Tegan, Sara, Kaki, Kim, Jessie and Odessa

Hey! I'm big into music, so my posts are probably going to discuss that. This week, I'm going back in the archives to recommend some of my favorites from or about queer women from the last couple of years.

I recommend: Tegan and Sara's Sainthood

I'm not entirely sure if I know a queer woman who isn't into Tegan and Sara. When I was in high school I went to one of their shows and the crowd was approximately 95% girls in couples and 5% awkward boys. Sainthood, their sixth album, was released last fall and though it is a grower, it's already become a classic in my eyes. They left behind some of the folksy and prog rock inspired spirit of their previous album, The Con, and spend most of this album exploring this strange but interesting fusion of subdued punkinshness and synth pop. I love Tegan and Sara because they write songs that are so damn listenable - Sainthood is no exception.

I recommend: Kaki King's Dreaming of Revenge

I read somewhere that Kaki King is the best and most famous out female solo acoustic guitarist. I don't know if that is true but I believe it. This album came out in March 2008 and I have been simply obsessed with it ever since. She jokes that this was supposed to be her pop album - and while I don't know if I would necessarily call it pop, it is a beautiful album. There's something on here to please almost everyone: "Pull Me Out Alive" has a modern rock edge, "Life Being What It Is" shows her prowess as an acoustic songstress, and "Air and Kilometers" is vaguely experimental (so much faint percussion in so many polyrhythms!), yet it is also very earthy. But best of all is "Montreal." It's a beautiful, ethereal gem of a song that only really reveals itself to you when you're by yourself on a rainy day with great headphones and just an ounce of sadness in your heart (not too little, not too much).

I recommend: M83's "Kim and Jessie"

The jury is still out on this one, but I'm pretty sure the song is about a pair of girls in love. Whatever the correct interpretation of the song is, I don't really care because it such an accurate distillation of what it means to be a teenager in the muted pastels of a John Hughes movie. It's pure drama, all haunted screeching synths and crying guitars over a steadying drum machine. You can't really decide whether to dance or to drown in the memory of your own pained adolescence, such is the genius of M83's foray into beautiful nostalgia.

I recommend: the video to Caribou's "Odessa"

This one isn't queer-related at all, I'm just obsessed with the song (especially the pan flutes, my god!) and the video is well done and very haunting. It employs the faded polaroid aesthetic in with a skill that is essentially confusing but also so pretty. The girl (our Odessa, I believe) is cute too!

(image credits: last.fm, photobucket.com, and photobucket.com)