The Gossip's new album "Music for Men" is out as of June 23rd, you can preview the album in its entirety by clicking here. I was a big fan of the punk/blues sound of earlier albums, therefore "Standing in the Way of Control" was kind of disappointing. With "Music for Men", despite some raw moments, it's still more of "Standing in the Way of Control".

As a fan of music rooted in Queercore, I was a little shocked to find that the Gossip had switched from popular indie label Kill Rock Stars to the Sony "queer" label, Music with a Twist. While there's no sense in another "sell out" rant directed at the Gossip, I will totally trash the Music with a Twist record label. What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Music with a Twist? Also, I lied, I will trash the Gossip for this decision.

No, I won't trash them, but I will tell a cautionary tale. This is a tale about the most underappreciated punk band of all time that evolved into the most underappreciated dance punk band of all time. Bikini Kill was badass, completely badass, and with a few more new ideas than the played out rebellion punk rock was experiencing at the time. To sum it all up, they were, in fact "worse than queer", more of an actual threat to society than the thousands of 90's punk bands cranking out technically impressive thirty second bursts about animal rights or cops busting underaged drinking. After the breakup, Kathleen Hanna released an album under the alias "Julie Ruin". While there were some typical punk rock tshirt slogan moments, there were enough truly groundbreaking songs and ideas (Valley Girl Intelligentsia) to make the album important, even if no one was listening.

And then there was Le Tigre. There aren't enough words, or at the very least they've all been used by Le Tigre. The first three albums had the most mind-blowing lyrics and motherfucking catchy hooks... And then they signed to a major after the demise of Mr. Lady Records (a queercore label out of N.C., RIP) and released "This Island". It was almost unforgiveably water down and musically uninteresting. Of course, having that distribution was all they needed to land on the soundtrack to "The L Word" and get a little more airplay. Perhaps they burnt out on their own, having dealt with the press and the crap for several years, but it's hard to deny that the switch to a major label is often the beginning of the end. So, with just cause, I worry that Rick Rubin is the Gossip's Ric Okasek, substitute Universal Records for Sony, and you'll have an amazing band who deserve some attention finally getting it with what constitutes a still worthwhile, but less aggressive album.

Kill Rock Stars, along with K Records, has always been a solid home for queercore and queer artists. The marginalized queer community got in the punk scene fairly early on, and while the Buzzcocks and the Germs couldn't really be called queercore, they certainly made queer youth feel like a part of the club. My personal favorite queercore bands usually only had a handful of 7 inches or appearances on compilations (the Sissies, CWA, Limp Wrist, Fifth Column), but there are a few standout bands. The now defunct Butchies put out several rocking albums, and it's hard to deny the surreal innovation of one-woman-band Tracy + the Plastics.

Several years ago, WUSC hosted its first queercore radio show. Since then, there have been several shows that explored the genre (the punk show, the feminist show). As a side note, while I came along about a decade after the infamous WUSC Shutdown, it is alleged that airing the queercore band Pansy Division played a large part in the turn of events.

Anyways, we're short on our queercore and riot grrl right now, but I highly recommend catching some of the great specialty shows that are happening across the country. Start with Valley Girl Intelligentsia on KLSU: Having hosted a specialty show similar to this, I can personally attest to how accurate and awesome the show description is: "Our format includes riot grrrl punk, 60s girl groups, queercore, and anything we see as related or influential to the aforementioned genres. Just don’t call in a request and systematically list every female artist you know in hopes that one will fall into one of those categories. And then call back with more options. And then call back again and tell us that we’re being exclusionary. Because that’s a tired argument and this is a specialty show." My personal experience is that, although we have several specialty shows that play about 95% male artists, when confronted with a specialty show that showcased female artists, several concerned listeners must have either mistakeningly thought I was attempting to fist their mom or really had it in for girls with guitars, because there is nothing (not chanting, not satanist music, not outsider artist screeching or schizophrenic rants) that truly divides the listening audience.

To close with a little more controversy, this is the only diva fight that I've witnessed in which one calls another a "boner dyke". It's enough to think about, and adds to the likelihood that, whether or not the most recent Gossip album is lukewarm, Beth Ditto still has more to say.