The Corin Tucker Band//Doubt

We interrupt your daily scheduled program with this special announcement for all Enormously and Completely Gay for Sleater-Kinney Types Like Me: Corin Tucker is putting out a solo album.

In my (rather extreme) opinion, nothing Corin, Carrie or Janet could do on their own will ever trump the genius of the best SK albums. That said, what made SK great was the chemistry between three incredibly talented ladies, and, as such, anything they do on their own will be fully AWESOME.

Example: the teaser track off Tucker’s forthcoming (slated for October) album, 1,000 Years, which features her classic passionate vocals juxtaposed against some new sounds (a stark little organ, a violin?) and some familiar (think: the fuzzy rhythm guitar you hear on SK albums, without Carrie’s brilliant riffs, because that’s exactly what it is). Tucker has assembled a new band to support her songs, the punnily named Corin Tucker Band (although one can’t help but wonder if she’s overused the joke a little, after naming her own son “Marshall”). On a serious note, the group features Sarah Lund of Unwound and Seth Lorinczi of Golden Bears .

If this song is any hint of things to come, I’m pretty fucking stoked.
It’s catchy. It’s tough. It’s gonna be good. I cannot wait.



Doubt.mp3

You know that familiar song, call to me.
Break up with the boogie, break up with the beat,
I just can’t forget what it means to me.
I tried, I tried,
But I couldn’t leave.

Grass Widow//Shadow

Grass Widow: they might be your new favorite band...just sayin'... because I kind of think they might be mine. I'm hearing so many touches of things I already love in their sound. A little Breeders, a little classic 90s indie guitar sound, a little 70s proto riot grrrl/post punky stuff like Raincoats or Slits, a little Sleater-Kinney every now and then. And yet it's completely it's own thing. Yessssss.

I've been listening to their self-titled album basically on repeat for a week. It's so fucking good.

This song is from the SF-based group's new album, set to be released on KRS (duh) on August 24. If this is any hint of how sweet this album is going to be, it's going to mega-fucking-sweet.

WTF does Grass Widow mean anyway? Here's what.

Also, GW opens for Sonic Youth for $3 donation (aka free) THIS SATURDAY in Prospect Park for Celebrate Brooklyn. OMG AMIGONNA SEE YOU THERE!?



Shadow.mp3

Incapacity,
Walls that spoke to me

Julie Ruin//Breakout A Town

I really didn't know what to say to Kathleen Hanna when I found myself at a party with her last month. Let's face it, I just feel kind of weird about talking to random people I don't know, especially when they're famous in some way. It all seems kind of silly but in a way, it would have been so much easier to be at a party with Madonna or Harrison Ford than fucking KATHLEEN HANNA! What do you say to someone who arguably defined and championed a new union of feminism and art, one that feels so personally important? What do you say to the person who basically started one of your favorite music movements? I reviewed my options:

1. "Wow. You're Kathleen Hanna."
2. "Wow. You're really awesome."
3. "This one time you pulled my friend up on stage at a Le Tigre concert."
4. "It was cool how you wrote about my friend on your blog."
Related: you should really go see Erin Markey's show, which was just extended at PS 122.
5. Nothing.

And that's exactly what I did say. I avoided her as best I could. A dear friend sent me a text telling me that she didn't really have a desire to speak with the famous either, which justified my decision.

Regardless of shyness about telling her so in person, Kathleen Hanna is still totally rad. This is a song from her lesser-known solo album, Julie Ruin AKA the project that started Le Tigre (Hanna added members to fill out the sound live and voila). This album is cool because it keeps one foot in the raw punk sound of Bikini Kill while the other takes a big step toward the distorted blippy electro disco punk of Le Tigre.

Also, it just so happens that Hanna is having a tee shirt contest for Julie Ruin over at her blog. You should enter because the deadline has been extended!



Breakout A Town.mp3

You're so tired and I'm so lovely.
You're so great and I'm so bored.

Boyskout//Back to Bed

Just when you thought the cold gray hell that is winter might be finished, you wake up to a day like today and a promise of a few more like it…and maybe even some more snow a few days after that. I hate winter. I hate it. Well, that’s not completely true. I like the first week of it and the very first snow of the season. Beyond that, I am so over it.

A. got home yesterday from a weekend audition jaunt to California. I was extra happy to see her and wake up next to her this morning. What I wasn’t extra happy about was dragging myself out of bed at an obscenely early hour, all while dark rainy vibes greeted me through the window. YUCK.

This song, by the band Boyskout, describes a situation I’m sure we’re all familiar with. You have to get up. The warm body in your bed begs you not to and you don’t want to anyway. Fun. Back to bed: it's everywhere you want to be. Also, what is it that they say in NPR? "Although there's nothing overtly graphic in this story, it's kinda sexy, so kids, cover your ears." No, that's not quite right.

Anyway, in addition to making some super fun songs, the girls in this band are pretty damn cute. Even though it looks like it’s been a while since they were an active band, they’re currently based in Brooklyn. I hope I’ll run into them on the G train someday.



Back to Bed.mp3

Baby, come back to bed.
You know you want to.

Play/Start//Cabin

Set up on a Saturday: Local Music Friday.
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

Ok, so, while I've never actually met anyone in this band, their former bassist (who appears on this recording) is my BFF's girlfriend. AND, while I haven't met her either, I feel confident that I will, and thus, this music is local.

I've never been to Portland but if I were to go, I would probably try to time my visit with a Play/Start show because I can only imagine the kind of raucous fun they'd be live. On their facebook page, they describe themselves as "like rage against the machine on crack... and ecstasy!" On their myspace page, they describe themselves as "hella gay." I love the idea of these elements in combination.

The band released their first EP in late November and it contains five solid and fully-charged tracks. I like this one in particular because the hook is strong and catchy. The whole song is also supported by a choppy guitar line that empties out in a fast, thrashy build-up. Again, I can only imagine how awesome and fun this band is to watch live.



Cabin.mp3

Everything you wanted to know about Play/Start is here.

EP Island//Heart Fit

The First Monday Mail of 2010!
What is Monday Mail?

Hello OSS and welcome to the fourth day of the not-aughts! I missed you! It’s been a long and somewhat restful break. My holidays involved a mix lots of snow, drum lessons, pagan ceremonies, airports, hotel-dwelling, sight-seeing and bar-drinkin’ that spanned over three American cities. How were yours?

At the height of the “giving season,” LL from Down the Lees and EP Island wrote:

Guess what?? We are full of the giving spirit. So we are giving away free downloads for both EP Island albums! That's 6 songs (plus a bonus track) absolutely free! No catch - just free. So go to our bandcamp site and download Good'ish and Rad'ish - on us!

EP Island is an interesting concept. From the “band’s” page:

LL Schultz and Melanie Covey are EP Island, which is a home-studio-based songwriting and recording project, executed over intensive periods. They wanted to work together musically, but without the usual format of a band with weekly practices.

Basically, the group gets together and records EPs. This sounds way fun to me.

As you can probably imagine, the tracks coming out of these sessions are more raw than they are polished. That said, there’s something refreshing about listening to music that’s been conceived this way. Unprocessed and unpretentious, the songs capture some of the experimentation and spontaneity that come from jamming (for lack of a better word).

This song, “Heart Fit”—for those of you on New Year’s Diets, mixes the vox a bit to the back, which I enjoy. This, combined with the overlapping guitar lines, makes for something a bit like Sleater-Kinney lite. Not a bad start to the year at all.



Heart Fit.mp3

You can download both EP Island albums for free here.

The Ann Arbor Canasta Fix//Exactly What They Want, Spoon//Chicago at Night, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles//I Care About Detroit

On Jan. 1, 2004, I moved to London. It was a weird and mostly unhappy time for me. London is a fantastic place to feel alone and dour.

I didn't have many friends at the time, and spent most of my days wandering on the Thames walk, south of the river, going to underground queer parties, searching for ANYTHING that was open 24-hours (I was homesick), writing songs on my Martin backpacker guitar and visiting galleries and museums alone. Of course, I was also in school, so I did that too. My friend Ame and I also made a habit of getting quite drunk and taking insanely long walks at ridiculously late hours.

On St. Patrick's day of that year, Ame and Jen and I got very drunk on some kind of Bailey's rip-off we got at Tesco. We sat for a while, drinking, at Trafalgar Sq., where a Jamaican man kept asking us for sips. Eventually we made our way to Jubilee Gardens, near the Eye. There, Ame (who lived in Chicago at the time) exclaimed, drunkenly, somewhat ashamedly, but totally seriously, "THE MIDWEST IS HOME!" As it echoed out over the river and the cold British city, I thought, yes, the midwest is home.

And so, on that note, I'm going "home" this weekend, to play three shows in the Midwest. Each song today is a shout-out to one of the three midwestern cities we're playing in and will make us even-steven for the three days I won't be able to update OSS.

ANN ARBOR (Alias: A2, Ace Deuce, Tree Town)

Ann Arbor is where I lived for about six years, while I went to college and while I bummed around and did nothing after college.

This song is by the Ann Arbor Canasta Fix, which the riot-grrrrl inspired solo project of Shar McLeod, an (ironically) Austin, TX-based artist. Somehow Ali stumbled upon an AACF song and it ended up on a mix, many years ago. Here's a different, but equally awesome jam.


Exactly What They Want.mp3

Float like a butterfly,
Sting like a bee,
Sell your soul to Mohammed Ali!


CHICAGO (Alias: CHI, ChiTown, Chicagy)

Chicago has a high concentration of best friends and people who I think are awesome. It also serves up some mean street elotes, brunch and record shopping options.

Spoon (also from Austin) tells us about Chicago at night. I definitely have been to Chicago at night. Late, late at night. Often looking for some kind of 24-hour taco option.



Chicago at Night.mp3

But then she'd never been to Chicago at night before the fall
And it don't stop, not at all.
It falls all around
In the city, hits the ground.

DETROIT (Alias: The D, Motor City, Detroit Rock City, MoTown)

Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, although it's now a burnt-out shell of its former self thanks to 1. riots and 2. the collapse of the US auto industry. I saw many good shows and had many good times there during my time in Michigan. Highlights include: many Coney Islands, techno, Eminem, incredible street art, buildings you can actually see through and garage rock. You may remember that you should put your hands up for The D.

Here, my favorite MoTown artist Smokey Robinson tells us all the reasons to love Detroit.



I Care About Detroit.mp3

There are many reasons why one cares about a city,
Why you care about it's problems, its people and indeed, its very future
Is it friendly, warm, hospitable and are there good job opportunities, educational facilities and a cultural center?
Are you proud to call it your hometown?
When you come right down to it, I venture to say you'll all agree to a resounding yes when you're talking about Detroit.

Oh, and, our full tour schedule is here or here. Maybe we'll see you in the glorious midwest? Hope so.

The Slits//Heard It Through the Grapevine

When I first heard The Slits, my mind was blown. Ali played me some tracks of Cut and I was like, “WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!!?” This was during the time when we were all making dozens and dozens of different AOL screen names (oh, early college). Most of them were “Heathers”-themed, but I immediately went out and claimed “ariupisgod.” I probably still have it…if only I could remember the password.

So who are The Slits? Let me tell you! The Slits really laid the groundwork for the riotgrrl movement. They were formed in 1976 as an all-girl punk/post-punk outfit in the UK (one of their members, Palmolive, later joined The Raincoats; other members went on to form The New Age Steppers). They supported punk-classic The Clash on tour, had their very own Peel Session and successfully mixed punk sounds with reggae/dub undertones, avant-garde sensibilities and feminism(!) to form a sound all their own. The have an AWESOME song called Typical Girls which is a pretty sweet third wave diatribe and also calls out my favorite East Coast salesman (and yours?), Crazy Eddie.

In 2005, the group had a reunion (sort of). I heard it wasn’t very good, but I’m still really sad I missed it. They just signed a new record deal, so we’ll see what comes of that.

You probably know this song already (in fact, I'm sure you do), but unless you have (a) a strong interest in post punk, (b) a strong interest in riotgrrl/proto-riotgrrl (c) a strong interest in rare vinyl and mp3s, you probably haven’t heard it like this before. Although you are reading a music blog written by a queer feminist-tinged nerdgirl, so maybe this isn’t new to you? And two covers in one week...what is OSS coming to!? Regardless, enjoy.



I Heard It Through the Grapevine.mp3

A little trivia: Did you know that the grapevine actually refered to a clandestine telegraph system used in the late 1800s? Ok. I really don’t think you knew that one. More here.

Purple Rhinestone Eagle//Sleep, Golden Sleep

ROCK AND ROLL TOUR STYLE [Local! Music! Friday!]!
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

Tour, besides being a total blast, also gave me so much new fodder for L!M!F!s, since we played so many shows with such a wide array of Interesting and Talented Bands (and of course, some shows with some not-so-I&TBs, but hey—you win some, you lose some).

Our West Philly show was one of my favorites. Philadelphia house shows almost always feel like party-central, and this was no exception. Both band we played with (the fabulous Dangerous Ponies were also on the bill) were lots of raucous fun.

While I had never heard of them before, Emily tells me Purple Rhinestone Eagle have a somewhat cultish following in the West Philly scene (they used to be local), which was part of why the show was so great. But don’t get me wrong—most of why the show was so great was the fact that this band just rocks. Hard. There’s nothing like seeing intense musical energy in a small closed space, like The Mitten’s sweaty basement. Listening to them, I was hearing tons of weird influences: 60s Psychedelia, 90s Riotgrrl, Sludgy Proto-Metal. PRE sounds like Led Zeppelin meets Bikini Kill and it’s awesome. It was nice to finally hear a band take the Riotgrrl sound forward into the next generation in a way that wasn’t totally derivative. Well done.

All the songs on their newest EP, Amorum Tali, are pretty worth it, but the first track and this one stand out to me. Besides, it’s the weekend. Everyone could use some extra sleep, golden sleep.



Sleep, Golden Sleep.mp3

Purple Rhinestone Eagle’s on tour now, although their NYC date at DBA was a few weeks ago. If you’re in the Midwest or the PacNW, see if you can catch them because their live show is totally sweet.


The shadow passes you,
The shadow passes me.
The darkness falls on us.
We’re drowing in the sea.
Golden sleep falls upon us again.

Hole//Olympia

This weekend, Emily and I went to a riotgrrrl coverband show in West Philly. We wore our sunglasses. We were emotionally unavailable. How apt.

There was a Hole coverband (it was a loose definition of riotgrrrl). They played this song, and while I am not really a huge Hole fan, IT WAS RIGHTEOUS!!!!



Olympia.mp3

When I went to school
In Olympi ya ya ya ya ya!

The Gossip//Fire Sign, Bikini Kill//Rebel Girl, Sleater Kinney//Get Up

Hi darling! You look fabulous. It's OSS’s Queer Week!!!!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for breaking format a lot this week. I’ll be taking three days off over the next two weeks, and I want to make sure the tune-to-biz day ratio stays on the up-and-up, so I’m throwing in some extra sweet songs this week. That said, without further delay, I present to you a feature:

My Super Queer Rock and Roll Crushes Countdown, Part 1: The Ladies

3. Beth Ditto of The Gossip

Beth Ditto is pretty damn sexy. She has one of the most entrancing stage presences of any performer I’ve ever seen. Bonus points for her On Our Backs spread with her tranny boyfriend. Hell yeah! Unrelated and weird sidenote: Ditto and Kate Moss have somehow become BFFs .



Fire Sign.mp3
by The Gossip


2. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, Julie Ruin and Le Tigre

OMG, Kathleen Hanna. This ultrasexy godmother of riotgirl is one pretty hot topic (get it!?!?!). Jokes. Yeah, Kathleen Hanna is gorgeous in every sense of the word and each of her musical projects kicks ass in a new way.



Rebel Girl.mp3
by Bikini Kill


1. Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney and The Spells

Yeah, I know. I'm predictable. My biggest rock and roll crush http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifever is Carrie Brownstein. And she has been ever since I first bought The Hot Rock and fell head over heals for both her and SK (my previous favorite band, knocked out of position only recently by FFs). Carrie is an amazing guitarist and singer, a great performer and friends with Miranda July. Also, she's totally the finest human being ever. Did I mention she blogs for NPR? REPEAT: BLOGS FOR NPR. What else could a girl want?



Get Up.mp3
by Sleater Kinney

One Gay Fact: The word "dyke," originally a derogatory label for a masculine or butch woman, has been reappropriated as a positive term implying assertiveness and toughness, or simply as a neutral synonym for lesbian.


Rebel girl, rebel girl,
Rebel girl you are the queen of my world!

The Raincoats, The Kinks//Lola

To celebrate my upcoming trip to San Francisco, America’s very own homo Mecca, One Sweet Song is getting totally gay this week. Yes, please welcome (with loving arms and lots of alcohol) OSS’s Queer Week.
Expect: raucous fun, queer action, FABULOUS!!!!!, gender bending jams, all-night parties, gay shame, hard liquor, miller high life (champagne of beers, btw).
Don’t Expect: rainbow stickers, pink triangles, the color purple, u-haul jokes, gay pride, clay aiken, miller lite.
I'll also be giving you bonus songs on some posts to make up for my upcoming "days off" from blogging.

Getting down to business:
I attended an impromptu dance party last night and, I have to say, this song about falling for a tranny woman in gay, gay ol’ Soho (this could lead to a whole world of other stories for me, so I’ll refrain) was woefully missing from the playlist (take a note on that, Mitch). While the Kinks version can definitely stand just fine on its own, it’s this version by late 70s proto-riotgrrl/post-punk group The Raincoats, that truly does the song justice. The cover relies on a more disjointed rhythm, injecting a jagged aesthetic and adding even more gender bending confusion. What better way to kick this gay week off?

Unsurprisingly, The Raincoats have big ties to that other pillar of London’s late 70s proto-riotgrrl/post-punk/new wave scene, The Slits. (remind me to tell you about my “ariupisgod” screen name from 2003). They’ve also inspired a host of much-esteemed indie/grunge icons, from Chicks on Speed to Kurt Cobain to Sonic Youth.



Lola.mp3 [Raincoats]

As an aside, Karl, his dad and I really rocked out to some Kinks in the car pre-Palmyra show on Saturday, so it makes me happy to be able to give them a shout-out today. We are the village green preservation society.



Lola.mp3 [Kinks]

You can get The Kitchen Tapes, recorded live in '82 at NYC's The Kitchen, at Other Music Digital here.

One Gay Fact: Ray Davies says that he was inspired to write this song after the band manager Robert Wace had spent the night dancing with a transvestite.

Well, I’m not the world’s most masculine man,
But I know what I am,
And I’m glad I’m a man,
And so is Lola.

Le Tigre//Deceptacon

There are a couple things I absolutely cannot do unless I’ve had a few two many beers. One is karaoke. Another is dancing at dance parties.

What makes this song so special is that no matter how much alcohol I’ve consumed, I can ALWAYS dance to it, and I seemingly never tire of it in the dj queue. My theory is that when Kathleen Hanna is at the helm of a danceable track, all bets are off.

Something else about this song is that it reminds me of freshman year. Kot used to set different songs as our alarm clock on her computer. Sometimes, it was really pleasant (waking up to “Havalina” by The Pixies is some kind of perfect). Other times, it was really jarring and horrifying (waking up to “Deceptacon” is jarring and horrifying, like waking up to a Post Wave Feminist Electro Punk Fire Drill).

Also, I should note that this song, like all of Le Tigre’s best songs, comes from the pre-JD era (no offense, JD, but you are no fucking Sadie Benning).



Deceptacon.mp3

Your lyrics are dumb like a linoleum floor.

The Pussy Pirates//Stickboy Lullabye

[Local! Music! Friday!]
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

AND ALSO
It’s Expletive Week, motherfuckers!!!
What does that mean? That means a week of totally offensive songs!
Yeah! DOUBLE MOTHERFUCKING WHAMMY!!!

The Pussy Pirates fucking rule! In all ways possible!

Take it from the Chicago Reader: " If you can get past their name, these five women (four from Ann Arbor, one from Chicago) might just charm your socks off. They all play the part of the tough girl, with stay-the-hell-away hairdos and curled upper lips, but their punchy doomsday horn punk brims with love, spirit, and humor."

Gabbie and the rest of the crew are, beyond just being punkrock badasses, really neat people, who I’m always happy to run into in and around Chicago and Ann Arbor. Not to mention, now she’s all 30-under-30 famous.



Stickboy Lullabye.mp3

Expletive Fact: #5: According to The Urban Dictionary, a “pussy pirate” is a lesbian; a dyke. But, as you’ll see, our girls also have an entry there.



Yesssss! Pussy Pirates play Trash Bar in Williamsburg on Monday. More info here.

Erase Errata//Thief Detests The Criminal

I wanted to get a little angry today. It’s Wednesday, but it feels like it should be Friday. Everyone’s working, but I feel like we should be rioting in the streets. Erase Errata—what could be more perfect?

I got really into EE in the early college years. This was the time of my life where my friends and I were forming a radical feminist collective called radigrrl. Yes, radigrrl. I am not joking.

Radigrrl’s mission was to “fuck shit up!,” which we did very well and very diy-style by defacing public property, volunteering at abortion clinics and making tshirts with stenciled-on depictions of sex toys.
Damn. We were crazy. And bands like EE, Sleater-Kinney, The Raincoats, Kleenex/Lilliput and Le Tigre were our soundtrack to kicking the patriarchy’s ass.

Fast forward to today and the whole thing seems like a quaint and funny jaunt down the memory lane of my sort of naive adolescent feminist awakening. Regardless, EE still knows how to fuck shit up!



Thief Detests The Criminal.mp3

I got the opportunity to see EE when living in London. It was a really awkward show, mainly because THEY all seemed really awkward and kinda crazy. Although, they still totally delivered the hard and fast punk sound I was expecting.

Last thing I heard, EE was on an extended hiatus. Unfortunate, because I doubt anyone could do what they do as well as them.

Make them count it out loud!
And then go back into the cold dark night!