2012: A Landmark Year for Gay Music

My Pazz & Jop comment that The Voice published was taken from a larger submission. Here it is, below, in full:

Alex Ross, in his New Yorker piece from November about the progressive strides that the gay rights movement has made, surmises, "Today, gay people of a certain age may feel as though they had stepped out of a lavender time machine."

Yet amid brief discussions of straight artists like Lady Gaga and Carly Rae Jepson, Ross—a music critic, it should be noted—failed to identify 2012 as a landmark year for gay musicians. (He did, however, enter into the race for quote of the year, writing, "At certain moments, straight people can seem gayer than the gays.")

These were Frank Ocean's twelve months. His Fallon performance, the second movement of "Pyramids," making bandannas almost as cool as the Boss once did: the list goes on and on. And, oh yeah, he declared his one-time love for another man on the advent of his debut album, ahem, coming out.

Channel Orange is a record that critics laud despite having a difficult time pigeonholing. In late December, I went to my local record store in Denver and was shocked to find the album in the rap section. It's probably an R&B effort, yes, and all of the bluster about Ocean's reinvention of the genre isn't all that over the top. From Pitchfork to People, it's the rare release the connects with a wide swath of the populace. On "Bad Religion," Ocean sings, "Unrequited love, to me, is just a one man cause / Cyanide in my Styrofoam cup / I can never make him love me / It's a bad religion to be in love with someone who could never love you"—lines that spurned humans of any stripe can connect with.

Grizzly Bear is doing a bang-up job of making itself a supergroup as an afterthought, Daniel Rossen and Ed Droste fronting, and other members being Chris Bear and Chris Taylor. The quartet keeps busy elsewhere before coming back together, only to record some of the finest pop music in the world. Droste, a homosexual, is one of our best vocalists, with an ability to convey frailty yet confidence, the crux of the Brooklyn group's shy-power dialectic. As sure of a bet as any in the music world, Grizzly Bear's record from this year, Shields, came through in spades with an unmatched clarity of production.  

Watching Perfume Genius's video for "Dark Parts" made me think of my gay father and the struggles he's encountered over tumultuous decades. Mike Hadreas walks lovingly with his real-life mother though a forest as his lyrics ring out: "But he'll never break you, baby." There's much implication that the tough guys—the men's men—still don't get it. I don't know Hadreas's father and I don't know his life. But, I do know that his ruminative debut Put Yr Back N2 It can be absolutely devastating.

On "Take Me Home," Hadreas laments, "Take me home, tend to me, baby lay me down easy, for I have grown weary on my own." It's painful stuff and might not be directly correlated with being a homosexual. Still, there's an edge, there. We are lucky enough, as Ross's history indicates, to live in a time where we can assert that an individual's sexuality "doesn't really matter." And while it distracts us from what really counts—the music, in this case—it does so in an ever-dwindling amount. It is getting better, Dan Savage but, of course, we aren't there. Yet, we can distill some smiles from the bloodshed. Would any of these records have been as good as they are without struggle?

Pazz & Jop 2012

The Village Voice published its yearly wrap of the best music of 2012 a couple of weeks ago. Here is my list of favorite albums and singles.

I have, again, proudly chosen a few songs that nobody else did. (And even one album: Karriem Riggins's Alone/Together.)

Here are the tracks that apparently nobody else in the universe dug like I did:

Lambchop, "Mr. Met":

Perfume Genius, "Dark Parts":

Japandroids, "Younger Us":

Four Tet, "Locked":

And wouldn't you know it? The Voice also saw it fit to publish a comment I penned. Here it is:

Channel Orange is a record that critics laud despite having a difficult time pigeonholing. In late December, I went to my local record store in Denver and was shocked to find the album in the rap section. It's probably an r&b effort, yes, and all of the bluster about Ocean's reinvention of the genre isn't all that over the top. From Pitchfork to People, it's the rare release the connects with a wide swath of the populace.

Top 20 Tracks of 2012

1. Danny Brown, "Grown Up"

2. Frank Ocean, "Pyramids"

3. Lambchop, "Mr. Met"

4. Perfume Genius, "Dark Parts"

5. The Walkmen, "Heaven"

6. Kendrick Lamar, "m.A.A.d city"

7. Japandroids, "Younger Us"

8. Tame Impala, "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

9. Titus Andronicus, "In a Big City"

10. Four Tet, "Locked"

11. The Shins, "Port of Morrow"

12. Hot Chip, "Motion Sickness"

13. Lower Dens, "Brains"

14. Twin Shadow, "The One"

15. Foxygen, "Make It Known"

16. Grizzly Bear, "Yet Again"

17. Gravenhurst, "The Prize"

18. Lindstrom, "Faar-i-kall"

19. Purity Ring, "Fineshrine"

20. Daughn Gibson, "Tiffany Lou"


Here's the playlist:

Top 15 Albums of 2012

1. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...

2. Julia Holter - Ekstasis

3. Grizzly Bear - Shields

4. Action Bronson - Blue Chips

5. Lower Dens - Nootropics

6. Karriem Riggins - Alone/Together

7. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

9. Jack White - Blunderbuss

10. Grimes - Visions

11. Tame Impala - Lonerism

12. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

13. Japandroids - Celebration Rock

14. Fang Island - Major

15. The Walkmen - Heaven

Stay tuned for my Pazz & Jop contribution and, if you're interested, check out my previous picks:

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Gummy Bear

I have an enduring affinity for Grizzly Bear. In fact, my first "real" feature for Time Out New York was on the subject of the group's 2009 effort, Veckatimest, and a BAM show in advance of its release. (Pardon TONY's website appearance, as usual.)

So, it was quite fitting that Stereogum approached me about doing a piece on Grizzly Bear's ten best songs. It was a tough log to whittle, but I think I rounded up some choice cuts. (Apologies to residents of my home state for not including "Colorado.")

Look for more to come on Stereogum. 

That rhymed.

Op-Ed

I submitted the following to The New York Times in the wake of the shootings in Colorado last month. Word on the street is they didn't use it so, now, it can find a home on my blog, a close second in terms of prestige.

In the wake of the massacre last week in Aurora, Colorado, the United States is left wrangling with a mounting number of tough questions with respect to gun control, mental health care, cinematic violence, definitions of terrorism and politicization of tragedy. And while they’re all quandaries worthy of reflection, one particular outcry hits home, literally, for many of us: What is wrong with Colorado?

I was a sophomore in high school when the Columbine shooting occurred. Sitting in geometry class, we watched the drama unfold on television. (It was the first time I’ve felt that sensation of empty helplessness, the same emotion experienced watching the World Trade Center fall the first week of my freshman year at Boston College.) My high school, Regis Jesuit, isn’t exactly around-the-corner from Columbine, but it’s not far, either. Later, when I found out that I had played youth soccer with one of the victims, Isaiah Shoels, I joined a larger community of puzzled mourners.

And, now, Colorado is left with a doubled-down-upon nausea. Not only is there the tragedy and its consequences, there’s an perception in and out of state that there must be something awry here. (To add insult to significant injury, the Centennial State has experienced one of its worst summers on record, from fires north and south to drought, unbearable heat and the murder of a police officer after a jazz concert.) So, what gives?

Colorado’s relatively relaxed gun laws aren’t decreasing violence, whatever the concealed weapons advocates say. It’s up for debate as to whether or not it’s increasing violence; a statistic like a 41% uptick in background checks for weapons isn’t comforting, to say the least. But, that doesn’t explain why two of the biggest shooting sprees in U.S. history have occurred, here, in Colorado.

Nothing really can. For lack of a better explanation, it’s evil luck. There’s nothing in the water here (it’s actually quite delicious) and Coloradans don’t have a preordained lust for violence. There’s a stock phrase, now, around election time, “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation.” I’d say the same of this Rocky Mountain purple state and go one or two steps further: Whatever is “wrong” with Colorado, is “wrong” with the United States. Or as Anthony Burgess related in a recently-printed New Yorker essay, perhaps “evil” is the more accurate term.

There will always be people who want to cause harm to others, from California to Colorado to Connecticut. Our governor, John Hickenlooper, dodged a gun control question on Meet the Press this weekend, but his basic point was right. “This wasn’t a Colorado problem,” he said. “This is a human problem.” While it’s true we won’t be able to stop people from choosing malevolence, it was misguided to imply we shouldn’t try harder.

Colorado is a divided state. Denver Democrats have little in common with Eastern plains farmers or Pueblo steelworkers. It can be a paranoid, tense and conflicted place, but if that doesn’t describe the current state of the union, I’m not sure what does.

A brief defense is in order, too. I love Colorado. It is a gorgeous, sprawling region. Coming back here two years ago--after going to college out East and living in New York City for five years--was a breath of fresh air. People at this altitude are as laid-back as the stereotype promises, and Coloradans are overwhelmingly kind, jovial and generous. The divide that exists can, often, give way to a harmonious balance, perennially-top-ranked healthy nuts enjoying a few of the local craft beers or bankers biking to work, no ties allowed.

Friday morning was an awful one. Coloradans woke up to concerned phone calls from family and friends, only to slowly learn what had happened. It seemed like it would last forever. But, it didn’t. The Denver Post hosted its 12th annual Underground Music Showcase from Thursday to Sunday on South Broadway street. Hundreds of bands participated--the lion’s share of them local--and for a few hours each day, the citizens of the Denver area enjoyed the welcome respite of melody, high-fives and cold drinks. The tragedy hadn’t overtaken Colorado, just the opposite. And in those theaters on Broadway, no one could stop the show from going on.

Time Out at Time Out

If you are devoted reader of my blog, you need to reflect upon what you're doing with your life. After you have done so, you might notice that some of the Time Out links to right are busted.

Yes, TONY has upgraded to a new site (again), so a lot of my writing is lost somewhere on the Internet. I am slowly but surely repairing the links; if this presents an immediate problem for you: see above. And then, I guess, email me with what you need to see.

You Can Quote Me

I was lucky enough to be quoted this week in a couple of publications.

The President was in town for a speech up at CU-Boulder and ended up staying in Cherry Creek, which is in the ol' neighborhood. I ventured over the Cherry Cricket to see what all the fuss was about, snapped a pic of a Secret Service dude and posted my findings on Facebook. Westword dug it and wrote a post about the whole deal here.

Then, my father quoted my Coors Field wine research in his Chicago Tribune piece. 

So, yeah, two articles that reference my drinking. Great.