When I was growing up in a city with a tanked economy, dark basement parties were the only places to be. Sweating it out to the thundering bass of hip-hop and r&b was a right of passage, and whoever could shake, twerk and drop it the best was crowned king or queen.
Music and dance have always been forms of empowerment for disenfranchised communities around the world, and urban creativity has produced some of the most popular music genres to date through cultural cannibalism: a process that intertwines multiple marginalized identities and cultures to create the best sounds and craziest moves.
Urban queer culture, our subject here, has had a profound impact on pop music in the past fifty years. Ballroom and drag scenes reinvented house music in the '80s and birthed voguing – a dance style that mixed performance art with break dancing and inspired Madonna, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga to name a few.
Today, queer culture continues to reinvigorate genres and trends. Ideas of sexual and bodily expression mix with dancehall call-and-response to create bounce – a genre that hails from the project buildings and poor neighborhoods of New Orleans. Also called "sissy bounce," this music is usually fronted by genderqueer men (like the legendary Big Freedia) and recently got into the hands of influential artists like Diplo and Nicki Minaj.
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The 2012 Coachella lineup has been touted as the most EDM in history, and that means great news for yours truly, who shall be spending every moment in the billion-degree dance tent hopefully being molested by sweaty, shirtless partygoers clamoring for pills, water, a spot near the speakers, or just a plain ole glowstick (they're back!). So I rounded up the pumped up jams of the acts I am most excited to see: from love-it-or-hate it mega DJs David Guetta and Girl Talk to scream machines Atari Teenage Riot to newcomer Gotye and consistently amazing 'old hats' like The Rapture, M83, La Roux and Miike Snow. Something for everyone here, whether you want to go hard, sway slow, or disco the night away. Enjoy my personal preview, and I'll see you there. Save me a glowstick, would you?
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Do the Grammys actually matter? No, not really at all, but it's still fun to watch music's biggest night of spectacle (eat your heart, VMAs) and see what performances and funny collaborations go down. This year has a particularly stacked roster of nominees that include many of our favorites, so here's a handy Q&A to get you through the long televised slog.
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(Photo: The Naked And Famous)
In early November I had an opportunity (one you might refer to as “once in a lifetime”) to visit New Zealand – special thanks to Air New Zealand – and attend the New Zealand Music Awards. These awards, held in Auckland, are much like our own MTV Video Music Awards or American Music Awards, except that all the honored artists, with a few exceptions, hail from New Zealand. This meant that I was familiar with exactly one nominee and performer: Auckland rock band The Naked And Famous – the group I’d traveled around the world specifically to interview and observe.
It’s a truly unique experience to attend an event that honors musicians you’re not familiar with, but everyone else in the audience is. Even the hosts, two apparent celebrities, were unknown to me (although I did appreciate the significance of two All Blacks players presenting an award). The performers ranged drastically, from the rock of Six60 to Feist-esque indie pop of Brooke Fraser to electro-rap stylings of Ladi6, and it’s notable that the crowd equally appreciated the music of all genres that evening.
Certainly New Zealand exports its music to the States (Flight of the Conchords, anyone?), but there is so much music there that fans here never get. In the spirit of discovering new artists, I’ve compiled a fully downloadable playlist of numerous New Zealand artists in all genres.
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Smart, innovative, Afrocentric, jazzy and lyrical yet capable of starting a party in seconds, the Native Tongues movement was one of the most interesting undercurrents of hip-hop's golden age in the late '80s and early '90s. Led by A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, Native Tongues brought positive rhymes to an increasingly crime-obsessed rap world. As The Chronic told cinematic ghetto tales of violent nihilism (and was still so good), groups like Tribe showed a different path of expression while also making major leaps in sampling and the use of jazz within production.
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(Twerps by Lauren Bamford)
The electric guitar was undoubtedly one of the finest inventions of the 20th century. And really, does it ever sound better than when its able to freely ring in all its chiming glory? Jangling. That's the term usually used for this, and since The Byrds matched their sweet harmonies with cascading 12-string strums in the '60s, it's been a vital element of pop music. The influence of this sound has spread over the following decades to the point where it's now a genre, feel and (perfect for fall!) vibe unto itself. Check out our Jangle Jangle playlist for contemporary treble-heavy selections from Woods, Young Man, Caveman, Twerps and more, and then head over to our Spotify kingdom for a more robust guide to the history of Jangle Pop from The Byrds, early R.E.M. and The Smiths to modern experts like Deerhunter and Real Estate.
