MUSIC
New LGBTQ Music in November
Lotic, Oscar and the Wolf, Cakes da Killa and Proper Villains
BY STEVE ERICKSON
Get caught up on new
music this month from
out LGBTQ artists, including
Lotic, Oscar
and the Wolf, and Cakes da Killa
and Proper Villains.
“Water” by Lotic
A soaring soprano, piano, and
harps. Loops of electronic noise
and rattling metal. Lotic’s second
album, “Water,” rides the thin line
between the beautiful and ugly.
She creates polyrhythms and new
timbres with juxtapositions that, if
pulled off without great care and
skill, could lead to mere chaos.
Lovely melodies jostle with percussive
scrapes. “Wet” starts out
pretty, with operatic vocals, but
halfway through the whole song
becomes increasingly distorted. A
rumble like a distant construction
site becomes louder and louder.
Lotic reaches back to both classical
music and early ‘80s industrial,
when drumming on metal was
a fi xture in the genre. “Emergency”
brings together breathy vocals, a
sudden rush of electronics and
fractured percussion. “Come Unto
Us” opens with the cry of horns.
The production is clear, allowing
every element its own place in the
mix. All of the layers are carefully
defi ned. While Lotic’s vocals sound
open and vulnerable, her production
rests on a fi rm spine of noise.
Classical music and opera have
become inspirations for adventurous
indie artists like Circuit des
Yeux and Lignua Ignota, and “Water”
has some elements In common
with their music. (For all of them,
late Scott Walker lurks in the background.)
But the melodramatic rush
associated with female opera singers
is exchanged for emotions much
harder to pin down. The combo of
noise and prettiness in Lotic’s music
suggests the diffi culty of preserving
peace of mind in a brutal world, as
its melodic elements threaten to get
crushed over and over. But they
also persist – the album never gives
into raw aggression. The human
element always persists alongside
the machine. (The album’s opening
“Water” by Lotic debuted this month.
sound is a heartbeat, generated by
a bass drum.) Lotic has leveled up
from her 2018 debut “Power,” making
one of this year’s best, most inventive
albums. Something great is
about to emerge out from the water.
“The Shimmer” by Oscar and
the Wolf
If you’re an American pop fan,
you’ve likely never heard of Oscar
and the Wolf, but the Belgian
singer, whose real name is Max
Colombie, is a star in Europe and
the Middle East. His third album,
“The Shimmer” offers bright, comfortable
music. Although it was
released in October, it’s no wonder
that the videos for “Livestream”
and “Oliver,” fi lmed last summer,
show Oscar and the Wolf lounging
with women around a pool and
dancing in a fi eld. The vibe is similar
to Harry Styles’ “Lights Up” or
“Watermelon Sugar.”
But Oscar and the Wolf’s production
is both overtly slick and
cheap. His album’s sequencing
buries its best, most energetic
songs in the middle. “The Shimmer”
is fi lled with digital clones
ALEX DE BRABANT
of the gated snare drum Phil Collins
popularized in the early ‘80s,
but they don’t have any crunch.
His music gets more compelling
the further it gets from cookiecutter
niches, but the album’s too
laid back for its own good. “Livestream,”
which opens and closes
with a simulation of a warped tape
and rides a monstrous synthesizer
hook, is the only real stand-out.
The soft instrumental “The P.I.C.”
suggests early Talk Talk performing
smooth jazz. Continuing in the
same mood, the title track is a ballad
that ends the album by taking
fi ve minutes to gradually fade out.
If “The Shimmer” is a reference to
the alien presence in Jeff VanDer-
Mark’s novel “Annihiliation” (and
Alex Garland’s fi lm adaptation),
the song’s warm-blanket approach
keeps emotion at a distance.
“Muvaworld Vol. 2” by Cakes
da Killa and Proper Villains
In Cakes da Killa’s world, the
dance fl oor is not a safe space. The
gay rapper’s music suggests an
ultimate triumph without ignoring
the world outside. The fi rst line
and chorus of its opening track are
“this is for faggots,” both acknowledging
bigotry and reclaiming
the slur as a mark of community.
(Look at the song’s title, “Stoggaf,”
backward.) His series of eps, now
in its third installment, with producer
Proper Villains revives the
short-lived sub-genre of hip-house.
While its late ‘80s heyday produced
a few high points (lesbian rapper
Queen Latifah’s “Come Into My
House,” the Jungle Brothers’ “I’ll
House You”), rapping over house
music turned into a gimmick that
quickly faded. Unfortunately, much
of its evanescence had nothing to
do with music. As hip-hop grew increasingly
macho and moved away
from its roots as dance music, rappers
didn’t want to engage with a
genre created by gay men. At the
time, Public Enemy’s Chuck D.
criticized house music in explicitly
homophobic terms.
Cakes da Killa brings the toughness
of hip-hop to house music
beats. “What’s the World” begins
with his vocals over hard kick
drums. The fact that it’s much
faster than contemporary rap contributes
to an aggressive sound.
He’s also as frank about sex as his
hetero counterparts. “Taste Test”
borrows a metaphor for Lil Kim’s
“How Many Licks”- it’s not about
his cooking hobby. Like a DJ set,
the fi nal song “Spinning” slows
things down and lets us go out on
a benevolent note. Cakes tones his
vocals down to an ASMR whisper,
while singer Sam Sparro sings
about being “lost in a dance.”
Cakes da Killa is one of the most
talented out LGBTQ rappers to
ever bless the mic. But he only has
one song with more than a million
Spotify streams. Alas, he’s been
working hard for years with little
recognition. Even an appearance
on the 2019 Netfl ix competition
show “Rhythm & Flow” did not
help him much; despite his track
record, the judges treated him like
a novelty act who just started rapping.
Getting major label distribution,
ten years after his fi rst mixtape,
should have been an event.
Instead, Warner Music gave “Muvaworld
Vol. 2” zero promotion.
November 18 - 24, 2 24 021 | GayCityNews.com
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