T H E Y E A R IN
OREGON'S LGBTQ NEWSMAGAZINE
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I
music-
“Maybe you’ve never talked to this person
who’s in a different community than you are
but you both do film. Why don’t you work
fogether and see what happens?”
As proof of that ethos, Punk Start My
Heart Records evolved from the surplus of
acts formed for the first Not Enough! Festi
val in 2010 needing a label to put out their
music. This August, the label successfully
funded the cover pressing and printing costs
for a 7-inch vinyl release from Fagatron, a
split 7-inch from Fucking Lesbian Bitches
and NO/HO/M O, and a full 12-inch LP
by Forever.
Another welcome addition to the indie
label limestone in 2011 was lady- and queer-
operated tape label Cassingle and Loving
It Records (aka C.A.L.I.). Somehow mak
ing cassette tapes cool again, C.A.L.I. (Em
Brownlowe and Rachel Rhymes) dropped
aural a-bombs from the likes of Old Wars—
a new project from pop vixen Jen Moon,
and ex-The Gossip drummer Kathy Men-
donca—with their drum-n-bass rock debut
Broken Bones, among other underground
acts. What started as a way to release
Brownlowe and Rhymes’own debut record
ing Piranha, via their band The Happening,
has now blossomed into a fully functioning
audio geek-out.
The label has planned the release of sev
eral more cassettes from the likes of the ex
cellent Grass Valley, CA, band Agent Rib
bons, Seattle’s Sugar Sugar, and Portland’s
Slutty Hearts. C.A.L.I.’s already gone in
ternational with their third release of Benja
min Schoos’ “Je Ne Vois Que Vous”/ “ Worlds
Away” cassingle.
Not Enough! wasn’t the only queer festi
val this year to include music. In fact, only
one event was specifically tailored to just
queer music for a festival, aptly named the
First Annual Portland Queer Music Festi
val. The brainchild of Peep Show proprietor
Samuel Thomas, the PI)X Queer Music
Fest reached far and wide to gather talented
LGBTQ_ artists from around the country
for a daylong dig-in between Red Cap Ga
rage and Boxxes in July.
The inaugural event attracted 30 bands,
A b ove: Wild Flag
B e low : Susan SurfTone
and welcomed anyone over 21 years of age
for a staggeringly low $3 cover. Featuring
bands from as far away as Philadelphia
(Slutever) and St. Louis (Julie Schurr), the
fest generated PDX pride, too, with every
thing from drag queen electro (CJ and the
Dolls) and piano balladeers (Zach Zaitlin)
to burgeoning rappers (Jeau Breedlove,
SistaFist) and beloved deejays (Moisti,
LunchLady).
We’d be remiss not to mention some of
those LGBTQ_artists who flew a bit under
the radar, too. Catching the retro wave in
from the bowels of the psychedelic surf-
guitar world of Dick Dale or the Ventures
was Susan SurfTone. Her new LP Shore
spun like a “what’s that?” of fuzzy, reverbed
surf- and garage-rock. But SurfTone—also
a retired lawyer and former FBI agent
(!)—neglected to perform any live dates
anyone knows about this year, making the
release, recorded locally at Jackpot, kind of a
wipeout. The music, however, is not. Stream
the whole thing at susansurftone.com and
decide for yourself.
Was Portland’s fertile 2011 scene yet an
other sign of things to come? Probably. And
in that case, we can’t wait for 2012. H !
D r .
R a y m o n d
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