Back in February we showed you a video of gay singers Tom Goss and Matt Alber playing their anti-DADT anthem, “This Is Who We Are,” on my roof. The next day they performed the song again on the national mall and brought some discharged soldiers down with them to tell their stories. The song is getting a wide release and will helpfully continue to raise support for ending this already-reviled policy.

Dublin’s anachronistically styled rockabilly babe, Imelda May, kicks ass for a couple reasons. Most of them have to do with her snappy songs and rockabilly revival style, but she also reminds me a lot of Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks and anyone who thinks Audrey wasn’t the coolest girl on that show should just ride off with James Hurley and never be seen again.

But anyway — Imelda was nice enough to give us a couple minutes of her time when she was in DC yesterday opening for Jamie Cullum at the 930 Club. I haven’t watched The Oscars in years, but even if I did I would’ve gladly skipped for this one.

Yesterday, queer lady musician extraordinaire Erin McKeown was nice enough to give me a couple of minutes of her time while she was in DC, at the 930 Club, opening for Ani DiFranco. Erin talks about coming out professionally, how it has(n’t) influenced her sound and the way that people live in the shadow of Ani DiFranco.

Like a combination of Abba and Bon Iver, Sweden’s Fredrik mixes harmonized hooks and bedroom lullabies to create something that I’d listen to over morning coffee and still be singing in my evening shower. The hooks and odd instrumentation of their self-titled debut, from which “Black Fur” comes, lead naturally to the more atmospheric sound of their new release Trilogi. (Source of “Omberg.”) The band was nice enough to let me film them doing these two songs at DC’s Goldleaf Studio and to provide the projector that gives the whole thing its Kermit-on-mushrooms hues.

Philly band Pattern is Movement describe their sound in the above video as “Julie Andrews in a steel mill” which is only one clue that they’re more clued in to their gay fan base than your average indies. In the above video — which I freely admit has little to do with music— the band fills us in on their life as straight bears, and several other things that one doesn’t usually hear bands talk about. These guys are great, and I hope you all get a chance to check ‘em out.

Remember when Weezer started to suck a couple years ago? I think by some mystical transposing process, their mojo was just floating in the ether after that Beverly Hills abomination, waiting to be snapped up by someone worthy. And there’s a chance that someone is Surfer Blood. I’m not always a fan of the abritrary fuzziness trend thats been happening in music, but these guys are quite simply a lot of fun. They were great sports about busting out the above number for us at soundcheck before their DC show the other day. So check it out, check out their single “Swim” below, and be ready to say that you watched this video before they got indie-big.

Expository fact number one: Leslie Hall is an Ames, Iowa woman whose glittery stage persona is the frontwoman for “lady rap” outfit Leslie and the LYs. She owns and operates a mobile museum of tacky gem sweaters. She sells in t-shirts in plus sizes, is fiercely proud of the midwest and has won a rabid fan base for challenging perceptions of what a pop star can be.

While VV Brown is huge in the UK, she is still rising here in the states. And given our countries predilection for vacuous pop sensations it is easy to be distrustful of the gorgeous, 5′11 superstar-to-be with the Adelle DeWitt accent. However, I got the pleasant surprise last friday that Ms. Brown plays her own instruments, writes her own songs, is working on a comic book (!) and is a sweetheart to boot. So naturally I’m gay-boy-smitten. And that’s why I’ve dumped my boyfriend. Maybe I can do something involving President Reagan that will make VV like me…

In this first part of a three part series (made from one 25 minute conversation). The New Gay was lucky enough to pick the brain of Stephin Merritt. The principle …

Of course, as Merritt’s predilection for writing queer and un-gendered songs is only surpassed by their ever-adoring fan base I didn’t want to spend our whole time together talking about just music. The above video, the second of a three part series, will give you an idea of what it is like to spend a little time talking with someone too humble to admit that their genius reputation precedes them. As for his opinions on modern music and coming out, well, on some of those you might just agree to disagree.