slow, but doesn't the term "queercore" explicitly imply queer+hardcore, and hence, punk?

08:11 / 10.03.07

Well, my old band Six Inch Killaz ("Five trannies on the verge of rock n roll chaos") were definitely punk and definitely queercore.

You can Google us or read the whole sorry story and download tracks on my weblog (start at the bottom of the page and work upwards).

Your eyes and ears may not thank you though...

Disco is My Class War

14:38 / 12.03.07

Queer sex is great, it's fun as shit,
Don't kill yourself cause people can't deal with your brilliance
Sometimes I can't remember why i want to live
Then i think of all the freaks and i don't want to miss this

Really you have Jackie to thank, Franca, as ze introduced me to it back in the day. Glad you enjoyed.