No band has waved the rainbow flag more proudly than Pansy Division. From its origins and involvement in early-’90s Bay Area punk to becoming de facto leaders of the “homocore” movement, Jon Ginoli, Chris Freeman and a rotating cast of straight and gay drummers (the band is now rounded out by drummer Luis Illades and guitarist Joel Reader) never shied away from graphic depictions of queer, bi and questioning dudes getting sweaty with each other and a variety of apparati. But as acceptance of queer culture and community has grown and the band’s members find themselves in their 40s and 50s, the topics on new album Quite Contrary have also progressed. Pansy Division will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on them.
Ginoli: I was slow to catch the wave of online music. Until 2009 I worked in a great record store where I had access to new and used CDs, including imports, so I could usually hear what I wanted to. After leaving there, I quickly fell behind in knowing what was new and available, so about five years ago I starting digging deep online to keep up with new releases.
I started reading descriptions of songs on websites like MAGNET, Stereogum, Spin, Brooklyn Vegan, Pitchfork, and others. Sites like AllMusic and New Album Releases have lists of new releases, which I then hunt for on SoundCloud, YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp. I like reading year-end lists, too, especially the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll. In 2015, I took months going through all 1,600-plus albums receiving votes in the Village Voice poll, looking for things I hadn’t heard about. It was worth it, though, finding a handful of cool things below the radar. I go through labels’ websites every so often, looking for releases I hadn’t run across otherwise.
I had to devise a method to wade through the ocean of music out there: Pick one song off an album and give it one minute. If I’m not impressed/curious/excited/interested after that, I move on. Sometimes it takes only 30 seconds, or five seconds if it’s not obviously for me, but otherwise I try to give it a minute. I usually try the single, or the video with the most views, as they’re often the best song, but sometimes I pick random album tracks. Later on I might hear about that band/album/song again and give it a second shot, but I’ve learned that my first impression usually sticks. I’ve found that there’s an endless amount of decent, not-bad stuff out there that just isn’t going to make the cut; I’ve already got tons of records to listen to, so my hunt is for distinctive music I can imagine wanting to hear years from now.
I bookmark or download my favorites, and every month or two I’ll make a three-hour playlist and spend the evening with a friend or two with similar tastes discussing the pros and cons of each song over a bottle of wine. I print out the playlists and keep track of what we like for further exploration. It makes a social event out of a solitary pursuit.
A good song will eventually lead to me to the album. One thing that has amazed me is how many times I’ve loved a song and found I didn’t like anything else on the album. I’ve also found many albums where there is little variation in tempo or tone the whole way through (DIIV, I’m pointing my finger right at you), so just one song, the best one, will suffice. (Also, a lot of bands these days really, really need editors, but that ain’t gonna happen.) I still buy albums if I like them; in the ’90s, I bought LPs as long as I could since they were a lot cheaper than CDs, but now that LPs cost way more than CDs, I still opt for CDs.
I could go on 🙂 It takes a lot of time to pursue at this level, but as a dedicated music freak I find it fun and rewarding.
