By Gregg Shapiro
It must be a testament to the commitment of the members of the B-52s that each of its remaining long-term members, Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, and Cindy Wilson, have only released two albums apiece under their own names over the course of the band’s 45-year recording career. Pierson’s latest album, “Radio & Rainbows” (Long Meadow Music/Crush Music/SongVest Records), arrives 9½ years after 2015’s
“Guitars and Microphones” (anyone else see a pattern here?). Dedicated to Pierson’s wife, Monica Nation, the album takes Pierson in a variety of musical directions, including dance (“Take Me Back to the Party,” cowritten with Jimmy Harry, who has worked with RuPaul, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and others, and the soaring “Wings”), the suitably spooky “Every Day Is Halloween” (co-written with and
featuring Sia), the island breeze of “Pillow Queen”, the funky “Dream On” and “Living In a Monet” (featuring queer musician Gail Ann Dorsey), and the colorful title cut. After 25 years of releasing
albums (nearly a dozen!) on the indie Blue Corn Music record label, the amazing queer singer/
songwriter Ruthie Foster is now on the legendary Sun Records label with her newest release
“Mileage” (Sun). Pressed on vivid baby blue vinyl, the 10-song album, consisting of nine Foster originals
(co-written with the record’s producer Tyler Bryant and Rebecca Lovell)
contains Foster’s blend of influences, such as gospel (“Good For My Soul” and “Six Mile
Water”), searing blues-pop (“Done,” featuring sister duo Larkin Poe, “Heartshine,” and
title cut), a radiant love song (“Rainbow”), and soulful stomp (“Slow Down”), all delivered
in her powerful vocal style.
Led by queer frontwoman Jen Dot and featuring trans musician Jesse Fevvers, Chicago
quintet Beastii makes rip-roaring dance punk on its new album “Follower”
(beastie.bandcamp.com). At just over two minutes in length, the second track “The Limit” exemplifies
the spirit (and blistering brevity) of early classic punk. “Spilt Milk” and “Butch Beach” conjure images of
surfers riding the waves of Lake Michigan, while “Evil Eye” and “Trusted Mystik” represent darkwave
at its eeriest. Ever since “The Omnichord Real Book,” Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy-winning 2023 career comeback, the queer singer/ songwriter and bassist extraordinaire has been on a thrilling trajectory. Her new album, “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin” (Blue Note), continues that stellar course. A tribute to Baldwin for his centennial, as well as fellow lesbian literary legend Audre Lorde, and other queer thinkers, including biracial poet Staceyann Chin who can be heard reciting Baldwin’s words (“Baldwin Manifesto I,” “Baldwin Manifesto II”) as well as her own poetry (“Thus Sayeth The Lorde,” “Tsunami Rising,” and “Raise The Roof”), the album is an incredible combination of music, song, and spoken word that once again proves Ndegeocello’s genius as a collaborative artist.
Melissa Carper has her queer country bona fides in her blood, as she sings in the title track to her
magnificent new album “Borned In Ya” (Mae Music/Thirty Tigers). If’n you didn’t know any better, you
might think you were listening to a vintage 78 RPM on the old Victrola. The arrangements are pure
country swing and Carper’s vocals are somewhere between Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline. The 10
Carper originals (some of which are co-written), including the flawless title cut, “Your Furniture’s Too Nice,”“Somewhere Between Texas and Tennessee,” “Let’s Get Outta Here,” “Lucky Five,” and “Let’s Stay Single Together,” effortlessly conjure a sensation of nostalgia crossed with déjà vu. Carper’s reading of Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” breathes new life into the chestnut.
After releasing albums on theArista and Velvel labels, as well as Indigo Girl Amy Ray’s Daemon
Records, lesbian singer/songwriter Michelle Malone found a home on her own indie SBS Records. Her aptly titled new album, “Southern Comfort” (SBS) is where Southern rock and country music intersect, with the title track about homesickness being a perfect example. “I Choke On My Words” is
a stunner and deserves to be a hit for Malone (or anyone wise enough to cover it). Also noteworthy are “I Want To Be In That Picture,” “Like Mother Like Daughter,” “One Track Mind,” and “Wine and Regret.”
If you’ve been following fruitful queer singer/songwriter Rachael Sage throughout her nearly 30-year
career, you may remember that, backed by a band, she mainly accompanied herself on piano and or organ. On later albums, such as 2014’s “Blue Roses,” Sage began to show off her guitar skills, then took it a step further by releasing acoustic rerecordings, including 2019’s “Pseudomyopia” (another take on
2018’s “Myopia”). All of this is to say that it’s not all that surprising that Sage’s new album, the marvelous “Another Side” (MPress), consisting of “acoustic reimaginings” of her 2023 record “The Other Side,” is a pleasure. The addition of harmony vocals by queer singer/songwriter Crys Matthews on “Albatross” is truly a bonus.
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