It was another hard pandemic year—and the pop music around us often reflected that. Our first full (calendar) year of the pandemic, pop both musically and narratively carried forward our feelings of anxiety and isolation but also yearnings for connection … Read the rest
queerness
Dawn Richard and Songs of the South
In June 2011, I made a decision that would forever change my life: I broke up with a partner of over three years and mentally committed to getting back home to New York City as quickly as possible. Within six … Read the rest
Austra and the Politics of Pleasure (Under Quarantine)
Austra’s Feel It Break roared into my life in May 2011, during what turned out to be a second moment of major transition in my adult life. Having crossed the three-year mark in my first romantic relationship and realizing that … Read the rest
Listening to Holly Miranda During COVID-19
At the start of the fourth week of social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic, I relistened to the recording for one of my favorite concerts of all time, the album release show for Holly Miranda’s The Magician’s Private Library at … Read the rest
Sleater-Kinney and the Space of Queer/Female Friendship
This post was originally going to be called “What It Means to Listen to Sleater-Kinney Now as a Queer Woman.” It was going to be a talk-back piece, one of those blog posts you write to insert yourself into a … Read the rest