Azari & III is an exciting new Detroit/early 90ies house/acid tribute project from Toronto, consisting of producer/musicians Dinamo Azari and Alixander III and vocalists Fritz Helder and Starving Yet Full. Their debut album “Reckless” was supposed to be released on Modular on June 29, but at the moment it seems like the release will be delayed – the quartet has just announced that their new single “Maniac” (stream below) will be released on August 7 and that the official UK release of the album will be on August 11 -> looks like this is the acutal release date.
“Reckless” will bring together new stuff with a couple of already-released tracks from the past months, such as “Manhooker” (that has seemd to pop out on YouTube out of nowhere in January last year) and their singles “Into The Night” (titel track of their EP via Turbo from autumn, video below) and “Hungry For The Power”, which especially got known because it’s video by filmmaker George Vale was banned from YouTube for some time (posted below as well).
From Sylvester’s self-titled solo debut (produced by Motown / Mavin Gaye producer Harvey Fuqua). You should also check out the TV One documentary “Unsung” which can be found on the same YouTube account (unfortunately the quality is pretty bad) as well as the other nicely commented Sylvester classics posted there.
Novo Novus Productions is a busy little multi-media production company based in New York City that produces both films and web series dealing with the everyday-life of LBGT people of color. Their most successful production so far is the internet show “Drama Queen, an on-going comedy series about the lives of three friends and roommates called Jeremiah, Davis, Preston. Here’s the trailer for the third season which is to start soon. You can watch all episodes of the previous seasons on the show’s website.
I also strongly recommend the new Novo Novus docu series “Fade In” (see still on top), which portraits homeless queers of color. Here’s the first episode of the series which has been released in May:
You should also check out the Novo Novus website for the trailers of the guy’s current film productions “Boys Like You” and “Where Truth Lies”. WTL will be presented at the HomoHarlem FilmSeries at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, NYC along with a new teaser for the third season of “Drama Queenz” and the second episode of “Fade In”. If you’re from New York and want to see this package hurry up because the event will start in just a few hours.
The new issue of Mary: A Literary Quarterly is out today! The New York-based publication curates new work from queer writers and aims to “lay bare the lives of the seemingly disparate communities of queers, sissies, activists, “straight-acting”/appearing men who have sex with men, daddies, punks, tops, cubs, pigs, bangee queens, twinks, romantics and head cases.” Though honestly it’s worth getting for the cover alone. You can buy it online from the Mary website, and at selected bookstores (check the “buy the magazine” section for details.)
Artist Kathryn Garcia and curator Sarvia Jasso, both from LA and based in NYC, are seeking contributions to help make their project a reality: ‘Queering Sex’ — if it reaches its fundraising goal — will exhibit performance and video work from artists dealing with gender and sexuality, proposing the question: What does it mean to be “queer” nowadays? At a time when many homosexuals are adopting assimilation as a political move, and when a thin, able-bodied hetero white woman is the poster child for transgression, it’s a question worth asking. Visit their Kickstart page to make a donation.
Berlin’s sports-jersey-and-sequin-wearing Snax recorded a new track titled “Gratitude” and is offering it as a free gift for fans — You can stream and download it via SoundCloud:
You can also pre-order his new 12″ titled Special Guest Remix, with housey versions of two cuts from his most recent album. “Special Guest Star” gets a smooth, throbbing makeover by Sven Brede (AKA Toxic Twin), while “The Spark” gets reworked by The Rimshooters (AKA Massimiliano Pagliara, featured here last week, and his cohort Rotciv). It’s quite a nice package: The 12″ vinyl also comes with a CD of the full Special Guest Star album slipped inside, and once you order you get an instant download of the maxi’s tracks, plus a bonus download-only remix by Damir Bojanic:
The picture above and the following ones are taken from a photographical essay called “Comrades & Lovers – Portraits of Men 1978 – 1998″ by Vancouver based photographer and environmental planner & designer Gordon Brent Ingram. About his motivations to take these pictures he writes: “I came of age in a relatively pleasant and safe West Coast maelstrom spanning both Canada and the United States and cultures with English and French spoken and with links to a wide range of overseas communities. In this part of the world, recent decades have seen some of the most rapid cultural and social change in human history especially around the confluence of gender identities, sexuality and cultures. These transformations of communities and how individuals and networks of friends have made their ways through them, and in deed how we have been remaking ourselves, has been one of the sources of fascination for my photographic portrayals.”
DJ/producer Massimiliano Pagliara, last seen remixing Hard Ton, has just released his debut album Focus for Infinity on Frankfurt club/imprint Live at Robert Johnson, distributed via Kompakt. It’s an unabashedly retro affair, echoing 80s synth-pop and house sounds with guest vocalists on a few tracks, including “Fade the Light” featuring Mavin from Manhooker, which I featured last month on both Expatriarch Radio and Top Secret.
Read on to stream clips from each of the album’s tracks, followed by my last radio show (which also includes Ssion, Crazy Bitch in a Cave and my very own remix for Catch Fire favorite Kool Thing).
Earlier this week Massi nerded out about his influences, gear and collaborators with What People Say. Berliners can catch him DJing this Saturday, June 11th, at About Blank with NYC’s Morgan Geist, Daniel Wang and Trust.
Light Asylum have finally found a label and are going to release their In Tension-EP both on vinyl and MP3 on June 14. You can stream the whole EP via Altered Zones or at the end of this post and pre-order the physical copy on the website of the duo’s label Mexican Summer, I think it’s a realy blast. Here’s a little gallery with my favourite pictures of singer Shannon Funchess, who seems to turn more and more into a new style icon these days. Photo credits are tagged into the file name, except for the last picture, which is a still of an interview film by Casey Spooner and Adam Dugas just made for Imagine Fashion. You can watch it here. By the way: Is it possible that I saw Funchess in A.L. Steiner and A.K. Burn’s Community Action Interaction movie? Anybody out there with background knowledge?
Weekend is a cute little micro-budget film about two guys spending their weekend together. It was shot by director Andrew Haigh who also did the movie Greek Pete and is touring around the world’s nicest film festivals at the moment. For the next stops of the tour and more information about further distribution check out its Facebook page, for more detailed information and a couple of gorgeous film stills by Quinnford & Scout (see picture above) check out the official website. There’s also an interview by the website Queerty with Haigh don in conjunction with the movie’s screening at SXSW on YouTube.
