folk/rock
Elias is a singer, writer, academic, activist, and performer who travels internationally (when he can afford it) and by land (more often, thank you Canada) and is living currently in Chicago, Il. He writes music and performs with various guest artists including Jenny Urban, Madsen Minax (of Actor Slash Model), Kadji Amin (of Humble Tripe), and others.
He is also in the band The Homoticons.
punk polka transexual Jew-core
Schmekel is New York City’s only All-Jewish All-Transgender Polka-Punk band. Their music sounds a bit like The Kinks crashed a Bar Mitzvah, while their lyrics combine bawdy humor and critical awareness, encouraging audiences to laugh at butt jokes while deconstructing systems of oppression. Schmekel’s triumvirate of bespectacled transsexual singer-songwriters comprises guitarist Lucian Kahn, keyboardist Ricky Riot (formerly of Twilight of the Idle), and bassist Nogga Schwartz. Genderqueer drummer Simcha Halpert-Hanson keeps them in check.
Glamtronica
Classic Rock & Blues
Too Much Information (TMI) plays the music of the “post-Boomer generation”—70s and 80s classic rock—as well as a mix of older and newer hits. The band covers a wide range of artists, from The Eagles and Eric Clapton to Bonnie Raitt and The B52s. They have a special knack for blues by way of Muddy Waters and Big Mamma Thornton, and a growing list of mixed-genre original tunes. Their musical versatility is apparent in every set. Not only do they play a wide range of pop, rock, funk, and blues, but five of the six take the main mic from time to time. (more…)
Country, Indie-grass, anti-folk
Through both music and film Actor Slash Model addresses issues of gender identity, gender performance and politics, a sex positive ideal, and the art making process.
Brooklyn, NY
Folk-blues piano rocker Ricky Riot writes songs about the joys and sorrows of being Queer. He released two albums under his previous band’s name, Twilight of the Idle. The debut album, “Modesty,” features his many different sides: heartfelt spoken-word pieces and timing experimentation lightened by bluesy cabaret. His second album, “The Only Queers In The Room,” is upbeat and socially conscious, with anthemic hooks to sing along to and collaborative songs, including poet Jan Clausen’s “If Peace Breaks Out”.
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SynthPop/Countrty
London, UK
Breaking Communications – The name for the band came from a song we wrote called “breakdown in communication” as a sort of homage to the Led Zeppelin track “Communication Breakdown” (… see, “then it’s not just a clever name”) (more…)
Rock
Austin Texas
Katy Koonce is the front person for the Austin Texas queer rock band Butch County. Koonce is a trans-identified psychotherapist in Austin and has played with TX gender warriors, Raunchy Reckless and the Amazons, who first passed from the spiritual realm into the physical world of Austin, TX in March of 1999. Since their momentous inception, this unique tribe of Xena-inspired rockers battled in the name of queer rock love above and beyond the Lone Star State.
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queercore/punk
Minneapolis, MN
Tough Tough Skin takes the stage with a punk sensibility and a strong nod to the Homocore bands of the 90s. (more…)
