A reader recommends…

Queers singing in the streets of Göteborg, Sweden.

» Recommend something. «

Jj recommends…

He’s an awesome trans singer songwriter with a beautiful voice.

» Recommend something. «

J recommends…

Scissor Sisters are one of the top gay bands in pop music right now. This album deals with a lot of queer issues, such as non-normative sex and gay subcultures. Plus, the cover is a photo by Robert Mapplethorpe who was a seminal queer artist. In the future, this album will likely be regarded as a queer cultural document and statement about 2010.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

Nicole Reynolds is a folk singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania. A poet, singer, and farmer, she’s released a handful of albums and tours frequently on the East Coast of the US, performing particularly at queer venues and events.

I love her unique brand of androgyny; she looks and sounds quite a bit like a twelve-year-old boy, but she plays guitar like a young Bob Dylan (check out live performances of her antiwar song ‘June’ on YouTube) and takes great pride in her own femininity. Her music’s clever, funny, and has a timeless quality to it that’s definitely worth a listen. Take a look!

» Recommend something. «

Andi recommends…

L.P. has an amazing androgynous style and casual humor which will charm anyone. But more important than any gender presentation or sexuality she has a voice that will chill you to the bone and make you jump to your feet. Every song is incredibly powerful and you couldn’t ask for anything better.

» Recommend something. «

Ariel Silvera recommends…

In their early days, the Manics, a welsh alt.rock band, played a lot with androgyny and a critique of oppressive masculinity. In a rock world that was, and still is, heterosexist and binary, the Manics messed around with suggestive videos that show some of them fooling around with each other while wearing gas masks and beautifully applied, heavy make-up. And hey, the lyrics aren’t bad either, about the alienation of all people under capitalism and how that tears us apart from each other.

Some other good songs/videos from that era: Stay Beautiful, Little Baby Nothing, You Love Us.

» Recommend something. «

Cat recommends…

The Magnetic Fields have been around for 20 years now. They have released nine albums (including the epic three-disc 69 Love Songs) and they’re also responsible some of the very subversive songs in terms of gender and sexuality issues. Their first two albums, in particular, bundled on the Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees compilation, are especially striking and ahead of their time nearly two decades since their release, including songs dealing with such matters as fanciful as bisexual werewolves or as serious as having a relationship with an FTM in a trans-hostile world. While Stephin Merritt, the band’s songwriter, is a cissexual gay man and often sings from what is presumably his own experience, he very convincingly writes through others’ perspectives, and confounds gender in his choice of singers.

The 69 Love Songs album also is fantastically diverse in its array of gender and sexuality perspectives and the frequent “mismatch” between the two. Anyone who’s a gender outlaw and likes literate, witty indie pop ought to give them a listen.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

You gorgeous people who read gender fork seem like the sort of awesome crowd who will already know about this, but hey, if you haven’t – you’ve missed out!

The Gossips msuic video for “Listen Up” Features a transgirl and a transman getting tashed, perfumed, binded, and dressed up for a night out. And then Dancing. It’s cute, and to the funky infectious sound of The Gossip. It’ll have you dancing in your bedroom before you know it.

“OOooohoohoohh – on the playground, we learn so much!”

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

Just in case you missed her in high school, check out this English singer-songwriter with amazing vocal talents. When she was 19 she won a national TV talent contest (in the U.K. that is). For a butch, out-lesbian in the early 2000s this was quite a statement.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

Ever heard of PJ harvey? NO? You’re gonna wonder how you did without her…

MAN-SIZE is this great PJ harvey song i discovered recently. I love it, and hope you will too. The music alone video is stunning… as performance art it is uniquely gorgeous. Apparently, PJ harvey has denied that its a song about sex-change, although all song’s are open to interpretation. And whatever it’s about: If you’ve ever wanted to get up out of your skin – then PJ knows you feel.

She brings out the macho in me.
And I love it.

(I also heard that PJ wrote this at a point in her career when she felt like proclaiming to the world that she was NOT going to be just another run of the mill female (and, according to some, therefore feminine) singer song writer. She was going to be something much bigger.)

» Recommend something. «

A recommends…

Amanda Palmer is beautiful, talented, and a genderbender extraordinaire. Whether she’s with her duo The Dresden Dolls or just by herself, she’s got a way of performing that is awesomely theatrical and passionate. She creates music with her entire body, pouring all of herself into her songs. I recommend her for this community not only for her style (check out the video for “Backstabber” by The Dresden Dolls, if you don’t believe me) but for the content of her songs. In this recommendation, I’ve put a link to “Half Jack”. It echoes a lot of the sentiments I’ve heard here and… I don’t know, I just think you should check it out.

» Recommend something. «

elfstar recommends…

A powerful song about a young person struggling to deal with society’s expectations, particularly those involving gender roles. I especially like that it doesn’t specify the genders of the protagonist or hir friend – only that they were called boy and girl at birth.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

I’m surprised to have waited this long to mention the luminous Prince Poppycock. I’ve been amused, enamored and confused by this marvelous creature long before I ever started to have an interest in genderfuck beauty.

Part randy dandy, part rock star, part drunken courtesan, Poppycock instantly owns the audience with but a glance and a wiggle of bedazzled pantaloons, and that’s just the beginning. His operatic prowess, glamorous costumes and ostentatious prose leave not a heart unstirred. A masterpiece of self-transformation, the Prince is also recording artist John Quale, but I’m secretly hoping Poppycock will take over completely one day, to reign supreme in a glittery victory of feathers and gold spandex.

» Recommend something. «

Lese recommends…

This moved me to tears!

» Recommend something. «

giulia recommends…

The CocoRosie sisters are not only talented avant-garde musicians, they are also inspiring genderbenders, who mix male and female in an unique way. Click to see a video made to promote their new album, Grey Oceans. Dressed as men, the sisters dance and pose. They never looked so hot.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

Written in 1966, this song was intended to be about a time in the future when parents can choose their children’s gender and a family chooses to have four girls, but end up with three girls and a boy, so they decide to pretend the fourth child is female.

However, I find it could just as easily be a song being told from the point of view of someone expected to act female, but longs to be male.

» Recommend something. «

Harper recommends…

Patrick Wolf occupies a genderworld constructed entirely of glitter.

» Recommend something. «

K recommends…

A beautiful freak-folk/electronica song about the idea of humans being of “two spirits.” The video features the genderqueer members of the band in drag.

» Recommend something. «

A reader recommends…

The Scissor Sisters are wild. XD

They have a throbbing pop/electric sound and are often compared to Elton John — the singer has a great falsetto.

A lot of their videos and songs deal very loosely and creatively with gender and style.

I adore this band, and thought I’d share!

» Recommend something. «

Charlie recommends…

Heidi is an underground rapper who describes issues met by the trans and queer communities, respectively.

» Recommend something. «