Now Playing: June 2023

Our June edition of Now Playing features a look into trans history, unexpected pleasures, and exciting hybrid music, all from our contributors!

Aimée Keeble

I’ve recently discovered The Wanton Bishops, a Lebanese band from Beirut that is a kind of fusion between Americana blues and psychedelic rock. As a transplant to Appalachia, I think I’m finding solidarity in hybrid art that maintains its own identity while also adopting those elements that make Southern music so beautiful.

Crystal Odelle

Between devouring poetry and trans*/femme/queer theory, reading queer histories sustains me. In renovating the library in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, I recently found a first edition, first printing of From Female to Male—Lou Sullivan’s biography of Jack Bee Garland. If you haven’t read your trans* history, Lou Sullivan was a transgender writer and activist of the 1970s and 80s United States FTM community who died during the AIDS crisis. His major work before the end of his life was the completion of Garland’s biography to preserve a history of transgender men who love men, which Lou greatly contributed to with his insightful and unapologetic diary published by Nightboat Books. Lou’s work reminds me as a writer of transgender experience to be real and brave because every word let loose is a step in a ladder toward lineage and, I hope, more than survival, but belonging and joy.

Daniel Kent Foley

I was recently sent a recommendation for an album to listen to from a close friend. The recommendation was prefaced with a sort of disclaimer tinged with hesitation because he thought that it was potentially something I would have no interest in. I knew that if he thought I might like it then there was a reason behind that, so of course I had to give it a chance. It was Kesha’s new album, “Gag Order” which me and my friend ended up listening to in the car together while running errands. I was very surprised by this album! The lyrics were incredibly relatable, the tone was dark but written in a way that suggests hope. There are moments of experimentation on it that were effective and totally unexpected. I am very impressed by it! I love when any kind of artist can take me by surprise.