Internet Compensation

I'm not going to go on a long rant about lesbians/bisexuals not being represented in the media, mainly because I strongly feel Sarah Warn has taken care of that. But I do feel like lesbians are the dirty little secret of the media. Only being able to show ourselves through the world of "www dot". Like we're well hidden. We're not on Gossip Girl, 90210, or Private Practice, o no! We're not obvious, we're tucked away. We have to be scoped out manually through laptops, desktops and iphones. We have to be searched. We have to be downloaded. We have to be written in shows created by us and for us. We don't stream in the mainstream, we stream over the web in streaming video.

It's a small world but at least it's ours. We've claimed it, and Afterellen is our kingdom, with more lesbian media in one place than probably any other website has "straight" media. I mean props to AE right, have you checked the "video" section? But it's sad because straight people aren't going to look for us there or on any other website, which is why we're not seen in the media cause everything about us apparently remains foreign to them.

So now what? We just have to remain content with cyber visibility? Perhaps, here are some of my favorites:

B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye - Season Two, Episode 10
by bjfletcherprivateeye

FEED Season Two, Episode Two from Heroine Films on Vimeo.

Ok Hiatus-Over! Newest Obsession: Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney is ...was one of the best rock bands in the world! Period! They were not "the best gay rock band" or "the best female rock band", they didn't belong in boxes, not even ones fans attempted to place them in. They formed in 1994, and released their debut, self-titled album, Sleater-Kinney, in 1995. They came to us sort of towards the end of the uber famous "Riot Grrrl Movement". Like most bands at that time, their influences included Sonic Youth and Bikini Kill.

The first and second discs from the band, Sleater-Kinney and Call The Doctor, respectively, are pretty punk. But once we get into the 3rd cd of the 7cd discography, things start to change, tracks on Dig Me Out have a hint of pop, and just a dash of classic rock, it was the beginning of the classic rock/punk fusion that became S-K's truly signature sound. 

The last record, The Woods, is the perfect commencment to their career. Some fans didn't "get it" and this is where we get into the "fans putting their favorite bands in a box" thing. Sleater-Kinney is categorized as a punk band. I'd have to disagree I feel like once you cover different subgenres of Rock you can call yourself a "Rock" band! If you took a day out to listen to all 7 Sleater-Kinney records you would see the careful gradual steps from Punk to Classic Rock taken by the band. Every record put out by Sleater-Kinney sounds like was supposed to be the next record put out by Sleater-Kinney. It feels natural. I doesn't feel forced, the last record didn't feel like a legendary band wanted to "see if they still had it". The last record felt like "this is it, finally". 

This of course is a bittersweet discovery for all who feel this way about the record  because it was infact, the last step. 

On August 12, 2006 Sleater-Kinney played their last show ever at the Crystal Ballroom in their hometown of Portland, OR. They are on an indefinite hiatus. Carrie's spoken on it a few times since giving very little (but some) hope for a reunion or as she'd rather call it if it happens "the end of the hiatus".

Sick of Sarah!!!

Sick of Sarah is a pop/rock/punk-ish band based out of Minnesota (finally Mid-West represent bitch!!!). The band consists of:
Abisha Uhl: vocals & rhythm guitar Katie Murphy: guitar, vocals Jessie Farmer: guitar, vocals Brooke Svanes: drums Jamie Holm: bass, vocals

Jamie is the newest addition to the band, but you wouldn't be able to tell by the chemistry she has with the other members. Who are all hilarious by the way. If you love watching ridiculous Tegan & Sara stuff you'll love them, their "behind the scenes" stuff involves cigarettes and alcohol so...I can relate a little better! Tracks to check out, "Not Listening" and "Mr. Incredible".
This is Mr. Incredible....with pictures;-) oooo

O! One thing I forgot to mention, they're a queer band!!! I know, you knew it was coming!!!
And this is "Not Listening" LOVE THIS SONG!!!It's the theme song to Brunch With Bridget!!!

Fun times in the studio!!!:-)

BIG CHANGES FOR FALL TOUR

After a year and a half of touring The Con, Tegan & Sara have decided to finally make some serious changes to the setlist! For the legions of fans eagerly awaiting Tegan's much promised (and never carried out) performance of "Superstar", your (and my) time has come!!! What's better than Tegan performing "Superstar"??? TEGAN PERFORMING "THE FIRST"!!!!!!!!! I know, I know......I know, I've only just regained my shit....cuz I lost it!!! Sara's high ass has added a light show she can trip herself on..seriously wanna party with Sara! Other songs have been added but I'm not going to make embedding the video COMPLETELY pointless so...I won't go into that. However I will say that I hope one of the unreleased songs to be performed will include my new love "Give Chase"......
Tegan and Sara - US Fall Tour Announcement

Is it just me or do they look like holograms??? WTF???

Shit Recently Placed On My Phone (which holds more than your ipod)!!!

After weeks of stress and other causes of insanity, I've found something inspiring to blog about: New Music!!!! Ok not really new music but music that's new to me and that you probably don't know about either so...yeah.

I had three people I wanted to focus on today. I debated on whether or not I should have three different posts...but I'm feeling a bit tired so I think I'll out do myself here with length and just make this one big ass post!:-)

The first person I want to talk about is L.P. L.P. is a singer based in New York. You might already know of her music and just be unaware of it like I was. If you watch "South of Nowhere" my friend then you know her, she sings the theme song...or rather her song is played as the theme. What's funny is I just recently downloaded that song by mistake cause someone had it listed as a Tegan & Sara song and I was like "wtf" this doesn't sound like T&S!!! lol Gotta love limewire:-P She's openly gay- guys I swear I didn't know that before I started listening to her! I'm just that gay! It's like the universe pulls me in these really homosexual directions: gay movies, gay actresses, gay singers, gay bands. I just stumble upon this shit! Anywho!She's got that androgyny thing that's really sexy in a female but is SUPER sexy in a female musician. She looks ALOT younger than she is too, which I can empathize with of course...she probably doesn't get the respect she deserves right of the bat. She has a really strong voice, it's heart-breaking. So far my favorite song by her is "Cling To Me" which you can her about 30sec of on her video for "Good With You", also an amazing track. She delivers unique vocals, seemingly very difficult to perform live, but that isn't so. She's an amazing live artist as well. She's very funny, witty and kinda sarcastic (I should ask her out). And she dares to have a style reminiscent of Alice Cooper but makes it really really hott.
Here's the video for "Good With You", trust, you will thank me for this:
L.P. "Good With You/Cling To Me" video

Next up, we have Uh Huh Her, which isn't new, but their CD is FINALLY about to come out next Tuesday! And what better time than right now for the label to FINALLY release a video. It's big production ya'll lol. I don't even have much to say on this note...I talk about them alot(not necessarily on here), if you don't got it by now, baby forget it! But if you need more convincing here's the video for "Not A Love Song"....I wouldn't be surprised if they opened up for T&S, that's all I'm gonna say...there are things that make me think that's going to happen shhh

And third The Veronicas!!! Yeah I actually don't have much to say about them except their twins and they make really catchy pop/(very little)rock music and I'm OBSESSED with their latest single "Untouched" and wanted to share it with you guys. Yes they're twins but don't worry they have nothing on T&S...except sexy Australian accents *swoon*. But you can't hear that when they sing so meh!

Sara's The Poo...Take A Big Whiff

Ok, I want to start of by saying I don't think it's necessary to compare Tegan & Sara to each other. But before I really cared about them I said that Tegan was my favorite for poetic reasoning such as "the one with the piercing"! So yeah I was clueless. I think they're both awesome but after two weeks of catching up on all things T & S, I've come to find that I lean more towards Sara. First it was her sense of humor, the chick's hilarious! You guys should really check out their dvds and go on youtube and type in "Tegan & Sara abc interview", after it's over you'll have a feeling of what I'm talking about. Then the more I kept looking at them in all this shit I realized, they really do look different and in my humble opinoin Sara's face is a bit softer and she's a bit cuter...but I know why people find Tegan hotter, she's edgier, people love that! I also like Sara's style of writing better than Tegan's. I love every song they have made but I like the layers in Sara's lyrics. I love their voices equally, I don't think I have a favorite in that area...which is the most important area seeing as how they're singers! So after minor comparisons I still feel good about myself for not saying that one is a better musician than the other:-)
And check my baby Sara out, she can hold her own:

Tegan also collaborated with Against Me! on a track titled "Borne on the FM Waves" but there is no video for that track but, it's awesome. And kudos to both of them for showing that they don't use each other as a crutch and are two separate forces. I think people really needed to see that. I promise this isn't going to turn into a Tegan & Sara fan site...

I'm just SO bored with Gimme Sugar and I have to wait until festival rounds are over to get some peaks at the drool worthy Indie flicks making the circut. So I will be back on top of that soon but I mean really....who's complaining???

T & S Forever!!!!

I'm in love with two people, Tegan & Sara! Who isn't right? Actually I've always liked them, but I didn't love them...until a few days ago. A while ago they were mentioned Cathy Debuono's WYP and were said to be gay. This of course peaked my interest, especially considering they are identical twins. So initially my research (and they're SO open about their sexuality that it didn't take much) was just to find out if this was true. Along the way I discovered geniuses! As a true music fan one thing you need to see before you die is "The Con" dvd/documentary, as a music lover getting inside T & S's head was such a revealation. I mean watching them put each song together layer by layer, in EXTREME detail was unlike anything I'd seen before. They are in this CD, it's not some studio job, where they handed over the demos and just let go. In fact, the first thing you find out is that the tracks on the CD are SUPER tweaked demos that the girls had already put together. They just added the guitars, keyboards, and vocals first. Then took it to the producer and the drummer (both members of Death Cab for Cutie) to really make these tracks come to life. And on a side note: SUCH a turn on watching Tegan play some raw guitar lol. They're both professionals on the keyboard and the guitar. Tegan drums a little but it definitely isn't her strongest skill lol.

But it's not all about "The Con", actually I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Con is their 5th record. Which means I've got a lot more T & S coming my way. Now I'm not an idiot, I was very much a fan by time "So Jealous" came out but I just liked the singles, but for some reason was never motivated to buy the CD. So this is the very beginning of my Tegan & Sara journey back in time (The Con came out over a year ago), I've got a long ways back to go. I just caught a rarity on youtube a song from a really old cd called "The First" well the CD is called "The Business of Art" and it's unlike anything I've EVER heard by T & S! Tegan, whose voice is the more high pitched between the two, leads this track with a rough hip-hop/r&b vocal that I didn't even know she was capable of. The funny thing about the video is I'm sure when people saw it, they assumed they were gay cause they look like little boys, but I don't care. When it comes to rockstars they do all sorts of weird things with their appearance that has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It's just an artist's need to be different from the pack. This theory is supported by the fact that this vid is like 6 years old and the girls have since had a more feminine appeal. As of late they have blended with their signature mullet, that NO ONE else can copy, cause they would look ridiculous, where as T & S look sexy. Here's the old vid, that everyone should check out, especially if you're some one who thought that all they could do was poppy high-pitched vocals....YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!!!

In true "Then & Now", "Before & After" fashion I will put a video from the latest CD on here, but I have to give a little info first. Nothing much just some stand out tracks. My fave of the 14 on the disc are: The Con, Like O Like H, Knife Going In, Floorplan, Call It Off, Nineteen, Are You Ten Years Ago. And damn that's half the CD, the other tracks are great too, but the ones I listed are on repeat on my computer right now! So in conclusion Tegan & Sara are sexy and successful and musical geniuses! How successful, well I didn't check out the numbers for this disc yet, but "So Jealous" was one of the best selling CDs of 2004 when it was released. Not to mention you've heard their songs on every major mainstream primetime show...and more than a few movies! Making them industry favorites, and respected among their peers. So here's the video for "The Con", probably my favorite song by them, and I'm REALLY pissed this wasn't the first single!

The Cliks!!!!!!!

The Cliks! I'm excited! Are you? If you're a dyke you are cause you've heard their music now, officially on EVERY major lezzy show there is: Exes & Ohs, The L Word, and most recently Gimme Sugar. The whole band is made up of lesbians except Lucas who is a transman, and a gorgeous one at that. His (and for you straight people who don't get how this works, Lucas was born a female but never felt like one so she transitioned and is now a man)voice is AMAZING! I've never heard a voice a raw and raspy as his that was able to go so high. On their most popular cut "Oh Yeah" Lucas' voice is so painful and you feel his fury in the verses but then the pre-chorus is so light and his voice lifts and it's some vulnerability there that you weren't expecting. Then there's sexually charged (if only by the video) "Eyes In The Back of My Head" and he's whispering to you through the verses and then the chorus is like a chant, very engaging. Now "Complicated" is the most revealing of the three I think. And if you watch the video you kinda see why, I think this one really mirrors Lucas' pain and confusion about the his gender and what that pain was like. So here it is, the video for the three songs:
Oh Yeah

Complicated

Eyes In The Back of My Head

And a special treat: Cry Me A River & Irreplacable