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Dangerous Days - Zola Jesus

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Music Video directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko

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Remember to check your kids’ Halloween candy. (vine by Brittlestar)

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I grew up with a poster of Klaus Nomi on my wall. The big, sad eyes piercing through his chalky face seemed to testify that somehow, a man was underneath it all - and the very idea that the creature was adored while the man ended up alone never ceased to puzzle me. His disease was then something that made you lower your voice.

And shame is something queer culture still fights today, with new words, new ways of existing.

Klaus Nomi chose to be supernatural, Perfume Genius chose to stare right back at you, smoking a cigarette with his nails polished, and as for me, I tried my best to make all my wounds pop. It's all about being loud and fierce - shame is nothing but an insidious negation: you shrink, you whisper, you hide.

I wrote "Jonathan" because my lover would ignore my existence outside of the closed, silent room I lived in; it became then imperious for me to sing, just to make sure I was still here. From the start, the song had two voices; one in English, one in French - longing for an answer I knew I would never get. So it was there, on my computer, crepuscular, like my own little Mrs. Butterfly's swan song.

And then, I got lucky enough to ask Perfume Genius if he would like to sing with me. He cannot be ignored, because his voice melts every stone, because he doesn't hide; without him, the song felt like dying, but now, it's more like the promise of something healing through the pain. This is what I learnt with artists like Klaus Nomi, and still love with ones like Perfume Genius: you're never as strong as when you allow yourself to be the most vulnerable person you can be.

From  Christine and the Queens Team With Perfume Genius on New Single "Jonathan"

“Jonathan” : Christine And The Queens (feat Perfume Genius)

*La vie romantique

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loving this concept

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“I don’t think you’re ever accomplished. One thing that I’m starting to learn is I don’t think your identity is something that you reach one day. Your identity is always changing. You change the way you dress - with time, you change your haircut, you change the music you like. Identity is something that ever changes. I think the question “Who am I ?” doesn’t have an answer. The question is “Where am I right now?” Maybe I would give you a total different interview tomorrow. Right now is just a fucking rollercoaster full of emotions and questions. It’s very hard to position myself right now and now where I am.” Yoann Lemoine

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Thoughts of a perfectly fried egg produce euphoric sensations for Bjork.

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“I’ve never really felt the same depending on the person that I love, depending on the moment, depending on the clothes that I’m wearing. And for me, it doesn’t make sense to just say “I’m a woman”. I know what a woman is, I know what a man is, and it’s really different because I can sometimes feel like I’m a man within a woman’s body. It’s like I’m always being interested in different identities and that’s maybe why I made theater in the first place, because I wanted to play every male characters of the play. I was interested in escaping from myself or in exploring everything that I could be. So I guess when I’m writing songs, I’m just allowing myself to be whoever I want to be. Christine is this kind of mutual character that can explore all those different identities. And when I answer interviews, sometimes I’d like to not be this young woman singing, because you always end up answering questions like “what do you like to wear, what clothes do you like?” And I’m not interested in being that kind of singer, I just want to be not a girl, not a boy, not an old man, but everything at the same time.”

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SAVAGES IN DISMALAND. 

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First Listen: Julia Holter, Have You In My Wilderness

On her fourth album, Julia Holter shares a part of herself that she’d always kept hidden. She’s always sung about running away, but never with such darkness or vulnerability.

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First Listen: Chvrches, Every Open Eye

The Scottish pop band has fun on Every Open Eye, but its disco ball is tiled with galvanized steel. The whole album fizzes with jolting, unapologetic electricity.

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at Moog

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Life Soundtrack: Syd tha Kyd

The songs that mean the most to the woman behind the Internet.

By Erika Ramirez. Illustration by Kimberly Denson.

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