Matt Zarley Locks Lips
September 2012 CHALLENGE Page 5 Beth Ditto Puckers Up
Dancing To Architecture™ Music Reviews & News with a Queer ear by Bill Realman Stella The Best-So-Far, Part 4: Out Music Video Stars for 2012's 150+ Favorite "Top 10" Albums list
The Out Music Listening Party, an extraordinary selection of Dancing To Architecture's favorite recent (last year or so) videos by Out Q musicians, was a GAAMC program on a recent Monday night. The videos, specially selected by this columnist, Bill Realman Stella, a.k.a. *me*, highlight some of the best new music — exciting, entertaining, ear-grabbing new artists, new sounds, new ideas — being created now by Out Q artists. Years of loving attention to the greatest possible variety of styles and genres and artists and audiences, attention to all the elements that go into making a great video on the shoestring budget of most independent artists (and most Out Q artists remain, or insist on being, in control of their careers independent of much in the way of music label support) went into the selection of videos chosen for the program. What follows is the evening's playlist, followed in Challenge's online edition by an expansion beyond the program's content, including videos selected for the evening which couldn't be fit in the time available through circumstances beyond my control. It also continues candidates for 2012's 150+ "Top 10" Albums list — but with the twist that these are all videos very much worth watching and hearing. In order of presentation:
"Get The Party Started." In 2011, UK LGBT Rights organization Stonewall named "Beautiful" the most empowering song of the previous decade for gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Though much of the credit for that must go to the images included in the 2002 video for Christina Aguilera's hit version, it's my opinion that we could all benefit from time to time from singing the chorus: "I am Beautiful / No matter what they say / Words can't bring me down. / I am Beautiful / In every single way / Words can't bring me down. / So don't you bring me down today." I thought we all could learn it, so I led a singalong to that chorus. Thus, having begun the GAAMC program on a note of unity and empowerment, we switched the mood to sheer fun for the next two videos.
literally frying on a stove. You get an Amazon-like box (with the trademark grin and with the slogan "little card, big smile" added on it) dropped in response to a dropped towel, and very creamy sunscreen, and two big, prickly, green (yes, green) balls floating by in the backyard pool! I've never seen a Gay-themed Dance music video both put hot guys and sexual content on screen and keep it from getting sleazy. And how do they do that? They make fun of and humiliate the guy who is the sleaze without being ugly about it. It's a delicatelybalanced four minutes of slapstick. And it redeems what must be the difficult chore of making a music video above and beyond mundane professionalism into something that's plain fun to watch. It's just all too silly and delightful for words. A must-see. (Zarley's follow up video, "Trust Me", goes
Q · Linda Perry, composer;
Katharine McPhee, performer
~ "Beautiful" ~ The Music of SMASH
http://youtu.be/uyZmbAK5SYk?hd=1 The clip from NBC TV's SMASH weaves the perspectives several characters have of McPhee's character into a revealing look inside the mind of a young actress auditioning for her next big break. But what makes it Out music is Lesbian hit-maker Linda Perry, who'd be a Rock icon in a universe where cream really does rise to the top. Perry is also the composer behind 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" (known by its lyric "Hey hey hey hey / hey hey hey / I said hey / What's going on?"), and by hits by P!nk like
Q · Matt Zarley ~ "WTF" ~ Change Begins With Me
http://youtu.be/W4XJJE7tkNE Matt's a boy (or, rather, a muscle bear) who just wants to have fun. He's a Pop singer, one who can successfully straddle Dance music as well as Pop ballads, and he's even a little bit Country sometimes. Zarley comes to his solo career by way of stints in Broadway revivals and replacement casts of A Chorus Line and Cats among others. What causes him to stand out is just how Out he is in his recent (going back to May of 2011) videos. They have a matter-of-fact-ness about Gay sexuality and society that is (to me, astonishingly) rare among the dozens of better-established Out artists. For a song that's said to be based on the Zarley's real break up — and heartbreak — "WTF" is downright funny (make that: "down low" funny). You get hot guys making explicit passes with over-the-top expressions of lust and surprise on their faces. You get smoking meat —
Screen shot from "Move In The Right Direction"
where no music video has gone before as well. It's not quite the song "WTF" is, but it intends to be not as much fun-in-bed (so to speak): its political ad intro is 30 seconds of quality satire.) Q · Gossip ~ "Move In The Right Direction"
~ A Joyful Noise
http://youtu.be/12zPU-8bsTE Lead singer and songwriter Beth Ditto has never appeared more beautiful than in the stark black and white contrasts of this fun, lightly motivational video. Just blasts of red — simply one, equally stark, bold red — saturate the retina for emphasis in the this beautifully designed video. Obviously, it's accomplished using green-screen, with only the band, their instruments and some dancers in the studio. But the combined effect says "This has a message about change" and "This is change you can dance to." (continued on page 11)