Griff says; The fine art of Gender Loyalties

I've another obscure one for you all today. The band are called Gender Loyalties, they come from Sweden and they are purveyors of some rather fine, folk-tinged, indie-pop. Other than that I know nothing about them. They came to my attention when they posted a four track album on bandcamp earlier this week.

The music is freely downloadable and I recommend that you do so. Four songs doesn't provide a lot to go on but I'd describe the band as sounding a little like Camera Obscura with a male vocalist and a dreamy, 60's, slightly psychedelic vibe. If anyone out there can provide more information then please get in touch.

Have a listen to the two tracks below and see what you think.

Griff
xx

Vacation Vixen: Karen Gillan

I gave Heather endless shit about lusting after young little Karen Gillan. But then I watched the new “Dr. Who.” Um, yeah. Age is just a number, right?

Vacation Vixen: Salma Hayek

Salma dancing is one of the reasons we were given eyes.

Vacation Vixen: Dianna Agron & Lea Michele

Well, now they’re just teasing us.

p.s. So, yes, I’m on vacation through June 23. But I promise to fill the time with pretty pictures each day. And if you’re so inclined, you can follow my vacation loafing @dorothysnarker.

Griff says; ¡Viva Luna Moth!

I've got another, largely undiscovered, gem from CLLCT for you all tonight. The band, from Oklahoma in the US, is called Luna Moth and they've been around for a wee while now; at least since the release of their eponymous first album in 2005. The music is a bit folky, a bit psychedelic and has the charming lo-fi bedroom pop feel that is common to most of the bands I champion on this blog.

The reason I want to bring them to your attention now though is that they've recently released an album entitled 'El Vagabundo de Quetzalcoátl' and in my opinion it's by far the best thing they've ever done. The songs were written during a year-long sojourn in southern Mexico, and are heavily influenced by Mexican indigenous and traditional music while still maintaining the folky psychedelia of previous Luna Moth albums.

The album contains 10 tracks, all of which are available as free MP3 downloads. We've taken the liberty of giving our two favourite songs the 'Streetlamp' video treatment to give you a flavour of the 'El Vagabundo' sound. We recommend that you stop what you're doing, sit back and relax, and let the music send you drifting off down the narrow cobblestone streets of a pueblo, resting at last at a shady spot in the plaza under an ancient Bougainvillea, the rich scent of campanilla fragrancing the air. Well, you get the picture!

Griff
xx

Pucker up

They say when it rain it pours, but this is ridiculous. You go days, weeks, months without any good, tasty lesbianish happenings and then – BOOM – a ton of them blow up all at once. We’ve got Sandra Bullock kissing Scarlett Johansson at the MTV Movie Awards for no other reason than it’s hot to kiss Scarlett Johansson. Somewhere Meryl Streep is seething with jealousy. Then we’ve got Ruby Rose and Kim Stolz tweeting what everyone else’s gaydar already told them: Kristen Stewart seems mighty gay. Their tweets were followed by adorable Twitter death threats from Twihard wingnuts who think calling KStew (forevermore affectionately redubbed GayStew) a lesbian is slander. It’s not, kids. Also, vampires aren’t real. And finally we’ve got little Miley Cyrus air kissing a female dancer and then blowing her defense of the act by saying because their lips didn’t touch that she “did nothing wrong.” Once more with feeling: Kissing girls isn’t “wrong” or “bad” or “slanderous.” It’s just awesome. Also, did you know Cybill Shepherd has another lesbian daughter (scroll to the end)? I know! It’s totally pouring. And I’m probably missing something.

So amid this downpour I have only one thing to say: Look, straight (and gayish) ladies who want to publicly (or secretly) make out with other ladies – cool it. I’m going on vacation tomorrow for two weeks. Don’t do all your gay stuff while I’m gone and therefore can’t comment snarkily on it. I don’t want to miss all the ridiculousness. Well, OK, I could do with a little less ridiculous in some cases. I mean, what the hell was that Sandy-ScarJo kiss all about anyway? While I’m not complaining about the act itself (a refresher, girls kissing is always awesome). But I am complaining about the reasoning. For laughs? For the straight boys? For attention? Jezebel has a great rundown of the reasoning for each instant of straight-girl on straight-girl smooching. Sure, this trend of fauxmosexual snogs is good for a giggle and to fuel our most feverish wishful thinking. And ultimately, I don’t think it really hurts us – in a strange way may help normalize the concept. But call me when the real homosexuals show up. What can I say, I like my kisses to count.

Invisible man (and then woman)

You always remember your first. No, not that first. The first film that thoroughly blew your mind. Mine was “Brazil,” the mind fuck from mind-freakilicious director Terry Gilliam. Of course, I was just in grade school and had no idea what the hell was going on. (Yeah, blame my dad who let me watch with him in one of his more questionable parental decisions.) So, and more significantly, the second movie to blow the lid off came almost 10 years later with 1993’s “Orlando.”The movie with Tilda Swinton in a film adaptation of Virginia Woolf bent space, time and gender like no other.

Well now, there just might be another. Rachel Weisz has signed on to star in “Invisible X” as “a man who turns into a woman.” But this isn’t gender bending in the transgender sense, but a “[David] Cronenberg-inspired body horror” film by “Jennifer’s Body” director Karyn Kusama. She described Rachel’s role as “two characters, or essentially two halves of the same character, but she is both male and female.”

If course, the problem is money. The project doesn’t have funding yet and Karyn is working on a rewrite. But Rachel seems committed and I can certainly try to be patient. Because a film about bending gender with Rachel doing the bending is unquestionably worth the wait.

[Hat tip to the always amazing Scribegrrrl!]