Lesbian Music for People Who Are Tired of boygenius and girl in red
if that's you, sloane's got your back
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty fucking tired of hearing about boygenius and girl in red. You ask anyone for queer music recommendations these days, and you know what you get? Inevitably? Literally every goddamn time? boygenius and girl in red. This has to stop! For my health!
Of course, there’s a lot of great queer music out there. There’s folk acts like the Magnetic Fields and Sufjan Stevens, punk/post-hardcore bands like IDLES and Black Eyes, hip-hop and R&B like Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean, indie greats like the Smiths and Broken Social Scene. But I’ve always found it particularly difficult to find distinctly lesbian music that I thought was interesting, or even just sounded good to me. I’m not just talking about music performed by lesbians. I mean explicitly lesbian in some way or another. There are women who write love songs explicitly about women, and whole bands (like Team Dresch) who make lesbian identity a distinct part of their image.
I’ve put together a general collection of songs by and for lesbians/queer women, some of which are relatively popular in today’s indie pop kind of circles, some of which are dyke punk classics, and some of which are neither of those things.
One More Hour – Sleater-Kinney
A true classic that takes the archetypal breakup song to another level. Written by Corin Tucker about her split with Carrie Brownstein, the two recorded this song together post-breakup, making daring use of their signature vocal interplay.
anything – Adrianne Lenker
Adrianne Lenker’s poetic word choice and ability to evoke such specific imagery make her on of my favorite songwriters. She is the true master of the lesbian love song.
Cubic Zirconia – Katy Kirby
This song has some of the cutest and most clever lyrics I’ve heard in a love song in a while, especially in the first verse.
Shut Up Kiss Me – Angel Olsen
The album this is on is literally titled MY WOMAN. That should tell you just about everything you need to know.
Two Girls Kissing – Swirlies
Lesbian psychedelic noisy shoegaze! What more could anyone want in this world?
Rebel Girl – Bikini Kill
A classic straight out of the Olympia, Washington riot grrrl scene. This song rocked my world when I was fifteen, maybe sixteen, and dating a boy I didn’t really like.
Dixie Gun – Little Big League
Bet you didn’t know Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast was in a noise pop/midwest emo band ten years ago. I like to imagine that Dixie Gun is a badass butch lady with a tattoo of a pistol or something on her shoulder.
Flower of Blood – Big Thief
If you know, you know.
Glasgow – Jockstrap
Jockstrap is a delightfully weird British glitch pop/art pop duo that brings some needed variety to this playlist. This track has a real cinematic feel to it, bringing to mind the story of an exciting love affair that ends in tears.
Fagetarian and Dyke – Team Dresch
More riot grrrl from Olympia. One of the most iconic and explosive groups to come out of that whole scene, Team Dresch brings a new level of pyrotechnics to an already exciting genre. Also, the song title is fucking awesome.
Liston on Spotify here.