Did you ever realize that “Physical,” Olivia Newton-John’s schlocky 1981 hit and soundtrack to aerobics videos the world over, had a low-fi blues-rock hook trapped inside of it, yearning to break free? Swallows did. So they went to work, let the groove loose, and released an astonishing cover version on their “Physical” single back in […]
Lizzie Ehrenhalt
Posted inMusic
Siren Song
Ladies First in the Siren Nation
Women’s music festivals have a complicated history. Since its founding in the ’70s, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival has nurtured some, and angered others by refusing to admit transgender women. The first Ladyfest in 2000 signaled an exciting new era even as Lilith Fair devolved into a punch line for lame jokes about estrogen and […]
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Just the Facts
Mika Miko Has Everyone on Their Side
“If people knew what was good for them, they’d just listen to Mika Miko.” That was the Gossip’s Beth Ditto in a July 30th interview that asked for her music recommendations. But it could have been anyone who’s seen the Los Angeles quintet Mika Miko tear through a live set, or danced in her bedroom […]
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Corsets and Cellos
The Strange World of Rasputina
When Antony of Antony and the Johnsons name-checked Rasputina in New York magazine last April as forerunners of freak folk, many readers probably found themselves asking, “Raspu-who?” Though they maintain a large cult following of devoted fans, particularly gothically inclined teenagers who appreciate the cello-rock trio’s Victorian aesthetic and macabre sense of humor, Rasputina are […]
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Big Songs, Little Creatures
Mirah’s Music for Insects
Some time around the early ’80s, the concept album got tired. Stumbling out of a golden age that produced The Wall, Tommy, Quadrophenia, and Ziggy Stardust, the infamously pretentious genre’s ambitions soured into wank-rock clichés. This was partly due to the stale predictability of so many concept-album storylines, which followed the struggles of a misunderstood […]
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Words and Guitar
Electrelane Perfects the Album
Comparing a band to Sleater-Kinney can be dangerous. The common observation that Band X “sounds like Sleater-Kinney” is usually not a sign of musical similarity so much as evidence of a still-prevalent tendency to ghettoize girl groups. If a band has a couple of female members and an electric guitar, it will probably get compared […]
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Complete Control
The Gossip: Britain’s Favourite Band
British music magazine NME is not exactly known for its coverage of women, let alone radical American feminists. So it came as a small shock a few weeks ago when the English music weekly deviated from its skinny-young-lads focus in order to grant the Gossip its March 3 cover. In fact, since the UK re-release […]